~Chapter VII~

?

Darkness. Silence.

Janeiro did not know how long she had been unconscious for, but now she was starting to awaken. Muffled hearing and blurred sight gradually healed, and soon enough the girl found herself staring up at a ceiling. For a moment she had no idea where she was, but as she sat herself up she realised that she was back in her apartment. She looked over at her clock and saw that it was now past one in the morning.

The girl arose to her feet. Had she just woken up from a long and strange dream? That was what she told herself initially, but she noticed that she was wearing a black coat. Black was not her style, and this coat was not at all familiar to her.

She remembered writing in her diary when everything started to change for her. Something had taken over her mind. And before she knew it, she was in a realm of fear and darkness. She had been left there all alone and confused before she finally encountered Ryo. The pair of them wanted to escape somehow, and while searching for a way out they had found themselves in a desert. After that... she woke up here.

Her eyes widened. Was Ryo still in the Shadow Realm? Was he alright? Was he suffering? The student began to panic, so she scrambled around to find her mobile phone. After a few moments of fumbling, she found it in her school bag and scrolled through her recent contacts. Luckily she had added Ryo after spending time with him the other day, so immediately she clicked his name and waited.

Time seemed to slow down for a moment. She didn't know how long she had been waiting for, but much to her surprise and relief...

Her call was answered.

"Hello?" was the greeting Janeiro received. A relieved smile formed on her face as she recognized the shy and polite tone belonging to her friend.

"Oh, thank goodness..." she reacted. "Ryo, it's me: Janeiro..."

Janeiro's response was interrupted before she could even begin to say more. She heard a low, dark chuckle coming from her phone's speaker. This new voice was not like Ryo's, yet somehow it sounded similar in a strange way. Janeiro seemed confused, but her eyes then widened. She knew exactly who she was talking to right now.

"Did you really think that you were actually speaking to that pathetic vessel of mine?" Yami Bakura asked in a mocking tone of voice. "You truly are just a naive little girl!"

Janeiro stood frozen for a moment before attempting to gather some courage. "Bakura..." she muttered. "Where's Ryo?! And when will you let him go?!"

"I'll let him go when I no longer need him," Bakura answered. "I thought I made that very clear previously. Now then, it is actually rather convenient that you called. I need you to do me a favour and travel to Egypt; your friends will also be there, including Ryo."

A small gasp left Janeiro's mouth. "Ryo...?" she repeated softly.

"Yes," Bakura confirmed. "I shall be letting him go for a short while so you two can have all the fun you want."

For a moment Janeiro felt overjoyed, but she knew that Bakura was a twisted individual. This was no act of kindness. There was something behind this.

"Oh, and if you're curious as to why I'm doing this, I have nothing to hide from you," Bakura continued. "Your other half seems to be planning something which is leading Yugi Muto to Egypt. Quite honestly I don't know what she's up to, but you can trust me when I say that I plan to find out."

Janeiro frowned a little, nervousness still in her expression. "What if I don't go to Egypt...?" she asked slowly. "It sounds as if you're planning to send Ryo and I back to the Shadow Realm the moment we meet up..."

"Ha, I expected you to be this paranoid," Bakura taunted. "Would it honestly disappoint you if I tell you that your theory is incorrect?"

"No..." Janeiro answered quietly. "But... I'm confused..."

"So you should be," Bakura assured. "In fact I myself am a little uncertain about this whole situation. Originally I was laying dormant within your body so that I could return to my favourite host and have my revenge on Yugi, but there was a slight mishap. A part of my soul is still inside you, and it's rather active. Normally when I leave portions of my soul around they don't do anything until I command them to, but with you it's completely different. It's almost as though something has been awakened inside of you, heh heh!"

"Awakened...?" Janeiro questioned, her eyes widening. "W-What do you mean by that...?"

