It had been almost two weeks since they were held captive by Illust-chan and her band of Bad Seeds and Fallen Ethereals. They were, through regular inspections by those in charge to guard them, surprised at how long these Fallen Ethereals and Bad Seeds have been living in seclusion and undercover, and was rather taken aback just to how many female Ethereals that still exist in the clan, even if they were Halflings. They were fairly fed everyday with corn soup and bread, but weren’t exactly given the luxury of cleaning themselves. A bucket shared among each other served as a sorry excuse for a toilet and by the end of the week, they were told to line up outside their cell to be hosed down by cold water from a garden hose and left alone in the cell to dry off by themselves without a courtesy of a towel before being thrown back their dirty bed sheet shirt to wear.
Joey and the gang have learnt that aside from their fellow teen herms from Gammon and Maximillion High they’ve met during the ritual day, the rest of the teen herms were from all over the world. Ryou, being the genius of the gang and having learnt most of the world’s languages during his spare time in the school and public library, was able to communicate slightly with them and found out that they come from mostly Europe countries like France, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden, just to name a few, and a few more from Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. All of them agreed that they ended up here after being lured or kidnapped by a best friend, enemy or ex-lover, and since they have not seen them from the day they found themselves in this cell, they would rather not know what the Fallen Ethereals and Bad Seeds do to dispose of their services now that they have served their purpose.
There had been times when Joey and a few of the stronger and more masculine of the herms tried to conspire to look for a way out, but no matter how they tried, they just couldn’t think of something, and their surroundings weren’t much of a help to aiding their quest either. It was as if there was some force of strong Ethereal magic that was preventing them from getting out. Many nights Joey and the gang prayed that someone noticed their disappearance and hoped that their Whisperer mates would come to rescue them, but judging by the situation, there wasn’t much progress so far. Their days were numbered and the longer they wait, the bleaker chances were of getting out alive.
“Did ya hear dat?” Joey muttered as he, too, got up from his sleep. Yugi nodded.
“Yeah. It’s coming from one of us, but I can’t see where he is.”
Joey and Yugi decided to get up and walk around to find where the voice came from. The chains around their ankles clinked as they walked. Though it wasn’t long enough to reach the cell door, but at least it was long enough for them to circle the entire brick room. The voice did not seem to come from their fellow teen herms from Gammon and Maximillion High, nor was it from their fellow foreigners, yet it was a little loud enough to tell that he sounded like he was in real pain.
Finally, after exhausted the first three corners of the cell, they found that the sound originated from the last corner of the cell and they could see through the dim light a silhouette of someone wrapped up in a fetal position, pressing his back against the wall and breathing as quietly as possible, suppressing his whimpers.
“Hey, you alright?” Yugi asked, not sure whether he was one of them or one of the foreigners.
“I…I’m OK…” a familiar voice replied.
“Malik? How’d ya get ‘ere? Watcha doin’ in da corner?” Joey asked, surprised to see that Malik had split so far off away from their sleeping group.
“N…Nothing…” Malik breathed, his tone betraying his words.
“Come on, Malik. You shouldn’t be in the corner like this…” Yugi reached out to take Malik to join their gang to sleep when he felt cold sweat covering the young Egyptian’s arms and forehead. He felt his belly and realized Malik had it wrapped in his sweaty arms and he felt his butt and between his legs, finding them very wet, as if he had just peed a great deal, only that it didn’t smell like pee.
“Malik…?” Yugi whispered. “Are you…in labour…?”
“N-No, I’m not! Sh-Shut up and l-l-leave me a-a-alone!” Malik yelled, making a few more other waking up, wondering what the commotion was about.
“Mal, ya stutter wen ya in pain n in denial,” Joey said. “Now admit it, are ya gonna hav ya baby?”
“I…I can hold it in…It’s no big deal…” Malik spoke in clenched teeth, only to let out a throaty yelp when he felt another contraction.
“What’s going on? Is Malik OK?” Tristan and Ryou came up to them, a concerned tone in his voice.
“Malik’s in pain. His water broke,” Yugi replied. “He’s going to have his baby soon.”
