Title: The Value of Sin
Author: Phoebe Delos
Series: Yu-Gi-Oh! DM
Story Summary: Yuugi and his two friends go to a long abandoned cabin to fulfill a dying grandfather's final wish… But why are they there? What is so important about this strange, eerie house? …and what will be the cost of finding out?
Story Rating: T for dark, scary imagery and language.
Spoilers: No real spoilers for canon, beyond Yami no Yuugi and Yami no Bakura's identities.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine.
Notes: …You know, I think this is my very first proper AU! Go figure! Anyways, this will be a short series- I am taking a break from my other works to write this as a gift for my followers on tumblr. YGOSpamProduction hit 1,000 followers this weekend, and as a thank you, I promised to write a story for the winning prompt in a poll! This is the result- Hope everyone likes it!

:: Part One ::

"What the hell…"

"When did your grandfather get this place, Yuugi-kun?" Bakura Ryou asked as he looked up at the cabin, staring until the snow burned in his eyes and he had to blink through the blur.

"Who knows," Mutou Yuugi shrugged against the thick layers of coat and sweater and bag straps as he unlocked the front door, pushing against the scream of the hinge to hold it open for his two friends. "It's been in the family since I can remember."

"But you never come here, right? So why has he never sold it or rented it out?" Jounouchi Katsuya demanded, rushing ahead to drop his bags in the entry way before biting his gloves off and blowing on his fingers. The walk had been beyond cold, a straight shot from the bus with no shelter, and the whole way uphill- Forcing the three forward at a painfully slow pace.

Slow, for Yuugi's sake.

And Yuugi, he didn't answer for some moments, letting Ryou shuffle passed him with calmer steps and alert eyes before finally shutting the door against the wind and ice… Dropping his hand and moving for the wall switch without ever making eye contact with either of them.

"Because of the memories, I suppose. After all, Otou-san…"

The overhead light burst to life, illuminating the grim expressions on Katsuya and Ryou's faces.

Mutou Renju… They knew about him, of course. They knew- He was the one who had died there.

The one who had been killed.

The one who had been found lying dead in the mountain snow, mouth hanging open, face stained by two, thin lines of red… From where his eyes had burst like grapes to bleed out and freeze on his cheeks.

The papers were always so generous with those details.

"-sorry, Yuugi," Katsuya mumbled, knocking snow off of his shoes with a tap of his toe. "That was a stupid question."

Yuugi didn't answer. He just stared at the switch- At things only he could see, until finally he tugged his bag higher up his back, and limped further into the room. "Come on, we should get the food into the fridge."

"Why bother?" Katsuya countered, rubbing his arms as he trailed after him- Clearly striving to mirror his best friend's efforts to dodge heavy subjects. "This place is as cold as a freezer! …no offence."

"None taken- It can get pretty drafty in here."

"But I assume there's central heating?" Ryou asked mildly, pale eyes trailing curiously over the shadowed bends of the main room Yuugi and Katsuya made for the kitchen. The dim illumination of the spare window turned each knick-knack and picture on the wall into a macabre twist of itself, flickering and contorting before Ryou's eyes as the snow played with the moonlight. "-we can kick it on soon, right?"

"Yup! It's just turned off since the house was empty," Yuugi answered from one room over, barely having to raise his voice in the small space. "We can start it up in a minute!"

"Thank you!" Ryou called, dropping his bag onto the western-style table that took up the majority of the room before continuing to look around. There was only one other doorway in the space, and it led to what looked like a sitting area, and a restroom beyond- But there was also a ladder just to his left. Presumably it led to a loft sleeping area, where they could keep most of their things- But for the time being the white-haired boy settled for inspecting the room he was in- The nearby shelf, the glass cabinets beneath it, and all of the strange little things kept there.

A single look was all he needed to confirm that, yes, he was in the abode of one Mutou Sugoroku. For most of the things were games of some sort. Some Ryou didn't even recognize, but it was easy enough to spot an old, peeling Rubik's Cube, a mancala board without the stones, and discs that were either broken tops, or pieces for some board game.

Perhaps they were all items the old man couldn't sell in his store, but couldn't bring himself to throw away.

Ryou was running his hand through a bowl of mix-matched metal dice, wondering if Yuugi might be willing to part with some of them, when he heard it.

A ringing.

