kittensinboxes | Hang My Head, Drown My Fear [Lab of Nature AU, Suffering Is Magic]

Hang My Head, Drown My Fear [Lab of Nature AU, Suffering Is Magic]

Kaiba remembers pain. He remembers...drowning.

And he remembers smiling as he maliciously made it all worse and watched the life spill from his throat, spewing out with arterial force before him and creating a mess of wasted life all around him.

Then, he remembers--more pain? How could there be more pain after death? He knows he's screaming, but nothing comes out. He struggles against his bonds, but he's too weak, too weak, and even opening his eyes shows little besides the searing white lights of an operating room, the flash of a face that resembles an ape...and then, nothing. He feels something cover his mouth, inhales reflexively...then passes out. It's a release, freeing him from the delirium of the restoration and the pain of the experimentation that occurs in between.

He won't remember it. Perhaps that's a mercy.

---

When Kaiba finally does wake, it's in a new room, with aching limbs, a soured stomach, and a throat that feels poorly patched up.

He's too weak to sit up, but his tired eyes scan his surroundings, seeking out any familiarity at all. He has to do it slowly, so that the tracking of his own eyes doesn't nauseate him more than he already is.

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Wait for them to let their guard down. In any game... you have to analyze your opponent and look for weaknesses to throw them off.

Thinking of it like a game... made it easier.

Simpler.

They're on high alert, but they'll eventually get lazy. They always do. Once they get bored they'll focus on other experiments.

That gives us time to analyze. To learn.

To figure out an escape plan.

You're as annoyingly naive as I remember.

It isn't really a compliment. Kaiba does want to save his brother, but the very idea that they could do so just by being vigilant, when the room clearly has no weaknesses and there's something embedded in their bodies to discourage escape attempts?

Unless their captors somehow trip and drop the keys through the bars...there's not much chance of them getting out of here in a timely manner.

You really think they'll get bored, when they've given us personal room and board in a high-security area?

No.

They're up to something.

Annoyingly naive, huh...?

He shouldn't have felt comforted by that, but something curled into itself, with a familiar...something.

Maybe that was it, though. Maybe it was because despite how much about him changed, he was still the same Yuugi. He couldn't have changed that much if he remembered that about him, right...?

The question is what...

He smiled.

But no matter what they throw at us, we'll make it through. I know we will.

He'd make sure of it.

Of course I know that I will.

Kaiba's weak now, he knows this. He's lost too many times, but instead of giving up, it only makes him less inclined to stay...well, of sound mind. He's been slipping ever since he'd come back from the elevator incident, and had already shown his hand when he'd slit his own throat.

If you're determined to defeat them, then I guess we're on the same side.

He doesn't put much stock in teamwork...but Yuugi is a better teammate than most.

Yuugi's smile brightened, and for a moment, the same innocent boy that Kaiba met was back, open and pure and excited at the prospect at working together.

...

But then, it sharpened.

Then let's crush them...[Partner].

Kaiba frowns at the use of that word. Partner...? They're not...partners. But something about seeing Yuugi's face light up quells Kaiba's urge to tear him down.

It feels like home, somehow. It makes his soul yearn for his life back, to be back in Japan and struggling with what he knew, rather than what he did not. And Yuugi will be able to see that in his eyes as they half-lid, very nearly shutting completely in a pensive expression.

I look forward to it.

He mouths the words, and there's a quirk at the corner of his lips. A smile? Or perhaps just the ghost of one.

This place took so much from this man.

For many times tonight, he wondered just who this person really was, beyond his explanations and his mania and pride thick enough to cut with a blade.

There was something in his eyes...

Me too. Yuugi mouthed.

The thought of saving everyone and bringing this place down was one of the things that kept him going: a flame burning in his stomach that could melt steel, with pressure that built diamonds of determination that settled inside him more with each passing day.

He wouldn't break.

He refused.

It's funny...Yuugi still has such confidence, whereas Kaiba himself has frayed at the edges, faced with the reality of his inadequacies so frequently that his only course of action to rise against it is to continue being who he is, antagonizing because he can, and bearing the weight of those choices as they drag him down to Hell.

He's been told, many times, that he shouldn't say certain things.

Just as many times, he's spat in the face of kindness because his pride would allow little else.

He envies Yuugi, for his resilience. Kaiba has resilience too, but ever since back then...everything in his life has felt as if he was barely on stable footing, shunted into an angle that very nearly trips him with every step.

