Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

Hi all, I'm back with a new story. This is AU (alternate universe) So the city of domino doesn't exist. The story takes part in the early medieval ages. It is also a fantasy fic, so expect demons, vampires and werewolves. It's my inner D&D nerd springing to life. I'm keeping the family ties the same, so Serenity is still Joey's sister, Mokuba is still Kaiba's brother etc etc etc... the only exceptions being Merik, Malik, Ryou and Bakura, the Yami's and Hikari's are brothers. The pairings for sure will be Seto and Serenity (duh), Yugi and Tea, and Joey and Mai. Other ties might show up later, but for now that's the only plan.

Full summary: AU: She had always looked upon the castle to the north as a jailor. The kings cared little for the peasants of Eadenburg, and preferred to tax and use them rather than protect them. It seemed war was around the corner and the only place to turn was to the demons of the South. The poor peasants didn't have any choice but to make a sacrifice for the Demons to gain their strength. It was time for her to die to save the town she loved.

Rated for violence, lemons, swearing and violently vulgar adult themes (maybe, still debating) If you do not feel you are 'old' enough or 'mature' enough or you simply don't like this stuff, please do not read.

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Last Night of The Kings

Chapter 1: The Light Fades

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An empty light shone through the window, dousing everything in the room with a brightness that was cold and blinding. She didn't care. She hadn't slept the night through. Her eyes sat on the same location as she had placed them when she had crawled into bed. An old chair, crude in design, pulled ajar from the similarly crude desk it belonged to.

Normally she would have been up hours earlier, but she couldn't find the strength that day. She could feel her hunger growing, but didn't care to do anything about it. Her mind flashed to the night prior and she felt her stomach flip. Before the tears could fall again, there was a noise in the small house. Serenity finally sat up and walked over to the door of her bedroom. Her hand was about to wrap around the lever when she watched it lower itself and the door began to open.

"Serenity?" A kind voice called out to her. She watched silently while Yugi stepped into the room, followed by Tea. "Oh, good you're up. Uh... We got you your morning water." He said, they both held up a bucket before Yugi took them both and placed them on her kitchen table. Yugi and Tea were apprentices at the Mages Academy in the village just west of Eadenburg. They were considered nobles because of their powers but they were from the same town as her.

They were close friends of her and her brother. Some of the few that understood them completely. Serenity had no difficulty getting along with the people of Eadenburg, being a small town it was very close knit. Only around forty four inhabitants took up residence in the small town. Joey had had a more difficult time getting along with the residents. He was the troublemaker who had terrorized the town over and over from when he was young.

As an adult of about 19 years old, he had grown a bit more responsible. He still pulled some pranks around the gambling shop Yugi's grandfather ran, but while he was working in the fields, he was all business. The residents had loved Joey, they just preferred he keep his pranks to himself and were grateful that he worked so much, leaving little time for goofing around. The meager wages he had made working the field was more than enough to pay for basic needs and he had given Serenity all the freedom in the world to pursue her happiness of painting.

She would wake with him every morning, make him a good breakfast, and when he left to work, she would leave to the forest area in the south to gather clay and berries to mix for paints. They didn't have near enough money for a canvas and expensive parchment was much too valuable for wasting on practicing art. She would paint onto large boulders she found, leaving only when she was proud of the work of art, or when she could no longer see from lack of light.

She had always worried Joey when she traveled out to the south. He was never able to go with her and monitor how far she wandered. The towns folk had rumors and stories of demons living in a large abandoned castle to the south. The stories were older than many great grandparents, but lately, there had been no signs of supernatural life in that direction. The myths and legends were beginning to fade.

"Serenity... Um... We have some bad news." Yugi started. Tea moved around him and guided Serenity to her bed and sat with her. "Joey... His body's been stolen." Serenity didn't see what was wrong with this. She just looked at Yugi with confusion. Eadenburg was such a small town it was illegal to bury their dead because the larger more noble towns needed the cemetery space. The peasants of Eadenburg were forced to cremate their dead, which to their belief system, meant they destroyed the vessel of the soul before it reached heaven, locking the soul on earth so that it would never move on.

Since the cremation decree took precedent, the peasants pretended that the bodies of their dead were stolen and buried them in an unofficial burial yard they had made in the woods to the east. When the censors came around every ten years, it was believable that they were continuing to cremate their dead, as the bodies and burial ground were never found.

"I know..." Serenity said. Yugi and Tea were in charge of Joey's burial, so they would be the ones to report when it had happened so she could visit her brother. She didn't understand why they were acting so cryptic either. Everyone knew about the practice of the dead. Everyone spoke plainly about it too.

"No, Serenity... He was really stolen." Yugi said sadly. "I think it was an animal. Serenity... There was so much blood." Her mind raced back to the night before again.

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The entire town held torch and called, but he was nowhere to be found. They had split into four groups to easier search the forest surrounding the town. Serenity had been on the north, Yugi on the south, Tea on the east, and Yugi's grandfather on the west. Everyone spread out, close enough to call each other, but far enough to widen their search effectively.

Movement caught Serenity's eye, but her torchlight didn't reach quite far enough for her to see what was moving.