“Already?!” Tristan exclaimed, this time waking up everyone in the cell with his loud excited voice. “But he’s only about 6 and half months along! That’s too soon! He’s gotta have another half a month to go before he gives birth along with us!”
“I dunno,” Yugi said worriedly as he cradled Malik in his arms, coaching the young Egyptian to breath. “I think it’s because of the stress and the strain he’s been experiencing these days. After all, he had been receiving more slaps and bodily harm than all of us.”
“Dis is watcha get if ya bein’ too smart-mouth n bein’ a sucker fer punishment,” Joey groaned. “Now whadda we do?”
“I think we have no choice but to help him give birth,” Ryou said, feeling Malik’s belly. “His contractions in between are getting shorter and,” Ryou felt Malik’s vagina, “if my memories from childbirth books serve me correctly, I think he’s almost fully dilated.”
“No! I don’t want to give birth! It’s too soon!” Malik shouted as more and more people began to stir and realize what was going on. His eyes darted around nervously at all the young ‘mothers’ watching him worriedly and yelled, “I don’t want to give birth! I can hold it! I can hold it until Marik comes! Marik has to see this, not them!”
“There’s no time, Malik,” Yugi pleaded. “You need to get started now!”
“No, no, no!” Malik protested as he flung his arms around, trying to get away from everyone. “I’m keeping it until Marik comes! I’m not gonna give birth till then! Go away! Leave me alone!”
“C’mon, Malik! Ya bein’ stupid!” Joey persuaded but to no avail as Malik continued to scream for everyone to leave him alone and not to touch him while he held onto the pain of the contraction that was getting more and more frequent.
“Malik, don’t be an idiot!” Tristan, losing his cool, growled and grabbed Malik’s collar, shaking him despite his gang’s protests. “If you don’t give birth now, your baby’s gonna die! Get it?! You hold it in any longer and it’s gonna suffocate and die! You wanna give birth to a dead baby and show that to Marik, be my guest!”
That realization hit Malik like a bullet through the head at the thought of a dead baby in Marik’s arms and his Master’s accusing dark demonic look on his face. Tears began to pour out of his eyes as he sobbed bitterly.
“It hurts…It hurts so bad…”
“Come on, guys. Break it up. Joey, you have to settle behind him to support his back while he pushes,” Ryou took control of the situation as he pried Tristan’s hand off his collar and took off his own bed sheet shirt to pass it to Yugi, “Yug, you’ll have to help him catch the baby. I’ll coach the birth. Malik, it’s best if you give birth kneeling down. It’ll be a little strain on your knees but at least the baby will come out easier.”
Malik nodded and let the gang do their thing. Tristan took off his bed sheet shirt and placed it under Malik’s knees so as he wouldn’t chafe his kneecaps on the brick floor. Joey went behind Malik and supported him by the armpits while Yugi sat in front of Malik, preparing with Ryou’s bed sheet shirt to catch the baby.
“Malik, if I remember correctly, you have to push along with the contractions whenever you feel them,” Ryou instructed, dozens upon dozens of excited and worried eyes looking from behind him. “Do you feel a contraction now?”
Malik yelped as it came and nodded.
“Good. Whenever you feel it, just push! Push, Malik, push!”
Malik gripped the end of Joey’s bed sheet shirt and pushed, his eyes squeezed tightly shut and the tears flow out of them like rain. Soon, as he pushed, a long torrent of encouragement and coaching, especially from the foreigners who knew how to speak their language, came in, helping the young Egyptian through his birth.
“C’mon, Mal, ya can do it!”
“Keep pushing, Malik! You’re doing great!”
“Push! Keep it up!”
“Push!”
“Breathe and push!”
“God…will you guys…fucking…shut up…?!” Malik wanted to scream, but the pain was making his angry voice sounding like a sad, begging whimper.
“Oh my god!” Yugi exclaimed. “I think I see that head! It’s crowning!”
“Hurry up and hold onto it, Yugi,” Ryou replied excitedly. “You’re doing very well, Malik. Just keep at it.”
