Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Into the Desolate Night	By : Athena Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 5700 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit Yugioh fanfiction. I will leave warnings at the start of each chapter as necessary as not all tags will apply to every chapter. This story will be heavily laden with plot and mature themes. PG13 version available

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
****MATURE CONTENT****
You have all been warned.
So yeah, this has been a long time coming. Hopefully its worth the wait.
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Chapter Six
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Yami.
That name was a repeating nightmare.
No matter how he tried he couldn’t shake the image of those scarlet eyes from his memory. The smell of sandalwood and mint clung to the air like a fine vapour after a storm. There was no reason for it yet his presence lingered, etched into both Yugi’s waking hours and dreams. A festering shadow refusing to yield even in the bright hours of the afternoon.
The weather had no business in being this bright and sunny, not while he was trapped inside and his mind flooded with such misery. He’d rather it remain grey as it had over the past couple of days, especially if he was expected to sit here and do nothing. It was easier to sleep when it was dark, pass the hours by and not give in to the complicated questions that stalked his waking world.
He couldn’t keep doing this. It was an endless cycle of paranoia, fear and confusion rooting in his mind that made him want to tug angrily at his own wild locks from the sheer frustration of it. It was unhealthy to keep obsessing like this. He knew it was wrong. But Yami, Ryou, Malik, the Urukai, wolf dreams – all of it, everything to do with his attack and abduction was driving him insane. Stuck in a bed, day in and day out. It was hard to know just how long he’d been here now. Meals had been one way to track the day and yet his empty stomach sometimes suggested that he had slept through a feeding; that or his hunger had rapidly increased to the point at which Malik wasn’t bringing him enough. Perhaps he should say something. It seemed wrong to hide such a thing, even if it were only a minor detail.
Just thinking of food brought his stomach to protest again. Hopefully Malik would be by soon. Maybe he would have a chance to ask more questions, poke a little more and see if Malik knew another word besides “after”. That line was getting old and was frightening in and of itself.
The elusive “after”. Malik had promised to explain AFTER. Just another road of discovery he didn’t want his mind to wander for too long. Yes he’d seen Malik do it; woke up to a leopard sleeping in his bed like some overgrown kitten curled up at his feet. But that look, as if Yugi were the strange one for springing out of bed like it had caught fire. A sight like that just wasn’t something a person got used to overnight. Or, like, EVER.
He sighed and banished the thought; pushing it further into the recesses of his mind he’d officially dubbed ‘troubles for another time’. That space was getting mighty cramped as of late. In fact one figure never seemed to stay put and kept slipping out to invade his thoughts. Despite everything and all other more pressing concerns, he was stuck: addicted to the memory of that first night. A sultry vision of scarlet eyes and a ghostly touch graced by the godly colour of warm caramel; the smell of sandalwood and mint, light rain and storm clouds.
Despite his own desire to let it go, everything he had learned about Malik, the clans and what was inevitably going to happen to himself, Yami was the one thing that clung heaviest to his mind. He wouldn’t forget. There were too many questions lacking answers and so, like a broken record, the memory continued to loop.
He knew so little about him, the Senjiyuu, his relation to Ryou – about everything. He didn’t know what half the information meant, what the differences were between the Urukai and Senjiyuu other than the distinction that they were in fact separate clans. But that couldn’t be the only difference could it?
Malik had been at a loss for words, unable to fully explain why the Senjiyuu put the Urukai in a state of unease. The only thing he would say was that the Senjiyuu were dangerous, but beyond that he refused to say. Even Yugi couldn’t even explain it himself, why Yami made him feel the way he did. There weren’t words for it, not yet at least. He hadn’t seen the man since that first night and yet his gaze haunted him, his scent still lingering over the few items he’d touched.
Speaking of which, Yugi became aware that he was yet again toying with the figurine, idly thinking to himself as he brushed the plastic against his lip. This wasn’t the first time he caught himself in the act – rolling the prized piece back and forth while imagining himself elsewhere. Perhaps off with Ryou, playing their first game of Monster World or mulling over ideas for a new campaign while admiring the figure’s craftsmanship.
