Life After Death

Chapter 4

When they arrived at a building, Yugi was taken into a padded building and chained to one of the walls. No matter how hard he tried to fight, he couldn't break free. He guessed they'd keep him for at least few months, see how he worked, then get rid of him one way or another. He was hoping his friends would come to save him in time, he would love to see them again.

Month 1: They didn't feed him anything and a guard would cut him, he healed quickly for the first few days, but the quickness slowed the longer he didn't eat until he stopped healing all together. He would cry in pain whenever he was cut, hoping it would stop.

Month 2: The guard inserted metal into Yugi's jaw and screwed it shut, the boy wept in pain the entire time and it got worse as they would whip and cut him anywhere they wanted.

Month 3: He was beaten with a stick and stabbed in the right eye, he couldn't see anything at all as he sobbed in pain. A tight collar was put around his throat, his fears had begun to turn into paranoia and panic attacks.

Month 4: He was left alone for the most part, and at first he welcomed it, that is until he started to miss the company of anyone, even those who meant him harm. He could almost imagine Joey next to him, telling him it would be okay.

Month 5: ---

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Yugi was curled up in a corner of the padded cell, staring off into space, he did that often nowadays. He curled up into a ball and closed his eyes, he could almost feel his friends holding him and telling him to hang in there. They were coming. They would always come. Just hang in there. It was a nice thought to have, yet Yugi never truly believed it. It had been so long since he felt the touch of a kind hand, he could almost imagine Joey or Tristan gently stroking his hair. Almost.

Just one gentle touch was all he had wished for in these last few months. Even if it would be for a brief second, that small window of kindness would be worth every millisecond. As he waited for what was to come next, he hardly heard the door open or the voice speaking to him. The yelling that he heard sounded distant, then he felt it. He felt that gentle touch he had longed for since day one. Yugi leaned into the touch and slowly opened his left eye to see Joey Wheeler holding him. They were both sitting on the ground and Yugi had managed to nestle his head into the crook of Joey's neck. He glanced towards the door when he heard running, then saw Duke and  Tristan, he noticed the keys that Tristan was carrying and wondered what exactly they were for. Yugi got his answer when Duke and Tristan entered and they were frantically trying to free him from the straightjacket.

Once the cuffs and chest pieces were removed, they carefully helped to untangle Yugi's arms, then Tristan got to work on his mouth. Joey set Yugi down and went to fight the oncoming guards, Duke went to help. Yugi looked at Tristan and wondered why it took so long, he began to sob as he imagined the thought that they may have betrayed him. Tristan stopped working and gently wiped away Yugi's tears, there was no time to talk and they both knew it. Once Yugi had been soothed Tristan resumed removing the metal from his mouth, then he picked his friend up onto his back and went to help the others.

Guards swarmed them, Tristan had to set Yugi down to help fight them, but it was in vain. Duke was overwhelmed with guards and Tristan was back-to-back with Joey. Not being able to take his friends possibly getting killed or captured, Yugi lifted a hand and started blasting guards in the back. His friends were shocked but quickly realized that Yugi had changed since he was captured. The young vampire had gained unbridled rage from all the torture he has had to endure and he continued to blast the guards until half of them were dead. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he lowered his hand, the guys rushed over to him in a heartbeat.

"Yugi, it's going to be okay now." Duke told him, "Oh god, what did they do to you." They had just now gotten a good look of their little buddy and noticed every cut and bruise on the visible parts of his body. Joey and Tristan helped Yugi to stand and they helped him to walk, it was a battle as they exerted more energy than they would have needed had he been fed. "Yugi, I need you to tell me when the last time you ate was."

Yugi looked to Duke who led the way, he had no idea how long it had been, but he remembered who it was. "When Joey fed me." Yugi told him in a hoarse voice, he began to stumble and they had to stop to let Yugi rest for a bit, they were still far from the exit. Yugi was carefully sat down against a wall, he watched as Duke knelt in front of him and pull out a dagger, then he slit his own wrist and offered it to Yugi. No time was wasted as he was quick to feed from Duke, hungry for the blood. He only took two pints before sealing the wound with his saliva, his smaller wounds closed up easily. He then carefully pulled Duke close in an attempt to let his body reproduce the blood without him feeling too dizzy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, we have to get you out of here." Duke said in a gentle voice, then he looked at Yugi in confusion. "Why isn't your eye healing?"

Yugi frowned as he touched his right eye, he couldn't help but wonder if it was permanent. Yelling could be heard as guards ran towards them. "Help me up!" Yugi exclaimed to his friends, it was Joey who helped him and the three watched in shock as Yugi started blasting away. "Tristan! Get Duke out of here!" Yugi commanded, "He's too weak to fight!"

Tristan nodded and picked up Duke, then ran in the opposite direction. Neither wanted to leave Yugi and Joey, but they figured they would be more of a nuisance if they tried to help. Once they were out of the building and Tristan had put Duke down under a tree, he called Seto Kaiba. "Come on...pick up already!"

"What the hell do you want Taylor?" Seto demanded, "I'm extremely busy!"

"I can care less." was Tristan's reply, "Look, we found Yugi, but he's hurt and weak aside from his fire powers." he explained quickly, "We're going to need a ride...please."

Seto sighed softly, "Where are you?"

"At a place called Un-Lab-Tural." he replied, "We can discuss how stupid the name is later, just please hurry."

"I'm sending a limo there now, you will be brought to my mansion." Seto told him, "Mokuba was turned into a vampire a few weeks ago, I have plenty of blood saved up."

"Thank you." Tristan sighed softly, "Thank you so much."

"No problem." Seto brushed it off, "Anything else?"

"Yeah, we may need medical equipment." Tristan told him, "Yugi could collapse at any moment."

"I'll set up a room for him then." There was a slight pause, then a sigh, "I'll also send one of my doctors."

"Thank you Kaiba, we all really appreciate it." Tristan told him, then he hung up the phone and waited with hope that they could all be saved.