“Oh fuck…! Oh fuck…! OH FUCK…!!! Fuck, it hurts!!! FUCK!!!” Malik managed to scream and cry at the same time as he felt the lump between his legs that was his baby’s head coming out. “IT HURTS!!!”
“It’s alright, Malik. It’s normal. Just keep going.”
“Easy for you to say! You’re not the one giving birth!”
“At least ya hav only one!” Joey argued. “Think of wat we’re gonna go thru wif two, three babies! Now shuddup n push!”
“I…I can’t do it anymore…It hurts…!!”
“You doing very good, Malik,” Yugi said as he tried his best to pull out the baby as much as possible to ease his pain. “We’re right here for you. Just keep going.”
“I…I want Marik…” Malik began to sob like a baby, like the first time he cried so hard after the ritual. “I want my Master…”
“Put a sock in it, Mal,” Tristan scolded in an impatient tone. “Think about how happy your Master is gonna be when he sees you with his bundle of joy. You want him to reward you, right? You want him to love you more, right? Come on, stop thinking about yourself and think about your Master instead.”
Malik bit his lip, trying to hold back his whimpers. It hurts to give birth without his beloved Master being there for him to watch and hold on to, but it hurt him worst to think about Marik’s upset look on his face if ever something bad happened to the baby. Slowly but surely, Malik took a deep breath, waited for a contraction and pushed as hard as he could. More and more voices joined in, mixed with a combination of all sorts of languages as they coached, supported and cheered him on, giving him the strength and courage to press on.
“Push, Malik! You’re almost there!”
Malik pushed, biting his lip until it bled, concentrating on bringing his baby out into the world.
“Come on, keep going!”
Malik heard a tear, probably from gripping at Joey’s bed sheet shirt but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get that baby out of his womb and into his arms quickly.
“Almost there! Almost there!”
Malik’s knees almost buckled due to the increasing pain as the baby’s shoulder—and possibly a wing—made its way out, but Joey was there to hold him upright again.
“Push harder, Malik, harder! It’s almost out!”
Malik began to hyperventilate, losing his grip on the conscious world.
“Just one last push, Malik!”
Malik bore down as hard as he could, screaming out Marik’s name before fainting out of exhaustion.
--:--
Marik was outside the torture chamber, clutching his chest with eyes as wide and big as saucer plates, breathing long and deep. Seto and Yami were sent by Lord Seth to check on Marik and the prisoners to see if he could get any possible lead from them, and caught him outside, leaning against the wall looking like he was going to have a heart attack.
“My…My Dark Chocolate…I felt something…bad inside me…” Marik muttered, not really making any sense. “He’s in trouble…I can feel it…”
“All our mates are in trouble, brother,” Yami said. “That’s why we need to get some form of clue from the prisoners.”
“Have they spoken anything yet?” Seto asked. Marik regained his composure before turning to the two cousins.
“Most of them rather die than speak even under the pain of torture, and I have fulfilled their request. I’m still working on a few more.”
“Would you like a little help on that, brother?”
Marik could’ve sworn he saw malice identical to his as Seto asked that question. Marik smirked and gestured them into the torture chamber.
“Please, brother, feel free to do as you please.”
--:--
Malik yelled in shock at first, thinking that the thing before him was going to eat him, but he realized that it wasn’t as interested in him as it was towards a small wrapped up bundle lying close beside him. It reached out its huge sausage-like fingers to touch the bundle and jerked back when the bundle made a shrill whisper-like cry. The young Egyptian ‘mother’ soon knew instinctively that the crying bundle was his little Whisperer pup and quickly grabbed it, holding it close to his chest protectively and his eyes showered with fear and anger.
“What the fuck is that thing?! What does it want to do with my baby?!”
“We dunno,” Joey replied, glaring at the thing that was almost as huge as a gorilla, maybe huger, and was sporting fur all over from head to toe—if it ever had feet, that is—like a shaggy dog. They cannot see its face except those gleaming black eyes that peeked out of the hair and its hairy arms leaned against the cell bars, its fat fingers tapping at the bars as it thrilled and rumbled, wanting to touch Malik’s baby.
“It’s been there ever since you fainted from the birth,” Yugi replied. “It just came out of nowhere and had been staring at us until now.”
