The Others: The Second Year

Disclaimer: Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, TV Tokyo and 4Kids Entertainment. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

Warning: This chapter contains some references to religious beliefs. Please note that the author, AlcatrazOutpatient, does not want to enforce these beliefs on anyone and encourages you to continue to believe or not believe in what ever you so wish. Also note that the contents of this page do not reflect the opinions of the author.


Chapter 7: Too Much Information

I thought that I was being followed. Sometimes when I'd look over my shoulder, I'd see a shadow disappearing into a corridor who it was, I didn't know, but I was going to find out. I ducked into an empty room and waited. Thankfully, my shadow didn't keep me on the hook for long.

The door edged open and a large, lumbering shape came in. Ironheart, former king of Mu and father of Dartz the scumbag, walked with the gait of the old man that he was - slow and pained - yet surprisingly precise in his steps. His silver beard was long and flowing, his face wrinkled with time, and his eyes dark pits of obsidian.

"You're following me. Why?" I crossed my arms over my chest and let a flick of my power through my usually ironclad control. The older man raised an eyebrow, though not in shock.

"You remind me of someone that I knew once," he stated simply.

"That's it? That's all?" I frowned.

"Yes and no. I want to know why you look like He did, though I doubt you know the answer," Ironheart shuffled forwards, hands at his sides. I growled.

"What does Dartz want with Atem? He's here for a reason and he wants her for one, too. Don't deny it," I snapped when I say him open his mouth to do such a thing. "Don't lie to me! I want to know what is going on."

He hummed in acknowledgement, gazing at the floor for a moment before answering, "Yes, he does need her to accomplish something, but your fears are unfounded. Dartz will not harm her in any fashion. He can't, even if he wanted to. Innocence must be preserved for this to work."

"For what to work?"

"A spell. One that my father set in motion a long time ago. Dartz wishes to restore our people to what they were, but...bah!," Ironheart scoffed. "I do not care what the boy does, he is king so his word is law. Let him do what he wishes. I will not stop him and neither should you."

"But what does he want with her?" I growled.

"Don't worry. She will not be harmed. Innocence must be preserved," Ironheart sighed, as if he was speaking to a child.

"Stop avoiding the damned question!"

"You even sound like He did, yelling and cursing and assuming you deserve all," he shook his head. But then his gaze turned soft, "He was married, do you know? And she was beautiful. Wonderful. Ever so amazing. Why she married one as flawed as Him, I will never understand. But she was so young and different, and I was just a boy..."

I hissed, pulling my knife from the darkness and shoved him against the wall. "Tell me!" I roared, the blade to his throat, "Tell me now or you will-"

I felt it first before I realized what was happening. His arm snaked around mine, removing my knife from my grasp. Then, with strength he never should have possessed at his age, he grabbed me by the neck and threw my across the room. I slid to the floor with a thud as my weapon clattered to the floor.

"Well, then. That is one aspect in which you are unlike Him. I'd never been able to fight Him, let alone win in such a fashion," Ironheart lost the look of withered old man and suddenly I realized that I was facing a timeless warrior who'd been in battle long before my ancestors were even born. "Here is a tip, mirror-image-who-is-not, never trust an enemy. They will not grant you mercy, even at a time when mercy is something that should be given effortlessly. Your creator taught me that the day my kingdom fell."

I spat in his direction and leapt to my feet. Arm raised and ready, I was prepared for anything he would throw at me. But instead, he merely gazed on, contemplatively.

"Or maybe you are like Him, unable to give up. Remember my advice, mirror-image-who-is-not. And remember that she will not be harmed. But I stand by what I told you the day I met you: I am sorry. I am so, so sorry that it will turn out the way it will."

And then he turned on his heel, stepped through the doorway and back into the corridor. Just before he disappeared out of sight, Ironheart made sure to switch back to his usual way of walking - that of a helpless old man with no power to his name. It made my stomach turn in anger.

I picked myself up off the floor, brushing the dirt off my skin. By the time I left the room, Ironheart was nowhere within sight. I huffed, annoyed, but made my way back to where I knew Atem was - the feel of her maroon flame flicking in my senses.

She was in the practice fields, firing arrows into a target almost half a league away. Her quiver was hung around her waist and she drew her bow back with practiced ease, the bolts hitting the center with a thud each time.

"You're getting good," I commented. Atem didn't even falter, releasing the never arrow just as cleanly as the ones before.

"I was always good," she smirked, eyes darting back to me for a moment before they focused on their target once more.

"Mmmn," I hummed in my throat. Her smirk only seemed to widen as I came closer, testing my boundaries in this practically public place. My fingers brushed against the base of her spine and she shivered slightly.

