Sons of the Exiled

Yami burst through the doors of the institute, which would have alerted Jenny and Steve to his return, no matter how loud his entrance was. They always knew when someone entered the building, even if they were completely silent. Soon the teen was clumsily making his way to the infirmary, knowing that his adoptive parents would soon be there as well. He stumbled through the door, just as he heard rushed footsteps behind him.

“Yami!” Jenny gasped, seeing the teen’s shirt torn, “What happened to you?” she rushed over to him, just as he placed Yugi down on one of the beds. His head felt like it was about to explode, and he could barely keep both his feet on the ground anymore. He was vaguely aware of Steve moving to Yugi’s side, assessing the boy’s wounds.

Yami turned his head, and Jenny caught side of his most painful wound, gasping in the process. “Yami, have you seen the back of your head?” she shrieked, the motherly tone clear in her voice.

Yami was fighting to keep his eyes open as he focused on not blacking out. “Well, I can certainly feel it,” he grunted, leaning on the bed he had just placed Yugi on. He was slightly aware that he was putting bloody hands on white sheets, but Yugi’s wounds would stain the bed anyway. Yami only barely heard Jenny’s concerned words as she asked him more questions about his injuries, how he found Yugi and where his friends were. Her words sounded blurred and distant, and he was focusing on trying to stop his legs from trembling beneath him. Yami hung his head low, blinking rapidly as Jenny’s words started to swirl around him, his knees growing weaker by the second. He knew that the demon poison was causing his weakness, but Yugi was in far worse a position than himself and needed attention immediately. If Yami were to show how weak he truly was after his fight with the demon, it would distract Jenny and Steve from saving Yugi, for all he knew the boy could have already been on the way to dying when the man found him.

Yami gripped the sheets of the boy’s bed as he tried to stay standing. “Just…help Yugi,” he managed to choke out. He felt the floor start to slant below him, as his heard his heartbeat in his ears, and he was no longer aware of where his legs were. Before he could comprehend why the floor was getting closer, everything went black as he collapsed beside Yugi’s bed.

…

The institute’s halls were darkening as the sun began to set, casting a yellow-orange glow through the windows. Yami sat on the stool of the piano, staring out the window that overlooked the busy road below of which the institute faced. His eyebrows were creased in worry as he sat silently, carefully watching for any sign of his parents. Greg and Paige Sennen had received a message saying that a Shadowhunter body had been found in one of the old warehouses that sat on the East river, and gone to investigate.

That was five hours ago.

The young man had been sitting in that very spot for maybe the last hour or so, he wasn’t quite sure. Only being seventeen, he wasn’t allowed to participate in official Clave business, but he was sure that his parents hadn’t sent a message to the Conclave as of yet, meaning that they went alone. The sky was growing dark very quickly, and heavy clouds rolled in, signaling that rain would be on the way. It seemed the gloomy weather was in tune to the young man’s emotions, for he felt about as relaxed as a stretched spring, and he could see the clouds were about ready to burst from the amount of water they held.

His family wasn’t the only one which lived in the Institute, he had two friends, Duke and Tristan, who lived here with their parents Jenny and Steven. The large building would have been much too lonely if it only had 3 occupants, and so the two families lived together in harmony, and the three boys would often entertain themselves while the adults went out on official Clave business. However, Jenny and Steven had been meeting with a Warlock when Yami’s parents received the message, so they didn’t even have their loyal friends with them. Yami wasn’t quite sure where the other four occupants of the Institute were, he hadn’t seen Jenny and Steve since they left that morning, and his two friends had been out all day hunting down Demons for fun. They had invited Yami to come along with them, but he hadn’t been feeling up to it, and so he had been left in the large building by himself, just as he was now. He soon realised that this last statement was wrong, when he heard two pairs of footsteps approaching the music room, casually looking for any sign of life.

“Yami?” Duke’s voice called out, echoing down the hallway. “Are you here?” The young man wasn’t sure why he didn’t bother answering, probably because he knew they would find him in a minute anyway.