He’d always loved spell casters. At the announcement that his favourite Duel Monster card was being added as a board piece Yugi had immediately placed his pre-order with hopes that he’d get a chance to play again. Now however, the board piece had an all new meaning. It was a sign of his friendship with Ryou and that Yami was on his side. Or at least that’s what he suspected the gesture to mean.
Either way it was a keepsake and physical presence that grounded his thoughts, reminding him that Yami was not a delusion or figment of his imagination at the very least. The man had been real. THIS was real. Reality. All of it, everything feeling at times; far too surreal to actually be happening.
He spent so much time dreaming, existing in and out of sleep that it was hard to define reality anymore. Was he even awake right now? Was this real or would he soon meet with the golden eyes again and wake in cold sweat? He dragged the rough plastic across his lip again, the physical sensation sending a soft cascade of shivers down his spine. Yes this was real but more and more it took experimenting to make sure.
Like when he woke up to finding a leopard in his bed. That had taken more than a few pinches to affirm. And at the coaxing voice he began to realise that the leopard was indeed talking to him. In fact it was Malik’s voice. What he had witnessed had been real. Malik was a shifter, it was all real. Maybe even his dreams about the wolf were but of that he refused to speak, even as Malik pressed him about it.
His was in denial and part of him knew it. Yet the hole he had dug was too deep. He was afraid to crawl out of it, afraid of what the truth would mean so instead he made a home there and chose to hide. He might have slowly been coming to terms with Malik’s reality, of the fact that he was a shifter, but himself? No way. Ryou? Also impossible. There would have been signs right? How could something so incredible elude him for so long? And, why didn’t Ryou say something? Did he think Yugi would judge him? No that couldn’t be it. Given his own denial and disbelief Ryou had many good reasons not to mention it but it still felt like he should have been able to figure it out before now. Maybe Malik was just messing with him. All things considered this wouldn’t be the strangest reality TV show if he woke up one day to find out it was all a hoax.
But as the days carried on such fantasies were becoming harder and harder to maintain. The delusions were slipping away, truth encroaching on him in the subtle ways as he began to feel somewhat lesser. Like he had diminished or lost some part of himself while asleep. He didn’t feel whole but emptied, drained and half-full as if pieces of his being had been scattered; incomplete.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
His head throbbed at the mere implications. Such thoughts had been eating at him for days and he sorely wished to blink them from existence. He pretended not to notice, not to care, in hopes that might it might make them go away. If only it worked like that.
He didn’t want to deal with this reality. With the fear over what was to come.
Sometimes when he dreamed life was back to normal, and perhaps even better than before. Anzu would be home, his grandfather alive or his friends simply hanging out with him; everything as it should. Yet they all ended the same way –with a wolf that would spring from the darkness, materialising from wisps of charring black smoke. It would run and chase away all other illusions, finally turning its gaze on Yugi once he was alone and all others had been swallowed in darkness.
It was unsettling. Occurring each time Yugi dropped his guard or felt truly happy in a dream. With a jolt he woke time and time again, its golden eyes a lingering figment in his field of vision until the light of day choked them back into the field of dreams. But even in the day he was beginning to see them. Daymares, illusions overlapping consciousness and making him fear for his own state of mind. He had been in this room too long; left alone for too long. It must be that. Had to be.
He wasn’t crazy, or at least he didn’t think so.
Boredom was making him see things and imagine the wolf; a friend to keep him company. Part of him argued that if it were true he’d willing admit these things to Malik. Yet he never did. He doubted himself. Feared that if Malik confirmed it, the wolf would actually become real, or at least more than it was. But denial wouldn’t help him escape it. He could ‘feel’ the fur sometimes. In those drowsy moments of half sleep it was there beneath his skin existing just as naturally as the blanket that covered him.
