A Dark Silence.
Short-sightedness was a matter of perspective. That was Seto's favorite quote.
Curious. Yami would have thought that he'd rather have something powerful like High Priest Seth's favorite Power is Might, but Seto was always a curious fellow. He was rather a hermit, really. If he hadn't had someone as bright and radiant as Mokuba by his side, Yami was sure that Seto will probably shut himself within his dingy library and never come out. Hell, the guy won't even know if some kind of apocalypse had hit Xerx.
Well, Seto's brain was an alien with one-track mind. Yami could only say that Seto had this tendency to violently reject everything that his brain couldn't comprehend. He even thought that Seto was probably the only person who was able to deny the existence of the guardian spirits even after he, Yami, Akefia, and Marik ventured to the Realm Beyond.
Not only that he was stubborn, he was also great at making excuses. Even when Seto studied alchemy to the point that he would be selling his soul to devil if it weren't for Mokuba, he didn't believe in something as fundamental as the guardian spirits.
Yami leaned backwards to one of Seto's bookshelves, he watched in interest as his cousin fiddled with some concoctions in his hand.
"Bah, I could make better if you let me." Yami rolled his eyes as his guardian spirit phased out in his astral form. "We're not making anything, Chaos. I'm not an alchemist, I'm a warrior." Yami said sternly. Seto turned, eyes slightly narrowing in disgust as Yami spoke to himself. The azure-eyed man sighed. "Take your nonsense talk somewhere else, Sennen. I don't want to hear it."
The genius of the Kaiba family then rolled his eyes and turned back to his work. "Sorry, cousin." Yami shrugged. "I'll leave as soon as you get my red and blue potions ready. Akefia said that Marik's been waiting for us in the capital, after all." Chaos, his guardian spirit, snickered happily. They were going to wreak havoc in the capital city and as the personification of chaos, he was happy.
"So it's the capital today..." The most level-headed of the group scoffed. "If you're not careful, the Pharaoh might set Mutou on your ass." Yami snorted. Geh, Mutou, the Pharaoh's pet. Rumored to be extremely deadly and a crazy loyalist, it was rumored that the guy was the prettiest thing ever though. He resided in the Tall Tower at the end of the town and was hardly found in any other place.
"Yeah, yeah, Yuugi Mutou the Silent Magician. Who doesn't know him." Yami said nonchalantly, but it seemed to capture Chaos' attention. "Who's that?" He asked, looking completely serious for a change.
"Yuugi Mutou," Another voice joined them as a boy with green hair and blue eyes woke up in the middle of the cluttered books. "Yuugi Mutou is an alchemist of mysterious birth. Incarnation of Chary the Wordless Witch or here, the Silent Magician..."
"Oh great... take your nonsense elsewhere, Noah." Seto grumbled.
The green-haired Kaiba looked at Yami with unblinking black eyes before turning to his older brother. "But presently, Seto, I am not Noah. I am Shinato." The kid blinked owlishly.
"I'm taking control."
"Wait a minute-!"
"Not listening!"
Yami grew a few inches and his tricolor hair turned black and grew longer. His normal leather outfit was replaced by a tight black suit and red horns appeared on his head. When he opened his eyes, he had transformed into his guardian spirit, the Dark Magician of Chaos.
"What do you know about Chary, Shinato?" Chaos said as he twirled his long staff and leaned on the wall next to the bewildered-looking young man. Yami phased out in his astral form and rolled his eyes. "He always gets like this." Chaos ignored him as he kept his gaze on Shinato, who looked around the room with mild fascination of a kid having a new playpen.
Chary was the name of the person Chaos had been looking for in the last few years. When he found Yami who travelled to the Realm Beyond for the first time, he had tried to kill him mercilessly, saying that he didn't need two of him running around in the world. But when Diabound, Akefia's guardian spirit, warned him about the missing 'Chary', Chaos told him that he would gladly lend Yami his power if he ever needed it if Yami helped him find this 'Chary' person.
Seto seemed to have given up trying to cover the reality and seemed to lower his hood and ignore the world. Yami sat on top of his books, trying to hear what Chaos was saying.
It was always weird to hear someone like Chaos, who was literally the living personification of the word he was named after, talked in such a serious way. Yami had dreams, no, particularly... Chaos was the one who had dreams about that mysterious person named Chary. Apparently, Chaos and Chary were lovers, or something of the sort. And Chaos always had dreams about sex with her... and it sometimes woke Yami as well.
