FicWad

Chapter 7

Separation

After their dinner, the group was dropped off at a hotel. Kaiba explained to them that he would pick them up in the morning. The group bid him good night and went in. Kaiba must have already arranged reservations for them, because when they entered, they were almost immediately led up to their rooms. The three male hikari’s said good night to Serena.
“Yugi?” Ryou asked.
“Yes?”
“Can we talk to you for a moment?” he asked.
“Sure,” he said. He opened the door to his room and motioned for them to come inside. They sat down in the chairs that were in the rooms while Yugi sat down on the bed.
“What’s up?”
“We’ve decided,” Ryou said.
“Oh?”
“Our Yami’s agree with Atem. They would like to help us fight them,” Malik said.
Yugi sighed and nodded, “I thought they’d say that.”
“They share Atem’s reasoning. If we’re going to fight them, they want to help, and in our current states, there’s only so much that they can do,” Ryou said.
Yugi stood up and walked over to them, “Thank you, all four of you. I’ll tell Kaiba in the morning.”
“It’s no problem Yugi,” Malik said, “We want to get rid of them as well.”
“I know,” he replied.
“Well, I’m off to bed. It’s been a long day,” Ryou said.
“It’s going to be an even longer one tomorrow,” Yugi said.
“Yeah, which is why I want to get as much sleep as possible,” Ryou replied with a smile.
“Good night, Yugi,” Malik said.
“Good night,” he replied.
The two left to their own rooms and Yugi closed the door behind them. He sighed and turned around, “Tomorrow’s going to be an extremely long day.”