“Come on bro, we don’t want to look through every room in this place for ya,” Tristan complained, as their footsteps grew louder, and finally stopped. Yami had his back facing the door as he sat on the piano stool, still staring out into the night. “There you are,” Tristan said, walking in to greet his friend. Yami still couldn’t be bothered to turn around as his friends walked in, of whom he’d known for as long as he could remember. The two brothers were his closest companions, though there were other Shadowhunter kids his age around the place, he didn’t see them often.

Duke and Tristan were confused when Yami didn’t answer them, and they became worried when they came around and saw the vacant look in their friend’s eyes. “Are you okay buddy?” Tristan asked, watching Yami’s eyes scan the lamp lit streets below.

Duke then looked behind him to the door of the music room, before asking, “Where are Paige and Greg?” At the mention of his parents, Yami seemed to snap out of his trance, though he still didn’t look away from the window as he spoke.

“I don’t know,” he murmured, his eyes distant and empty, “They haven’t come home.”

Yami was suddenly jolted awake by the feeling of something brushing across his face. His head felt heavy and he was quite disoriented as he groaned from being thrown back to reality so suddenly. Why was I being reminded of that at now of all times? He thought with an internal sigh. He remembered that day as if it were last week, though he wished he didn’t. Yami tried to push back those thoughts and replaced them with figuring out what had happened to cause him to be where he was now. He remembered carrying Yugi into the infirmary (just) but anything after that was all a blur. He groaned and lifted one of his arms up, realising that it was the curtain tickling his cheek which had woken him up, as a quiet breeze blew through the window above him. He rubbed his eyes, and he flinched when the sun shone right on his eyelids. With a groan of annoyance, Yami opened his eyes and moved back away from the rays of morning sunlight coming in through the window. He remembered he had received quite a painful injury from that Ravenor demon to the back of his head, so he assumed he must have blacked out at some point. He did feel a lot better than previously, and he realised that Steve must have rid his body of the demon poison. Yami then heard a sound on his left, and he turned his head to see Yugi stretching in his own bed, groaning whilst doing so. The boy then slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly with creased eyebrows.

“Yugi,” he murmured, a small smile creeping onto his face, “You’re alright.”

The boy obviously had not known of Yami’s presence, as he made a startled noise, before turning to look at him. “Yami,” the boy said, widening his eyes in surprise. “You scared me.” Before the man could apologise though, Yugi was already firing questions at him. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

Yami opened his mouth to reply, but once again he was interrupted. This time though, it was by Duke and Tristan barging into the room. “Hey he’s awake!” Tristan cheered, jumping on the end of Yami’s bed. “Took your damn time.” He then saw Yugi blinking at them, confused as Duke leaned against the bedpost.

“…Why am I at the institute?” The boy asked, looking around at the dozen or so beds filling the room.

Duke and Tristan looked at each other, before they both looked at Yami. “You didn’t tell him?” Duke asked.

“I only just woke up,” Yami said, crossing his arms defensively, before adding, “How long was I out?”

Duke looked down at his watch, “Almost 24 hours,” he said, “It’s Tuesday morning.”

Yugi then interrupted them, sounding more worried than before as he asked what was going on and why he was at the institute. Duke and Tristan both went to reply at the same time, and the two sentences jumbled together made no sense at all. They glared at each other for a moment, and seemed to settle an argument without actually saying anything. Yami always wondered how they could do that.

“You were attacked yesterday,” Duke stated as he turned back to Yugi, before Tristan cut in, wanting to add his own input.

“And Yami practically saved your life,” he said, motioning to the man in front of him, still wearing clothes that were slashed and covered in his own blood. Yugi could see remnants of the thick crimson liquid covering the teen’s chest and arm, though there appeared to be evidence of someone trying to clean him up. Yugi faintly remembered being in a wave of pain, barely conscious, when suddenly a tall figure shot out from nowhere like a knight in shining armor. Yugi chuckled to himself at his own thoughts. Yami was no knight in shining armor, but he was certainly attractive enough.