He shuttered at the thought. Just one more thing he didn’t dare admit aloud. Reflecting on it, there wasn’t a whole lot he actually mentioned. They spoke of family a few times, friends, jobs and those sorts of things but there was always a grey area when it came to the “shifty business”. Malik would always say ‘after’ and Yugi would simply play ignorant in return.
Maybe it was the way Yami had said it but something was very off putting about the Urukai. Ishizu was nice but her expressions were closed off and disingenuous even when they did show. He felt like he was watching a performance, a parade of actors dancing before him, reciting lines and moving to the throes of expectation. They completed their routine before disappearing behind the iron door and were then forgotten. Few ever came back. So few that he barely made an effort to recall most of their names, excusing them for visions and products of his lonely imagination save for the times when Malik was around.
He was real. Yugi was certain of that. As if understanding his struggle, Malik often offered Yugi his hand to hold, confirmation of his existence given the added weight and texture beneath his palm. He needed it to ground himself sometimes. It was a life line back to reality for every time he lost his way and sunk too deep into thought. As hard as he tried not to let it show, the stress was disorientating and constantly playing tricks on his mind. Silence was his one saving grace.
He hated this room, hated being caged in. He wasn’t sure if that was his thoughts exactly or… Fuck he really was losing it. Part of it had to do with Malik’s reluctance to explain anything until after he shifted, the other likely due to the exercises in which Malik has started in order to try and get Yugi to call out his beast.
He always made it sound like Yugi should be looking for another person, searching inside himself for another being and yet there was never anything there. He was promised a full tour of the Urukai’s ‘den’ once he’d shifted but the madness of being cooped up and left alone was finally getting to him. He half expected to wake up one morning to incense and candles with people around him chanting in some kind of ritual exorcism. His warped mind couldn’t handle this much longer. Even if Malik had only suggested doing it as a joke, he was beginning to see this as a real cause for concern.
It was like another ‘thing’ had come in and taken over his life. He hardly recognised himself under the weight of paranoia and fear that refused to subside. It was unrelenting, making him crazy but maybe that was part of the process? Malik did say he would have a ‘wolf mind’ so did that mean that some of these thoughts were not his own?
He made himself drop the subject there, afraid that his brain might burst under the pressure of such a weighty topic.
He had to stop thinking about it. Just let it happen, that’s what everyone kept saying. Malik trying to taunt him with raw meats and bones, trying to bring the wolf out was degrading but at least Yugi had never felt anything. Maybe he wasn’t a shifter after all and they had got it wrong? Malik did say made-shifters were rare so maybe he was lucky and hadn’t actually been infected? That’d be a nice twist. Yet as much as he wanted to believe he couldn’t quite shed the pessimistic shroud that clouded his vision. As much as he was in denial, he wasn’t very optimistic either.
He could only imagine what it would feel like. Malik had made it look so easy. The first time he’d had his back to Yugi and knelt down towards the ground, shifting into a full cat before his hands even touched the ground. It was messy and sounded like it hurt but Malik hadn’t made a complaint. In fact he related it to the feeling of cracking joints while stretching which didn’t make it out to be all that bad. Maybe Yugi really was worrying too much, but what else could he do? He still hardly believed it. Any of it.
He had woke to find Malik curled up beside him that night, a warm mass of fur he’d unintentionally snuggled into while asleep as if it were his personal body pillow. He was momentarily glad he’d lost his voice when he started voicelessly screeching and scrambling to get away. The last thing he would have needed at the time would have been Malik jolting awake and having both of them in a panic. Instead his mind was able to catch up with him, and after relaxing he cautiously poked Malik awake so they could begin to talk. It still freaked him out to hear human words passing through the leopard’s mouth but as the early hours of the morning approached he grew used to it and even managed to slip back to sleep.
He knew he had promised to not be afraid but he panicked every time Malik asked him to try and call his wolf. If it wasn’t something entirely going on in his head, Malik would have realised Yugi’s fear as his calls were mere whispers at the door, closer attempts at trying not to be heard by the occupants within than at summoning them. He just didn’t have the courage to do it whole heartedly because what if something did live there? He wasn’t ready for that, not then or now or later for that matter.
The figurine’s pointed clothing dug into his palm as he squeezed it for reassurance. Good; still awake.
Malik had showed a great deal of control over the leopard body, more than Yugi had been expecting given the phrases ‘wolf mind’ and ‘beast’ that kept being tossed out. Just what were those terms supposed to mean anyway? Was it really like a pet living inside you? Because if that was a case, a wolf was not for him. Maybe a cat; or better yet a goldfish. Something that didn’t need a lot of attention and was okay with putting up with Yugi’s introverted lifestyle. He couldn’t imagine a wolf would like him parked behind a desk or seated in class all day. He rarely went outside if he didn’t have to.
This was all aimed to be a complete disaster.
Not to mention the whole Senjiyuu-Urukai decision that loomed in the future. He wanted to speak with Ryou so badly, hear it from him that he was actually a shifter all along. Maybe Ryou would be able to answer why the Senjiyuu wanted him and explain some of the parts Malik seemed unwilling to remit. He was getting tired of hearing the phrase ‘after you shift’ in response to everything he asked. He wanted answers desperately, even more than he wanted free of this room.
Heaving a sigh he set the Dark Magician aside and picked up the book Malik had left him. It was about a Gorgon and a Prince, something he was just starting to get into now that the settings had been established and the plot was beginning to speed up. Maybe by the end of the day he’d have it done and be able to ask if Malik was able to get that werewolf book for him. Fantasy was nice and all but if he was actually going to keep his promise, he’d need to get his head out of the clouds and focus on as many facts as he could get a hold of. Embrace reality. The more comfortable he could be with this whole thing, the better.

He wasn’t sure when he’d dozed off but for once it wasn’t startling gold eyes that roused him from his sleep. He gave a lazy stretch and picked the book off the floor just after it slid and hit the floor with a sturdy thud. He could barely recall what had happened in the story. Since he’d fallen asleep he’d probably dreamed half of what he remembered any ways.
“I said stop.”
Yugi nearly let the book slip from his fingers at the brash and harsh tone. An eerie calm permeated as he sat up, curiosity belated his next breath as Yugi shifted to face the door and listened. It had been Malik’s voice in the hall.
Suddenly a heavy thump beat against the wall; the echo of wet smacking dilating his focus and tempting Yugi to call out, if it were not for the damage to his throat.
“Later.” Again that was Malik and he sounded out of breath.
Footsteps carried down the hall, reaching the door to Yugi’s room as the familiar sound of the key sliding home and the latch releasing, popped with its usual heavy twang. The door creaked for just a moment before another thump struck the wall and the door swayed.
“No. Now.”
Yugi didn’t recognise the voice. It was deep like the barrel of a drum and growled with a thick promise of pain.
There were soft groans hissing up against the iron then, difficult to tell which of the two they resonated from until Malik grunted and his voice grew low, a mere whisper as if struggling to not have Yugi hear, “I said later, please just-“
Metal clanged loudly against the ground, glass scattering and ceramic shattered as the tray of food crashed to the floor and wobbled with a crisp metallic note. There was silence for a breath before a loud slap reverberated menacingly through the halls.
“You ass! Do you have any idea how long that took to make- OW, Ow! Fucking stop- Ow! Let go of me!”
Malik was no longer attempting to be silent. Shortly after he spoke a scuffle broke out, both hissing at each other as thumps beat against the door and two voices growled and grunted with the force of trying to gain control over the other. Yugi sat up, the bed giving a telling creak which made him freeze, hoping no one had heard.
The struggling stopped for a moment and Yugi almost thought it was over until the wet sounds returned and Malik’s voice cut in. “No, not here. Ow, I wasn’t saying - Yes, okay fine, just seriously not here!” The other gave a grunt of dismissal and the wet noises continued. “Gah, no… Please, just, down the hall or something.”
The unfamiliar voice grumbled then the sounds of Malik’s reluctant footsteps dragged after the plod of heavy boots.
