Untitled
I do not own Yu-gi-oh, its characters, or any of it's themes.
A/N: This is my first (and probably only) fic that includes Shadi. Please let me know what you think of it and please don't just say "poor so-and-so", I get enough of that at home. Thank you, enjoy.
After three years of searching for what caused the unbalance in the Shadow Realm, Shadi's tiresome search had finally come to an end. The legendary Millennium Hourglass had appeared and chosen a host. Legend said that the Hourglass would bring an end to the protectors of the Millennium Items and the Pharaoh's tomb, and now the time had come for Shadi to destroy it.
Shadi looked up and down the girl, curiously. Her black hair and green eyes gave her a feline look, and the white dress she was wearing reminded him of the robes that Egyptian priestesses wore. In fact, she didn't appear to be a threat, she just looked scary. Well, time to get it over with. As the girl stared down at him coolly, he pulled out his Millennium Key and walked up to her.
She didn't react as he lifted it to her forehead. In fact, Shadi realized, she hadn't reacted at all to him.
'Hmm...' Shadi thought. 'Mayhap there is more to this girl than meets the eyes.'
He turned the Key, expecting to immediately find himself inside her mind. Instead, he found himself surrounded by the abyss with a small patch of solid ground beneath him.
'Is she? She is resisting the Key! But that is impossible!' Shadi was astonished. Never in history had someone resisted a Millennium Item except... Shadi shoved the thought out of his mind and pushed his soul into the girls mind.
After several minutes of trying, the darkness finally receded and Shadi found himself in front of a complex labyrinth facing the girl wearing a white dress.
'You have risked much to even dare to enter my mind, Shadi, but now I give you permission to enter.' Her voice was smoother than glass, and Shadi barely noticed that she knew his name.'You may travel anywhere but the closed doors. Not even I have seen what lurks behind these. If you try, you will find your soul forever in the abyss that exists outside of every existing mind and life force in existence. Your existence on Earth shall diminish and decay slowly every day. Do you understand?'
Shadi nodded and the girl stepped aside as he entered into the maze. As he journeyed deeper into the halls of the child, Shadi noticed many doors lined the walls. A few were open, but many were closed. Shadi peered into one and found a memory of the girl. Hesitantly, he stepped through it.
A little girl, no older than four ran past Shadi.
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" she shouted excitedly. "Look what I found!"
Having nothing better to do, Shadi followed the child into another room.
"Mommy?" the little girl looked around, confused. "Where are you?"
Fear appeared in the child's eyes and she ran outside, no longer excited. Outside, Shadi noticed, there wasn't any artificial lighting, only the moon and the stars shone. In fact, they weren't even in Domino City, where he had found the girl.
Shadi turned towards the house to see that it was no more than a clay hut with no more than two rooms. Surrounding the hut were mountains that rose higher than the clouds. In shock, Shadi realized that he was somewhere in the Andes in South America.
He followed the girl around to the back of the hut and found that the mother was laying in a pool of blood.
"Mommy?"
"Shh, little one, it's okay."
"B-but, Mommy! You're bleeding! And it smells like..."
"I always suspected..."
The memory faded for a couple of seconds and then continued.
"Mommy! Don't die! Just don't die!"
Shadi watched as the child sobbed. Suddenly the child changed. It's hair grew messy and it stopped sobbing. Then, the child began draining the blood from her mothers wounds like a vampire bat.
Shadi stood, shaken by the horrific ending of the memory. In order to shake the experience from his mind, he kept going, not daring to look at any of the other open doors.
"Tee-hee!"
Shadi spun around and caught a glimpse of black hair. He ran to catch up to it.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
Shadi followed the laughter around several bends and twists, until he found himself in the center of the labyrinth. In the middle of the room, there was a stone table covered with intricate Celtic designs as well as several series of different characters from all over Asia and a few Egyptian hieroglyphs. There were even a few Norse runes.
As far as Shadi could tell, the carvings all meant the same thing: Binding. Whoever had created this table, clearly didn't want something to leave it. Shadi then noticed that there was actually someone on the table.
She was almost exactly the same as the girl whose mind Shadi was in. There was a rose blossom protruding from her mouth and the stem of it went down her throat, piercing it and came out where her heart was located. The stem then wrapped itself several times around the womans torso and wrists, but surprisingly, there was no blood on the white dress that she wore.