"Ahh...ugh." She gasped,. It was Joey's voice, muffled and quiet, but she could hear him trying to call out. She moved closer and froze. A large creature was on him. It looked to be the size of a bear, but had a longer snout and pointed ears. The thing snapped it's head over to her, unveiling the man beneath it. She almost dropped the burning club in her hand. He was covered in blood. One of his hands was missing a few fingers and his throat seemed to be bitten or clawed apart. He shouldn't be alive. Like the creature, his eyes also flashed to her.

"No... Ren... run..." He tried to call, but Serenity couldn't find her feet. Her whole body just wouldn't budge. The creature took a step toward her and she saw something that shocked her more than the beast. Joey had found some sort of energy in his broken state and launched himself at the creature. It howled and shook violently, causing Joey to be thrown down in front of it. It launched forward, aiming for his already destroyed throat and he managed to punch it hard in the tender snout. Serenity finally found her voice and screamed. The creature, now a few steps back and holding it's nose, raised its head and let out a terrifying roar. The villagers came closer, shouting for her, and the creature retreated into the darkness.

Serenity bent to lift her brother, who smiled up at her.

"Ren... I'm so... sorry... I love ya... sis" She could see his body deflate as he exhaled his last breath.

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Tears stung her eyes as she shook the nightmare from her mind. Yugi put an arm on her shoulder and Tea rubbed her back.

"He'll never move on now." She said sadly.

"I want to stay. To help you through this. But the Academy only gave us two days, and it's a half a days journey to get back to the tower. We-"

"It's alright. There's really nothing that can be done. I'll be ok." She said. Tea and Yugi were walked to the door, and paused to say goodbye to their friend.

"Oh, if you need a job, my grandfather said Mr Hawkins needs a new waitress now that Millie left to have her baby." Serenity nodded to Yugi, giving him and Tea a hug before waving them off. She waited behind the closed door until she was sure they had left before opening the door and leaving towards the forest.

After hours of gathering clays of red, and orange and yellow, and berries of the purples and blues and reds, Serenity had a working pallet with which she could mix and wet for any color she could dream of. She wandered the forest finding large rocks that she had already painted. She marched deeper and deeper south until she could find an unmarked stone for her to paint and finally she did find one.

The sun had set before she finished, but she was determined to continue, using the stars and the moon as lights. The image on the rock was her brother, strong and happy, but his eyes... they were wrong. He looked sad. She didn't want to portray him that way. She used water to remove the paint and try again. Still, they were wrong. She erased and repainted over and over again, getting more frustrated with every attempt until finally she threw the pallet against the stone and smeared it across the painting. She punched the rock, slamming her fist into it again and again, crying and getting paint all over herself.

After an eternity of this she lifted herself off of the ruined painting. Her face was red and wet with her sadness as she raised and started back to the town. She was convinced that he was lost in the world, barred from ever entering heaven, and she couldn't do anything to save him.

"Little miss, here, you're doing a great job." Mr. Syles said, handing her two copper pieces.

"The ale was only one, I cant-" Serenity said, trying to hand back the extra piece.

"No no, that's for you. Don't you worry yourself about it, you earned it." The man said, refusing the return. Serenity smiled down at him. She knew he was doing it mostly because of her loss, but that was how the town worked. They took care of each other, in the same way Joey and Serenity had helped when Rebecca, Mr. Hawkins granddaughter, had gone missing two or three years ago. Serenity smiled and accepted the tip.

"You really are doing well." Mr. Hawkins said as he cleaned a glass and returned it to the rack.

"Thank you sir." She said, wearing a smile he was sure was fake. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"Call me Arthur." He said warmly. Serenity just nodded and began cleaning the tables that had cleared. Before she could finish the first table, the door to the bar swung open violently.

Two men, Knights, in full plate mail, sauntered into the building. They marched up to Arthur and leaned rudely onto the bar. They shot Serenity a pompous wink and turned back to the barkeep.

"We are here to collect taxes for this month. Twenty percent of all earnings." One informed him. Arthur looked shocked.

"But, tax collection happens at the end of the month, and we're barely into August. We've just paid our taxes not even two weeks ago." He exclaimed to the Knights, They glared at him, silencing him.

"Those were your country taxes. The nephew of the King has been given this province under his city of Mizzdred to the north east. The Viscount now is entitled to tax his county's separately from the country." Arthur was speechless. The town was already the poorest in the land, and an extra tax would surly mean starvation. He had no choice. These men thirsted for blood, and he wouldn't be the one to give them the opportunity.

He handed them the twenty percent and they raised an eyebrow.

"This? This is all you can give?" They slammed the mostly empty pouch of money onto the table and glared at him. "This is barely two silver pieces worth!"

"It's all I can give!" Arthur cried, not sure what else he could do. Serenity dug into her pockets and pulled out her wages that she had earned.

"Please, will this do?" She said, offering her small earnings to them. They glanced down at the maiden, and snatched the small pile of copper from her, then turned towards the door.

"We'll be back." They promised before leaving and heading towards the next establishment to torture. Serenity swallowed and prayed nothing would happen to the town.

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So what do you think so far? Worth continuing? Should I scrap it? Maybe it's still too soon to tell. Let me know!

Read, Review, and Enjoy! ~Love ya!