“Go away, you monster!” Malik shouted at the hairy thing. “Don’t you dare touch my baby! I’m warning you!”
“Milord, do be nice. You know better than to scare a cat with kittens.”
Everyone held their breaths as Illust-chan made her entrance in front of the cell bar. The light soon glowed a little brighter and they saw her standing with another man who was a taller, male-version of her image, and a few more other people. Judging by their malevolent looks, they can tell they were Bad Seeds. She opened the cell door and went in, the hairy thing and her company followed along with her.
“Let me see the child,” Illust-chan said.
“No!” Malik held the baby closer and tighter.
“You’ve denied me the chance to help you deliver the child, although I gotta admit, despite being amateurs, you guys fair rather well in it. I’m still a midwife after all, and I need to know if the child is healthy enough to be sacrificed to Lord Zorc.”
“Never! He’s my baby! I’m not letting you lay a finger on him!”
“Like you have any choice in this matter.”
Taking this as a cue, the man appeared in a split second in front of Malik and without breaking a sweat, separated the baby from Malik’s arms without even Malik able to feel it. Holding back the frantic new ‘mother’ with one hand, he handed the baby to Illust-chan with the other.
“Thank you, Brother Majah. You have always been the most reliable sibling in the family.”
“So are you, Sister Illust-chan,” the man called Majah smirked, holding everyone back with his huge powerful black wings.
“Hmm, ten fingers and ten toes,” Illust-chan inspected the crying baby. “A little early, ahead of his time, but looks fine and healthy nonetheless. Wings are looking fine. Beautiful hair and eyes. I may not have the keen sense of smell to determine its dominance like Seth, but through experience, I can say this will turn out to be Whisperer-dominant. And, ah yes, it’s a little pure boy. He would make a handsome sacrifice later. I’ll make sure you and your ‘Mommy’ will be first in line to feed our beloved Lord Zorc.”
At the words ‘feed’ and ‘sacrifice’, everyone could’ve sworn the hairy thing licked its lips.
“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Majah said. “He’s just getting a little impatient. After all, it’s been almost weeks since he last ate a ‘mother’ and child. Yes, this is our Lord Zorc’s physical body for now. He has to shift bodies every other day because his soul cannot hold still on one body for too long. Pity we had to sacrifice so many Bad Seed comrades to let him have a decent body to live in. Our population is also dwindling as it is.”
“Let me go! Let me go, you son of a bitch! Give me back my baby! Give it!!!” Malik shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to go past Majah’s huge black wings.
“Oh, don’t be such a whiney boy!” Illust-chan growled as she inspected the baby some more. She signaled with eye contact at her company and they nodded and left, only to return a few minutes later bringing what she needed. They brought in a wet towel to clean the baby and scissors to cut the umbilical cord that was still attached to the afterbirth due to the fact that the ‘mothers’ weren’t fully equipped with the necessary childbirth tools. Another came to Malik, held him down by the wrists to stop him from struggling, and inspected his vagina. His vagina had almost fully shrunken back to normal and was healing up nicely. After much manhandling, the baby was soon handed to Majah to be thrust back into Malik’s arms. Malik couldn’t control his tears as he hugged and kissed his baby, hushing and rocking him to stop him from crying.
“Next time, do have the courtesy to yell for me if any of you are in labour. You know it’s best to leave it to the professionals. Alright then, good work, Malik. Someone will come in to bring you a glass of milk to keep your strengths up. I’ll be looking forward to the others soon.”
With that Illust-chan and Majah guided their Lord Zorc out of the cell and out of the dungeons, the light dimmed as they went. Everyone finally began remembered to breathe as they clutter around the sobbing Malik, wondering if he and the baby was alright.
“What is her problem?” Tristan growled. “She’s the vainest bitch I’ve ever seen.”
“At least the baby’s alright,” Ryou said. “You OK, Malik?”
“How do you think I’m feeling now?!” Malik snapped at him. “I had my baby stripped from my hand and I couldn’t even protect him from their filthy hands! He took my baby away from me without me even realizing it and I let that bitch touch my baby! I couldn’t even fight a guy to keep my baby safe! How does that make you feel?!”