Ryou pressed his ear against his head, trying to blot it out because it really sounded like it was just his own ears ringing.

But it didn't fade, it- It just seemed to slide behind him, to the back of his skull and- Was it actually behind him?

He turned, flicked his eyes over the rest of the room, but no. Even as he looked, he registered that the sound had swerved with him, confirming that it was in his own head.

So he turned back, planning to ignore it until it passed- When what he had actually seen registered, and he jerked back around.

…Nothing. Nothing but the ladder, and the next room over- The little Japanese sitting table at its center the only thing present even capable of casting a shadow.

…but- But, Ryou could have sworn that- That there had been- Someone there, just behind the dividing curtain-

A shaded figure, with eyes that burnt gold- That stared right at him.

He stared back at the nothing and the eyes, breath in his throat until he was choking, waiting… Until the stillness of a reality that would not right itself finally broke him, and he burst forward into that room, and groped for the light switch.

The sitting room burst into proper color and Ryou never even blinked- Stared at that shadow with every step and every breath.

And yet, somehow, when the overhead light fizzled on… There was no one there.

Ryou was alone.

"Alright, we got the heat going and some tea boiling, so- Ryou? Ryou-"

He jerked at the touch on his arm, reached up to clutch himself protectively as he turned and- And found Katsuya there, frowning at him. "…you alright?"

"…yes." Ryou blinked through his daze, forced a reassuring smile as Yuugi trailed out of the kitchen with his own questioning stare. "Sorry, just got lost in thought for a while there." -and he could see at a glance that neither bought it, as Katsuya's frown deepened and Yuugi's eyes flickered between them.

So Ryou turned his eyes on the doorway beyond them. "Do we have a rice cooker here?"

"-yes," Yuugi admitted, stepping back as Ryou moved to enter the kitchen. "It's over there by the stove."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get it plugged in and pop in the rice we brought!" Ryou proclaimed, a bright cheer in his voice and thoughts churning through his mind.

He couldn't tell them.

He couldn't tell them about the shadow that had been there, then not.

He couldn't tell them about the golden eyes that bore through his skull and his mind, even then.

…he couldn't explain how he had seen those eyes before…

…

"Itadakimasu!" Katsuya cried as he dove into his still steaming plate, quickly falling into an appreciative moan as it hit his tongue. "Aaaa, this is the best!"

"I'm glad you like it so much," Ryou answered, smiling as he sat down with his own food- To a light chuckle from Yuugi.

"You say that like you don't already know curry's his favorite- Like you didn't pick it out special for that."

"-really?" Katsuya turned to the white-haired boy, eyes wide with surprise and, delight.

The smallest of blushes showed on Ryou's pale skin, but he just shrugged and laughed good-naturedly. "Well, I wanted to thank you somehow for going along with this- I know you don't like going places with scary stories associated with them, but you came along anyways."

"Pshh-" Katsuya sniffed, scratching his chin self-consciously. "I don't have an issue with that!"

But still, there was a fond awkwardness floating between the two that Yuugi could only smile at, and pretend not to notice as they all ate.

They could get so self-conscious sometimes. You would never have thought the two had been dating for half of a year, if you saw them. But that was just how they were- How they had always been, ever since first year, when Katsuya came over to Yuugi's dorm one day, and found his roommate Ryou there, instead.

When Yuugi made it back that night from his surprise shift at the Kame Shop, he had found Ryou fondly teasing Katsuya over a horror movie, patting his head as the blond clung to his arm.

Two years later, and they were the same as always… And then some.

But Yuugi still felt the need, once some time passed, to speak up- Draw their attention to him, and his own smile. "I should be the one thanking both of you. I mean, you only gave up your winter break for this because of me."

"…do you think we would ever leave you to come out here alone, just days after-" Katsuya countered with a vague wave, grimacing a bit- And doing a double take when Ryou calmly stated what he looked to avoid.

"After your grandfather passed away?"

Katsuya turned to glower at him with a hiss of his name, but Yuugi just nodded in answer, expression schooled into something simply, weary, as he answered. "No, but still, coming all the way to an isolated mountain in Hokkaido, in the middle of winter- It's a lot to ask of you."

"Yeah well, that was what Jii-chan asked you to do, right?" Katsuya countered, earning a slow nod as all three fell back into musing on that memory.

