[CAMPUS/IC]

[youreternalservant]

[This is a general post for threads that can't go anywhere else, to prevent making closed posts for one or two characters.

Threads here are 100% IC for the_campus.

12/10/13 - Back from the Dead]

Comments

Return from the Afterlife

[youreternalservant]

[Being dead wasn't so much of a problem once you'd done it a few times. The guilt meant more of it, but he hadn't expected something like that to take him by surprise. He'd have to work harder on shielding himself in the future.

But more importantly...

Mahad blinked up at the ceiling of the nurse's office, drawing in a soft breath. He felt solid now. He felt alive. It was as if nothing had ever happened. Those connections to his soul flared up fiercely, the cards becoming animate once more and sending out a gently apologetic feeling to their holders.

Where are you? I'm in the nurse's office... I'll come find you.

Nothing was more important than his charges.]

[awishforfriends]

[There's not a response from Yugi, as such. Right now, the poor boy is in a fitful sleep, but the hand of his still firmly on the card means that he can feel that voice and warmth again, causing him to calm... at least a little. It's enough to turn his dreams to the Magician, if nothing else.

Mahad...]

[youreternalservant]

[No response... likely asleep, then. No, he's sure he can feel it through the card. As he brushes off Lisa's concerns and leaves to head for the boy's dormitory, he focuses on sending a feeling of comfort through the card.

It's not far, at least, before he finds the door. Now is it locked...?]

[awishforfriends]

[The door doesn't seem to be locked, thankfully; either Pegasus forgot, or he was elsewhere in the small dorm.

The feeling of comfort soothes Yugi a bit more, making him mumble softly and pull the card closer to him, heedless of how he might be damaging it. His trusted friend...]

[youreternalservant]

[Sinking down on the side of the bed, he reaches out to stroke slim fingers through Yugi's hair, soothingly. It's almost a parental gesture, the desire to offer comfort more than any of his usual hesitancies. Poor boy... to sleep holding the card so close. He must have been suffering.

Mahad won't leave him for now, at least.]

Rest well, Yugi...

[awishforfriends]

Mn...

[The touch seems to rouse him slowly, Yugi reaching up a hand to wipe off his face. Even in sleep, even three days later, the tears hadn't stopped, though they had been flowing a bit more slowly.

That feels nice...]

Pegasus-san...?

[He groggily looks up, blinking his eyes, still so out of it he doesn't seem to register who it is just yet.]

[youreternalservant]

...

[Softly, he uses his robes to wipe the tears away. The poor child... how he must have suffered.]

Not quite.

[awishforfriends]

[It's when the soft texture of the robe is against his face that Yugi's brain starts to boot, leaving him blinking a little. Slowly, the eyes focus, blinking a couple of times before it registers who it is.

...No. It can't be. He'd felt it... he'd seen the sheet he was in front of that the other him placed, he knew who was under it, hadn't been able to stop himself from looking. So this couldn't be...

After a moment of being almost unable to breathe, Yugi slowly -- slowly -- reaches out a small hand to touch Mahad's face. It's a rude gesture, perhaps, but he can't even think right now, just wanting to see if it's real.]

[youreternalservant]

[A slight smile teases his lips, and he stays still, not drawing away from the touch. His skin is warm and soft to the touch.

His hand lifts in turn to rest atop Yugi's head gently for a moment before drawing him into his arms in a tight hug. It's impolite, he knows, but right now he just wants to offer what comfort he can.]

Forgive me, Yugi...

[awishforfriends]

[It's real. The feeling of that skin, this hug he's been pulled into, the warmth from it all...

It's real. Mahad's alive. He's really alive.

The tears start afresh as Yugi laces his arms around Mahad's neck as best he can, burying his face in the magician's chest even as he starts to shake, from sobs and relief and happiness.]

Mahad!

[youreternalservant]

[He feels the boy tense against him, feels the dampness of tears through the fabric of his robes, and for a moment he thinks he's going to be pushed away. But instead Yugi simply clings closer, sobbing against him. He feels a surge of relief.

His hands settle on the boy's back, rubbing it soothingly as he holds him.]

Yes... I'm real. I'm back.

[His voice is quietly calm, though Yugi's sobs are almost contagious. Poor boy... He won't let this happen ever again. Not even if he has to face down a thousand guns. Being taken by surprise was one thing. It won't happen again. He swears it, silently.]

[awishforfriends]

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

[Yugi has no intention of letting go anytime soon, nor is the crying likely to stop either. There's so much going through him right now, relief and guilt and joy and fear.]

I couldn't help you... I couldn't do anything...!

[youreternalservant]

[He keeps rubbing his back soothingly, frowning at those words.]

Yugi... please don't think like that. Putting yourself at risk needlessly wouldn't help either of us. I'm glad that you're alright. That's enough for me.

[helpusduelist]

[Over the three days, Henry's grief had dulled to just a twisting pain in his heart and stomach too intense to suppress. As it is, he had simply let "himself" be suppressed, falling into the state of "Henry the King" and leaving "Henry the Person" abandoned by the side of a road so that the pain would have less of an effect.

But the voice, the sudden familiar presence, has almost made him fall right over, breathing sharply. How long had it been? It was... three days. Three days...

The roof.

