Yami began to play the piano, his fingers dancing across the keys as his eyes showed the feeling of emotion as he began the tale, Yugi listening intently.
"I was born into a loving family...a mother, a father...and me." Yami began, "They both loved me so much and wanted everything in the world for me...
"They just wanted me to be happy..."
Yugi tilted his head, listening to the piano's melody as well, the notes being beautiful and soft, high pitched and full of awe and stunning potential.
"My mother...was a teacher and my father was a wealthy business man." Yami continued to play, looking slightly at Yugi, but looking straight back at the keys as he played on, "We had everything we could have asked for...I was happy to have a loving family...and loving parents. I was 6 when it happened...that...
"Accident..." The piano melody began to get slightly darker and desperate, "The day...before my seventh birthday..."
Yami's eyes fogged from the memory, but he blinked away his tears and played on, ignoring Yugi's worried glances.
"I blacked out...I never knew for how long..." Yami said, "But I woke up in the ICU...a very scary place for a child...and I didn't know where my parents were...I thought they were out and were coming to see me...but...
"The doctors that treated me...told me they...d-died..."
The melody got sadder and more emotional as Yami continued, blinking rapidly. Yugi looked sympathetically at Yami and rubbed his back. Yami only continued to play, his eyes closed. A single tear slipped.
"B-But...But the doctors were a-amazing...they were kind and gentle...they made me feel like I still had a family out there..." Yami sniffed before the tune got softer and returned to a beautiful instrumental that floated into Yugi's ears, "And they...helped me find it..."
Yami smiled ever so slightly, his eyes still closed. He opened his eyes again and they had a gentle hint to their color. One that soothed Yugi.
"They put me in an orphanage after I recovered...when I was 8 years old...No one ever heard of the accident...no one knew...I wouldn't let them know...and I convinced myself not to tell a single person..." Yami told the story, "But...when I was 13...I was adopted...by the most loving foster family an orphan could ever have..."
Yami had a far away look in his eye as the song he played began to grow more in beauty. Yugi could feel the feelings that Yami transferred from his finger tips to the instrument.
"There was a mother...an older sister...and a...brother." Yami's eyes softened all over again when he mentioned the brother, "The father...was never talked about...and it seemed the brother had no idea either of what happened to the father...but the mother and sister knew well..."
Yami's song began to get dark and mysterious, but the beauty of the song still remaining in the piece.
"The brother was my age....Heba...was his name..." Yami said, his voice a whisper, "And he wasn't just a brother...he was...a best friend...a companion...someone to stay with me through thick and thin...s-someone...to listen and comfort me..."
Yugi could sense the pure sadness and agony in his voice when he began to talk about Heba.
"He was...probably the...only one who loved me..." Yami continued, "Like a brother...not just a step brother...He and I...every Wednesday moonlit night like this one...We would play the piano together...creating immature melodies that weren't always beautiful...but they were our songs..."
Yami's melody increased in its dark tones, getting darker and darker as Yami shut his eyes again.
"And one night...we played...like usual..." Yami' voice lowered again, the emotion clearly evident, "It was...just the two of us...but there was something amiss...the mother and sister seemed...occupied...they wouldn't join us...they didn't speak...they didn't smile..."
Yami's skin went pale as the memory flooded his pores and made its way into the song without fail, the tune growing deeper and more terrifying with every key that played.
"And they sent both of us to bed...2 hours early...and they wouldn't let us get out of it...Heba and I were...almost as frightened as they were...looking into their eyes...we saw fear...pain...struggle...torment." Yami still went on, not opening his eyes as he did so and hid the tears that were pumped into his eyes, "We still...slept..."
The notes suddenly changed completely, the tone dark and slow, a truly terrifying way to fit a truly terrifying memory.
"It was a couple hours later...My sister silently burst through Heba and I's door...She jerked us awake and ordered us not to make a sound..." Yami's voice darkened as well, "She gave me a phone...and commanded for us to hide in the closet...and to dial 911 if someone came in..."
Yami sniffled, still continuing.