Shinato looked at the magician with a knowing look that befitted his title as the King of the Higher Plane. "I have not seen her ever since she escaped your confines, Chaos." Shinato's reply seemed to annoy the hell out of Chaos, who then made a pool of shadow blast in his hand. "I didn't confine her. She's mine. My light to my darkness, of course I have to keep her safe." Shinato shook his head.
"Chary lives with the Game Nomads, a set of guardian spirits devoted to Yuugi Mutou. In fact, she's the leader of that nomads, along with her brother the Wordless Warrior. Imagine her horror when you suddenly came and took her to the Tower?" Chaos clicked his tongue. The Shadows all appeared dangerously around Shinato.
"Shinato... if you utter one more word, I swear..."
"You swear what?" Shinato challenged, unrelenting. But when Chaos was about to blast the Kind of the Higher Plane, a futuristic-looking dragon head with cannons appeared out of nowhere. "Seto," Yami realized as his cousin pretended as if nothing was happening, but that was the spirit that asked to be Seto's.
"Stop fighting in my library, good for nothings. And Noah, I thought you are more mature than Crazy Yami." Upon hearing Seto's comment, Noah's pitch black eyes turned into its normal blue and he blinked owlishly. "Seto...?"
"Tch." Chaos clicked his tongue and disappeared, leaving Yami back in control.
Seto's guardian spirit disappeared even when its master didn't look at it. Noah looked at Seto, as if waiting for a scolding. When it didn't come, he pulled up his blanket and fell on top of the books again.
After a few minutes of silence, Seto snorted. Yami took it as a signal that his potions were done and he could leave. But then when the azure-eyed alchemist disappeared, Noah called to him.
"What is it, cousin?" He asked to the green-haired kid. Noah didn't sit up, he still looked at the stone ceiling with the same dreamy look in his eyes. Hosting a Spiritual King wasn't an easy job after all. "Shinato told me that... the person you're looking for, Chary, is a being of orderliness and light. If you keep on creating havocs, she is sure to come to you." And then he drifted off to another sleep.
Yami chuckled. "Yeah sure. I am the Crazy Darkness of the Xerx nation, after all." The servant of Chaos sneered while his guardian spirit cackled. Time to teach the Pharaoh a word that starts with C and ends with S.
One Ryou Faerin was many things. He was sweet, kind, manipulative, caring, and full of secrets all within one frail-looking, slender, and white-haired body.
As a Secret Keeper, not many people knew about him. They all knew that Ryou owned a very warm and cozy Faerin pub. They also knew that Ryou was the kind of person who would smile to even the most heinous criminal.
What people didn't know, however, was the fact that he possessed the ability of the High Births. Dark Necrofear, or Marianette, as she preferred to be called, had told him that he was special. Another thing was the fact that he was friends with the elusive Ace, Yuugi Mutou. Oh, friends wouldn't be a proper term, he guessed. It was just the fact that Chary and Marianette got along well that made Yuugi even spoke to Ryou.
And another thing that people of Xerx didn't know about one Ryou Faerin was of course, the fact that he had a lover named Akefia Bakura.
Yes, Akefia-freaking-Bakura, one of the Servants of Chaos. Love was a silly thing, to be honest. Ryou never thought that a crazy drunk who eat-and-run in his restaurant would be the love of his life. Marianette was rather skeptical about it first, but after a few outings with Diabound in the Realm Beyond, she turned out to be supportive.
One of the Servants of Chaos and Akefia's most trusted friend lounged idly on Ryou's couch, munching on dried plums. He had told Yuugi to not come here today and sent the message to the Tall Tower, he didn't know if the ace received it though. But it was vital that Yuugi didn't come here today because he was housing Bakura's friends...
Marik Samael yawned lazily when Ryou entered the room while rubbing his temple. The spiky-haired male was probably the laziest member of the Servants of Chaos... but the havoc he made were always a few notches higher than the Crazy Darkness or the Thief King's own. Marik seemed to love fire to the point of obsession that he used it in every single havoc he did. The Pyro Prince seemed to love his title so much.
"Ah, good afternoon, kitten." Ryou rolled his eyes. He despised it if people called him that. Fortunately Bakura was never a part of 'people' in the boy's dictionary. "Don't call me that, Marik. Why aren't you picking up Yami?"
