Queer as Tachi – Chapter 92
The storm that was bringing snow flurries to Hokkaido delayed more than peoples’ willingness to leave the warmth of their beds and go about their business. After sleeping in and going down for another much shorter bath, Kaiba decided to make their departure in the early afternoon in order to get back to Domino at a decent hour. But once he and Alastair had checked out and made their way to the airport, he was faced with more delays. Air traffic control already had limits on flights due to the weather, and said they were not comfortable letting his jet take off with the winds so nasty. Annoyed and irate, Kaiba drew himself up to his full height and gave the airport officials a stern earful about their precautions, assuring them that he was a professional and a well-trained pilot, with another licensed pilot aboard just in case. A little wind storm coming off the ocean was nothing, he could handle it behind the stick of a high-tech jet such as his. His blustery manner and the way he tended to growl without raising his voice unnerved the traffic controllers, but they couldn’t just let him have his way. They had the safety of many to think about, not just him and his copilot alone. Just as Kaiba was about to get even more worked up, Alastair took him by the arm and pulled him aside. “Maybe they have a point,” he said patiently. “If it’s that rough out there, I don’t want to be flying, either. We should wait it out, see if it clears up any.”
Kaiba glowered at him. “We don’t have time. It’ll be dark by the time we reach Domino as it is.”
“I know, but…” Alastair glanced cautiously at the collection of traffic controllers fidgeting a few feet away while they held private conference. “I’d rather get there in one piece. Now that I finally have you, I don’t want to lose you.” He prodded his partner with a look, until Kaiba finally huffed a bothered sigh and looked away. “You and I are both good pilots, but better safe than sorry, all right? Let’s just give it an hour, see if it changes. You can throw your weight around after that.” He took the twitch of Kaiba’s brow and his silence as relenting, and gestured for him to return to address the waiting airport staff. Alastair decided to handle the negotiations. “We’ll wait it out for maybe an hour. We figure, if we just give it a little time, the weather will clear enough for us to take off.” He narrowed his eyes at the controllers. “The worst of it has to be past us already. It snowed last night.”
“Perhaps,” one of the officials said with concern. “We are monitoring the situation, I assure you, Mr. Kaiba. We are constantly updating the weather reports.”
Alastair nodded at him. “Go back and check them again – and keep checking them until a window opens. We can wait for a short time, but eventually, we’ll need to take off regardless.” He looked to his partner for affirmation.
Closing his eyes, Kaiba growled to himself. “Keep me informed. I want to take off the minute a window opens up, even if it isn’t the best of conditions. I have to get back to Domino, I can’t stay here another night.”
“Yes, sir,” an airport manager agreed with an enthusiastic nod. “I will personally update you if anything changes. In the meantime, the pilots’ lounge is open to you, if you don’t wish to wait in the passenger area.”
“That will be sufficient.” Kaiba turned sharply, making his coat flare behind him, and stalked arrogantly off toward the pilots’ lounge. Alastair followed a step behind, giving one short glance behind him to make sure the controllers left to do their jobs.
There was room at one table in the lounge for both young men to set up their respective laptops and feign a little work, though after their long weekend, neither really felt like plunging into another project right away. Alastair had a few bug fixes he could set up to implement when he returned to the office in the morning, and Kaiba knew he could always work on coding for Legendary Heroes. They sat behind their laptop screens for a couple of hours, a cup of coffee for each beside them, apparently engrossed in whatever was keeping them busy. Yet, now and then, one would sneak a surreptitious brush of a hand against the other whenever they were sure no one would catch them. At last, when Kaiba began to do less working and more staring at the clock and grumbling, one of the ground crew came to inform them that the weather had cleared enough to let the jet take off. “You know, if I were flying myself,” he crewman said cautiously, “I wouldn’t want to leave at all, but…word is you did want to take off if there was any chance of it in the slightest.”
Kaiba had already packed away his laptop, and stood swiftly. “I’m an experienced pilot, and I’m well aware of what I’m getting into,” he said adamantly. “If there is enough of a window to permit flight, I’m going.”
“Yes, sir, if you insist,” the crewman sighed. “My bosses would prefer to keep you grounded, but we can’t really keep you. It’s a nice jet you got there – it’ll be a rough ride, but you can probably manage.”
Kaiba glanced at his companion as he rose beside him, having also packed away his computer. “My copilot and I have been through worse. I’ve already signed off on the flight plan.”
“Yes, sir. Come along, then.”
A brisk, chill wind still cut across the tarmac, snapping the two long coats, but the clouds were breaking up and larger planes were being allowed to traffic. Alastair willingly took the position of copilot in order to help Seto keep an eye on all the instruments and fly safe, intending this time to do more than just assist with the pre-flight check and sit back. They would have to fly at a lower altitude than usual, and even then the wind was going to test the limits of their skills. Immediately upon takeoff they could feel it, but the journey was important and they both snapped into professional precision in order to cooperate and fly themselves safely home. Winds buffeted the craft and made for a shaky, white-knuckle ride, but both of them had been trained above and beyond the basic requirements and handled it well enough. They hardly spoke the entire way home except to relay orders and keep each other informed, putting aside all casual thoughts in order to concentrate. Neither were particularly alarmed by the weather, but each needed a level head and steady hand to do his part to keep the jet on course. If one slipped, the other would be there to correct. The closer they got to Domino, the better the weather became, and the coming of night helped to calm the winds considerably. It was dark when they finally landed on the rooftop of KaibaCorp, guiding themselves by the jet’s high-tech radar as well as the craft’s bright landing lights. No one was around on a Sunday night except for one air crewman, who had been scheduled to await the boss’s return, and once he saw them safely landed and disembarked, he was dismissed. Kaiba and Alastair both shouldered their bags and stepped into the elevator, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and relax their tensed nerves. Kaiba retrieved his cell phone from an inner pocket of his coat and gave a small sniff of amusement that he had several missed calls from Mokuba. “I should have called him before we left,” he mused idly as the elevator plummeted to the garage level. “He must be frantic that I’m late.”