'You are lucky, mortal.' The voice came unbidden to his mind and even though she couldn't talk, Shadi knew that the woman on the table was speaking to him.
"Why is that?" he asked aloud.
'You, mortal, can die. Unlike you, I am forced to stay like this until she dies.'
"Why does she have you bound like this?" Shadi asked, staring intently into the womans bottomless green eyes. Like a pool of quicksand they were sucking him in deeper every second he spent looking.
'She fears me. The power she has came with a price, and she does not wish to pay. She was supposed to be punished for this a long time ago, but she hasn't received it.'
"Why do you tell me this?" Shadi asked, wishing that he could help the woman. He continued to stare into her eyes, unaware of the spell she was weaving. He would do anything for her. Even risk his life.
'Only a mortal can free me. A mortal, willing to serve me forever. I would give them whatever they desired, if they freed me...'
"Tell me how, and I shall do it, my queen! Let me unbind you from this prison, let me become yours!" Shadi barely knew what he was saying. He could only see her eyes, her deep, pleading, eyes. He had to save her! The thought of the pain she endured was just too much...
'I just need a little of your blood. Merely prick your finger on the thorns protruding from my throat, mingle it with mine, and wipe the blood on the stone, my eyes, and yours.'
"I will do it, for you!" Shadi reached for the thorns, on her throat, not even wincing as they pierced his fingers. He then placed his now bloody hand on her breast, were there was suddenly a lot of blood, mingling it with his. He froze as raw power coursed through his veins, clearly from his queen and then continued freeing her. He touched the stone with his hands, obliterating the first Celtic knot and then wiped the blood over his and his queens eyes. Then he stepped back to watch as she became free.
The rose uprooted itself from the ground, pulling itself upwards as it quickly unwound from the womans body and then pulled itself back through where Shadi's mistress's heart was, through her body and then out of her throat. The rose withered and died, and as it did, so did Shadi's free will. Next the table cracked and in the center was the Egyptian hieroglyph for binding, which the sorceress picked up and placed on Shadi's heart, thus binding him to her, forever.
"Shadi!" The black-haired girl entered the room, minutes too late. Shadi turned, his normally lively (eye color) eyes now dull and empty (eye color) orbs with a ring of bright green around them.
(Saduko's POV)
Saduko turned to the witch, fury coursing through her veins. The witch coolly returned the glare with a mere glance. "What did you do to him, Neferet?"
Neferet smirked. "Why, all I did was take his soul and bind it to mine. After all, I couldn't very well let a devoted servant who loved me just whine for me and fade, now could I? We both know what happened to Echo because of that."
Saduko avoided the witches eyes, knowing all to well what she meant. Echo had been Saduko's best friend when she was young and, at the time, Saduko had no idea about Neferet's existence. Neferet had stolen Echo's soul, making her love the witch, and Echo, unable to be with her, had faded. Saduko had kept the red rose that had been left, and when she was older, she'd used her friend's essence to bind Neferet to the Table of Binding.
"Oh yes, I know what you mean," spat Saduko, vehemently. "Now you are free to kill me. Then when I am dead, you can destroy the balance forever, unleashing the darkest corners of the Shadow Realm on this earth! But you forgot one thing..."
"Oh, and what is that?"
"I'm still here." Saduko grabbed a concealed blade from her person and threw it at Neferet. Quick as a flash, Shadi, or what was left of him, sprang into action and snatched the weapon out of the air. As he did so, Saduko snatched the Millennium Key from him.
"Now, Neferet, neither of you belong here, so, I remove you from my body!"
Saduko looked around the room, surprised. It had worked. The Key had obeyed her and exorcised the witch, Neferet, and the unfortunate Egyptian from her mind!
A thud reminded her that she was not alone and she turned to see a crumpled form of Shadi and a black shadow alongside him. Her euphoria ended as Saduko realized that she had, unwittingly, given her enemy a body. Without waiting for the shadow to take shape and solidify, Saduko ran.
You can run, but no matter where you go, you can't hide your beauty. I willfindyou...
The voice faded as she ran from the dark shadow of her life before. She knew that Neferet was right, he beauty was a dead giveaway as a girl. What Neferet didn't know was that Saduko had a natural theatrical flair and would have no trouble hiding herself, as long as she got away...
