The Burning Crimson Rose

06. Three Steps Back

Domino Castle
9:00 PM

Once Yami and Yugi had finished with dinner, the dragon king retired to his chambers while Yugi decided to have a gander around the castle. He made his way down the long hallways, admiring everything he passed by along the way, from the beautiful paintings, to the skillfully crafted statues, and even the stunning suits of armor along the walls, almost posing as guards. Yugi grinned at the silly thought, but continued on, making sure not to touch anything since he was just a guest after all. When he rounded a corner, however, Yugi felt something, or someone, bump into him, falling backwards onto the floor. It turned out to be a small boy who had run into him. This boy had semi-long magenta colored hair pulled into a ponytail at the base of his head, his bangs framing golden brown eyes. He was dressed in a light blue, long sleeve, button up shirt; a yellow sweatervest; dark blue shorts that went to his knees; some white socks; and black shoes, a white apron around his waist. The boy then pushed himself up, rubbing his head a bit, but when he lifted his gaze, Yugi was leaned over a bit, a hand stretched out toward the boy.

"Sorry about that. Are you alright?" Yugi asked kindly before the boy hesitantly reached for his hand.

Yugi helped the boy back onto his feet as he dusted himself off before giving a gentle smile. "Yeah, I'm okay, thank you." He said. "I'm sorry for running into you like that, but I'm in a bit of a hurry." The boy explained. "Oh, and are you the new guest that's staying here?"

Yugi was a bit surprised that this boy knew he was here, but gave a nod. "Yes, I am."

"Well, my name is Leon Wilson. I work in the kitchen with Mana and sometimes do some small, but rather odd tasks the master asks of me."

"So you live here with your family as servants then?" Yugi asked as the two shook hands, but Leon's head dropped a bit.

"Not exactly... My older brother kinda abandoned me when I was a child, but then the king took me and another girl in when we were, I wanna say around five or six, before he passed away from a terrible illness. Since then though, I've been here with Mana and--" Leon suddenly cut himself off. "Oh my gosh! Becca!" He exclaimed.

Leon was about to take off, until he stopped, turning back to Yugi. "Umm... I hate to ask, but...do you think you can help me with something?"

"Of course. What's the problem?" Yugi nodded.

"I was in such a hurry to try and find Mana to see if she could help me, but I had bumped into you instead. The reason I need help though is because my friend, Rebecca was cleaning the large stain glass windows in the main hall when the ladder suddenly fell over. I'm not strong enough to put the ladder back up to help her down by myself, and now she's stuck up on the windowsill. I could really use your help, Mister."

"In that case, let's hurry over there!"

Leon nodded with a grin. "Thank you so much!" The two then took off for the main hall.

They head down two sets of large stair cases before entering the main hall, where big and beautiful stain glass windows stood before them. However, perched on the windowsill with their back pressed against the wall, frightened to the core, was a girl. She had bright blonde hair that almost touched her waist, her bangs framing deep green eyes, which were hidden behind a pair of pink, semi-circle glasses. This girl was dressed in a white, button up top with a pink cardigan overtop; a blueish-green pleated skirt; a blue tie; white knee high socks; brown shoes; and a white apron around her waist. Her entire body trembled out of fear from how high up she was, unable to get down from the ledge her feet barely fit on as she tried not to move so she wouldn't accidentally fall off. Yugi could see how terrified this girl was and scanned around the area to see if he could find something to help her down, but upon noticing the fallen ladder, he came to the conclusion that even with Leon's help, they wouldn't be able to lift that ladder back up there.