“So call him now,” Alastair said pointedly. “Let him know we’re on the ground.”
“Yeah. In a minute.” The door chimed and slid open to reveal the dark, orangely-lit underground parking garage, completely deserted but for Kaiba’s car and a blue motorcycle. They both stepped out and paused at the same time, aware that this was finally the end of their weekend. Alastair turned to his partner and smiled faintly, but Kaiba spoke first. “Next time, it’ll be somewhere warmer than Hokkaido.”
“Next time?” Alastair’s eyebrows went up, but then he shook his head with a smile. “It doesn’t matter. Anywhere is good.” He stepped closer, his boots echoing in the endlessly deserted garage. “Thanks. I had a good time.”
Kaiba took him by the arm and pulled him into a deep kiss without preface. When his partner broke off with a breathless sigh, he murmured, “I wouldn’t have let the plane go down no matter how bad the weather.” Blue eyes glittered in the darkness. “I don’t intend to lose you, either.”
Alastair gasped sharply, and found himself paralyzed even as Kaiba stepped back, drawing himself out of his lover’s grasp and heading for his car. In his mind, there was no need to prolong this parting. Alastair regained his composure and called after him, “Tell Mokuba I said hi. And I’m sorry for keeping you out too late. He can scold me later.”
Kaiba glanced briefly over his shoulder and gave one gruff chuckle before turning away and going to the car. Alastair picked up his bag and crossed the wide, empty garage to his motorcycle, his heart pounding in his chest. His tongue darted out to taste his lips, and a hot blush rose in his cheeks as he forced himself to stalk the rest of the way to his bike without looking back, even when he heard the sports car’s engine rev.
December set in with a cold snap promising of the winter soon to come, but no snow fell in Domino just yet. It was more than likely a temporary chill, to be followed by wetter winds off the ocean to the west and more moderate temperatures for that time of year. This month, many more people besides Yugi were aware of the coming full moon, because it brought with it a topic of discussion for every fluff news outlet and superstitious old-timer in the city: a lunar eclipse. Yugi first heard it from the television while he was folding laundry late one evening, and immediately felt an icy-sharp twinge in his heart. He whirled around to watch the rest of the brief news story about the total eclipse being visible across parts of China and all of Japan, his eyes wide, hardly aware of his spiritual partner paying keen attention along with him. The news anchor seemed blithely amused by the prospect, but for some reason, Yugi couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. As soon as it ended and the news program went to commercial, he consulted his partner without a moment’s hesitation. “Do you think an eclipse will have any effect on the ritual?”
The phantom vision of Yami beside him raised curious eyebrows. “Why should it?”
Yugi blinked at him. “You mean, you’re not worried at all?”
The pharaoh’s spirit shook his head. “Is there a reason you are?”
“Well…” Yugi shyly finished folding the shirt he had been hanging onto before thinking up an answer. “I don’t really know that much about magic rituals. If you had all your memories you would understand it better than me, but we’re in this together. I guess…” He closed his eyes and sighed, though it helped to focus his vision inward instead of outward, imagining his partner standing before him. “…it goes back to the very first times we performed the ritual, and all the precautions Shadi gave me. When he taught me the incantation, he said that if even the slightest little thing was out of place, I said a word wrong or something, it would fail. The ritual only works on the full moon, so wouldn’t an eclipse make it…out of place?”
Yami stroked his chin thoughtfully, his violet eyes darkening. “I’m not sure. But I can feel your apprehension, Yugi. I won’t dismiss your concern outright, even if I’m not as worried.”
“Yugi?” The foreign voice intruded on their conference, forcing Yugi to open his eyes and look to see who was calling him. His grandfather stood beside him, peering perplexedly at him. “Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Yugi assured with a weak laugh. “I was just talking to Yami about something. Did you hear, on the news? There’s going to be an eclipse with the next full moon.”
Grandpa Muto’s eyes lit up. “Oo! Isn’t that interesting? They’re very rare. Are we going to be able to see it here, or is this one of those eclipses that only some little island in the South Pacific gets to see?”
“Um…no, they said it’ll be visible over all of Japan.”
“Ooo…I might have to take a peek out my window that night, then.” Grandpa winked smartly at him and moved on to the kitchen, where he had been headed up until the sight of Yugi standing motionless in the middle of the living room with his eyes closed caught his attention.
“It’s all right, Yugi,” a voice breathed in the young one’s mind. “Come into the Puzzle when you go to bed, tonight. We’ll talk about it face to face.”