“There, there, Malik,” Yugi said as he leaned Malik close to his chest. “At least he’s alright. Hush now, you just had a tiring ordeal. Rest up. Your baby needs you.”
With Joey’s help, they both supported Malik against the wall in a sit-up position and told Malik to lift his shirt so that his baby could feed from him. Malik was soon overcome with fatigue and allowed himself to be manhandled. All the other ‘mothers’ looked in awe as the baby suckled his ‘mother’ hungrily. Everyone cooed and giggled in their own language, complimenting the baby.
“Aww, he is just so cute!” a German ‘mother’ spoke.
“Isn’t he just the sweetest little thing?” a Dutch ‘mother’ cooed as he tickled the baby’s ear.
“His father must be very, very handsome,” a Vietnamese ‘mother’ complimented.
“Can I hold him? Can I hold him?” someone from Gammon High pleaded.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Tristan warned that person away. “Let the ‘mother’ hog the kid. You’ll get your chance soon enough.”
“Watcha gonna name ‘im, Mal?” Joey asked as soon as Malik was done breastfeeding his son.
“Well, I was hoping Marik would name him for me,” Malik replied, stifling a yawn.
“Surely you have something in mind for starters,” Ryou said.
“Well…I have been inclined to name him ‘Night’,” Malik said sheepishly. “Corny, eh? Coz I thought it’s coz Marik is a Night Clan creature and all, so…”
“Night sounds perfect,” Yugi said. “Just as nice as my Destiny and Hope.”
“Night it is then,” Joey announced, and Ryou translated whatever was just said to the foreigner ‘mothers’, who in turn nodded in agreement.
“I just hope someone come over and help us soon,” Ryou said. “Illust-chan may be a midwife, but judging by her attitude, she doesn’t give a damn about Malik and Night’s health. Malik needs professional midwifery help.”
The rest of the gang couldn’t agree more as they watched Malik drifted back to sleep with Night held possessively in his arms.
--:--
Marik, Seto and Yami were standing in front of a Mountain Dweller who was tied and hung by the armpits in chains, looking at him with malicious eyes. He was hovering above a huge cauldron of hot bubbling lava-like substances being boiled under strong fire. Half of his legs were gone, revealing much of his flesh and bone underneath, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened to it when the smell of burnt flesh and metallic blood lingered in the torture chamber.
“Well, are you ready to speak?” Marik asked as he gripped tightly at the lever, “Or do you wish to lose the rest of your limbs?”
“Please…Please, milords…” the Mountain Dweller begged, his face ashen and wet due to the fact that he must’ve been forced awake with water after fainting from the pain. “Enough…I can’t take it anymore…”
“If you value your life, you will tell us where the Bad Seeds’ hideout is and we can ease you from this torture,” Yami said, taking the poor Mountain Dweller by the chin.
“I…I can…only remember one thing…they said to me, milord…”
“What is it? Speak!” Seto demanded.
“They…They said something about…about The Lair…I didn’t ask…but I think this is…where their gathering spot is…”
“Are you lying to us? Do you speak the truth?”
“I…I speak the truth…milords! Please…Please let me go…!”
“Very well,” Seto replied and took over the lever, pushing Marik aside. Instead of pulling the Mountain Dweller up and out of the cauldron, he pushed the lever down full force, sending the poor traitor into the bubbling cauldron in seconds and watched him scream and gurgle and writhe in the hot lava-like liquid before disintegrating into nothing but a mass of blood and goo.
After making sure that the traitor was no longer existent, Seto nonchalantly pushed the lever back up to take out the chains that melted along with the Mountain Dweller, rubbed his nose a little to rid of the stench that stung it and walked out, leaving the speechless Marik and Yami behind. Never in their immortal years have they seen Seto behaved that way. They could only imagine how much the disappearance of his mate affected him.
“We will need to relay this message to Lord Seth,” Yami said, breaking the silence. Marik nodded in agreement.
Together, Yami and Marik, along with Seto who was waiting outside the chamber for them, went wordlessly to see Lord Seth to report to him about their findings.
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