He wants to sleep. He's so tired. Sleep.

...Wait, what?

Kaiba tries to push himself up on one arm, but finds that he can't raise himself up further than a few inches. He's too heavy. He's too tired, suddenly. Why?

There's an odd, sweet scent in the air. He can't identify it--it's probably something not of their world, since he knows that the facility is run by alien creatures of a sort--but it must be related to his sudden exhaustion.

Yuugi, don't b...breathe.

Stupid advice. Foolish. But it's as much warning as he'll get from Kaiba.

The scientists must be pushing chemicals through the vents. The next time Kaiba tries to mouth anything, it's unreadable.

What was that smell...?

Instinctively, Yuugi covered his mouth with his hands, but there wasn't much he could do about it once that scent played with his senses and fogged his mind.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, what were they doing?! It was some kind of substance, some kind of...

Thing that caused drowsiness. He didn't have the words to describe it for what it was: a high-grade sleep inducer and muscle relaxant. If only he'd actually studied in school instead of played so many games, maybe he'd have the words he needed for what was happening to him.

"Kai...ba..." Yuugi mumbled, slumping onto his knees on the floor.

He knew he had to breathe. If he made himself pass out, it'd have the same effect anyway...

All he could do was reach out one of his hands, grabbing Kaiba's tight, so as not to be easily pried from him once they got to...wherever they were going.

Because they would be going somewhere else.

They always did if they wanted them to fall asleep.

Yuugi was quickly fading, though...

By the time that Yuugi takes hold of his hand, Kaiba's already surrendered to the pitch black of unconsciousness. In fairness, he was already weakened by his revival.

The next time he awakens, it's in a chair, with the weight of something hard and scratchy secured around his neck. It takes him a moment to come to his senses and stop his own head from lolling tiredly against one shoulder. Longer still for his vision to clear.

When it does, he immediately flinches at the sight.

A gallows before him, with Yuugi secured in place with a noose of his own, as well as a loop around his shoulders, keeping him in place and not liable to fall until he came around. Then, when he does, the rope falls away, leaving him supported on his feet with the rope threateningly snug around his throat.

Just like Kaiba's, although his fed to the ground, and there was an array of buttons laid out before him, just within reach to be tapped by one foot. 26 buttons. Each marked with a letter.

This is a game Kaiba has played before.

This is a game he didn't want to play again.

But the scientists didn't care, did they? They wanted to see these two play together, didn't they?

When Yuugi wakes up, there'll be a display visible to both of them showing the rules, cheerily set forth by Helios. And then...it's up to them.

Yuugi opened his eyes, expecting pain.

That was always what happened when he woke up: it was either him tied to a gurney and filleted like a fish at the market, or beaten by one of the newbies who needed an outlet for their frustration.

Pain, day in and day out.

Numb, numb, numb--

But this was different. This wasn't the simple shock of physical pain. The noose around his throat was barely a tickle compared to the scientists' usual mercies, but the instructions...this was new.

Hangman. They want us to play hangman. With each other.

Another game, cruelly twisted by these horrible, horrible people.

How dare they.

How dare they take something so innocent as a childhood game and make it into something so horrible! How dare they take them and play with their lives like this?!

Yuugi took a deep breath...and closed his eyes.

He looked for all the world like he was fast asleep, but really he was trying not to think. Trying to, for a moment, clear his mind to his situation, his potential fate, his--

Edited 2025-03-30 05:54 (UTC)

Kaiba knows he has to be careful here. The noose will tighten the more he guesses wrong. But...this is a game. He's always been good at legitimate games, and the last time he did this...it had been a legitimate game.

He hadn't killed anyone.

That had to count for something, right?

So, he nudges the "T" with one foot, to see if that was one of the letters. His gaze flicks up to Yuugi, and if he's wrong...there's a look of frustration on his face. If he's right though, there's something odd in the way he glances at the other teen.

Like...he's apologizing, somehow. He'd never do it aloud, but his eyes betray him.

Six letters.

"T" is the last one, with "O" as the second, as given by the blessed mercies of the AI.

_ O _ _ _ T

So far, so good...look at Yuugi's face, Kaiba. Look at that reassuring little smile, encouraging and gentle as he has literal death wrapped around his neck.

Trust.

He trusts him to carry him through.

Because what else can he do? And with that apology in his eyes, Yuugi knows that he can trust him. That he's a man that would do what he could to keep him alive.