That was an idea Yugi had no problem consenting to, enabling him to go back to his laundry and other chores, though he remained in a subdued, thoughtful mood. Even though Yami wasn’t discussing it with him, he could still ponder this news, so that he might be able to better express himself when their minds met inside the world of the Puzzle later that night. He watched the rest of the news and part of a weird late-night game show before deciding to retire, saying a weary good night to his grandpa and closing himself away in his room. He got all good and snuggled into warm pajamas and blankets before taking the Puzzle between his hands and closing his eyes to focus, eager for this chance to be with his partner, for a talk like this was best conducted in each other’s presence where they could comfort if necessary. As Yugi laid his hand on the latch of the door in his subconscious that separated his mind from the pharaoh’s, it clicked from within and Yami opened the door for him, smiling warmly to invite him inside. They clasped hands and kissed, after which Yugi gave a sweet, relieved smile. “I’m so glad you thought of this. I still don’t know why I’m so unsettled, but I’d rather talk it out with you here…where we can be together…”
“I figured as much.” Yami turned away, tugging him by the hand. “Come, let’s go to our room, first. I’d rather sit there with you in comfort, rather than out here.”
Yugi wordlessly purred his agreement, allowing himself to be lovingly escorted through the stone-walled corridors of the Puzzle to the room of their special need, the room which Yami’s imagination had decorated to look like a pharaoh’s bedchamber. They usually met each other there to use the beautiful canopied bed, but there were also chairs there, nearer to the non-functional window that displayed only a blank black outside. This particular evening, lamps glowed warmly in the area around the chairs, providing a safe, comforting atmosphere in which to sit and talk. One seat was broad enough to fit two, so Yugi eagerly slid onto it, smiling in invitation as the pharaoh sank down beside him and laid an arm on the back of the seat so it would be around his young love’s shoulders. Yugi leaned against him and heaved a long sigh. “So. The eclipse.”
“You’ve been thinking about it most of the night,” Yami noted. “Have you figured anything out?”
“Not really,” Yugi mumbled. “I just thought…it’s something unusual, out of the ordinary. I’m afraid it might affect the ritual, but I don’t even know how it would – if it would make the ritual just not work, or something worse.”
“I understand your reasoning,” Yami said patiently, “but unfortunately, we have no way of contacting Shadi to find out what he knows about…how astronomical phenomena affect ritual sorcery.”
“I know,” his partner grumbled, “we can’t exactly just pick up a phone and call him. We could ask Marik,” he added, somewhat warily, “but something tells me he wouldn’t really know anything either.”
“If it would ease your mind, we should at least try,” Yami suggested. “Perhaps he wouldn’t know anything about our embodiment ritual, but others in general.” He raised his hand off the back of the seat in order to comb his fingers through Yugi’s drooping bangs. “The trouble is, Shadi has told us several times that he doesn’t know anything about this ritual, because prior to us, it had been untested. Consider that bout of fainting you had for a while, until we discovered a few ways to strengthen you the night of the ritual to be able to withstand the energy it takes from you. We are still learning about it, together.”
“I know, and that’s probably why I’m so worried.” Yugi shifted toward him, his eyes wide and forlorn. “There’s so much we don’t know, that we can’t say for certain whether or not an eclipse will have any effect on the ritual. You’d think it wouldn’t, but we don’t know enough about it to say that with total confidence.” He laid his hand on top of Yami’s, which rested on his knee, leaning in with a yearning expression. “I mean, how is it that we can only perform it on the full moon? How does the phase of the moon dictate the magic’s effect? I’m just afraid…that because it’s so dependent on the moon…then, any change to the moon, just like a change to the incantation or any other facet of the ritual, means it won’t work.”
Yami gazed at him and nodded in his slow, placid way. “I see. I can’t argue with that, Yugi, it’s something to be considered. But still, I’m not sure.” He combed Yugi’s trailing bangs out of the way and placed his hand gently on his cheek instead, tipping his face up in order to meet his eyes. “We have two choices. We can either go ahead with the ritual as usual, and use the opportunity to discover whether your fears are founded, or we can forego the visit for one month, to be safe.” His fingertips caressed softly. “The choice is yours, my love. You are the one who has to perform the ritual. I can’t force you, if you don’t want to.”
Yugi lowered his eyes to his hands clasped in his lap, wilting with a small groan. “I’m not sure I can stand being without you for one month,” he murmured. “I’ve gotten very attached to those visits.”
“As have I,” the pharaoh smiled. “You’ll have to decide whether it’s worth the risk.”
“Considering we can’t even say for sure that there is a risk…” Yugi shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to do anything that would cause your spirit to be damaged or lost, but at the same time, I really want to be with you. I hate feeling so selfish, but…you’re right, we really can’t say that anything bad will happen. I’d feel silly if we played it safe for no reason, and lost out on a chance to have a good day together.” He slumped his head into his hands and rubbed his temples. “I really don’t know what to do. I wish we knew more about shadow magic, and how it works.”
“We should ask Marik,” Yami implored. “He has more experience with the shadow realm. Not that I want to bring up memories best left buried,” he added in a low murmur, “but we need his knowledge to help us better understand our situation.”
Yugi lifted his head and gazed solemnly at him. “Do you want to skip the ritual this month? I don’t want to be the only one making the decision – it’s up to you just as much.”
Yami held his gaze for a moment before shaking his head slowly. “No. I am just as selfish, Yugi – I want to be with you. I promise you, none of my instincts give me any cause for alarm over the eclipse. I may not be able to remember, but some part of me is naturally tapped into my powers, and they aren’t reacting at all. I think it should be significant that you’re the one with the misgivings, not me.”
“Yeah, it is kind of weird,” Yugi admitted with a small laugh. “You’re sure, though? You’re not having any rumbles deep in your instincts?”
“None at all,” the pharaoh calmly assured. “An eclipse is merely the moon moving through the earth’s shadow, there’s no reason to suspect it would be an issue. The moon is still full.”
“Yeah, but people didn’t know that back in your day,” Yugi said with a smirk. “They thought it was a bad omen.”
For a moment, a flicker of concern passed through Yami’s eyes. He could not remember the days when his people saw omens of good and evil in natural occurrences, but when Yugi spoke of it, some small part of his instinct finally wavered in uncertainty. He still wasn’t convinced that the eclipse would have much, if any, of an effect on the ritual, but he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Yugi had a point, and the eclipse itself was a warning to them about something else. He shook it off and reassured his lover with another caress to his cheek. “People may think all kinds of strange things,” he mused, “but the truth is, it’s perfectly natural. We can be cautious, but I don’t see a compelling reason to forego the ritual entirely. We’ll talk to Marik,” he decided with some confidence, “and barring any alarmist answers from him, we will make sure you are good and rested before the ritual, and keep our eyes and senses open for any sign of trouble. All you have to do to stop the ritual is stop reciting the incantation, if anything goes wrong. Then, it will simply not work and I will have to be content with another night in the Puzzle as usual.” He raised an eyebrow. “Sound fair?”
Yugi nodded emphatically. “Mhm. That sounds good. I can handle that.” A smile returned to his face with its usual gentle confidence. “Thanks, Yami. That makes me feel a lot better about it.”
“If you were too scared to conduct the ritual, I wouldn’t force you,” the pharaoh promised, his eyes growing solemn and sweet. “Even if you want us to make the choice together, you’re the one in control of it, and I would never demand that you bend to my wishes in defiance of your feelings. That would be a betrayal of trust of the highest degree…an unforgivable betrayal.”
“It’s okay, Yami,” Yugi assured him, caressing his hand again. “It’s not that serious.” Deep within his soul he knew where his partner’s sudden dreadful concern stemmed from, but in order to help him heal from it, he could not call attention to it and dredge up dark memories that were better off buried. He didn’t need Yami’s constant assurance that he would never betray Yugi again, he knew intuitively because of how much his one mistake had shattered Yami. The thoughts stirred up by Alastair’s reappearance in their lives should have been laid to rest, but Yugi understood that they were still in there somewhere, festering like cobwebs in some black corner of the labyrinth of the pharaoh’s mind. At least, for now, the touch of his own hand and the smile with which he tried to convey reassurance effectively wiped the brief flash of darkness from Yami’s sagacious eyes. Yugi went even further, picking up the hand he clasped and holding it to his cheek, feeling the warmth and solidity that were only imagination’s shadows here, but could be his for that one fleeting day thanks to the ritual. “You’re always looking out for me, protecting me,” he murmured lovingly. “If you were worried by the eclipse, you would be the one protecting me from doing anything foolish. But if you’re fine…then I’m fine. You wouldn’t put either of us in harm’s way for something so unimportant as being in a body for a day.” His eyes flicked up to his partner’s face in a sheepish sort of grin. “Well, unimportant in the big picture, I mean.”
Yami chuckled warmly, assisting Yugi in his little caress by voluntarily running the backs of his fingers along his cheek. “I know what you mean. Don’t worry. If I sense any danger, you’re the first one I will tell.”
“Deal.” Yugi lunged and collapsed against him, snuggling contentedly into the pharaoh’s strong arms. Yami caught him and held him, leaning back against the back of the seat so they could peaceably enjoy one another in silence for a while. After a bit, Yugi squirmed a little to reposition himself, half-lying against Yami with the ability to look up and behold his elegant face. “You know, as long as I’m here…” he began with an impish smile.
Yami smiled back, though with a tiny wrinkle of regret in his brow. “Oh, Yugi. I hate to say this, but…I don’t know if I’m in the mood right now.”
Fortunately, Yugi didn’t stop smiling. He shook his head so that his cheek effectively nuzzled his partner’s chest. “I’m not really, either. Not after having all those heavy things on my mind. I just meant…” He lifted his head again. “…sleeping here, with you, instead of on the outside? In case my brain doesn’t want to shut off and let me sleep…”
“Now that sounds like a good idea.” Yami cuddled him a while longer, and when they were both ready, helped his partner up so they could accompany each other across the room to the bed, dousing torches and lamps along the way. The pharaoh gracefully swept aside the sheer canopy, giving Yugi the invitation he needed to crawl into bed and fumble his way under the linens. His body on the outside was already comfortably snuggled into a warm bed, so this was just an extra sensory treat for his mind to delight in. Yami stripped partway down and climbed in with him, willingly receiving the pounce into his arms that he expected would come as soon as he was within touching distance. In minutes, Yugi had settled down with his head pillowed on his lover’s bare chest and closed his eyes, already drifting toward sleep. Yami lay with his arms curled around him, stroking his fingers through his hair to soothe him even further, his mind alert enough to spend most of the night awake on vigil rather than sharing the respite of slumber. He didn’t need the sleep while inside the Puzzle, and right now, he was much more intent on making sure that no dark dreams disturbed Yugi’s sleep. I wish I could prove to you that we will be all right, he mused as he watched Yugi’s slack face and the light flutter of his eyelashes on his cheeks. You have filled me with doubt, my love. Your argument makes too much sense. Yet, I still sense nothing out of the ordinary. For your sake… He bowed his head and kissed Yugi softly on the forehead. Yugi didn’t twitch a muscle. I hope I am more right than you are.