Shadi rose shakily from the ground and turned to see his entire world, Neferet, struggling to use her new body. He rushed to her side, and helped. "It's okay, my queen, you will get used to this new body and then take the little rat's life. You just need practice at being mortal."
"That rat!", Neferet spat out the nickname for her joke of a hikari and glared into the distance that it had run off into. "Practice at being mortal, you say?" Neferet asked quietly. "What do mortals do when in love?"
Shadi looked at her uncertainly.
"Well go on! Show me!"
This time, he didn't hesitate. He spun her around to face him and began kissing the glory that was his love. As they clung to each other, Shadi began to lift his lady's dress, and then the animal instinct took over. Neferet moaned in pleasure and Shadi moaned also, as the power of his muse flowed from her body into his, giving him a feeling of bliss and euphoric joy. He pressed against her once more and then it was over. Adoration shone brightly in his empty eyes as her bare temple lay beneath him, but the gaze of his lover remained the same.
Neferet's eyes still were that of a cruel, unearthly being. One that never could truly love again due to unhealed wounds. It had only wicked desire and a heart of black diamond, now. The foolish Egyptian had walked right into her spell, and though he would be useful until she could navigate this world on her own, she only loved one being, whom she could never see again. Shadi was disposable, like the rest of the mortal trash that existed in this world.
"More!" she gasped convincingly, pulling her slave back down.
(Ryo's POV, 3 months later)
Ryo awoke to the birds singing. An innocent, yet knowing smile graced the room as he looked around. It was his first day of Senior year and, ever since the plan to get rid of the yamis had backfired and given them each their own bodies, nothing could ruin a day as lovely as this one.
He hastily threw on his school uniform and readied himself for school. He packed his lunch, ate a few bites of cereal, and was out the door before his father had even woken up.
"Good-bye, Father! I'm off!" he called with the adorable touch of a British accent that many of the female students had clearly begun to adore.
As walked along, breathing in the lovely smell of salt from Domino's harbor, Ryo began humming the tune to the song in his book, Mockingjay, which he was already halfway through. As he rounded a corner, there were sounds of running and people shouting coming from behind.
"Aw, bugger! Not these sods again!" Ryo muttered under his breath. Instead of turning to see how close they were –– in sigh and hearing was too close for comfort –– he broke into a brisk run, his suitcase banging against his legs like a drum. His course became wild in an effort to avoid the street gang, and soon he found himself surrounded by new and unfinished apartment complexes. Desperate, he ducked into the nearest one, closing the door behind him.
"Hey!" someone shouted. "What hole did that little albino rat crawl into? Show yourself, you stinking gai-jin!"
"Maybe he's hid himself in one of these fancy apartment buildings, boss!", said a voice that sounded like it had spent it's life eating rocks and gummy bears.
"Shut it, Hebi!" shouted the gangs leader. "You aren't supposed to think. You're the muscle man. That idiot gai-jin didn't even know where he was going, anyway. He's probably hiding around the corner trying not to cry for his dog-faced mother."
Anger flared in Ryo's chest as he listened to the gang depart. His mother had been dead before he'd moved to Japan, and the most they knew about him was that he was white. Being called a gai-jin, he was used to, but it took all of his self control not to try ripping out their throats for insulting his mother.
He sank to the floor and pulled out his cell phone to tell the office that he'd be absent from first and second period for a counseling appointment, knowing that, given his luck, the gang would find him immediately if he left now. For the moment, he would content himself with sitting in the empty hallway.
Ryo's curiosity overcame him and he rose to check the complex out. mahogany doors with golden numbers lined The white hallway, and at the end was an elevator with the usual up and down arrows on a silver panel next to it. The entire complex was solar powered, so the building was well lit. As Ryo continued down it, he noticed that a door was slightly ajar.
'That's odd,' he thought. The complex was brand new and normally all of the doors would be locked. Apprehensively, Ryo pushed open the door.
"Hey!"
Ryo jumped. He stared uncomprehendingly as a woman stood bare before him. Then, blushing madly, he turned and ran from the apartment all the way to school.
A/N: Okay, so, I didn't write this! I fell asleep! I swear! Doesn't matter in the first place, no one actually reads my crap. If you do grace me with reading my fic, please grant me the honor of commenting as well. Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas.