Chapter Six
The horses' hooves beat a rhythm into the desert sand that seemed to match, beat for beat, his racing heart; as he rushed to get to his brother's side.
"Must get there...Atemu's counting on me! Please little brother! Please be all right!" Seti thought, a sickening feeling settling in his gut as foreboding stole over him, once again. He had sensed it when the power of the Millennium Items had spiked, even from as far away as the eastern border, and had known that it meant nothing good.
"Only one thing could have caused such a thing to happen...and I dearly hope that it hasn't." Seti mused, as he raced into the city; barely noticing when he didn't see any townsfolk, and feeling his dread only deepen. Finally, he got the palace in sight, and raced towards it as though his own life depended on it. Without even pausing to secure the horses, Seti rushed into the palace; running as fast as his legs could carry him to the throne room. He was met by a heartbreaking scene; there stood Siamun, with tears running down his cheeks, as he stared at the empty throne.
"Siamun...Where is the Pharaoh? Where is my brother?" Seti asked, his mouth drying when the utter silence and darkness within the palace reached him.
"He is dead, Seti...The Pharaoh is gone." Siamun muttered, mournfully. Seti's eye widened, and his face paled.
"It...It can't be! How did it happen?" Seti again asked, as the full horror of the news turned his knees into jelly, and he kneeled to avoid falling over.
"He died in battle, Seti, against the forces of darkness...Even with the Millennium Puzzle, he didn't stand a chance." Siamun stated, and as the normally brave Guardian of the Borders promptly did what any other man would have been ashamed of; he fainted.
"Atemu..." Seti sorrowfully thought, before a muffling darkness surrounded him; denying the awful truth as it swallowed his mind.
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Atemu skidded to a halt as a grief-stricken voice sounded in his mind. For a few moments, he stood stock still; trying to figure out who the voice belonged to, and where it had come from. He was aware that Yugi and Anzu were looking at him with concern in their eyes, and gave them a grave smile before saying, "I know where he is. Follow me." With only a quick nod, they followed him without question in the direction of the Egyptian Wing; his own heart beating wildly against his ribs in anxiety.
"Please. Be all right, my brother. Don't die." Atemu thought, racing down the hallway to where he could now hear the sounds of battle coming from. Without hesitating even for a moment, the reborn Pharaoh whipped out his cards, and sent a powerful monster into the fray.
"Winged Dragon of Ra! Hear me! Subdue the monster before me!" Atemu ordered, his voice alerting Jounouchi, Honda, and Seto to the fact that the desperately-needed help had finally arrived.
"Took you long enough, Mutou!" Seto snapped; hiding his relief behind a mask of anger (yet allowing confusion to show freely when he saw Yugi appear alongside Atemu).
"Sorry it took us so long to get here, Kaiba! Are you all right?" Yugi asked.
"The three of us are as 'all right' as we can get...but Seti isn't!" Honda replied, as the trio rushed in to help; two of them releasing even more of their own monsters as they did so. It was then that Atemu noticed that his brother was lying motionless in the wreckage that had once been the display case for the remaining Millennium Items...and his heart almost froze.
"Oh gods..." Atemu's mind whispered, as the color drained from his face, and yet he remained by Yugi's side; determinedly staving off the intense desire to rush to the wounded man's side, and leave the fighting to his friends alone.
"Anzu! Go and see if Seti's still alive, will you? We'll hold this thing off!" Jounouchi shouted, when he'd noticed the girl standing there alongside Yugi and Atemu.
"Okay, will do!" Anzu replied, as she rushed to do just that. It took her only moments to pick her way over the broken glass, but, when she reached him, she was horrified to discover that he wasn't breathing.
"I've gotta get him to breathe again!" Anzu thought, as she, without hesitation, dragged him to a relatively clear spot on the marble floor, carefully straightened his limp body out, opened his mouth, and started trying to revive him by breathing into him. With her heart thundering in her ears, Anzu did all she could to get the ancient wanderer to breathe again; almost uttering a soft sob in the back of her throat when a choking gasp finally came from between his bloodied lips.
"Seti-san? Can you hear me?" Anzu asked, softly, as she gently propped him up; ignoring the shattered glass that was digging into her arms as she did so.
"A...Anzu...san? What...?" Seti choked, as he slowly opened his eye, and looked up at her; his gaze clouded by pain.
"Shh. Don't try to talk. Yugi and Atemu-san came here to help in the fight against that thing." Anzu murmured, looking up as she said that, and glancing worriedly at the five boys that now stood at bay; holding the dark beast back.
"Yugi...is here?" Seti asked, getting a nod from the girl in response.
"Anzu! Get him outta here! Hurry!" Jounouchi shouted, then added, "We can't hold this thing for too much longer!"