Yugi was at a loss for what he should do. He hadn’t left the bed in days, weeks maybe. It was difficult to say how long he’d been here. He wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to stand without Malik’s help, yet swung his legs to the side in an attempt to rise any ways. Immediately they buckled, stiff and uncooperative.
With the support of the bed he was rose but then paused in place, listening for more indication of what was going on, afraid to even exhale his last breath in case it overpowered Malik’s voice. But he doubted he was wrong about what was happening. He’d like to think he’d just heard the tail end of a conversation and misjudged the information but no piece of him would let it rest until he knew for certain.
There was a faint whimper, then another. Slowly he took his first shaky step away from the bed, his entire body threatening to collapse under his weight without Malik there to support him. Everything still ached and moving invoked a fresh pain that sliced just as deeply, if not more so, than the original scars. Bruised and battered muscles made their protests known, a sharp throb making him uncertain whether he could make it to the door. His eyes watered and vision swam when the pain spiked up his spine and flooded his senses. He was acutely aware of the damage in his healing limbs but road out the pain in each hobbled step as he grit his teeth and hugged his abdomen to try and snuff the constricting spasms.
Malik let out a cry, and he hurried his steps without thinking, reaching out for the handle and begging whatever gods would listen that the door would actually be unlocked. He must be blessed because it gave way without much fuss and swung open with no more than a light tug.
He was right about his dinner being spoiled. Collapsed dishes and splattered food adorned the threshold of his room as he gingerly stepped into the hall and listened for Malik’s voice. It rose and fell in swells of grief, as if each freshly drawn breath were whimpered. Staring down the hall, Yugi saw his goal; an open door basked in the golden glow of an electric light. That had to be it.
It was the first he’d seen of the outside of his room; a basement or cellar-like place with many iron doors just like his own which dotted the hall. To his right, just halfway up the middle was an exit, possibly a stairwell given the way that the natural lighting flooded down as if mimicking the very gates of heaven itself. It would be useful knowledge for later. A plausible escape route if need be.
He was pretty certain he knew what he would find but it didn’t stop his feet from making the journey and ignoring the panic lights firing about his brain, as if that might stop him from committing to yet another bad idea. He was in no condition to be someone’s saviour. He could barely walk and yet he couldn’t sway himself from trying. His spirit was simply wired that way, despite what the brain may say.
The skin on skin contact grew more pronounced and unmistakable. He could hear Malik’s repressed cries; groans escaping down the hall in short mewls like a strangled cat hunting for air. It was enough to make Yugi pause, questioning whether this was wrong to walk in on. Maybe it was consensual and he was interrupting? People did make weird noises, or so he heard. Not that he was innocent of –
A hard slap made Malik cry out in pain.
“You know I hate it when you’re quiet. Let me hear you roar.” The last word was given special emphasis. Drawn out longer than it needed to be, “Come on kitty, you don’t want to make me angry do you?”
Yugi’s stomach tightened, a hard knot accompanying the hot flash of anger he felt billowing inside him. If he didn’t have the wall to lean on, he would have doubted he could have moved so fast. Thankfully it was a straight line to the room and his feet found their way forward without further influence from the brain giving need to tarry.
Inside was a laundry room, two rows each about six machines deep, washers on the left and dryers on the right that expanded towards a heap of loose towels and linens. The room was draped in white cloth, hung from the beams and folded in neat piles here and there, stacked high and tucked away on shelves that reached from the roof to the floor between a pair of cramped windows. And there against one of the washers was Malik and the grisly holder of that thick voice from before.
His hands were outstretched, grasping for a place to hold onto in order to steady himself; his body rocking so that his stomach was driven into the hard edge of the bitter metal. His assailant worked him from behind, meaty hands securing Malik’s hips so that they aligned to fit each thrust in a sickly smack.
Yugi braced against the wall, his stomach threatening to purge, anger pooling rapidly in torrent of fresh rage.
The man hadn’t even bothered to undress. Malik had lost his pants and boxers, hastily discarded to the cold cement while his attackers’ pants still clung to his hips, barely low enough to make the deed possible. Yugi swallowed, now painfully aware of how he had failed to think this through.
