Return of the Kings

Chapter 4

Pain. Pain immeasurable erupted from his skin. Pure heat melted his veins, oozing through his pores as it threatened to rip his skin apart. His eyes felt ready to pop and his heart bled ribbons of lava through his body.

He heard the laughter swallowing him, echoing through his mind, tormenting him endlessly before all of a sudden his world was deafeningly silent. He stood among a white void of nothingness... he felt no pain, no heat nor cold... he felt nothing. He saw nothing. He heard nothing. There was just... nothing.... Until the nothing became something below him. He saw the world; his city and further in his friends and family. Living their lives... except he wasn't there. They spoke and laughed and played and moved on with their lives... without him. He was happy they were happy but did they not miss him? He had helped them so much and yet they let him go... maybe... maybe they would be fine if he died. Perhaps the world would be safe. After all if no one is looking, would the world know if he turned his back?

"Yugi?" He heard a voice jolt him awake and for a dazed moment he was greeted by a silhouette of an older man. It took him a moment to realise that this man dressed in white was his doctor and as the land of the waking world took over he shook off the dream he had just had. Atem was still safe inside though he felt... bothered. He tried reaching out to him to comfort him, pull him out if he could but he felt a slight resistance against him. It wasn't as if he was shutting him out, but more like he was unreachable at the moment... perhaps he was sleeping too.

"I'm sorry to wake you. You obviously need the rest. I'm Dr. Kuwai. I've been overseeing your recovery. Nurse Omoi tells me you were wide eyed and bushy tailed earlier. Thats good to hear. And your readings are impressive. You recover quickly."

"Thank you." Yugi said absent mindedly, yawning with slight difficulty as the strain on his ribs was becoming a bit more real now.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. First off, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no pain and 10 being kill me, what is your pain score?"

"Uhh... about 3? I feel mostly uncomfortable than in any pain."

"Would you like to lower the bed?"

"Sure.... I think it's mostly just tightness in the ribs though." Yugi said. The Doctor took the remote regardless and lowered him down. Yugi adjusted himself to become more comfortable and immediately felt the pressure on his chest lifting.

"Thats better thank you."

"How's your memory? Do you remember what happened?"

"Not entirely. I was with a colleague. We had a falling out of sorts."

"And he tortured you? That's some falling out." Dr. Kuwai laughed.

"I don't remember."

The Doctor shined a torch in his eyes before feeling the back of his skill and moving his head around.

"The concussion is easing quicker than I expected. I'd like you to stay again tonight but I will get you to move around later today. We'll take a few X-rays and I think an ultra-sound to check the bleeding. I've already taken a fresh blood sample so I'll get that tested before tonight. At your rate of recovery you should be right to go home tomorrow. If your memory doesn't return before then I'll take a CAT scan and send you off but it should return to you in time." Dr. Kuwai said kindly.

"Okay... Is there any chance I can come home tonight?"

"We'll see how you move later. In the meantime, your friends and family are here. They're very keen to see you. Breakfast is still here too, I recommend you eat the desert... the rest is ... well there's much to be desired." Dr. Kuwai laughed and left the room.