It had been weird when Mutou Sugoroku requested it, there in the hospital, an hour before that final heart attack took him- And it had made no more sense to Yuugi later, when he repeated it to his friends after the funeral.

Please, Yuugi- You have to go to the cabin. It can't- It has to be you, no one else- No one else can go there before you do, please-

He had never explained himself.

He hadn't had the chance.

"That was strange," Ryou acknowledged, not for the first time, but with little real concern. Honestly, he looked vaguely excited as he smiled between them. "But how could you refuse him, if that's what he wanted? And you know we wouldn't leave you to come here alone- Especially with the stories about this mountain."

"You mean to protect me from it, or to poke around and see if you can't find your ghost?" Yuugi countered with a good-natured prod.

It was an old joke. Ryou had told him the day they met that he studied art, but his true passion was ghost stories- Creepy tales, both fictional and debatably real. It was an interest going back as far as the man could remember, borne from strange dreams where a strange, dark creature would speak to him- Call out to him.

Ryou always felt that it must be some spirit, trying to find him for some reason. So, he had spent much of his life trying to find it, in return.

But, where Ryou would usually smile at the mention, the reminder that Yuugi accepted his belief… His expression hollowed out.

He stared at Yuugi without so much as breathing, like- Like he had said something.

Something wrong.

"…Ryou?" Katsuya finally broke the silence, reaching up to grab the boy's shoulder and shake it a bit, making him blink back into awareness. "What gives?"

"Sorry," Ryou breathed, rubbing over his eyes with a hand as if to clear them of some fog- Or, perhaps, hide them from the two staring at him. "I must just be tired."

"…it was a long walk," Yuugi acknowledged, even as the tension refused to leave his back. "It's no wonder if it wore you out."

"-aren't you the one who should be feeling that most, Yuugi?" Katsuya suddenly thought to ask, eyes narrowing with a frowning concern so familiar, Yuugi had to smile a bit.

"I'm fine," he insisted as he stood with his cleaned off plate, pain lacing up his left leg as if in answer to Katsuya's indirect mention. Yuugi refused to let it taint his grin, though, and walked as smoothly as he could around the table and his two friends. "I took some pain killers before we left, and before dinner. The only thing I need is rest- Just like Bakura-kun."

"…does that mean you want to go to bed? So soon?" Ryou asked, prompting both of the other men to relax when he looked up with his usual, easy smile. "We just started our vacation, after all, and finally have a chance to relax! Shouldn't we play a game before bed, or at least have a poke around this place and see what's-"

Yuugi dropped his plate, and all three jerked around as a roaring wave of a crash screamed from the kitchen-

Just before the lights went out.

"What the shit?!" Katsuya cried, jumping up from his chair- Only to stumble and reach out when he hit Yuugi and nearly knocked him over. "S-sorry man, what-"

"The generator must have run out of fuel," Yuugi breathed, grinning up through the pain shooting up his leg- Even as Katsuya definitely couldn't see him. "I was, afraid of that- Everything was running, so I just assumed I didn't need to refill it. Sorry."

"That's nothing we can't fix, as long as we have refills," Ryou assured, calm as ever as he himself stood up, a mere shadow turning in the dark before them. "But, what was that sound?"

None of them knew, of course, and all they could do was stumble their way to their bags, get out their flashlights, and investigate.

"What the shit…" Katsuya repeated, barely breathing the words aloud as he trailed after the other two into the tiny kitchen.

Everything… Every pot and pan and skillet that had been hanging on the wire rack over the stove, had fallen over to the floor.

"-did the rack come loose?" Yuugi asked, watching as Ryou edged his way over to point his light at the piece mounted to the wall.

"…no, it still looks secure. Maybe, the wall shook somehow?"

"I dunno," Katsuya cut in, voice clipped with clear tension. "But if Yuugi's right and it's the generator, we should get that running again and get some light in here- Where is it again?"

"On the covered back porch," Yuugi answered, stepping back as Ryou retraced his steps and followed Katsuya out of the room.

"I'll hold the light while you look at the thing, Katsuya."

"Thanks- You hang tight in here, Yuugi!"

"Will do!" Yuugi called after them, setting his flashlight on the counter to shine over the space before, slowly, carefully, crouching down to pick up the pans.