There was no way he’d be able to wrestle such a monster away from Malik. The guy was simply too big; definitely over 6’ with a body built like a fucking grizzly bear. There was just no way he could… And with his voice, he couldn’t call for help. He wouldn’t even know who to call. Maybe he could try to go upstairs and find someone? Make a distraction so Malik could get free? There had to be something.
“Oi you!”
A strangled gasp of air escaped as Yugi yelped. Idiot, he should have fucking hid…
“You getting in line? If not, get the fuck out of here,” the slap and squishing sound remained constant as he spoke, dark eyes boring into Yugi as all he could think to do was stare vacantly back.
“Yugi is… off limits. You-You can’t… “Malik’s eyes looked swollen, heavy with tears that refused to break even as he closed them and bit his lip.
“Yugi? That’s the kid that has everyone is talking about? The one eating up all your time? The Senjiyuu brat?” Dark eyes were nearly swallowed up as thick brows descended over them, making Yugi all too aware of the fact that he was being visually undressed.
“Yugi, get back to your room,”
Malik’s words broke the trance and Yugi ducked behind the wall. Gruff laughter chortled after him before the beat of buckling metal resumed, “Don’t get jealous kitty, he’s not worth the effort. Now, straighten your back.”
Malik’s pants rapidly grew into cries of pain, each more strained than the last as Yugi flinched, cringing after each freshly squeezed noise. He was purposefully hurting Malik now. Now that he knew Yugi was there. This was all his fault. He had wanted to help but had only made it worse. How typical. Useless, why was he always so damn useless when his friends needed him most?!
Bile streamed into his mouth, the pure helplessness of the situation filling him with the same anger and fear he felt the day that his parents left. The day Anzu broke up with him and during those final moments at his grandfather’s side. He was useless to do anything about any of those things, now he would have Malik’s pain added to his conscious.
Unbearable. He couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t stand to listen, to hear it. He shut his eyes, tried to tune it out, push the imagery away but no matter what it was there, beating as solidly into his psyche as his heart droned in his chest.
He glanced back, the sight nearly unchanged save for a meaty fist around Malik’s throat, forcing his head against the washer lid. The large man repositioned, giving Malik a chance to catch his breath while the man steadied his hips against the thrashing of Malik’s legs.
He was hiked up so that his toes no longer reached the ground, the wet slapping returning in force with the desperate octave of Malik’s tone. The washer continued to beat rhythmically to the pace the larger man despite Malik’s continued attempts to kick and shove his attacker off.
Yugi ducked back behind the wall, heart pounding in his head. He should have never left his room. He should have never seen this. There was nothing he could do… Nothing…
He felt hot. Unhealthily warm, like he would break out into a sweat and pass out from fever. It wasn’t unwelcomed; he liked the promise of unconsciousness that the heat offered. But that’s when he felt it.
His eyes opened wide at the sensation, breath catching in his throat as he looked around. There was no wolf physically there and yet he ‘felt’ it, ‘saw’ it in a way he shouldn’t have been able to. It was more alive than in his dreams. Or maybe that’s what this was, maybe he was still dreaming?
Malik cried out, a twisted yowl making Yugi literally shake with worry. If wishing had somehow caught its attention once then perhaps the wolf could help. If he shifted he could… he… maybe he could… He had to try. At the very least it was all he could do for Malik, the only person who seemed to care about his sanity besides himself since this damn thing began.
He closed his eyes again and focused, nearly giving himself a fright at how close to the surface those eyes had come, glaring at him, mere inches away. It was the final snap in the restraints that held the wolf at bay. Where ever it had been, whether it had been sleeping or forced back due to Yugi’s paranoia, it was finally at the surface and Yugi would set it free.
The initial realisation caught in Yugi’s throat. He didn’t like the feel of fur beneath his skin. Nor the way it grew hot and began to sting. All over his body felt hot, too hot, like it was melting or boiling off. He couldn’t see any blistering in his skin, only faint ripples dappling the surface like dew drops on a lake. Soon it began to dry and flake, cracking open like baked earth caught in a drought.
Silently he began to scream, his throat producing no more than muffled huffs as they escaped his tattered airway in an endless chain. He collapsed, hugging himself, curling into a ball and trying to force the wolf back. It hurt. It hurt so much. Tears began leaking from his eyes in steady streams but nothing he could do would stop what he had willing set into motion.
‘This is for Malik. For Malik. For -‘
His right leg snapped first, the crack sharp and distinct. It bent wickedly, curving at an unnatural angle. Heat massaging the ends; mending, repairing, blurring the edges between pain and relief as his muscles contorted and stretched, changing to conform to the new shape. His body electrified with pain, muscle spasms chasing one another in a domino effect, bone sheering, lesions forming, each with their own sense of intensity. Each limb took a turn before his head began to morph. Wakefulness slipped into darkness when the pain became too much. He barely noticed the sprouting tuffs of grey fur when they jerked and tore loose from their fleshy prison, stripping pieces of skin away and oozing with a dark mercury-like substance.

He was being rough, or at least rougher than usual.
Ushio was always like this when he thought others were listening. It was all a part of the little games he played and how he got his fun. Malik was no stranger to such abuse. Practically the first day they had moved in, so had Ushio and his merry band of thugs. The man himself was utterly intolerable but he had influence and that was enough for some. Being that Malik was considering young and with no standing amongst the clan, he had few means by which to stave off the dumb oafs original advances.
Yet still, he hadn’t meant for Yugi to see. It was one part of the Urukai he had hoped Yugi would forever avoid knowing. After being present when Gansley promised that Yugi would be safe from harm, he had stupidly assumed that meant safe from Ushio as well. Shame on him for thinking Gansley might ever try to control his bastard sons.
Malik himself had never been promised such protection. The leopards had never had the same issues like the wolves; they weren’t pack animals so Ishizu had never even considered this as a possibility until it was too late. And despite her later efforts there was little she could do to stop the abuse entirely, especially once Ushio had finished making his original claim.
With a grunt of pain Malik brought his knees up, hoping to adjust his position so that the washer wasn’t bashing into the same spot on his abdomen. However his act only caused the grip on his hips to tighten and for his body to be forcefully pulled back into Ushio’s lap. He barely heard the slap of skin before Ushio suddenly tore away.
In seconds guttural screams choked the air, smothered only by the visceral growls of large wolf that tore mercilessly at Ushio’s flesh. Viscera exploded around the room, bits coming away in chunks of wet, meaty slabs after each vicious shake of its massive head. In a livid motion it hefted each piece away from the whole, snapping and tossing it aside along with bits of cloth and hair.
Malik staggered to his feet, using the washer to help steady himself as he stared on in disbelief. The scent was unmistakable – Yugi. That was Yugi. He had shifted and come to help him. And yet, where was his friend in that frenzy of movement? Wild and angry, like a beast set free of the underworld.
If he had to guess Yugi had likely blacked out and lost control. Without him there, fighting for control, there was nothing to stop the beast from doing as it pleased. Ushio was getting what he deserved but the rest of the clan needed to know. He had to get Ishizu, find a way to contain this –HIM- before it was too late.
Quietly Malik began to back away, slowly easing himself towards the door. But as Ushio’s fight wore off and the screams died down into silence, the wolf’s head lifted, ears rotating in small orbits as if searching for a new sound. It sniffed and turned, golden eyes locking with Malik’s petrified lavender.
“Yu-Yugi?”
There was a moment where he thought the wolf recognised its owner’s name, a slight tilt of its head in acknowledgement of the sound. For a breath he thought he might be able to try and communicate, talk him down and help call the human half back towards the surface. But in that same moment the eyes narrowed, pupils thinned and the ears laid back against the skull.