It took a few rounds of phone tag before Yugi and Marik could coordinate a good time to get together and talk, between their respective schedules. Yugi didn’t want to drop in on his friend when he was home alone with Bakura, just in case it was one of those nights where Bakura really needed some time away from his homework, and both Yugi and Marik were very busy shop-workers with the holiday buying season off to a stellar start. Finally, with a little over a week to go before the full moon, they managed to find a few minutes where both were free at the same time. Marik had just gotten off his shift at the bookstore, and agreed to meet Yugi at a coffee shop a few doors down. He was standing outside it, clad in a warm but scruffy-looking jacket and a bright, striped scarf, cell phone to his ear, when Yugi approached him from the other direction, huddled down into his own scarf against the nip in the air. Marik turned and spotted him, and beamed brightly before bidding his caller a friendly farewell just as Yugi met him. “Good timing,” the young Egyptian complimented him. “It’s cold, I don’t want to stand around any longer.” He pocketed his cell phone and reached for the handle of the door. “Ryo says hi.”
“Oh, you were talking to Bakura?” Yugi wondered curiously as they passed through into a welcome aura of warmth. “How is he doing?”
“He’s done with class for the day, he’s going to walk down and meet me here so we can walk home together,” Marik replied with significant happiness in his sultry voice. “That still leaves us quite a while to hang around and talk before he gets here.”
“It’s not that I’m trying to keep anything from Bakura deliberately,” Yugi said cautiously as they headed to the counter to order drinks. “I just don’t know how much of the specific details of the ritual he should hear…just in case, you know.”
“He’s very smart, I’m surprised he hasn’t figured it out on his own by now,” Marik mused. “He might be purposely ignoring it for his own sake. He’s just as aware of the spirit of the Ring as we are.”
Yugi nodded absently, and then it was their turn to order. Each picked a decadent chocolate-based coffee drink and retreated to a corner near the window to enjoy them, taking off their coats and settling in to chat and keep an eye on the sidewalk outside for Bakura’s arrival. They briefly caught up on each other’s lives, and then Yugi chose to introduce the real subject of this meeting himself. “So…have you seen that there’s going to be an eclipse next week, with the full moon?”
“Yes, I have,” Marik nodded. “It’s been in all the papers. Seems it’s been a long time since a total lunar eclipse was visible in Japan.” His eyes suddenly grew wide in wonder. “Is that what this is about? You think the eclipse has something to do with the ritual?”
“Kind of,” Yugi responded shyly, clutching his hands around his tall cup. “Yami and I talked about it, and we’re really not sure whether it’s something to fret about. Neither of us know all that much about how the sun and moon and stars are supposed to affect magic rituals, or why so many of them have to do with the sun or moon. We were wondering if…” He raised his eyes to Marik’s intent face across the table. “…you knew anything about the workings of shadow magic, or rituals, from what you’ve been taught.”
Marik rested his chin on his fist and frowned pensively. “Hmm. Like, in general? I’m not sure…I’ll have to think about it for a minute.”
“I know you don’t know any more than we do about our ritual,” Yugi assured. “I just wondered if maybe there was some small thing that’s totally obvious to you, because you’ve used the shadow magic before, that we wouldn’t think of.”
“Unfortunately, I think any secrets of how the rituals were devised died with the sorcerers of ancient Egypt,” Marik sighed. “They’re the only ones who knew why the sun and moon were required to make the rituals or spells work – if they knew.” He fiddled with his coffee drink while he pondered it. “The reasons such elements were incorporated into the rituals had everything to do with the gods of Egypt, and how they revered the sun and moon as gods themselves, moreso than just a symbol. So, in order for magic to be accomplished, the powers of the gods had to be involved. You do know that eclipses were important in the cosmology as well?” he added with a curious quirk of his eyebrows.
“Well yeah…in a very general sense,” Yugi replied, nodding idly.
“They were usually taken as a sign. Only really superstitious people still do, since we know the scientific explanation for them now,” Marik said pointedly, “but back when our ancestors used shadow magic on a regular basis, they didn’t know that. I can’t think of any specific examples of an eclipse being incorporated into a spell, or otherwise affecting it, but that’s not to say it’s not possible. I don’t know everything.” He chanced a sheepish little grin. “I hardly know anything, all things considered. The shadow rituals I familiarized myself with weren’t dependent on phases of the moon or times of day or anything like that, only on the Millennium Items.”
Yugi gazed helplessly at him. “Do you think there’s any chance that the eclipse might affect the ritual? Since it is so dependent on the full moon…”
“I honestly don’t know.” Marik shook his head sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Yugi, I wish I could give you more than that. I’d like to be able to help you but…I don’t think anything in my experiences applies to the embodiment ritual.”
“That’s okay,” Yugi sighed gently, swirling his cup around before taking a sip. “I didn’t expect you to, but I thought I would ask just in case.” He cocked his head in question. “What do you think about it, though? I mean, just from a gut-instinct standpoint?”
“I guess…it has me curious.” Marik sipped at his hot drink before expounding on his answer. “At the first mention, it doesn’t make me particularly worried, but I don’t feel like passing it off, either. When I heard about it, I stopped to wonder for a minute. Total eclipses are very rare. It’s something special, no doubt about it. But I don’t really have any apprehensions of danger.”
“I see.” Yugi shrugged and swirled his cup around some more to mingle the melted whipped cream with the coffee. “It’s just…I’m so careful about not making any mistakes with the ritual, or having anything out of place. But I can’t control an eclipse. It’s just going to happen – and from what I’ve seen, it’ll actually be in totality at midnight here.”
Marik gazed at him for a long moment, studying the light of worry in his eyes. “If you want my honest opinion,” he then said, “I don’t think you need to be afraid that anything will happen to Yami. If anything, it might affect you – or it’ll simply negate the ritual. But a spell so dependent upon the moon might have prepared for this possibility – the author of the spell would never do anything to endanger the pharaoh through it. The vessel…it’s anyone’s guess. But the pharaoh should be fine.”
