In Safe Hands (PuzzleShipping)

Chapter 19

Yugi sat there beside Yami, tears streaming down his cheeks from the story he was just told. He looked at Yami who sobbed silently on his piano.

"H-he was..." Yami cried, "My...only family...H-He...was the only one...to actually love me...and..."

He broke down all over again.

"Y-Yami..." Yugi rubbed his back slowly, "I'm...I'm so sorry to hear about all of this..."

Yami looked at him through teary eyes and sniffled, hugging him. He closed his eyes, the tears increasing.

"Y-Yugi...No one c-can know..." He said, "N-Not...a soul..."

Yugi swallowed and nodded, holding Yami close for comfort. Yami nuzzled him and sniffled.

"I won't tell anyone..." Yugi reassured him again, "I promise. I swear it."

Yami slightly grinned, drying his tears and lookng at Yugi, his eyes still teary, but his tears slowing.

"I knew I could trust you..." Yami said to him, tightening his grip slightly, "Thank you, Yugi...You don't understand how much you've done for me since we've met..."

Yami hugged him one more time and Yugi grinned slightly.

"And you to me..." He muttered, "..Mou Hitori No Boku."

Yami's cheeks went slightly red at the nickname. He decided to find one for his new close companion.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Yami ran out of the shelter of the base after his battlefield surgeon that he was paired with. He followed him to a young man who laid there with several holes in the chest and three in his right arm.

He strained as the battlefield surgeon muttered everything to Yami, starting with treatment basics and certain procedures in prepping the victim for surgery.

Yami listened intently to his instructions and his tips. He tried fruitlessly to ignore the hundreds of men in terrible conditions that lay scattered across the field.

They all needed help.

They begged...

They pleaded...

They were pathetic in the truest way possible...

He struggled to tune out from the calls for help and to tune in to his paired partner. And did work. For a little while.

Suddenly, he heard a voice above all the others. One that stood out to Yami more than the others.

"H-Help..."

Yami turned slightly, his surgeon still going on, wrapping the soldier's wounds and completing one wound, going on to the next.

Yami backed slowly away so that his surgeon partner wouldn't entirely notice him sneaking away. He continued to hear the voice as sobs could be heard through the words.

"W-Water..."

Yami, after excusing himself as he should, broke away from his partner and went through the field looking for the source of the one voice that he heard above all the others. His heart broke at the scenery around him. Bodies lay dead and dying of young men and women who served in the battle with a grimmer fate than that of some of their colleagues.

Yami looked at the various bodies and could feel his heart being ripped to shreds from the images that he saw. It wasn't until then did he realize how hot it was. It was one of the hottest days on record and Yami had almost forgot to conserve his water to last so that he wouldn't need to refill.

"P-Please..."

The voice was slightly louder and the source was closer. Yami felt it. He continued to walk through the field until he suddenly stopped. He noticed a certain youthful soldier lying in a pool of blood on the floor and he and Yami met eyes.

"B-Big...Brother..." The soldier's voice cracked, tears increasing down his cheeks and mixing with the blood on and around him.

Yami suddenly had the worst feeling ever. Who was this guy? He couldn't tell.

Then...

Then he removed his hat, exposing tri colored hair that was anything but strange and foreign to him. And he paled.

"H-Heba?!" He broke into a run and fell to his knees next to him, gently taking him into his arms, "Heba!"

Heba looked up at him, his voice weak and hoarse as his tears continued to flow. He was covered in blood from head to two with several gaping holes scattered throughout his body.

"Y-Yam...i..." He said, his voice fading.

He contracted, coughing up blood from the bottom of his throat. He then winced, looking up at him through teary eyes.

"H-Heba...You'll..." Yami tried to reassure him, "You'll be okay...I know you will...b-be...st-strong..."

Heba lightly gripping his sleeve with a bloody hand.

"Y-Yami..." He whispered, a low gurgle sounding, "I...I'm scared...B-Big Brother..."

Yami rested a hand on his and held Heba closer, to the point where Heba was able to hear the steady and rhythmic beat of his here asking heart.

"I'm here..." Yami said, his eyes tearing up, "I'll stay until the end. I'll st-stay forever...if I have to...I'll protect y-you..."

Heba bit his bottom lip.

"Y-Yami..." His eyes drooped, "I...I'll..."

Yami paled and clutched him, feeling the hand on his sleeve get heavier and slip down.

"H-Heba??" He looked down dreadfully at his brother.

"Y-Yami..." Heba strained to smile reassuringly, "Remember...me...I'll th-then...live..."

Heba's eyes slipped closed and he went limp in his brother's arms as his final word escaped his lips.

"On..."

Yami's eyes brimmed with tears as he held his brother's body. He rested a single hand on the back of the head and hugged it, sobbed out loud. He lost everything.

His family...

His home...

His friends...

His...brother...

He suddenly noticed, through the tears that there was a strange shadow lurking about, making his heart ache worse. His cried harder and soon, the shadow disappeared, a sharp dagger flying for his neck.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"AH~!"

Yami sat straight up in bed, his face and pillow wet with tears after crying himself to sleep once Yugi left. He panted shakily, wiping his tears and sitting in shock.

He looked onto his bedside table where a picture of he and his step brother sat, the two laughing in the image. It had been the picture they had taken right before Heba left for boot camp.

Yami picked it up, gazing into his brother's face.

"...Heba..."

He clutched the photo, hugging it and sniffing, a single tear falling onto the picture on Heba's face.

"...I'm so...sorry."