Carefully Malik continued to back away, still facing the room until he was within range of the door. It studied his every movement, yellow eyes memorizing each step, every sway or swing of limbs. Suddenly it lowered and Malik barely had time to slam the door behind him as it lunged. There was a thump and skid of nails against the cement behind him, enough detail for Malik to know the door hadn’t closed in time. He didn’t look back, diving to the ground as his own body shifted and ran.
He wasn’t sure if it was the right move but instinct drove him into Yugi’s room. He barely slipped in before the wolf slammed against the door and barked angrily at him, clawing and pacing; throwing its weight against the barrier in hopes to make it collapse in on itself.
Malik stepped back. The cells were designed to keep shifters in so it was questionable how well they would hold against one trying to break in. If the hinges gave out, considering the bar on the outside was not in place, than Malik was as good as dead. Yugi was nowhere to be found within that inky, yellow abyss.
His friend had been swallowed up by his second nature, birthed into being by fear and now feed on rage. They were only things Malik was actually able to see in those eyes. No Yugi. Only a deep seeded malice, careful and watchful like any keen predator waiting for the right moment to strike.
In the meantime Malik clawed at the remains of his shirt, tearing the fabric in a struggle to fully free his front limbs. Nipping it around the collar he pulled, shrugging the tattered remains off his shoulders. If Yugi made it through he would need to be able to move. He would have to fight if necessary to get around him. If he was lucky maybe he could both escape and seal Yugi in.
He doubted it given the way he’d seen Ushio go down, but at the very least there was a shot.
“Yo Boss, everything all right down here?”
Footsteps. Was that Sohta? Well, shit.
“Don’t come down here! Yugi’s loose! You need to go-“
The scratching stopped at the door and a full minute passed between when the screaming started to when it stopped.
Fuck, fuck, fuck…
“Sohta? Yugi? God damn it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Freaking locked myself in here… Hello? Anyone? Can anyone here me? Sohta are you alright?” Of course he wasn’t frigging alright.
Malik carefully moved closer to the door and pressed his ear against it. It was hard to tell if the action had simply moved on or if Yugi was actually still out there. It was so quiet he may have left and for a long while there was nothing but silence. Until the unmistakable crunch of bone echoed down the halls. It wasn’t the ear splitting snap of a broken limb but the grinding noise of chewing.
Shit. Quadruple shit.
Yugi was still out there and Malik’s phone was still in his pants back in the laundry room. There was literally nothing he could do but wait. He had no way to contact anyone unless someone came looking. Ushio had probably made Sohta guard the stairs. It’d be a while before more of his lackeys came looking.
Unless someone needed laundry or large equipment it would likely be awhile. Odion wouldn’t notice his absence for another two hours or so when he was expected for dinner and Ishizu had already messaged to say she would be home late.
“Fuck!”
Oh, Malik sat up and listened. Heavy feet stormed up the stairs, shouting too distance to hear cried out on the upper levels. Finally the alarm was raised. From outside echoes of the cry grew until the whole place was racked with noise. In moments the pack would gather to wrestle Yugi into submission. It was unpleasant was to be made a pack member by force but now that Yugi was loose it was necessary if only to spare his life.
Perching atop the desk Malik watched as the shifters raced across the field towards the building. To his alarm the fighting eventually grew louder, howls of pain and fear erupting by his small window until Yugi’s bloodied form slunk into view. The traffic of shifters turned on their heels, circling the comparatively small wolf as it knelt in fear and lowered itself to the ground.
Malik felt so bad. So guilty. Yugi was so close that if he reached through the bars he might actually be able to touch him and yet such an act would do little to comfort what was to come. The pack would keep Yugi cornered until Gansley could mark him. Soon enough-
Finding a gap Yugi charged between two of the gathered shifters.
The entire circle rounded and gave chase, howls and pitched cries calling out for reinforcements as the tail of the silver wolf slipped into the brush. Four of the closest shifters remained hot on his heels while others took off to find reinforcements.

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So that happened. Let me know what you think, it may be some time until I can get the next chapter out.
"Animal I have Become" - Three Days Grace
- 6
- 7
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Into the Desolate Night