Fading Colors

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or its characters. I only own my OC's, and the fanfic. I'm not getting any money out of this. Just for entertainment purposes.

Author's Note:

Please, don't ask about R's unique way of cussing… I just randomly made it up. Oh and, a heads up. 'Dusk' is not going to show up in a long time… And I don't know if Lucifer is even going to be in this season…

Chapter 2- Cursed

R

"Oh my gosh," I gasped, trying to catch my breath. Following winding path the arrows pointed to had taken a lot of energy. "That jerk had to make us run that much, even after he stole your puzzle? He's such a flaming flaky flabby flattened flowery flying fish!"

Yugi was just as tired as I was. He glanced at me, panting and raising an eyebrow with a light smile on his face. "What type of fish did you say?"

"A flaming flaky flabby flipping flattened flowery flying fish." I replied smiling slyly, and lowered my voice, while trying to hold in a tiny giggle. "I use that instead of a few… Other more unpleasant words."

Yugi sweat dropped. "Well, that's… Nice."

Our conversation had been a desperate attempt to lighten up the tense mood. And it actually took our minds off our current problem for a few seconds. But, those few moments were short lived. I glanced in front of me. The red arrows were gone, but they had served their purpose. They had led us all the way… Here…

At an abandoned warehouse. The wood seemed worn, and the building itself seemed like it hadn't been used in a long time. Even though the place seemed old, the structure seemed pretty stable, at least strong enough to hold the building up.

"I guess that's where that guy wanted us to go?" I motioned towards the warehouse in front of us.

"Yeah," Yugi nodded. "I have a bad feeling about this though… We'll have to be careful."

The two of us walked up to the rusty doors of the warehouse and pushed them open with some difficulty. We peered into the building, and cautiously stepped in.

The room was dark, save for little bits of light streaming in from the many gaps in the roof above. But, even that wasn't enough to let the two of us see clearly.

"I know you're in here!" Yugi yelled.

"Yeah, you flaming flaky flabby flipping flattened flowery flying fish, stop hiding already and come out like a real man should!" I growled, while Yugi sighed, probably thinking 'Seriously, of all the insults she could think of, she uses that one?'

The man still didn't appear, but we heard his voice. "So, you guys finally showed up? I was starting to get impatient…"

Suddenly, a spotlight shone in the middle of the air, right onto… The Millennium Puzzle. The ancient artifact was tacked into a sort of wall with a bolt. But the rest of the room was still shrouded in shadows.

"Hey, that's my Puzzle, give it back!" Yugi shouted.

"If you want it back…" The man chuckled ominously. "Then you'll have to win it from me in a duel."

The rest of the room suddenly lit up, and I shielded my eyes with my arms at first. Then I lowered my arms, to look around. A dueling arena was in the middle of the room. An elevated platform surrounded the perimeter of the room, and was held up by metallic beams. Some machinery and cans of gasoline were scattered around the walls of the warehouse. Black wires hung down from the roof like vines.

The man from before was standing next to one side of the arena, while me and Yugi were near the other side. "Well, Yugi, you do want your Puzzle back, don't you?"

Yugi glared defiantly at the robed figure. "Fine, I accept your challenge." But I could tell he was a little nervous. If he lost then the Puzzle would belong to that jerk…

"Hey, Yugi," I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Sorry I can't really help you much here… But, I know you're going to win, just go and do your best."

Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Roxy." With that, he walked over to his side of the arena.

The man walked over to the opposite side, and the two of them both put their decks in place. The man smirked. "Now, if I win this duel, it'll be quite a haul today. This, and the Puzzle?" He pulled something out, and my eyes widened. It was the Millennium Gem! That grey falcon must have been his! But then, where's Phoenix?

"Hey, give my Millennium Gem back!" I growled, as the robed figure examined it.

He held it up to his face, turning it in different directions to get a good look at it. "Millennium Gem? You must be kidding." He chuckled darkly. "That's the more common name for this weapon. Its official name is the Bird's Eye, and it contains powers that even match to those of the Items. But, unlike the Millennium Items, this object can only be passed on if the previous owner gives it to that person willingly, or by killing the previous owner's bird."

My eyes widened. Then Phoenix…? As if on cue, my bird flew in through one of the gaps in the roof, teetering around in the air, and plummeted to the ground, in front of my feet. "Phoenix!" I knelt down, and saw that her head was in a weird angle, with blood trickling down her neck. Was she… Dead? No, she wasn't. She was still breathing. But Phoenix looked more dead than alive…

Yugi gasped. He was just as surprised as I was.

I was in shock. I'd never imagined this to happen… But more than shock, there was a small flicker of anger burning deep within me. Phoenix was my companion, and now… She was going to die? Subconsciously, I had moved my arm, so that my hand was hovering over Phoenix's limp body. When I had noticed, I blinked in confusion. What am I doing?

And then, my hourglass started to give off a faint gold glow. When the glow dimmed, my outstretched hand started to shine with a blinding white light. I winced, but not only because of the light. It felt like a thousand hot needles were being stabbed into that hand. My voice and disappeared, so I couldn't even scream in pain.