"Like I said, I'm uncertain," Bakura replied. Janeiro could practically hear him grinning. "But if I was to make an educated guess, I'd say that it's not just a rogue piece of my soul controlling you. There may very well be something else behind all of these events, and I plan to find out what it is from your alter ego. So be a good girl and get the next available flight to Egypt. Don't disappoint me, Janeiro."

Without warning, Bakura put an end to the call. Janeiro stared at her phone as if she'd never been hung up on before, but she quickly focused on sorting out her thoughts.

Bakura and Janeiro's other personality could communicate in the Shadow Realm together quite easily and the bodies of their hosts could be anywhere. Whether Janeiro went to Egypt or not shouldn't matter to Bakura, so he must have been up to something. Obviously he was making Ryo go to Egypt because he wanted to be there himself, most likely to find Yugi and his friends.

But Bakura had mentioned the fact that Yugi's group were going at some point because they were being lured by the darker side of Janeiro. He knew that because the other Janeiro was mostly his soul, but then he also pointed out that she may also have been something else. He wanted to know exactly what she was and find out what she was planning to do.

Janeiro came to the conclusion that Bakura was going to go after Yugi after learning a thing or two from the darker Janeiro, and her own whereabouts would not affect his actions. She figured that at least if she was in Egypt she'd be able to find Ryo and maybe even find Yugi's group as well once they arrived, and if Bakura chose to act then she could at least make an attempt to stop him. Or she could even warn Ryo and the others, since she may very well have been the only person who knew this much. Either way she could at least do something if she went to Egypt, so she opened up her laptop and began to look for the next flight she could make which went to Egypt.

...

Domino City Mall, Present Day

While Joey and Tristan viciously devoured their hotdogs and Riko casually licked her ice-cream, Yugi spoke with Tea about the current situation.

"So did Marik get back to you after you sent him the text?" Tea asked.

"Yeah," Yugi answered. "It was some sort of riddle about a king and a queen."

"King and queen?" Tea repeated. "That's strange. Did you figure out what it might be referring to?"

"Well, I thought maybe it had something to do with Atem..." Yugi admitted, his voice going quiet as he said that statement. For a moment he looked lost and solemn, but quickly snapped himself out of it when he noticed that Tea was about to rest her hand on his shoulder to see if he was okay; he didn't want to be comforted right now.

"The text talked about a king and a queen who could not be together because they were both bad people, and eventually they were both killed," he continued. "Apparently they were forgotten until they were reunited thousands of years later, but the future will start to reflect their past tragedies."

"What does that even mean...?" Tea questioned, mainly to herself.

"I'm not sure," Yugi replied honestly. "The only forgotten king I know of is Atem..."

"But Atem was not a bad person," Tea reminded. "He died protecting his people and was remembered as "The Nameless Pharaoh"; he wasn't truly forgotten at all."

Yugi looked at her, understanding her point. "You're right..." he agreed. "Besides, I don't recall Atem ever encountering a queen..."

Tea tapped her chin, thinking hard. "The writing was left by Janeiro..." she recalled.

"You mean Janeiro under Yami Bakura's control," Yugi corrected.

"Didn't she say it was something more than that?" Tea remembered.

"Oh yeah, you're right..." Yugi agreed, having been reminded of Janeiro's very words.

"Not quite. There's more to me than that; Zorc's spirit doesn't just inhabit anyone, you know."

"So... if the other Janeiro knows the story, then that must mean she's part of it," Yugi concluded, looking Tea in the eye. "She must be the queen!"

"But what was she the queen of?" Tea queried. "And who was the king?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with Ryo..." Yugi guessed. "Or maybe it's to do with Yami Bakura..."

"Yami Bakura is the embodiment of Zorc," Tea reminded. "Zorc was a monster, remember?"

"But he could still be considered a king," Yugi added. "Maybe the riddle isn't referring to actual love and death, but instead it's referring to the rise and fall of Zorc's power."

"That could be right," Tea nodded. "And now that Zorc has returned to his old host's body he is ready to destroy the planet and make everyone suffer."