"Okay!" Anzu replied, as she quickly stood, and carefully hoisted the injured man onto her back. She flinched when he uttered a pained groan, and when she felt his blood begin to soak through her own clothes, but somehow managed to get him semi-upright.
"W-what...are you...doing...Anzu-san?" Seti whispered; wheezing with the effort to speak through his agony.
"Getting you out of here. Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Seto, and Atemu-san can handle that thing...So don't worry, okay?" Anzu said, trying to encourage the badly injured man. For a few moments, Seti seemed as though he wanted to argue; then he sighed and reluctantly nodded.
"All right..." Seti softly agreed, not wanting to admit that the girl was right.
"It seems...I am still too weak to fight alongside you, my brother." Seti thought, bitterly; angry at his own lack of strength, in the face of such overwhelming odds. He could vaguely hear it when Slifer the Sky Dragon and Obelisk emerged to fight alongside the monsters that had already been summoned; their strength ensuring the victory against the darkness.
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The scene where the battle had taken place was horrendous to behold. Blood was splattered in all directions; painting the desert sand a lurid shade of crimson in some places. All around them, embalmers silently gathered the bodies. Seti had to resist the urge to rush over and try to find Atemu's body; but it didn't stop the tears that were making their way down his face.
"Seti..." Siamun murmured, as he placed a hand on the Guardian's arm, in an effort to console the grieving man. Without responding, Seti wordlessly walked over to where a hint of gold could be seen; shining in the moonlight.
"Oh...by the gods no...It's the Millennium Puzzle..." Siamun whispered, sorrowfully, as Seti began to numbly pick up the pieces.
"If you continue to do that, Seti, you'll be cursed..." Siamun tearfully warned, when he saw what the Pharaoh's brother was doing.
"Then let me be cursed, then...It is punishment...for not being there when he needed me." Seti replied; with evident self-loathing in his voice.
"My brother...Please forgive me..." Seti thought, as the darkness of grief engulfed him...and the long, lonely years stretched out before him.
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Atemu looked on in worry, as the paramedics did all they could to stop the gross bleeding in Seti's wounds. He shook his head to ward off a feeling of illness, when he saw the horrible-looking gash in his brother's stomach.
"It will take much time for him to heal from these wounds...Even longer than it had, when he lost his eye." Atemu mused, grimly.
"Mind explaining how there's now really two of you, Mutou?" he heard Seto ask, irritably, as one medic wrapped his bleeding hands in gauze. Yugi shrugged tiredly.
"I can't really explain it, Kaiba...the only ones who can are Anzu-chan or Grandpa." Yugi replied, quietly; looking up when one ambulance raced away from the scene, carrying Seti to the hospital.
"And she's riding in that ambulance with Seti. Said she'll meet us at the hospital." Jounouchi added, as he walked over to the group; holding an ice-pack against his head as he did so.
"Katsuya! What in the world happened?.!" Shizuka's voice shouted, as she rushed over to them; her eyes wide with worry and some horror.
"You're never gonna believe us, sis, even if we explained everything to ya." Jounouchi replied; attempting to reassure the girl with a wry grin.
"'Sides, we need to find some way to get a ride. I don't think Seto can drive, with his hands the way they are." Honda stated, as he eyed the bandages on the CEO's hands, and the blood that was already beginning to soak through.
"Feh. Watch me." Seto growled, as he sought out his car keys; yet was unable to stop the grimace that forced its way onto his face when he grasped them.
"Why not ask me for a ride?" Mai, who happened to be standing there, watching them, asked; a bit indignant at having been ignored until this point.
"No thanks." Jounouchi, Honda, Yugi, Atemu, and even Seto replied (even though Seto had not seen the way Mai could drive, he'd heard enough about it from others...and honestly didn't want to experience it now).
"Are you sure, Seto? Your hands were pretty seriously cut, back there." Atemu said, finally.
"Quite sure. I have no desire to end up as roadkill." Seto grumbled, giving Mai a meaningful look as he stalked off to find his car.
"My driving is not that bad!" Mai yowled, angrily, after him.
"Could've fooled us." Jounouchi muttered, as he reluctantly followed Seto (and as Honda, Yugi, and Atemu did the same).
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An untold amount of time later, Seti found himself awakening within a hospital room. Vaguely, he could hear the sounds of life-support machinery, and the voices of visitors.
"Where...am I?" Seti wondered, as he slowly opened his eye; flinching when the light struck it.
"Hey, it looks like he's awake!" one voice said, as Jounouchi's face appeared beside him.
"Seti-san!" Anzu's voice yelped, as she joined Jounouchi, and as Yugi, Honda, and Sugoroku approached.
"You sure had us worried! The docs had to restart your heart twice while you've been here." Honda stated, getting a slight nod from the wounded wanderer as an answer.
"I...apologize...for making you worry so...Wasn't...my intention..." Seti murmured, quietly; wincing when he felt how dry his throat was.