“Oh, great,” Yugi said in mild sarcasm. “So here I am worrying about Yami, when he should be worried about me.”
Marik chuckled kindly. “I don’t think either of you have anything to worry about, Yugi. If it does have some kind of mysterious, unknown effect on the ritual, the only way to find out is to give it a try.” He cocked his head with a teasing grin. “You’re not really going to skip a month, are you? I mean, I know you can still meet up with him inside the Puzzle, but…”
“You know me too well,” Yugi grumbled good-naturedly, skulking down in his chair and hiding behind his mocha. “I don’t want to deny him the chance to get out and stretch just because I’ve got some irrational fear of the eclipse.”
“And come January, the both of you would be positively stir-crazy with all that pent-up desire,” his friend said playfully. “It seems to me, conducting the ritual is the only safe route to keep you both sane.” He sagged over his own drink with a sigh. “If you’ve been working as hard as I have…and it’s only going to get worse from here…”
“Yeah, I know.” Yugi likewise brooded for a moment, but roused himself and energetically raised his cup. “Here’s to making lots of money!”
Marik laughed and raised his styrofoam cup in toast, amusedly banging it into Yugi’s. “Yeah, at least there’s that!”
They put the heavy topic aside and chatted about frivolous things instead, what with Marik having his twentieth birthday coming rather quickly at the end of the month, to say nothing of the holiday and then New Year’s, all plenty of great reasons for friends to gather together and party. They were so occupied when Marik glanced out the window at his right hand and spotted the approach of a welcome face, waving through the glass to ensure that his partner saw them and joined them upon entering the coffee shop. Bakura’s pale cheeks were rosy red with the chill when he stepped up to their table and unbundled himself, smiling delightedly to see Yugi as well as his lover. “Well! Isn’t this a nice surprise? Hello, Yugi!”
“Hi Bakura!” Yugi said cheerily. “How are you doing?”
“Fine, now that I’m away from campus.” He heaved an aggravated sigh as he wrestled out of his coat and plopped down in the chair beside Marik. “It’s been one nagging issue after another. I told them, not tonight – I need a break.”
Marik turned attentively to him. “Do you want me to get you a drink?”
“Mm…no, I’m all right. Though…” Ryo fixed him with big, soft brown eyes. “I am a little hungry. Maybe a cookie?”
“All right,” Marik laughed, getting up. “I’ll be right back.”
Yugi giggled so hard that he doubled over and almost smacked his head into the table. When Marik had left, he said, “That’s the same look I use on Yami. Works every time!”
Ryo grinned as innocently as he could. “I’m slowly learning how to use my charms. It’s quite nice. But then, I have a good teacher.” He glanced over his shoulder to where Marik stood by the counter, hips cocked, looking every bit as sexy as he might in less clothing. “Anyway…how have you been, Yugi? It’s been a while. I regret that I’ve been so caught up in school.”
“Don’t worry about it. I understand completely,” Yugi assured with a toss of his hand. “I’ve been pretty busy myself. We had such a big success extending our hours at the shop last year, for the holiday, that we’re doing it again. So, I’ve been working hard.”
“I see.” Bakura furtively glanced to the side before swiping his boyfriend’s drink and taking a sip to warm himself. “I suppose neither of us have it particularly easy at this time of year – you, because of the holiday, and me because of end-of-term exams.” He closed his eyes, looking tired. “Not to mention, all of the students graduating this term have to finish their research projects before then, which means all of us research assistants are pretty much being worked like dogs.”
“I think I’d take being open late answering stupid questions about which games are good for grade-schoolers to that,” Yugi said with an impish smile. “No offense.”
Ryo gave him the same smile in return. “Better you than me – I don’t think I could handle a retail job. I don’t much like dealing with strangers.” He glanced up as Marik reappeared at his side, then, and set a plate bearing a confection on the table between them. More than just a cookie, he had brought back a chocolate-swirled scone. The shimmering light in Ryo’s eyes told of his utter delight with the offering, and he darted in to give his partner a peck on the cheek by way of thanks before tearing off a corner of the scone and nibbling politely at it.
Marik slid his coffee drink back to him and took a sip. “So what did you have in mind?” he asked Yugi, returning to the topic they had been discussion prior to Bakura’s arrival. “I don’t think you can top what you pulled for Ryo’s birthday. That was just crazy.”
Yugi beamed and giggled a little. “Yeah, I know. I’m kind of bummed, I haven’t been able to go out and do anything like that since then. I’ve been so busy! And no one is free on the same night anymore. We could go out dancing if you wanted,” he offered, leaning an elbow on the table. “I’m kind of itching for the chance, again.”
“Mm…talking about your birthday?” Ryo noted with a clever smirk for his boyfriend. “We should do something. We can’t let you get away with not being celebrated like everyone else.” He then gave Yugi a regretful look. “The problem is, it’s so close to Christmas. Will everyone be tied up with other obligations?”
“I don’t know, yet,” Yugi shrugged. “I know Joey and Mai are doing some kind of family thing on Christmas itself, but…well, I haven’t even made plans for the holiday yet. It would be kind of nice to do something like last year…” he mused.
Marik stared curiously at him. “What did you do?”
“I had everybody over to my house, we had a big dinner and played games.” He grinned. “Grandpa cooked, it was awesome.”