"What was that?" he mused to himself as he pushed one after another up onto the stove, falling into an old habit of talking to himself without even really thinking about it. "The snow's really coming down now, but the building wasn't shaking… Was the rack just nailed on at a bad angle, so that it was likely to collapse? I had a closet beam like that once, would just drop all of my clothes down in the middle of the night sometimes, scare me to death. It's weird it stayed up all of this time, though, and fell the very night we came here… Maybe the cleaner I called in last week did something?"

He had been wondering about the woman, after all. He had never met her, just hired her over the phone to come in and spruce up, so his friends wouldn't have to stay in a decade's worth of dust.

…but when he tried to call her days ago to confirm she had actually cleaned the house, she never reached back out to him.

Yuugi had suspected he had been swindled, right up until he walked in that evening, to find everything spotless.

Who knew…

"She sounded nice, at least," he mused to himself quietly, running his finger inside of a pot to find that, yup, no dust in it. "Pretty young, too- Probably some girl trying to pay for tuition, or maybe travel fees to move somewhere… Or maybe she was just going to go on a trip? …Yes, that was it… She was going on a trip… With her lover… Using funds from her own job… To hide it from her husband…"

Yuugi, stalled, the pot still raised in his hands as he registered-

He had heard that.

He had said that.

But, he hadn't! It hadn't even sounded like him!

But… Somewhere along the line, his words had come out in a voice he didn't know.

He hadn't said that but… He had, felt… his mouth… moving…

Yuugi swallowed, slowly lowered the pot to the ground with a shaking hand, until it touched the tile… And he was free to put his weight on both hands to look around.

There was no one there. Even in the darkness, he could see that he was still alone.

No one and nothing there to answer him, save the hiss of the snow outside.

…but, as he turned back, and the light caught on the black surface of the oven glass-

Something glinted red.

"What-" he started, only for his jaw to twist, tug painfully wide and clip shut again.

Yuugi slapped a hand to his chin, holding it shut, but there was nothing for it. His own muscles played against him, as he stared dazed- Into a mirror he could not see properly, there in the dark-

It was nothing but his own outline, a break in the shadows… But it mumbled back at him, with his own mouth.

"She texted him… While she cleaned this house. Spoke so callously about tricking the man she had never loved… But promised herself to… I would have taken her right then… But she hadn't finished the kitchen, yet."

What, Yuugi thought- In his head. The only place he had any real control left. He couldn't even cry, or shake in fear, even though he would have, surely.

But something else had his body.

It dropped the hand from his face, pushed the pans out of the way, and leaned forward with slow, easy, natural movements that made Yuugi want to scream, until he was all but pressing his nose against the oven glass.

From that close, the light catching in the glass just right, Yuugi could see- Could see his face.

The flat, probing light in his narrowed, blood red eyes.

"Is it you? …are you the one?"

He didn't know… Didn't know what it- It meant! It- What was it-

The lights flared to life around him, and Yuugi gasped, jerking away from the glass until his head hit the counter behind him.

He- It, It-

It was… Just him… Just him, gasping, and staring back at himself, fear shining in his purple eyes as, as he searched.

But there was nothing to be found. There wasn't even anywhere to look, it- It had been- In him-

"Geez, that was weird… Hey, Yuugi! The gas was still half-full, the power had just been turned off! No idea how, it's a switch. Do you think there could actually be someone up here that would play a tr… Yuugi?" Katsuya stalled in the kitchen doorway and blinked at the sight of the half-cleaned up floor and his friend, sitting on the tiles with his back against a counter… Staring at the stove. "…hey."

Yuugi, gradually turned to his friend, every shift slow, and distracted… Tension screaming off of him as they locked eyes.

He opened his mouth, as though to say something- But then thought better of it, dropping his gaze to the floor.

Katsuya moved to speak- To insist, interrogate- But suddenly Ryou's voice was at his back.

"I got the pieces of the plate in the trash, just- Yuugi-kun! Are you alright? Let me help you up!"

"T-thanks, Bakura-kun," Yuugi mumbled, letting his roommate hoist him to his feet and guide him out of the kitchen without ever meeting their eyes, simply nodding along to Ryou's concern.

"Did you fall while we were gone? You shouldn't have tried to clean on your own in the dark, what did you-"

Katsuya watched them go, then turned his frown and tense eyes on the kitchen again, the space now emptied.

Still.

Benign.

Silent- Just like Yuugi.

…he crouched down, picked up the rest of the pans, set them on the counter, and left…

Turning out the lights as he went.