"Hey, don't worry about it! We're just glad you woke up!" Yugi said, honestly.
"My brother...Atemu...hasn't been too worried, has he?" Seti asked, concernedly, as his mind cleared enough to remember that he hadn't mentioned his younger brother yet.
"To say that he's been worried sick would be an understatement...With all the pacing he's been doing, he's worn holes into two of the rugs at home already!" Sugoroku reassured. This comment got a confused glance from the former guardian as a response.
"How could a spirit do that? Yugi doesn't look as though he's been awake long enough to have done that...Not that he doesn't look worn out, mind you..." Seti said, voicing the confusion he was now feeling. It was only furthered when the teenagers and old man exchanged knowing glances and slight smiles.
"You're never going to believe us, Seti-kun, until you've seen the proof yourself." Sugoroku murmured, as he turned and walked to the door; opening it and nodding to someone who stood just beyond it. Seti had to actually remind himself to breathe when his eyes took in who stood there.
"Greetings, Seti." Atemu said, with an uncertain smile, as he approached. The moment he was close enough to the bed, however, he didn't have another chance to say anything; Seti's actions spoke even louder. The former immortal painfully sat up, wrapped his bandaged arms around Atemu, and gave him a tearful hug.
"Atemu! By the gods! How could this be possible? You're alive!" Seti heard himself sob, before he released the younger Egyptian and stared at his face in disbelief.
"That is the unbelievable part. A Japanese demon named Sesshomaru used a sword to separate our souls from one another, and divide the flesh between us. It even divided the Millennium Puzzle into two." Atemu said, as he brushed aside a few tears that had escaped his own eyes, and as he showed his brother the two Puzzles.
"Sesshomaru...So this was what he'd meant, all those years ago! Time is a fickle thing, indeed." Seti murmured, as he allowed himself to settle back, and relax a little bit.
"What do you mean, Seti-san?" Anzu asked, curiously.
"I met Sesshomaru a long time ago, during my own wanderings. Let's see...it was either in eighteen seventy-nine, or eighteen-eighty...When he learned how old I truly was, and why I'd been cursed to wander, he told me this: 'Time Paradoxes happen all the time...especially to those who live outside it'. I never really understood what he'd meant, until now." Seti stated, quietly.
"So he was hinting at this, eh? Makes sense." Jounouchi muttered; actually understanding what the ancient wanderer was saying, as unbelievable as it sounded.
"But what do we do now? What is the next step going to be?" Yugi asked, surprised when Seti tousled his hair and gave him a wry smile.
"Let the future handle itself, for the time being. Eventually we'll have to see what is causing the disturbances and setting ancient demons free...but, for now, I just want to spend time with friends and family. It is something I have been denied for far too long." Seti murmured.
"I agree." Atemu said, and as agreements came from Yugi, Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda and Sugoroku as well.
"Then what say you to a four-way battle of Duel Monsters?" Jounouchi asked, as he gave Yugi and Atemu a grin (before getting clobbered by Anzu, of course). Seti chuckled when Jounouchi dove under the hospital bed to escape from Anzu, and as Atemu sighed and shook his head.
"I would say yes, but, unfortunately, I am terrible at playing games." Seti murmured; chuckling softly when Honda muttered something under his breath.
"So's Jou." Honda said, as he watched Jounouchi somehow squeeze himself out from under the bed again, and make for the door.
"Then you'd be evenly matched!" Anzu stated; proving that she'd been listening to the conversation as well. Seti deadpanned.
"I am inclined to agree." Atemu added, with mischief in his amethyst eyes as he remembered the few times he and Seti had played games in the distant past (and how Seti had lost miserably).
"Feh. Can't you at least make a pretense of being quiet in a hospital?" Seto's voice asked, as the owner of it entered the room, with Mokuba close behind him.
"How are your hands, Seto? Did they need stitches?" Yugi asked, concernedly.
"No, thankfully enough. Though they still hurt like hell." Seto muttered; glancing at his bandaged hands as he did so.
"Have you heard anything about Pegasus' condition? I remember his injuries had been as bad as my own." Seti said, quietly.
"He's still unconscious, as far as we've been able to find out. No one seems to know when he'll come out of it." Anzu replied, before Seto could say something unseemly about the American businessman.
"I see...His body is recouping the energy it had lost during the battle...Considering how unused to it he was, he still handled himself well. As did the rest of you, from the looks of things." Seti murmured, remembering what he'd sensed within the museum from the five teenagers, before he'd blacked out from the pain.
"That thing didn't know who it was dealing with." Jounouchi said, proudly; bristling slightly when Seto rolled his eyes.
"Minna? What are you doing here?" a soft voice asked, from the doorway. To their surprise, another friend stood in the hallway.
"Bakura! Man, where've you been?.!" Jounouchi questioned, then added, "What're you doin' here?"