Only a few seconds had passed, but it felt like eternity. The light finally dissipated, and the pain disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. But, I felt tired, like I had run a marathon before, and didn't get anything to eat before and after. I just wanted to collapse on the floor right there. My eyes had started to shut, but my eyelids quickly slid up, when I felt a sharp pain at the top of my head. I yelped, standing up, and was surprised to see Phoenix had vanished from the ground. Where was she?

My answer was answered when a harmonic chirp floated into the air, and Phoenix flew from the top of my head to hover in front of me. All the blood was nowhere to be seen, and the bird looked fine. That little sneaky little bird must have pecked at my head a few moments ago! But still, that doesn't explain why she's completely fine now…

The cloaked man seemed taken aback, but when he spoke, it seemed as if he had come to realize something. "Now I get it… The bird, the Millennium Hourglass, the Bird's Eye! They should have been enough to get me to realize it. But your ability to heal birds just helps me confirm it." He pointed a finger at me. "You were the cursed Sacred Guardian!"

I froze, and felt myself growing pale. "W-Wait, h-how do you know that about me?" I didn't even know that! Maybe he was lying, though, just trying to throw me off.

Yugi was equally as shocked. First of all, even he was confused on whether if I was Roxy or not. I mean, Roxy was never a type of Guardian, and definitely not a cursed one. And secondly, neither of us knew how this man would have so much knowledge regarding the Puzzle, the Millennium Items, the Bird's Eye, and me. I don't know really anything about myself.

The man started laughing malevolently. I still couldn't see his hair or eyes, with the hood blocking them from view. "Oh, how inconsiderate of me! I forgot that you sealed all of your memories in this," He turned his head towards the Bird's Eye he was holding, before looking back at me. His mouth was curved into a smirk. "Too bad, even if you were to retrieve your memories from it, the Bird's Eye is incomplete. And thus, your recollections will be as well. So I'm guessing you don't remember a thing, right now, not even your name… Do you, Cursed One?"

I winced. It seemed to be an automatic reaction towards the words 'Cursed One.'

The man cackled once more, and said a mock apology. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You never really like that title, did you? Would you rather that I call you," He paused, and lowered his voice so it was barely audible. "Inferno's Curse?"

My shoulders started to shake, up and down, as my head hung down, and I remained silent. All of the emotions I had were jumbled tangling and merging with one another, confusing me. Those two words… Inferno's Curse…

Both Phoenix and Yugi could sense that something was wrong. While my bird was circling over my head, over and over again, Yugi glanced over at me. His eyes were full of worry, when he asked, "Roxy… You ok?" He seemed unsure of what he should call me.

My shoulder's continued to shake, as I started laughing, hollow, mournful laughter. Tears started flowing freely from my eyes, falling to the ground, sorrowful, lifeless tears. All these feelings I'm having… Most are impossible to describe in human words… But some I can like… Dark hatred. Pure confusion. Endless grief. But more than all of those… Heart wrenching guilt.

I didn't understand why I felt this way when he uttered those two words, or how he knew things about me and Yugi. He's definitely after the Puzzle and the Bird's Eye for a reason…

And because of him I'm not so sure I really want to know about my past anymore… Being cursed doesn't sound very nice…

I stopped laughing, and blinked away the last of my tears. "Yeah, Yugi, I'm fine… Just beat that creep, so we can get your Puzzle back, ok?" Then turning back towards the man, I smiled slightly. "So, in my past life, I was cursed? I'm guessing I had some pretty bad luck then, huh?" I started chuckling, and the man seemed to be surprised by my amusement. "I wonder if my fortune's still that bad… Why don't we test that, right now, eh?"

"What are you saying?" The man asked.

"That Bird's Eye, it's still mine since Phoenix is very much alive. Well, now, if you want to have the Bird's Eye, you need her dead, right? So, get your pet bird out here, and our pets will have a little battle, outside of the warehouse. The owner with the bird that comes back in here alive wins the Bird's Eye." I said casually. "Sounds pretty fair, right?"

"Fine." The man snapped his fingers, and that grey falcon from before emerged out of the shadows from the room. So that bird was working with this guy after all! "And, I'll put the Eye right here, and if you win, you can take it. But, that's highly unlikely." He placed the Bird's Eye right beside his deck.

As if they had rehearsed it, Phoenix and the falcon glared at each other, and in perfect sync, flew out through a gap in the roof above.

Phoenix… Good luck. I silently sent my regards to her.

"Well, then Yugi," The man looked back at Yugi. "Let's get back to our duel."

"Right." Yugi nodded, looking determined.

Momentarily, the challenge I had given the mystery man took my thoughts off what he had said. The questions came swarming back, now, so many questions. But, a few specific question kept appearing over and over again.

Is this guy really telling the truth about me?

Am I really cursed?

And why, when I hear the words 'Inferno's Curse', does a picture of ice show up?


Author's Notes:

(The season before was Roxy getting tortured… Well, it's R's turn…) … Did I just curse my own character? O_O What is wrong with me?

Err, anyway, sorry for the late update. If you're reading this, please, if you can, review and tell me if I should describe Yugi's duel with the man, or should I just skip to after the duel and get to the… Interesting stuff. xD

Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated.