The atmosphere was rather grave and tense as five Whisperers were seated among the council, chaired by the Head of the Clan and Lord of the Outer Beings, namely Lord Seth and Maximillion Pegasus. The five Whisperers in question were Yami, Seto, Bakura, Duke Devlin and Marik, and they were all seated in the middle of the council hall, surrounded left and right by officials of the council looking seriously at them, and Lord Seth and Maximillion Pegasus seated on the throne at the front end of the council hall. Lord Katz was seated on one of the steps of the throne beside Lord Seth and was looking sadly at the five, his gaze mostly concentrated on Yami and Seto.
“I would’ve expected this sort of attitude from my blood brother,” Seth said as he gave a grudging look at his nonchalant twin, “but to think that the four of you behaving the same way as he did! What have you to say for yourselves, brothers?”
“My deepest and sincerest apologies, milord,” Yami started but then was stopped by Seto.
“We don’t have to apologize for this, Brother Yami. We were only acting out of the purest of feelings towards our human counterparts.”
“And what has that led you to?” Seth stood up and stomped towards his twin. “You abandoned your post, you failed to show up during the most crucial of meetings, you slacked off from your responsibilities and you set a bad example among your fellow brothers!”
“If that is what it takes to appreciate true love, I dare say I do not regret it a single moment, brother!” Seto challenged, standing up as well and sporting a scowl identical to his twin. Everyone in the hall held their breaths as the twin brothers were neck to neck in fury.
Due to Marik’s attack towards Diesel Kane and his gang, it didn’t take long for the rumours of Whisperers visiting their mates to spread to the middle men of the human society and they immediately relayed it back to the middle men of the Outer Beings, with the reps of Night Clan and Sky City included. The first suspect Marik and Seto was immediately named, and then in order to protect them and not go through this alone, Duke, Yami and Bakura confessed to their escapades.
Bakura was supposed to be on a mission to retrieve information from the enemy lines, but had jumped ship to visit his little Princess, and when his group members realized he was gone and caught his scent in the infirmary of Domino High, they were upset and hissed for him to leave, which was the reason why Bakura’s visit to Ryou was cut short, and it took quite a sum of bribery to keep his group members quiet about his escapades. Duke was supposed to meet up with the middle men of the humans to get a news update on the conditions of the teen herms, but hearing that they were pregnant, including his Soldier, he couldn’t help straying away from his team to go look for Tristan to confirm it from himself, and got carried away with it when he didn’t show up at Yami Forest where they were supposed to meet up to go home, but instead sat on Tristan’s rooftop all night to wait for him to come back so that they can finish where they left off in the restaurant toilet. Yami, on the other hand, was supposed to retrieve Seto and bring him back home before his twin realized that he was, again, not at his post, but was sidetracked when he saw his Light riding on someone else’s back. Jealousy overtook him and before he knew it, he was spending half of the night with Yugi and forgot all about his mission, causing Seto to be caught and scolded for the umpteenth time.
Seto did not need to hide or explain his actions, since his escapades were not much of a secret anyway, but after regular disappearance of Yami, Duke and Bakura from their posts since their second meeting with their human mates (A/N: I say ‘second’ because their first meeting was during the ritual), it began to raise questions as to their whereabouts. The five friends soon knew of their hidden secret and promised not to tell anyone about it. It wasn’t much of a regular visit, but they managed to meet their human mates whenever they can and try to abide by their posts, unlike Seto who shirked his as easy as drinking water.
Marik, the cold and demonic of the five, never really shown any interest in this whole escapade thing, but during that fateful day when he was supposed to be out in the human world looking for a Bad Seed in the proximity after getting a tip-off from the human middle men, he caught Malik’s scent when he passed by Domino High and somehow felt deep in his gut that he was in trouble. He didn’t want to care at first, but the slow fire of passion that was lit when he first met Malik came ablaze, and he couldn’t hold back his anger and fury when he saw what Diesel Kane and his gang were doing to his mate. In the end, Marik’s attack towards Diesel Kane set off the whole trigger with just that one visit to Malik and blew off their cover, and was the reason for them being faced in front of their Lord and their Outer Being King to endure such interrogation.
“Please, milord, we were just a little concerned about our human counterparts,” Duke spoke up. “They are with child, and we just wanted to make sure that they are alright.”
“They have their human friends and families to look after them,” one of the council members spoke. “And they have the best human midwives and medical care provided for them. There is no need for us to put our concerns over them.”
“He is right, Brother Duke,” another council member spoke. “We have never set foot on the human world to watch over our human mates when the humans themselves can do it for them. It has always been the tradition for us to sire their child and attend the birthing event…”
“It all goes down to tradition always, isn’t it?!” Seto snapped at him. “For centuries we have been abiding traditions that have been more than useless to our customs today! Is that all you can think of? Traditions?! Even those that have never been written in black and white?!”
“You will behave yourself in front of the council, brother,” Seth said as he glared at him sternly. “Remember, you are on trial here.”