The group made their way to Kaiba Corp headquarters the next morning. They were prepared to do whatever was necessary to bring down the “Organization.” When they got there, he motioned for them to sit down while he finished a phone call. When he was done he got up and walked over to them; his arms crossed.
“I have some good news. I just got done talking to some people. I have some experts who are willing to come train you all,” he said.
“That’s great news!” Serena exclaimed.
“Yeah, it is! The faster we train, the faster we can take them down,” Malik said.
Yugi nodded, “We have some good news of our own. Malik and Ryou told me last night that their Yami’s agree to the separation. We are willing to go through with it whenever you have it ready, Kaiba.”
“Very well. Just so you know, this isn’t going to be cheap. I don’t want you quitting just because you don’t feel like it or you get scared,” he said.
“Don’t worry. We won’t quit. We’ve come too far to stop now. We’ll see this through to the end,” Yugi said as he narrowed his eyes. They flashed crimson for a split second before returning to their natural color. It was fast enough to make one think they had seen things.
“Yes, we won’t quit,” Ryou said with finality.
“Good. Be ready this afternoon to undergo the operation. I want this to happen as quickly as possible as well,” Kaiba said as he turned around and went back to his desk, dismissing them without another word.
As the group left, they decided to let the Yami’s in control to go clothe shopping, since they were going to need some soon. The Hikari’s found the trip to be a very hilarious one, considering that the Yami’s had never shopped before. There were several times where the Hikari’s had to coach the Yami’s on how to do everything. It turned out alright in the end though. Each Yami came back with several bags full of clothes; all charged to Kaiba Corps of course. The group arrived back at Kaiba Corps shortly after noon and waited in Kaiba’s office. Kaiba came in after a few minutes and motioned for them to follow him. They walked down to the same room where they had the chips removed. Jack was there waiting for them again.
“Jack has assured me that this process won’t take very long, and that there is a 100% guarantee that you will all survive. I will be watching from a small observation room off to the side, after all, this is my money going down the drain for you,” Kaiba said before he left, not even giving them time to reply.
“Don’t worry about him, he’s always like that,” Jack said.
“Yeah, we’re starting to see that,” Yugi said as he watched Kaiba walk away.
“Anyway, this is how we’re going to do this. Serena, you have the privilege of going first. After that it will be Ryou, Malik and then finally Yugi. We’re going to do this quickly and efficiently, okay?” He asked, a smile crossing his face.
“Sure, sounds good,” Yugi said.
“Alrighty then, Serena if you’ll follow me,” Jack said.
Serena nodded and followed him into the operation room. She waved to the three boys before turning back around. The boys waved back and sat down to wait for their turn.
“Scared?” Malik asked.
“A little,” Ryou replied.
“I’m sure it’ll be just fine, after all this isn’t like the “Organization.” People here actually know what they’re doing,” Yugi said.
“I know. I’m just scared because of what happened last time,” Ryou said.
“Listen, Ryou, nothing’s going to happen. We’re not some kind of experiment here, and Kaiba’s assured us that we’ll live. We’re going to be fine,” Malik said.
“And besides, if you want, you can have Bakura take over,” Yugi offered.
“I think I’ll do that,” Ryou said.
He closed his eyes and when he opened them, Bakura was in control. He sat back and folded his arms.
“I take it you’re not worried?” Malik said.
“No. Fear is for babies,” Bakura snorted.
“So Ryou’s a baby then?” Yugi asked.
“No, he’s not,” he replied.
“But you just said…” Yugi said.
“I know what I just said! Drop it okay?” Bakura growled.
“Fine, no need to get angry,” Malik said.
“Well if some people…” Bakura broke off as he mumbled under his breath.
The boys waited almost anxiously until they spotted Jack coming back. Behind him was Serena, and another girl they assumed to be Wynter, Serena’s Yami. The two girls were holding their heads and staggering a little but otherwise seemed fine.
“How’d it go?” Malik asked.
“Fine,” Jack said.
“It leaves one killer headache, but other than that, there are no problems,” Serena said.
Wynter merely sagged down into a chair and closed her eyes. Serena sat next to her, still cradling her head.
“Ryou, you’re next,” Jack said.
“Let’s get this done and over with,” Bakura said.
They left and the others sat quietly. They were all caught up in their own thoughts. Before long, Jack came back with Ryou and Bakura trailing behind them, each holding their heads. Bakura was swearing quietly as he sat down. He was mumbling something about headaches and crazy doctors and killing Kaiba for not warning them that they’d end up hurting afterwards. Malik laughed a little and Bakura snapped at him saying he wouldn’t find it funny afterwards. Malik merely said that he knew and followed Jack. The group still stayed silent, except for Bakura’s occasional swearing about the headache. A little while later, Malik and Marik came out with Jack. Malik told Bakura to shut up when Bakura snickered at him. Marik pulled Malik into his lap when they sat down and rested his head against his shoulder.
“Yugi, you ready?” Jack asked softly.
“As I’ll ever be,” Yugi replied. He stood up and followed Jack into the room.
“Lay down right there, Yugi,” Jack said as he pointed to a hospital bed.
“We’re going to have to strap you down, because you’re going to end up jerking around a lot and we don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Jack said.
Yugi nodded, not trusting his voice right then. He lay down on the bed and two nurses came and hooked him in. He smiled up at them and they smiled back, enchanted with his big innocent eyes. It saddened them that someone like him had to go through this. Yugi didn’t mind though. He knew it had to be done.
“What we’re going to do is give you a shot. It’s a serum that was discovered recently. We’ve tested it out before, and as you’ve seen for yourself, the side effects are a headache and staggering a little. The process itself is a little painful, but it won’t kill you,” Jack said, “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Yugi said. He just wanted it done and over with.
Jack nodded at one of the nurses and they handed him a syringe. He looked down at Yugi and said, “You’ll feel a slight pinch, and then the liquid entering your arm. Afterwards there will be pain. A lot of it. I’d give you something to help, but we’re afraid that it would interfere with the process,” Jack said.
Yugi nodded and Jack pushed the needle into his arm. He winced at the pain and then felt the liquid spread out in his arm. After a few minutes he felt an immense pain spread throughout his entire body. He started to jerk around, pushing against the restraints. His mind clouded over in pain and he screamed. He heard Atem scream in his mind and felt the pain double. He barely heard the voices in the background, nor did he feel a second needle enter his arm.
“Something’s wrong! Give him the antidote quickly,” Jack said.
The nurse gave him the shot and they waited for a few minutes.
“It’s not working!” she cried.
“Hold him down! We’re going to have to let him ride it out! There’s nothing left that we can do!” Jack shouted.
The nurses grabbed a hold of Yugi and tried to hold him down. They were amazed at the amount of strength that the young boy held. All of a sudden, a bright light flashed throughout the room and an unknown force threw the nurses and Jack off of Yugi with such power that they flew into the walls. Kaiba was in the observation room trying to find a way to help the young boy when the flash occurred. He quickly covered his eyes with his arms. When the light dimmed he looked back into the room and saw something that astounded him.
Yugi was floating in mid air. His mouth was open in a silent scream and his eyes were wide. They shifted between crimson and amethyst. A white light surrounded him while shadows from the ground rose up to meet the light. The forces of light and shadow were furiously trying to separate the two. The light was trying to dull the immense pain that they were going through, while the shadows were trying to trying to meticulously pull them apart. Each nerve and muscle were being pulled apart so painstakingly careful as to insure the minimalist amount of pain. Kaiba watched on as the shadows continued their work. The two forces were outraged that their two masters were being forced apart. Yugi and Atem were not ordinary Hikari and Yami. They were the human forms of the two words. The forces wanted revenge for the pain their masters were going through, but they knew that their masters wouldn’t want that. They knew that this was what their masters wanted to begin with, which was why they forced the separation instead of trying to rid the serum from their bodies. Soon two figures started to become clearer to Kaiba. He watched as the body of Atem slowly appeared to gain shape. With one final bright flash, everything ended.
Yugi was back on the bed, but this time he was sitting up. Atem was in his arms, and they were both sobbing in pain. It was just too much. It hurt them to move, to touch anything besides the other, it hurt to even breathe. Yugi was hugging Atem so tight, that one would have thought that if the separation hadn’t killed them, then Yugi was slowly going to. Atem however was clawing at Yugi, trying to bring him closer if possible. Yugi’s clothes were in tatters and Atem wasn’t wearing anything at all. Kaiba quickly took control of the situation and ordered no one to touch the two. He strode into the room and approached Yugi and Atem.
“Yugi?” he asked.
Yugi paid no attention to him, and merely pulled Atem closer to him.
“Yugi, I’m going to need to move you two into isolation. Can you walk?” he asked softly.
By some miracle, Yugi had managed to hear him though the pain and nodded. He slid off the bed and held Atem to him. They both sobbed harder at the effort to move. It hurt them so much. Kaiba led them slowly, for it hurt them too much to move fast, to an isolated area in the building. He led them to one of the rooms that was furnished much like a bedroom and led them inside. The two collapsed on the bed, still crying. They were asleep within seconds. Kaiba watched them for a moment. They were still crying in their sleep, the pain affecting even that. He walked out and locked the door behind them.
“No one is to enter here. They will remain in isolation for two days. No one is to open the door. I will bring them meals myself. Understood?” he asked.
The nurses and guards that had followed them nodded and Kaiba assigned two guards to watch over the door. He strode down the hall, an explanation already forming in his head to tell Yugi’s friends.