"Akefia's doing that. I see no point of having two guys to pick up His Majesty." Yami was the leader of the Servants of Chaos, and everyone who knew them personally would not doubt it, but it seemed that Bakura and Marik held this tendency to insult and mock their leader in every possible way. Calling him His Majesty was one of them.
"Oh okay, whatever. I'm going to tend the shop. Don't set anything on fire." Ryou took the wines he had come to get and exited the room when he heard a lazy 'aye aye sir' from within.
The white-haired boy sighed deeply as he set the wine bottles on the counter. It was in these times that he preferred to have Yuugi as company than the Pyro Prince. At least Yuugi was a great listener and he never inquired anything from Ryou except for his occasional company. The boy was the most precious thing Ryou had ever seen.
"Are you okay, Boss-chan?" His newest stewardess, Miho Noire smiled as she straightened out her kimono uniform. Ryou sighed as he served the wine and put them on Miho's tray. "Dear god, I wish Bakura would come home that get that lazy ass out of my house." Miho giggled and ruffled Ryou's hair. "Oh c'mon hon, don't be upset. Besides, Malik is coming today, you don't want to look like that when he comes, right? He would kick Bakura's ass if he saw you looking like that."
"Yeah, because no matter what I say, he'd think that Bakura is the source of my misfortune." Ryou loved Malik. The guy had been his friend through thick and thin. When they were younger, Ryou often had Astral Projection and got sucked into the Realm Beyond, where he met the Occult Nomads. He'd told everyone about it, but nobody trusted him but Malik.
One of these days, Ryou needed to get Malik to the Realm Beyond and get the guy's guardian spirit. Malik had the affinity since his sister was part of the Sacred Guardians, but Malik himself still felt doubt about the entire thing with guardian spirits. He believed that they were reserved only for Pharaoh and his court, when the truth was the spirits belonged to anyone who managed to come to their Realm and found their incarnations.
Anyways, when Ryou first introduced Bakura, Malik had kneed the guy on his stomach and accused him of witchcraft. Malik didn't trust that they had bonded and fell in love. And the fact that Bakura was wearing the coat that he borrowed from Kaiba didn't help either, because the Kaibas were famous for their genius three alchemist brothers and their potions. Malik thought that Bakura had given him a love potion.
Ryou thought that it was endearing, and it certainly was. After a few bottles of red wines and some drunken kisses, Malik was convinced that Bakura wasn't a liar.
Ryou sighed. He needed to go see the therapist if he kept the secret of hiding the Servants of Chaos in his house all by himself. The Pyro Prince was driving him nuts.
Suddenly, there was a rumble of something foreign in front of Ryou's pub. Miho giggled. "I wish you luck, Ryou." She giggled before taking the red wines to the costumers.
Ryou's hands immediately went to his hair as he tried to look like he didn't need to go to the therapist.
Malik entered the room in all his glory. Healthily tanned skin, pale blond hair, soft lavender eyes, along with clothes that didn't make him look like someone of the noble Ishtar family made him one of the most eccentric people in Xerx nation, third to Yuugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba. And honestly, Malik reminded him of someone else he didn't really want to-
"Oi Ryou, there aren't any more dried plums here-"
The first thing that popped into Ryou's mind when Malik's eyes met with Marik's own darker lavender was definitely a huge, huge fuck. "Uhn, uh, Malik, this guy is-!"
"Oh Ra... will you marry me you sexy sun god?"
Oh bugger it all.
Music to listen to: Black Liliana - Umineko Soundtrack
Okay so I think this story will have some Tender/Gemshipping and Bronzeshipping, but the main dish is of course, Puzzleshipping and Chaos/Chary.
Hmm another thing I would need to elaborate about the Realm Beyond and its denizens:
1. Realm Beyond is like the Shadow Realm, but it's not the dark purple clouds space. It's like the world where Dark Magician Girl took Yami and Yuugi in Season 4.
2. The guardian spirits aren't really exclusive to the Pharaoh and the gang, they just think so.
3. The Game Nomads stands for the guardian spirits who are part of Yuugi's command, in another word, his deck. Yuugi can only turn into the Silent Magician because she's his incarnation. The others just follow his orders (out of affection). The leader of this Nomad is Silent Magician (a.k.a Chary) and the vice-leader is the Silent Swordsman. The Occult Nomads are in Ryou's command, the leader is Dark Necrofear (a.k.a Marianette).
Any other questions? Please review :)