“Well, if you plan something like that, keep us in mind,” Marik suggested. “I doubt we’ll be doing anything else that day. Ryo’s classes will be over for the semester and I’m sure to have the day off, with nothing to do.”
Yugi consented to ponder the idea, and the other two nodded. Then, Bakura sat up with an emphatic little, “Oh! Did you see?” he asked Yugi. “There’s going to be an eclipse next week.”
Yugi’s eyes went to him in surprise, and a tiny ripple of apprehension shivered down his back, but he chose to downplay it for now. “Yeah, I did,” he replied as casually as he could. “Marik and I were talking about it earlier.”
“I’m so excited,” Ryo breathed in his usual understated way. “I’ve never actually seen one before, I hope I can stay awake late enough to see it in totality.” He glanced aside at his partner while nipping off another piece of his scone. “One of my classmates was going on about it, she’s doing a paper on the origin of superstitions. I just want to see it for the experience, it’s not a chance I’ll get that often.”
“I’ll remind you if I have to,” Marik said with a smile. “I doubt you’ll be asleep by then, but you may have your nose buried in a book or something.”
“Up late studying,” Yugi said with a sympathetic nod.
“Most likely,” Ryo conceded with a shrug. “But, if I want to get ahead, I can’t stop now.”
“It’s all right.” Marik slid his hand over his boyfriend’s and caressed it adoringly. “You know I’ll support you, no matter what. At least I know the best ways to distract you when you really need it.”
Ryo’s cheeks flushed red, and both of them began to giggle cutely. Yugi smiled admiringly across at them, his thoughts turning inward. It was good to see for himself, after all this time, that Marik and Ryo were still as charmingly cute and comfortable with each other as they had been during Marik’s short visit earlier in the year. Then, it could have all been chalked up to the novelty of being together for the first time and the furious attempt to cram as much into a temporary visit as possible, but now, with three months living together under their belts, they were still displaying the same amount of cuteness and attention to each other. Yugi couldn’t help but notice how his timid, shy friend had finally come out of his shell, coaxed by Marik’s unconditional love and support. There was no shadow about him at all, and his dark eyes glowed with near-perfect light. Can it be true? Yugi thought to himself, knowing that his partner could hear every word. Bakura has finally conquered the spirit inside him? I really hope so. He looks so happy. I don’t even want to mention it, because of the way it would ruin his pretty smile.
Even so, the pharaoh’s spirit responded with the same musing thought, we must stay on our guard. After all, you still won’t tell him specifically what triggers the embodiment ritual. You and I both know that such a piece of information might prove too tempting to the Ring spirit.
Yugi sighed to himself, but tried not to let that brief inner conversation sour his expression. He wouldn’t know how to explain it if either Marik or Bakura noticed his sudden melancholy and called him on it. He knew Yami was right, but the eternal optimist in him refused to let it darken his mood. As long as such a strong love existed between any two people, be it Marik and Bakura or himself and Yami, he believed it could overcome anything.
It was a first, for Kaiba and Alastair – the former had humbled himself to agree to spend the night in the latter’s apartment, rather than retreat to the opulent fortress of the Kaiba estate. It wasn’t that Alastair’s flat was somehow less safe, in terms of people seeing them and connecting them to an ongoing sexual relationship, but Kaiba tended to prefer his own place for its familiarity and convenience. Neverminding that Alastair’s flat was actually closer to the office than the estate was. After their weekend away, the two of them were becoming more comfortable with approaching one another and proposing either going out or staying in, even though the actual times they were able to coordinate a night together were quite few. Kaiba had been at the office working late on Legendary Heroes that night anyway, so it was naturally easy for him to take the car himself and slip away to Alastair’s neighborhood, choosing to wind down with him the best way they knew how. A quick cell phone call and Mokuba became the only soul in the entire city who knew where his brother was and would be spending the night.
It seemed normal enough, at first glance. Alastair had the strange feeling he had been here before, seen this place and felt that undercurrent of tension and adrenaline. Of course, he was hunting his prey, preparing to snare a soul, like a thousand times before. But within a few short moments the situation changed, and though he still sensed familiarity, it was tinged with something he didn’t associate with the place and time. Fear, worry, desperation. He looked around; the corridor was dim and cold, with a fierce wind streaming through it. Broken windows, the floor shuddering and shaking. He knew he was on a plane, he could hear the sputtering of crippled engines. A bone-chilling fear seared his heart, sending him into a frantic dash up the corridor to the middle deck of the plane. It wasn’t just windows broken out from the force of a mystical tirade, the entire roof of the plane was torn off and a helicopter hovered above it, trying to keep pace with it. A rope ladder dangled and twisted in the wind, looking nothing like the lifeline it was supposed to be. Alastair gritted his teeth and ran toward it, even though some part of his mind tingled with the fear that he was missing something and couldn’t leave without it. Just as he was making a desperate leap for the rope ladder, he noticed that there was someone on it: a strange man in a dark suit, wearing sunglasses. His face was completely unrecognizable, but he seemed to be calling above the noise of the wind and the jet’s dying engines. A hand extended toward Alastair, reaching to help. Alastair gathered himself and sprang toward the offered assistance, neverminding that he didn’t know this man and couldn’t be sure he wasn’t about to be captured or otherwise punished for what he had done. He caught the ladder at the same time the man grabbed a fistful of his coat, helping to haul him up. The brief flash of relief that he had been rescued was suddenly drowned out by a crushing wave of panic, driving Alastair to turn and look over his shoulder. Below him, he could see the big jumbo jet with its roof peeled away, loose papers and unsecured furniture tumbling all over the gray carpeting. It was obviously going down. But what struck him with indescribably numbing fear was the man standing in the middle of the deck, staring up at him, white coat flapping around his legs. Kaiba. Alastair’s breath caught in his throat, but it was the look in the man’s eyes that made him hesitate for just a heartbeat. There was no anger or hatred there, no accusation, just a blank resignation, perhaps a little regret. Alastair let out a gasp, and then hooked his arm around one of the rungs of the ladder so he could lean back down, ignoring the man who had helped him yelling at him to get aboard the helicopter so they could escape. “Kaiba!” he shouted into the swirling winds. “Come on! Jump, grab my hand! You can do it! Kaiba!”
The figure in the white coat remained motionless, gazing up at him with confused blue eyes, seemingly oblivious to the air rushing around him and the gradual descent of the crashing plane. Suddenly, Alastair was alone on the rescue ladder, still thrusting his hand out in the hopes that Kaiba might come to his senses and jump to catch it. They were so close, but he needed to jump. Alastair kept screaming at him, becoming more fervent as he realized the plane was seconds from plowing into the rocky crags and exploding: “Kaiba! Jump! Come on! Just grab my hand! Please! Kaiba!” To Alastair’s dismay, the helicopter began to accelerate, pulling itself out of the way so it wouldn’t be taken down with the jet, whisking him to safety but leaving Kaiba standing there about to go down with his ship. He still just stared at Alastair, who was still screaming, “Please, Kaiba, just jump! I’ll catch you! Kaiba! Come on!” Then, the clouds swallowed up the dying plane, all but the sound of the damaged engines coughing and cutting out, and Alastair found himself suddenly unable to speak another word. He worked his mouth in the same formations, but no sound came out, and then he couldn’t breathe, the air became too thick to enter his lungs…
Alastair shot bolt upright in the bed, heaving for breath. He wasn’t on the plane, in the duel, in the past, he was in his flat in the middle of the night with a warm body asleep beside him. His heart thundered in his chest, and he began to understand the cliché about waking up in a cold sweat – his bare chest was beaded with it, though he trembled as if with chill. As he gradually became more awake and could dredge his conscious thought out of the darkness, he realized he had been having a nightmare, an all too real one at that. It was fading, now, but he was still terrified of the intense feelings provoked by the imaginary images his unconscious mind had dredged up. The sudden movement had woken Kaiba as well, though he didn’t stir until he realized his partner was sitting up beside him and breathing very heavily. He had been asleep on his side facing away, and had to pick up his head to glance over his shoulder and see what the problem was. Through the grogginess, he began to guess that it wasn’t an onset of illness or amusingly unexpected wet dream. “What is it?” he murmured reflexively.
Alastair gave a visible twitch as he heard the husky voice beside him, and then heaved a sigh to try to calm himself. “It’s nothing,” he muttered shortly, easing his death-grip on the blanket wrapped around his waist. “Nothing. Just a crazy dream.” He shook his head and forced himself to take one more deep breath before lying back down and tugging the blanket with him, pulling it up around his shoulder as he turned his back to Kaiba.
As much as Seto would normally have accepted whatever explanation was offered and gone right back to sleep, he could see that Alastair was shaken. He knew that if it had happened to him, he would have done the same thing, expecting that his partner would take his word for it and let him get back to sleep. Yet, he also considered that despite their similarities in personality, Alastair was not him. Instead of dismissing the interruption, Kaiba eased onto his back, listened to Alastair’s ragged breathing for a moment, and then rolled over to put an arm around him. His red-haired partner tensed for a moment, but subtly relaxed into the body spooned up behind him, though he still didn’t acknowledge the nightmare beyond that. Kaiba’s unsolicited gesture of comfort troubled him, because he could still see the Kaiba of his dream staring at him, with those piercingly sad blue eyes. It had all gone by so fast, he couldn’t remember details now, but those eyes haunted him – that, and the scream in his own throat. Alastair wanted to close himself off, retreat, prove to himself that he hadn’t dreamt anything so significant, but he was already safe at home and had no intention of asking Seto to leave. The other man’s hand was making slow trips across his bare chest, caressing in small circles as if to soothe away the dark dream with just his presence. It was a purely Kaiba sort of thing, for he offered no whispered encouragement or any sweet, comforting talk that most sympathetic lovers would do to calm down a frightened partner, only his silent touch. It stung Alastair’s heart with a sweet pang of longing, and with another deep breath, he forced himself to close his eyes and sink back against Kaiba, accepting the arm over his waist and the fingertips soothingly brushing his skin. It wasn’t long before he drifted back to sleep, showing no sign over the rest of the night of repeating the terrifying dream.
Kaiba was naturally very tired and a brief stir even as violent as Alastair’s wouldn’t have prevented him from going back to sleep, but he allowed himself to lie awake until he was sure by his partner’s even breathing that he had fallen asleep first. He didn’t know Alastair well enough to know if he had energetic dreams on a regular basis or any kind of sleep disorders, but it did occur to him that every night they had spent together so far had always gone blissfully uninterrupted until the alarm clock in the morning. It was just a freak anomaly, then, and one that had no lasting repercussions. Kaiba decided to leave his arm right where it was as he nestled into the bedding in as comfortable a spot as he could find, closing his eyes to chase slumber. He had far too much to think about, such as getting up early to return home in order to change and see Mokuba off to school, and whether anyone would notice, to be bothered lying awake wondering all night. As long as the graceful, sensual body resting securely in his embrace didn’t stir again, he didn’t need to worry.