“If I may be so bold, milord,” Bakura said, raising his hand. “Times have changed. Humans have progressed along with it. Why can’t we? Why must we abide to something that has never been a mandatory rule? What if something went wrong with our human mates and the pups within them? What then of our future lineage?”
“Then it is something we cannot avoid,” another council member replied. “As we’ve mentioned, the humans are not our main priority. If they lose their pups or their lives, we will sire another later. It has always been the way of the Whisperers.”
“How can you all be so cold?!” Marik stood up, his chains clinked and clanged loudly. Due to the fact that he was a Royal Executioner and a dangerous person even without using his powers, he had to consent to being suppressed with cursed chains on his wrists and ankles so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone in court unintentionally. “My human mate was almost raped by a bunch of hooligans! Think of what it could do to the pup! My pup!”
“Well, think of what could have happened if you actually killed those so-called hooligans,” Seth replied. “The humans would have a riot against us. We have enough complications as it is with the aftershocks of war. The Bad Seeds are upon us and are plotting to overthrow our King as we speak, and we are nowhere near finding their hideout and we are losing more and more allies by the minute. Do you think they care what happens to your pup? As our brother have mentioned, there is always someone else to sire a pup.”
“I will sire no one’s child but his,” Marik hissed, his aura starting to seep through the atmosphere of the hall. Bakura had to force him to sit down and calm down before he brought the whole building into shambles.
“Do not make brash decisions, Marik,” another council member voiced out. “We are only allowed to sire a child to a human once, and then move on to the next during the next ritual. No human has ever been sired a child twice by the same Whisperer, unless if you are a human as well. It has always been the way of the Whisperers, and it has always been the Unbreakable Deal and Promise we made to the humans. No more, no less. Are you trying to suggest that we should break a tradition and way of life that has been upheld for centuries just for a mere human being?”
“And why not?” Seto asked. “Is it so wrong to take a different path of life? We’ve already lived so separately from the humans and have to depend on middle men to travel such long distances to communicate with us. If we must breed with them, why can’t we live together openly at least in the first place?”
“Haven’t you been hearing a single word we’ve said so far, brother?” Seth bellowed, losing his patience. “We are still at war! The last thing we want is the humans to know that there is still imbalance in the system! They are better off being ignorant and let us handle the civil war within ourselves and let them live in peace!
“They have already been through a lot of hardships having to face human extinction and going through this ritual made by His Majesty and the people centuries ago. We are already dying trying to win the fight amongst ourselves and facing extinction as well, what with more and more of us moving on to the White Horizon, leaving us young ones to bear the burden. Do you wish your human mates to be involved in this as well? Do you wish for them to die the way we are dying right now?!”
Seto was at loss of words. He didn’t know what else to retaliate for deep down inside him, he knew there was some truth in what Seth said. He let out a frustrated growl and sat back down. Yami reached over to squeeze his arm, telling him that it’s best if he kept a level head at the moment.
Maximillion Pegasus, after silently but intently listening to everyone’s argument, cleared his throat to catch everyone’s attention before he spoke.
“As our defendants here have spoken, it is true that we have been holding on to an unwritten tradition for so long and have forgotten the true value of loving someone. Some of us in the past may have developed certain feelings towards our mates, whether we admit it or not, but have been suppressed due to the fact that we have to abide to tradition and thought that there is nothing we can do about it, and vice versa for humans as well. I feel for their plight as I, too, have lost my lovely wife Cecelia to the Plague, and if I were to go to the ends of the world to just catch a glimpse of her, I am willing to take the chance. Our defendants here can be considered a wake up call for us to start reconsidering if the deal and promise made to the humans centuries ago are questionable at this time and era.
“However, I will have to agree with Lord Seth that it is not wise to pursue your human counterparts at this time of turmoil. Ever since the Duelist Phantom War ended and our females dwindled to nothingness, the aftershocks of war, especially when it came to territorial disputes, is not something we can take lightly with. It is a burden we must face alone because humans are fragile, and if they were to get involved in this, who knows what the Bad Seeds would do to both us and the human race. They might probably try to rid the world of humans, dethrone us from our rightful positions and homes, and it would bring about the total upset of balance and eventually the end of life itself.
“Therefore, I am willing to pardon our defendants’ misgivings. The unwritten tradition still stands, but to make sure this sort of escapade doesn’t happen again,” Maximillion Pegasus paused for a moment and glanced knowingly at Katz. Katz was hesitant at first, but finally came up to the five seated in the middle of the hall.
“Forgive me, brothers. Forgive me, brother dearest,” Katz whispered sadly at Seto and the gang and held out an amulet, whispering a few words of incantation. Within seconds, a huge white dragon materialized in the middle of the hall, its roars echoed through the walls and could be heard almost a few miles within the proximity of Sky City. The five gasped as they saw Katz summoning the Forbidden Blue, the only living Duelist Phantom that was sealed within the Sacred Incantation and was the scariest and strongest of all Duelist Phantoms that they have fought during the War. It was the only Phantom that could not be sent into the Abyss and Gozaburo, finding this the only last resort, sacrificed his life as an incantation to seal his spirit within the Phantom and subdue it, breaking its soul beyond repair and became a mere lifeless puppet supported only by whatever was left of Gozaburo’s spirit. Katz inherited his father’s power of the Royal Shaman and since Katz was brought up to the throne and back into the royal lineage after marrying Seth, he was entrusted with this Sacred Incantation that used to belong to his father.