The voice is cautious and cold, that sharp bite of a king keeping everyone at arm's length out of distrust. It's not a voice he's ever used with the magician... but right now, those two halves of him are starting to struggle.]

[youreternalservant]

[This hardness to his voice... it's something he doesn't recall Henry ever using with him. It must have been hard on him. Long ago, he had sworn never to leave the boy's side, and now that the boy had grown into a man, a sort of dependance had been formed. For him to break that...

He heads straight for the roof.]

[helpusduelist]

[Henry is idling up there, leaning on the railing to look out over the forest. Such a small island... he's marched around it again and again and time yet again, and it feels so small and closed in now. Any place can be a prison, even if it takes a while for the prisoner to realize it.

He doesn't turn when Mahad appears, the only indication that he noticed being a soft hitch to his voice.

The King and the Man are struggling now, the King trying to keep that cold facade to protect himself while the Man desperately just wants to hold the friend that's alive yet again. In the end...]

Mahad.

[The King wins again.]

[youreternalservant]

...

[Ignoring the hardness of Henry's voice, he floats over to his side, reaching out a hand to grasp his shoulder. Hearing him sound like that is unnerving. Like a wounded animal guarding itself from friend or foe alike out of pain. What has he done to this man by dying? That guilt is endless.

He releases the grasp on Henry's shoulder after a second, sinking to one knee before him.]

Henry...

[helpusduelist]

[The hand causes Henry to tense, though he makes no move to stop or remove it. There's a fresh pang in his heart when it's removed, in fact, and he finally turns to look at the magician when he kneels, pushing off the railing.

Though his demeanor and voice may hide behind that icy mask, his eyes can't. Pain and joy and fear and hatred and anger and relief are just a few of the emotions held in that color of blood, the fight between the two parts of him clear if Mahad cares to look.]

Speak.

[His voice cracks. The Dark Magician's mere presence is enough to start making breaks appear in that ice.]

[youreternalservant]

[He looks.

Lifting his head, he meets Henry's eyes with his own without fear. Everything is laid open in that gaze of his. Guilt and affection. Relief that the man seems to not be entirely lost. The warmth that always has been within him for Henry. Sorrow for the suffering the man has endured. It all mixes together in his eyes.]

I will not make excuses. But, Henry... forward though it may be... please do not push me away.

[helpusduelist]

[Mahad's guilt is met with Henry's own, a pit in his stomach and the self-inflicted part of his suffering. A king can't be held down with questions, with what-ifs, but that's exactly what's weighing on him, dragging his heart into that cruel darkness that's far from the gentle one his soul has embraced.

What if he had been stronger? What if he had been attentive? What if he had summoned Mahad instead of one of the Charmers instead of the Dark Magician Girl? What if he had pursued Bakura immediately and left one of them to help Norman instead of checking on him?

What if he had been there?

The warmth in those eyes is enough to not so much melt that ice as shatter it, and though Henry opens his mouth to speak, all that comes out is a strangled, broken cry. He crumples right where he is, falling to his hands and knees with his head down. His shoulders are shaking with tears, hot and heavy, and he can't make a noise that's more than something broken.]

[youreternalservant]

Henry-!

[Those what-ifs were little more than poison to the mind of whoever held them. It was true that if Henry had summoned him, Mahad might have escaped death. It was true that if Henry had stopped the so-called King of Thieves right there, he would have survived. But those were little more than alternates. Hindsight spoke poison words with poison tongues.

Neither of them could have known Bakura would go for Mahad rather than Yugi.

He moves without thinking, intent on pulling Henry into his arms whether he resists or not.]

[helpusduelist]

[Even had he wanted to -- and he didn't -- Henry wouldn't have had the strength to resist. All of his strength is gone, bled out thanks to the burning in his eyes and heart. He clings to Mahad tightly, for all the world just an oversized child now as he sobs into that armor, the shaking as violent as the gasps for air.

Henry had never been that physically imposing. An average height with a thin frame more built for agility than speed, but right now, it all feels so fragile, as if the King has been reduced to a simple doll.]

[youreternalservant]

[He holds him close, as though Henry were a child in the arms of his father. All he can do right now is offer comfort, and that he does.

Mahad himself was always tall, even as a child, and he feels taller yet in this odd form built of magic. It's odd, holding someone like this in this body... but he wouldn't push Henry away for the world. Instead, he holds him all the closer, trying to relay all of that warmth and affection that he can't put into words through the gesture.]

[helpusduelist]

[It works. Thank the God that watches over him, but this is enough. Had enough time passed, that mask would've melted on its own, but perhaps it's better to have it shattered here, like this; Jack and Harriet gently trying to help through his first breakdown and now Mahad soothing his second one, it was a reminder he needed. A hard lesson, but one that he still needed to learn.

He wasn't alone. These burdens didn't need to be born by only him.

Slowly, the violent moments stop. Slowly, Henry's breathing softens, goes even, as his body relaxes some. Silence, for a time, then finally...]

Thank you...

[Breathless and weak, but the negative feelings have bled out, now. All it holds is the relief and joy at having his old friend back.]

[youreternalservant]

I am your eternal servant... but, more than that... I consider myself your friend, too.

[It's said as if it explains everything in the world. And to him, it almost does. He doesn't let go of Henry just yet, though his grip is loose enough that the man can shrug it off if he wants. It's not there to restrain, after all.]