"I can remember...being huddled up against Heba...in the corner of the small space...his hand in mine and my other hand...on the phone..." Yugi sensed the fear in his voice that sent chills up his spine, "It was quiet...then we heard yelling...a strange man...my step mother...and my step sister...then a series of g-g-gunshots...screaming...silence...and deathly still air..." Yami gulped, the tune continuing down its frightening path, "Something happened to my step mother...my step sister...but we still were too scared to move...Heba and I still huddled together...terrified."
Yami's voice began to grow to a whisper that showed terror and sadness and anguish all balled up in one tone.
"Then...we heard footsteps up the stairs...and doors opening...one by one...making its way in the direction of our room...someone was looking for us..." Yami muttered, "Heba shivered against me...and we clutched each other, the phone ready...when suddenly...they found us..."
The melody got to its darkest tone. A tone darker than Yugi had ever heard and the melody was loud and it was a crescendo that penetrated the story through and through.
"Everything happened so fast...I was ripped from Heba...and he screamed...I felt the strange man slice down my arm...he slit my neck...and I was knocked out...my blood falling by the...tons..." Yami bit his bottom lip, playing as Yugi realized what the long scar on his arm was...and the cut on his neck came from, "I was knocked out...but when I came to...he was beside me...a bit bandaged, but lively...but he seemed changed...he wasn't as cheerful as he used to be...he...he was different..."
Yami's melody got soft once more, ending the crescendo and beginning a lovely tune. Yugi felt the beauty as it filled the air with song.
"He and I...after that...were closer than ever before..." Yami continued, not looking at Yugi at all, "We would band together and hold each other...working together to press on...until...we split...he...he went off to serve in the army...I went off to college...and we promised to write...every day..."
Yami's voice quivered.
"When...one day, he stopped sending letters...I would continue sending...but he wouldn't reply...not ever...and one day..." Yami gulped, "It was a field trip...to see how battle field surgeons worked...we went out with our battle field surgeon...onto the battle field...and...when you stand out there...
"You see...young men...not even 25 yet...laying on the ground...bleeding...crying...d-dying...and among them...as I watched my surgeon..."
Yami sniffled, the melody saddening along with his emotions. His eyes watered and Yugi heard him gulp.
"I h-heard...someone...c-calling for help...sobbing...he...he wanted food...water...his b-brother..." Yami sniffed deeply, the melody still, "So I...went l-looking for him...c-compelled to h-h-help...and...I found him...
"Our eyes m-met...and he cried harder...s-sprawled on the bare ground...in a pool of blood...wounded...and I d-didn't know who he was..." Yami blinked rapidly, "Until he...t-took off his...hat...revealing to b-be...
"Heba..."
Yugi's eyes widened and he felt the sadness overwhelm him. How could someone stay secretive about something like this for so long?
Yami's eyes welled with tears and his voice quivered.
"...I-I...held him...trying to r-reassure him...he'd b-be fine...B-but...no matter what I...did...h-he..." Yami's eyes brimmed, "d-died...."
Tears streamed down his cheeks freely and the melody played the tune of a soft sounding lullaby.
"Th-There was...one song we m-made..." Yami said, "Th-That stayed with us...b-because...it sh-showed how we f-felt about e-each other..."
Yugi's eyes watered from the sadness of this story, but the silently crying Yami still spoke...he began to sing...his tears increasing, but his voice still and solemn.
"Let it be sealed in us...
The friendship of brothers...
Something to hold us as one...
No matter what may bother.
To be bind into a family...
Never to part.
Always together...
Two humans...one heart."
Yami looked down at the piano, the melody continuing. He could slightly remember the voice of Heba singing along with him and they would smile at each other as they did so...bringing the tears to be much faster.
"Let the bond be our strengthening
And the love be our home.
May the friendship of brothers,
And its message never be alone.
May the sun shine upon you
And keep you in the light of day...
And my prayers just might find you
And keep you from being alone.
Let the bond be our strengthening
And our love be our home..."
Yami pulled his song to a close, sobbing as soon as the last and the most beautiful key finished. He buried his face into his arms on the piano, crying his heart out.
Yugi could only silently cry beside him.
Why did such bad things...
Happen to such good people?