Chapter 2: The Mysterious Woman
Yugi found himself unable to sleep. As he lay on his bed, staring up at the topaz stone he was given, he couldn't stop thinking about that mysterious guy in the store today, nor get his 'warning' out of his head. Who exactly was this Nashwa person and why did he have to steer clear of her? And what was he looking for?
He had to admit that he was surprised when the guy wasn't interested in the Duel Monsters cards. From all past experiences, especially involving Egypt, they all had something to do with duelling. It's strange to think that things could be settled without duelling.
Crash!
The sound of glass shattering immediately pulled Yugi from his thoughts. He said up straight in bed and became silent. The sound was so telling and loud. Something was happening downstairs, in the hobby shop. Had that guy come back for something? Or was it that girl he had warned him about?
Soon, more sounds followed.
Dropping the stone onto his bed, Yugi slipped on his slippers before hurrying his way down stairs, trying to move as silently as he could. With each step his took, the sounds of destruction grew louder and louder. Someone was going all out in the store. But why?
He had better be careful.
Reaching the bottom step, Yugi pressed his back against the wall and peered around the corner. What he saw was a disaster zone. Display units, shelves and posters had been practically destroyed and were piled together in the centre of the shop. Duel Monster Cards were scattered about, starter packs ripped open and thrown to the floor carelessly.
And in the middle of all of the chaos was the form of a young woman. Again, she was taller than Yugi by a foot or so. She had sharp gold eyes with thick eyelashes. Her hair was golden blonde at the top of her head and her bangs, but faded into a pitch black at the tips, reaching to her waist. She was wearing short white dress with golden trimmings, thick gold chains wrapped around her small waist.
The thick black boots on her feet, reaching her knees, kinda looked out of place.
She was ruthlessly tearing open the starter packs, flicking through the cards before rolling her eyes and dropping them to the floor, stepping on them in frustration. She groaned in annoyance as she stomped over to the debris pile she made and huffed.
"Useless," she hissed as she drove her boot into the debris pile. "None of these are what I am looking for."
Yugi was aghast by how she was treating the Duel Monster cards. It made him feel uncharacteristically angry. "Hey!" he shouted as he stepped from his hiding spot. "What are you doing?"
The girl immediately turned toward him, her golden eyes taken on a more of a sharper glint. She removed her foot from the pile and strode toward him with a sense of purpose.
"These cards as worthless," she snapped. "Where do you keep your rare cards?" she then went on to demand. She appeared expectant, like Yugi would actually tell her and give her what she wants.
"After wrecking my store? I don't think I'll tell you," Yugi retorted defiantly. "All we have here are duel monster cards."
"I'm not looking for duel monster cards, midget," she once again snapped at him, her voice rather sharp and venomous. Just like her eyes. "Where have you kept the oracles?"
Yugi blinked, his anger momentarily forgotten. "Oracles?"
"Don't play stupid with me," she hissed, her patience seemed to be growing thin. However, her eyes suddenly darted off to the side and her face creased into a brooding expression. "That bastard was here. He must have gotten to them first. Shit…"
Yugi wondered if this girl was Nashwa, the one that guy from earlier today had warned him about? She had to be the one. Somehow his grandpa hadn't awoken from all the noise. Good. Better that way. He just had to get rid of her somehow.
He was slightly surprised to hear sniffling and he turned his attention back to the girl.
"No, I will not show weakness…" she sniffled and began to mumble to herself, vastly different from the demanding young woman from before. "I'm stronger than my past."
Yugi wasn't sure what to make of it. "Um, hey…?"
"Shut up!" she suddenly snapped, quickly reverting to that loud and dangerous person. "Don't you dare ask me about my past!"
Yugi blinked. "I wasn't really going-"
"You wouldn't understand!" she suddenly shrilled, taking a couple of stumbling steps backwards while frantically shaking her head. "I'm going to be sacrificed and nobody cares!"
Yugi winced from the volume of her voice, secretly hoping that Grandpa wouldn't wake up now. "Whoa, lower your voice, please."
"Typical male," she hissed, hunching her shoulders. "You think just because I'm a beautiful woman that you can just order me around."
"Ok, stop," Yugi snapped in return, finding it hard to keep up with her sudden changes of emotions. He had heard the term 'mood swings' before, but never had he encountered someone who fitted the description so well. "I have no idea what you're going on about."
Surprisingly, she became silent as she stared at him with a sharp and critical gaze. Her eyes suddenly harden and she furrowed her brow. "…You're that Pharaoh, aren't you?" she said before taking a somewhat threatening step forward. "Why aren't you helping me?"
"Because I have no idea what you're talking about!" Yugi found himself snapping again. "You've wrecked my shop, started screaming at me and verbally abusing me! And I have no idea why!"
The atmosphere suddenly became quite tense. "You dare to raise your voice to me? You little vermin," she said lowly, a look of pure betrayal in her eyes as she slowly backed away. "You're one of them, aren't you? You're working for my village…"
Yugi tilted his head to the side in question. "Er, village?"
"They're going to sacrifice me to their goddess," she said as she continued to stare at him, watching his every moved. Her body seemed to be on high alert, ready to react to anything.
However, a moment later, she shook her head furiously. "For years they have been worshipping a deck of cards called Isis Oracle, abusing them and making them do their bidding. I had no choice. It was me or them. I have to save myself and the cards. But now, thanks to that bastard Isidoro, the cards have disappeared. If I am to save my life, I need to find those cards before he does. That bastard, he's trying to kill me!"
"…I see," Yugi murmured, letting her to ramble on. He didn't understand what she was saying, what any of it meant, but if she was talking, she wasn't doing anything to wreck his shop.
But that guy she mentioned. Was she referring to the guy that was in his shop that afternoon?
"You're going to help me, right?" That wasn't so much of a plea, but a statement of facts. A demand, really.
"Well…"
"You must!" she shrilled as she took an abrupt step forward, almost in a threatening manner. "It's your duty to. Don't you see that me coming here was destiny. The vessel of the Pharaoh must protect me."
"Would you stop calling me that?" Yugi asked, not all the comfortable with being referred to as a vessel. He wasn't just the host for Atem. "Besides, Atem, the great Pharaoh, has returned to the afterlife. I am no longer a vessel, as you refer to me."
Her face creased into an expression of annoyance and frustration. "Then you are useless to me," she practically spat. "Of course. Men can't be trusted. No man has ever proved his worth to me. Why should you?"
"Yugi? What's going on down there?"
That was grandpa! He must have woken up from all the yelling after all.
"Another one?" she murmured, sending Yugi another look of betrayal. "Think you can gang up on me? Not likely."
Turning around, she suddenly ran through the shop and through the rather large hole in the shattered window. Yugi breathed a sigh of relief as she disappeared into the night. Hopefully she won't return again tonight.
"Nothing, grandpa!" Yugi yelled back to his grandpa, hoping to stop him from venturing into the store. "We'll talk about it in the morning!"
Now, what should he do about that broken window?