It loomed around the five, studying them intensely with its bright icy-blue eyes, and it was those eyes that earned it the name ‘Forbidden Blue’. Everyone in the hall, including Seth, held their breath and trembled a little as the dragon went about sniffing and glaring at the five who probably looked as if they would wet their pants. It rumbled in its throat for a moment, considering the five, before looking up back at its master. Katz, after receiving the nod from Maximillion Pegasus, nodded at the dragon, giving it the green light to do its job. Without warning, it opened its wide jaws and clamped hard at Seto’s shoulder, piercing his shoulder-blade armour and drawing blood. Seto’s scream rang on everyone’s ear and if it weren’t for the huge tail and wings that blocked his friends, they would’ve issued a tug-of-war with the Forbidden Blue by now, their life be damned. It did the same to all the other four and soon, five Whisperers were groaning and writhing on the floor, clutching their shoulders in pain and wallowing on their own pool of blood as the council watched them suffer the wrath of the Forbidden Blue’s fangs. Katz recited the reverse version of the incantation and the dragon disappeared back into the amulet. He wanted to help them ease their pain but Seth held him back, making him join the audience as well.
As Seto struggled to get up, the bite marks soon began to morph into some sort of symbol, moving as if it had a life of its own. The bite marks on the back of his shoulder joined together with the one in the front to become a very big shape, and meshing together with the blood that still trickled out of the wound, it was sporting a huge dark crimson and was growing by the minute. The same thing happened to the rest of the four, and by the time the bite marks stopped morphing, the five soon found themselves sporting a huge tattoo-like scar that looked like the letter S set on fire.
“To make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Maximillion Pegasus continued his verdict, “you are to be branded the mark of the Forbidden Blue. Unless for businesses under direct orders from Lord Seth and Lord Katz, in which Lord Katz will issue a suppressant onto the mark, you are forbidden to leave Sky City. If you should ever set foot out of Sky City, without the suppressant, the mark will constrict your heart and suffocate you to death the minute you are beyond Sky City proximity, and it will react just the same when you stray away from your orders that allow you to leave Sky City to see your human mates. Are we all clear on this?”
The five, especially Seto and Marik, would’ve showered a ton of swears and curses known to every Whisperer alive if they weren’t faced by the Ruler of all Outer Beings. No one said a word, but nodded gravely to his decision. Seth jerked his head a little at Katz, signaling him to tend to the five. Katz quickly came to them and led them to the Medicinal Chamber. Katz dismissed all the servants as he wanted to do this personally to make up for what he was forced to do, and couldn’t stop sobbing as he washed off the blood and issued painkillers to douse the throbbing pain. The five wanted to kick him out, to yell at him and scold him for being such a nuisance and not to gloat at their pain, but seeing tears pouring out of the royal Halfling’s eyes as he went about with his work—and the fact that he’s pregnant—they hadn’t the heart to do so.
“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” Katz cried as he wrapped the last of the bandages and gave Bakura his painkillers. “I’m so sorry…I didn’t want to do this…I’m so sorry…”
“It’s alright, brother-in-law,” Seto replied, for once not calling Katz by that title in disgust, “It’s not your fault. It is our burden and our shame to bear. Do not blame yourself over this.”
“Yes, milord,” Yami agreed. “This is our problem. We can handle them. You take care of yourself; your unborn bairns need you to be strong.”
“It’s just…I just…I just feel so guilty…I never meant to hurt you…”
“Milord, please stop blaming yourself,” Duke comforted. “You had to do what you are told to do. There is no choice for this matter.”
“We just hope my Princess can do without me around,” Bakura said sadly.
Marik didn’t reply, but his eyes, though the usual malicious look, still spoke of his concern to his Dark Chocolate as well.
“I’m sure they can survive the rest of the moons without us,” Seto said. “My Puppy is a strong person. I know he can handle it.”
Though he spoke it, he knew it was further from the truth, and even though his four friends convinced themselves that their human mates would also be the same, their doubts still linger…
--:--
“You’re late,” the first dark figure growled, her red eyes glowed in the dark.
“Sorry, milady, I got here as soon as I could,” the small figure replied timidly.
“So, what’s the update?” the other figure, a man’s voice, asked.
“They have been restrained. Maximillion Pegasus himself issued the order.”
“Good,” the lady figure replied. “We’ve got most of the big shots out of the way now. Who would’ve thought a little tampering in the scent mark would do the trick.”
“Here’s your reward,” the man figure said as he tossed a jingling bag at the small figure. “Keep us updated, and carry on helping us with the recruit.”
“Yes, milord, milady,” the small figure bowed, then disappeared back into the forests.
“Shall we proceed, sister?” the man figure asked the lady figure.
“Yes, I believe we shall.”
No comments:
Post a Comment