"We have to stop Bakura and Janeiro," Yugi decided. "They both play a part in this. They must be stopped before it's too late!"

Joey, Tristan, Riko and Sakura all turned to look at Yugi, the first three seeming confused as they briefly stopped eating their food.

"Eh, who's stopping who now?" Joey asked.

"We're going to stop Bakura and Janeiro from destroying the world!" Tea snapped at Joey.

"And how are we supposed to do that when we don't know where either of them are?" Joey pressed. Tea didn't seem to have an answer, but thankfully Yugi did.

"We may not know where they are now, but I'm pretty sure I know where they're heading," he stated.

...

Cairo, Egypt, Present Day

Ryo began to awaken at last; he had been sleeping across the airport waiting lounge chairs for hours. As he sat himself up her rubbed his eyes, stretched out his arms and yawned. Upon finally realizing where he was, he reacted with surprise and confusion. However, he realized that there was a reason for him being here. Unlike Janeiro, he was used to waking up in strange places; Yami Bakura would often leave him here and there without explanation, but whatever happened Ryo would have to improvise. So he looked outside of the large airport windows to see where he was, gasping slightly when he recognized the landscape.

As a child Ryo had lived in Egypt for quite some time, and it was here where he first encountered the Millennium Ring. He didn't want to remember that night, though, so pushed the memory away when it tried to resurface. Instead he remembered everything else from his childhood in Egypt, also reminding himself of his last visit to this place. It was when Pharaoh Atem finally left Yugi to enter the afterlife, and it was also when he was freed from Yami Bakura's control.

At least, for a little while.

The white-haired male got up onto his feet and decided to leave the airport. He hadn't brought any luggage; he knew that because his alter ego wasn't so keen on waiting to collect bags after long flights, instead wanting to just leave the airport as soon as possible. He also preferred not to spend too much time in security, which explained the small rucksack Ryo had with him. As for his clothing, it was still just the usual blue and white T-shirt and beige trousers along with unsuspicious trainers. Security must have been quick to get through.

Ryo couldn't help but feel a little awkward as he made his leave. He looked like such a tourist, and travelling alone in Egypt probably wasn't the safest thing to do, especially considering the fact that he didn't have any plans; he had to find a place to stay which didn't cost too much.

So Ryo flagged down a taxi and asked - in Egyptian Arabic - to be dropped off at the museum; if it was open he'd go in and look around, and if it was closed he'd walk to find some nearby hotels to stay in.

The drive to the museum didn't seem long at all, which almost surprised Ryo. He blamed the quick passage of time on his thoughts, since he had been thinking deeply for the whole journey. The student politely thanked the taxi driver and paid him with some cash from his wallet. Ryo couldn't help but think that Yami Bakura planned too well for a situation like this, having already converted a large sum of yen into Egyptian pounds. It almost frightened Ryo since he often wandered into Bakura's set-ups without realizing it, but at the same time he was numb to such treatment.

It didn't really surprise Ryo when he saw that the museum was open, but it did make him feel relieved since he didn't have to walk around in the blazing heat. He made his way inside and paid for entry, having a short conversation with the staff about his interest in Egyptian history and his childhood in Egypt before he made his way inside and quietly looked around. He had been here on more than one occasion as a child since his father also loved Egyptian history, but despite how interested he was he was too young to understand a lot of the stories behind the artifacts. Now that he was older he could finally appreciate everything within this museum, and also he'd get to see some of the newer features.

Unlike most other people at the museum, Ryo wasn't too interested in the famous and popular discoveries. He had seen them all before and knew all about them, so he didn't need to waste his time looking at them again. Instead he went to the quieter exhibits, reading the plaques which told various interesting stories about the various artifacts, until he eventually found himself in a new exhibition area. There were quite a few people there, but since everything was new Ryo decided to take a look. At first he expected to see more of the usual stuff; tablets, pots et cetra. But what he saw in this room was completely different to the usual ancient items.

His brown eyes were immediately drawn to a golden object. It looked like some kind of wing, but upon further examination Ryo could see that it resembled a Duel Disk.

'A DiaDhank,' he thought. He didn't know why he suddenly knew the name of the object, but he trusted what his mind said it was. He knew what it was for a reason.

As he stared at the DiaDhank in awe, he felt a firm hand suddenly clasp his shoulder. He gasped quickly and turned around, only to face a familiar-looking man. Initially he didn't know why he was familiar, but he quickly remembered the Battle City tournament which took place some time ago.

"Odion...!" he reacted, sounding surprised to see him.

"Bakura," Odion replied. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I-It's just Ryo..." Ryo corrected quietly.

"What brings you to Egypt?" Odion questioned, almost as if he had ignored Ryo's correction.

"U-Um..." Ryo stuttered. "Well... I woke up in Cairo airport, you see, and um... I figured that this would be the best place to go to pass some time."

Odion raised an eyebrow. "You do not know why you came to Egypt?" he pressed. Ryo let out a sigh.

"No..." he admitted, keeping his voice down so that nobody listened in on the conversation. "But... You remember my other self, don't you...?"

"The spirit of the ring?" Odion recalled.

"Yes," Ryo nodded. "H-He's back..."

Odion frowned slightly. "So we suspected," he responded. Ryo looked like he was about to say something, but then cut himself off to react in a different way.

"Wait... You suspected it?" he asked. "But... how...?"

"Master Marik has been in contact with Yugi Muto," Odion explained. "He decoded a riddle about a king and a queen. Yugi confirmed that it was left by one of his friends who had been possessed by a part of Zorc's soul. He did not mention anything about you being possessed again, but you were the host chosen by Zorc in the first place. Ishizu came to the conclusion that you were also possessed."

Ryo looked down at his feet, a solemn expression on his face. "...You're not wrong..." he revealed. "He's in my body again... and he's in Janeiro's..."

"Janeiro is the friend who left the note, correct?" Odion queried.

"...Yes..." Ryo answered.

Odion looked down for a moment as he processed the information before he looked at Ryo once again. "You should keep your eye out for her," he stated. "If the evil spirit sent you here then no doubt your friend was sent here, as well."

The man turned on his heel to leave, but was stopped by Ryo. "Odion," the white-haired boy spoke up. Odion looked back at him and listened to what he had to say.

"...What do you think is going on?" he asked. Odion stared at him blankly before looking away.

"I do not know," he admitted. "Nobody does." And with that he left the room. Ryo stared at him as he left, silently questioning what had brought him here in the first place, but he soon returned his focus to the DiaDhank. It was so familiar to him...

...

The Shadow Realm

Dark Janeiro stood with a hateful expression on her face, confined by the shadows. Her purple, dark-rimmed eyes were locked onto Bakura, who stood with his arms folded. He was grinning slightly at her, feeling somewhat smug that he was dominant in this situation.

"What do you want from me, Bakura?" the other Janeiro asked through clenched teeth.

"Everything," Bakura answered. "I want to know who you really are."

Dark Janeiro's expression was still hateful and tense, but she shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"The name I call myself is not important to you," she declared. "But if you're so desperate to know, then it's Rena."

Bakura's grin became a disappointed frown as he raised an eyebrow. "Rena?" he repeated.

Rena smirked since she saw that Bakura was no longer satisfied. "Yes," she replied. "The letters are in two of my names."

Her statement left Bakura looking even more baffled as he bared his teeth slightly in frustration.

"R-E-N-A are letters from two of your names?" he attempted to clarify. Rena nodded her head. Bakura seemed a little frustrated at her cryptic statement, but he suddenly grinned once again.

"The more information the better," he stated. "Do tell me more."

"What if I refuse?" Rena asked him. Bakura's grin seemed to widen.

"Then that will be your last mistake," he answered. Rena's expression was dark for a moment, but she quickly smirked again.

"Very well," she responded as her smirk became a grin. "What do you know about the red-cloaked thief?"

~End of Chapter~