"I've been here for a few weeks because of a heart condition. Why are you all here?" Bakura again asked; giving each of his friends a bewildered look as he did so (yet nodding to Seto and Mokuba out of respect, nonetheless).
"Long story. We didn't know you've been sick, Bakura-san. We would've come to visit you, had we known." Anzu said, honestly; her concern (and that of Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Atemu and Sugoroku) growing when she saw how pale their friend still looked. Bakura only gave them a slight smile, before sighing and stepping into the room; seeming surprised when even Seto stood aside to allow him access to the chair next to Seti's bed.
"You still look sick. Do you know what's causing it?" Yugi asked, even though he had a sneaking suspicion what was doing it.
"No...Even the doctors are baffled." Bakura murmured, tiredly; wincing when the action of settling back in the chair caused a slight twinge of pain to lance across his chest.
"Young one...by any chance...were you a keeper of a Millennium Item?" Seti asked; getting a startled look from the ailing teenager beside him for that.
"H-hai..." Bakura replied, hesitantly, and, Seti noticed, with a hint of shame. Seti uttered a slight curse under his breath at this; arching an eyebrow when both Atemu and Seto gave him looks that told him that they'd understood exactly what he'd just said...and didn't like it.
"What has that got to do with this?" Mokuba asked, finally breaking his silence in their midst.
"You'd be surprised. Which Item did you have?" Seti again asked, as he returned his attention to Bakura.
"The Millennium Ring." Bakura answered.
"Then it is no wonder that the pain you are feeling is centered in your chest...Yugi would have felt a similar kind of pain, had the Millennium Puzzle not been around his neck during his illness." Seti stated, thoughtfully.
"Are you saying that the Millennium Items are doing this?" Seto heard himself ask. Seti nodded grimly.
"Then why did you tell me to pick up the Rod?" Seto questioned.
"You are the Rod's rightful owner. By now, your own memories from that long-ago time have been restored. When an Item is in the hands of someone whom it has deemed worthy, but is not the true owner, it gives them some power; but, when the bond is severed, it causes pain and illness. In Yugi's case, on the other hand, he was feeling the other wielders' pain, since he had the soul of the original owner of the Puzzle within him." Seti explained, as he slowly sat up, and reached out to Bakura. The moment his fingertips met the teenager's chest, a soft, whitish light emerged and sank into Bakura. The teen then uttered a soft sigh, closed his eyes, and fell back a little bit; the strain vanishing from his young face as the pain receded into nothing.
"Bakura!" Jounouchi and Honda yelped, and as Atemu carefully eased his arm under Bakura's head and neck. At this, the teenager immediately roused back up, and a perplexed look crossed his face.
"The pain's gone...What did you do...?" Bakura asked, his voice reduced to an almost-exhausted whisper.
"Removed the residual power from you, and alleviated the toll it was taking on your body. Get some rest, young one. All will be explained, in time." Seti said, gently. Bakura nodded, then looked up at Atemu with confusion in his blue eyes.
"Aren't you the one they'd called 'Yami Yugi'? What're you doing outside of Yugi?" Bakura questioned. Atemu only gave him a slight smile.
"It's a long story...But I hope it's one we'll be able to explain to you in detail, later." Atemu said, patiently. Bakura only smiled and nodded.
"Hope so..." Bakura softly replied, then returned his attention to Seti, "Thank you for helping me."
"No problem. It was the least I could do." Seti replied, honestly.
"Need some help getting back to your room, Bakura-san?" Anzu gently asked.
"If you would." Bakura quietly replied, as he slowly got to his feet again; seeming surprised when Seto reached out to steady him, yet again politely nodding to thank him for showing that much concern for his well-being.
"I can only wonder where this will take us, next? The phantom thief, Bakura, has been permanently banished to the shadows; leaving only this innocent, gentle youth who shares his name as a reminder...A reminder to never let the tragedy of Kul Elna happen again. But there's still the problem with those demons...Why are those ancient seals breaking now, of all times?" Seti mused, as he watched Anzu and Honda accompany Bakura back to his own room, leaving Yugi, Sugoroku, Jounouchi, Atemu, Seto, and Mokuba within Seti's room. And the uneasiness didn't fade in the slightest, even when his brother and his companions promised that they would stay vigilant for any more signs of danger.
"I lost my brother once to a powerful, ancient evil...And I am going to make absolutely certain that it doesn't come to pass again. Five thousand years of loneliness and grief is quite enough." Seti silently resolved, as he lay back down and let exhausted slumber take him.
Author's Note!
Sorry about the long wait between chapters, but it's a little hard to think of what could happen next, when I'm not sure of what happens in the 'Millennium World' story arc (even though I know that quite a few things in this chapter alone diverges greatly from it). Thanks for reading, anyway!
Gemini14