“Thank you,” Yugi said, smiling over at the man.

“No problem,” Yami said, returning the smile, “Just doing my job.” This wasn’t the first time that ‘his job’ caused him to end up in the infirmary. But that was what life was like as a Shadowhunter, you give everything your all without a second thought. Shadowhunters had a sworn duty to protect mankind from the invisible threat of demons and rogue Downworlers, and if anything ugly happens there’s always the silent brothers to fix you up. Yami wondered if one of the brothers had been called in for him or Yugi, he wasn’t quite sure where the line was in terms of what Steve could do to help heal them before he needed the extra help. Yami was glad that he had been unconscious the whole time though, because even to an eighteen year old the silent brothers were quite scary to come across with their hollow eyes and stitched mouths.

“Actually,” Duke said, interrupting Yami’s thoughts. “We were told you practically collapsed as soon as you brought Yugi back here,” the boy in question raised his eyebrows at this as Duke continued to talk to Yami, “We never actually got to hear exactly what happened.”

Yami sighed at his friend, as he pulled himself into a sitting position. “There isn’t much to tell,” he said, glancing at Yugi. “I found him in the dining room, and a Shax was having a field day on his chest,” Yami explained, and Yugi put his hand up to this chest, that now was covered in many gruesome scars from the abuse. “So I pushed it off of him only to get a blow from behind by a Ravenor.”

Tristan decided to butt in then, “Is that what got you in the back of the head?”

Yami nodded, “Oh yeah, hurt like a bitch, too.” He chuckled, before continuing. “So I threw it across the room and that’s when the Shax did this,” he pointed to the scars covering his own chest from the demon, among many other feint scars from various runes. “Once I stabbed it, I went after the Ravenor and it bit me,” he held up his arm that still had the scars from it’s sharp teeth, and dried blood surrounding it. “But then I killed it, and brought Yugi back here.”

“What a hero,” a familiar voice laughed. They all turned around to see another Shadowhunter youth standing at the door, fresh runes covering the skin of his shoulders, showing through the thin white shirt he was wearing. He flicked his blond hair out of his eyes as he playfully smirked at the group. “So, what’s this about Yugi’s house getting attacked?”

…

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Joey scratched his head as he sat on the edge of Yugi’s bed, having sat down while the others explained to him what had happened. He turned to his friend who was sitting in the bed, “I leave you for a few hours and this happens?” he said in a joking manner. Yugi was caught by surprise, looking at the man with wide eyes as it had come out harsher than Joey had intended. The blond laughed and nudged the boy’s ribs, “I’m just kidding, Yug.” Yugi relaxed and chuckled slightly, before stealing a glance over at Yami, who seemed to be quite happy to sit back while everyone filled Joey in. They knew the blond man had practically grown up with Yugi, and thus the two were great friends, but they didn’t usually see Joey all that often. Yami was the only one who visited Yugi’s house, and even then he had only seen the blond a few times.

“So what’s our plan of action now?” Duke asked, “We have no idea why Yugi’s house was attacked, or where his parents are.”

“Geez, that must suck,” Tristan commented, “Having your parents ditch on you.” Duke instantly elbowed his brother in the ribs, indicating that that was not the best thing to say, and Tristan threw his hands up in defense.

“They had no choice!” Yugi suddenly jumped in. “They were attacked while I was at Joey’s and it was when I arrived home that I was caught by surprise by the demons.”

Yami untangled his legs from the sheets and swung them over the side of the bed, facing Yugi as he did so. “Do you know why anybody would be after your parents, Yugi?” he asked.

The boy shook his head, “I haven’t got a clue. They don’t have anything to do with anyone who isn’t a Shadowhunter, and they don’t even participate in any official Clave business…” he trailed off as he appeared to be lost in thought, and the group watched him intently. “Actually…there is one Downworlder that they seem to visit often…” he murmured, holding his chin as he looked to the side, trying to remember the name he had heard so many times.

“The Warlock!” He suddenly said, snapping his fingers, “Mahaad.”