More than half a year ago...Kaiba would have been the one to create a game like this, and he would have rigged it too, with the intention of hanging Yuugi himself. Even now, the thought tickles at the back of his mind, a reminder of who he is, even now.

But somehow...not him. A him that doesn't quite fit the mold, after what the other Yuugi had done to him.

I won't let you die here.

He mouths the words confidently, tapping the letter "R" as he does so.

He won't let him die...but the noose grows ever so slightly tighter.

Yuugi's face twitches, but that smile does not fade. If anything, it warms up, grows gentler.

I know, he mouths. I trust you.

R, though? Doesn't seem to be a part of the word.

No! That's the wrong letter! Kaiba scowls, glaring at the blank spaces as if they've personally attacked him. It can't go this way...he can't let Yuugi be killed. He couldn't lose...not again.

Not this time!

His left foot moves towards the upper corner of the letters, tapping a vowel instead. "A", there has to be a common vowel in here. O can't be it. If this is a two syllable word, then...either A or E are the most likely.

He'll take a gamble on which.

Well, would you look at that?

_ O _ _ A T

Success! One of the letters filled in, and the word seemed to bloom on the screen.

What could that word be...?

It was a mystery.

The only way to know was to find more letters, right?

Kaiba closes his eyes, drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly. His mind is working...trying to narrow down the options afforded by this kind of letter arrangement. It's not coming to him yet so...he'll try to narrow it down further, to guess a common letter.

This time, he nudges the N with one foot.

He doesn't have time to overthink things, not when Helios has an imposed time limit on this game.

Tighter.

Tighter.

The smallest of noises falls from Yuugi's lips, even as he tries to keep it from escaping. It isn't one of pain, but surprise, like the wind getting knocked out of someone.

Pain? This was nothing.

Yuugi swallowed, trying to relax his throat against the noose.

When he sees the rope tighten, hears Yuugi make that noise...Kaiba's eyes widen, but it's not out of surprise. It's out of some other, incalculable emotion relating to his pride.

He won't lose. He will not lose! How the fuck could he look at this man, his rival, and respect himself if he got him strung up? Worse still...he didn't want to see Yuugi strung up like a taunt in front of him. Just the thought of it makes him want to vomit!

He shakes his head, and the scowl's back again, but there's something...desperate in it. Something nervous and manic and stressful.

Tick tock.

He can practically feel them over his shoulder, whispering for him to hurry, hurry HURRY HURRY HURRY!!!

This time, his foot hits the "C". Please...please let it be right! He needs this victory like he needs air!

C O _ _ A T

Well done, Seto Kaiba. Only two more letters.

Yuugi closed his eyes, so he couldn't see the desperation in the other person's face, or the mania that sparkled in his eyes. All he could see was blackness as he tried not to think about how his throat tickled with how tightly the rope was beginning to tie around him.

He was losing circulation, or maybe just air. His breathing was a touch labored...?

Ah, yes. That was labored breathing. It wasn't the same as when he had his lungs punctured while awake, but he remembered that sensation anywhere.

...!!!

Kaiba doesn't hesitate. He slams his heel into the "B" button, and then the "M". He could have done this better, much sooner, if he'd only paid more attention to the arrangement!

Even though he's gotten the word, and the noose will loosen around Yuugi's neck, there's only a slight consolation in it. After all, he's still got another word to go, once Helios clears out the first. But as long as Yuugi can breathe again, then...!!

Round two...second verse, same as the first.

Yuugi's breathing eased, his shoulders slumped slightly (his cheeks were flushed; had he really been that oxygen deprived...?) as another word is set in front of Kaiba.

Six Letters, one in clear display.

_ _ k _ _ _

So, what's it going to be, Kaiba? What's your first letter? How are you going to tackle this?

Yuugi's life hangs in the balance, after all...

Kaiba's hesitant to guess at first. He wants Yuugi to be able to recover...to be able to breathe, just for a moment, before inevitably, Kaiba has to swing in the dark and pray to strike.

K...that's a strange letter to be right in the middle of a word. He'll have to play it careful.

After a minute...he taps "S". A common letter, once more. But will it be common enough...?

Nope.

As quickly as it goes, the noose grows tight. But...goodness, Kaiba, doesn't it look like it's even tighter than it was before? When you messed up twice?

Yuugi's breathing is already getting a little labored, the poor thing.

It looks like you have less chances to mess up, or else Yuugi's going to run out of oxygen before he knows it.

Better think fast.

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