"Don't," Atem murmured. "Bakura, wait - we've talked about this."

"Something's going on with the Ancients," I told her, hand never truly leaving her skin. "Ironheart says Dartz needs you for some spell."

"We both know that unless Dartz suddenly creates a miracle, my father isn't going to give him the bones we feed to the dogs, let alone my hand in marriage at this point. Nothing is going to happen. Dartz won't get what he wants," she pointed out, though she looked thoroughly distracted by my wandering hands.

Smacking them away, Atem gave me a fierce look that told me she really didn't mind much, "You on the other hand..." her palm rested on my shoulder and I raised an eyebrow at her boldness, "...my father would rather eat the bones we feed to the dogs before..." and that hand slipped lower down my chest as she stepped forwards seductively, "...he would let you anywhere near me."

"I'm not one known for giving a damn about what your father thinks," I breathed and her hand went lower still. They came to a halt just below my navel.

"No you are not, but do you know what else you are?" Atem whispered, leaning into me and letting her lips ghost over my ear.

"Tell me," I hissed.

"You are..." and then she pulled back, stepping away and letting her warmth disappear from my skin, "easy to wind up."

I groaned in frustration. Nothing seemed to be going my way today.

But then again, I thought as Atem practically sashayed back into her position before the archery target, maybe somethings were worth the hardships in order to get them.


Sunday, November 5th, 2017

I jerked into consciousness in the back seat of Namu's car. The sun was about halfway between its noon position and the horizon; it's light hitting the window at just the right angle that it hit me directly in the face.

"How long have I been out?" I asked groggily.

"About three hours," Namu's voice responded from the driver's seat. He sounded worn and tired and I'd realized that he'd been driving for a ridiculously long time. The air conditioning was cranked up on high and I could see sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

"You wanna switch?" I suggested.

The relief in his voice was obvious, "That'd be great, thanks."

He pulled over to the side of the road and unbuckled his seat belt. Before I stepped out of the car, I glanced over at Atem, who was sound asleep against the doorway. I slipped out, jogged around the car and then behind the wheel. As I adjusted mirrors, Namu dislodged Glitch from nest of metal limbs on the passenger seat and promptly sat down with him on his lap.

"Why don't you get him to drive?" I nodded my head towards the robot-roach.

"His battery needs to charge," he said simply. When I grunted, asking for clarification, he continued on, "Solar power source. I know, not the most technologically advanced thing ever, but they work really, really well."

I shrugged, glancing over to the side at him as I put the car in drive and merged back into the lane, "Hey, this is going to be a bit of a weird, but you look a lot like one of my friends."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You've even got the last name."

He frowned, "Ishtar?"

"Yeah. He's name is Marik. He's my best friend and you two could pass as twins."

Namu jerked in his seat at the name, "Marik? He's...that's the same name my cousin has."

I blinked, "Coincidence?"

"I doubt it. Ishtar isn't the most common of surnames. So, my cousin's a carbon copy, huh?" Namu leaned back, looking at the ceiling. My hands gripped the wheel.

"You don't know?"

He snorted, "My parents are Others. Neither side of the family really wanted to get involved with them - the Ward and all. I guess his father just didn't want my father around his kids."

"His father wasn't the greatest of men," I felt a wave of anger at what that man had done to his son.

"Really? I heard he was pretty famous with all his art and stuff. Not that I've ever been really interested in drawings or anything," he said the last bit really quickly. I suspected he only knew about it because he'd been interested in what his uncle was up to, rather then any personal interest in the subject.

"He...did some things to Marik," I murmured, not wanting to give away my best friend's darkest secret - the scars on his back that had been carved into his skin at the age of twelve.

"Oh..." Namu's head thumped against the window, mouth tight.

"Your parents, though - you said they were Others? Is that why you can withstand the Ward? Genetics?" I asked, speeding up and passing a small four door sedan before falling back to the speed limit. I didn't dare want to catch the attention of any passing cops because of a whole series of things: I was driving without an official license, there was a warrant out for my arrest, we had two people knocked out in the trunk, and there was a wanted terrorist snoozing in the backseat.

"Nope. I can stand that thing because of these," he pulled out a pair of glasses from his pocket. "The Ward doesn't effect people as much if they can't see clearly. The lenses blur my vision just enough that the edge is taken off of it. I'm used to you right now, so I can be around you without freaking out."

I blinked, remembering the old lady who ran the library I worked at in Domino City who was half blind and, on occasion, was kind enough to provide about half the books in my collection over the years I worked there. Her lack of eyesight must have contributed to her odd behaviour.

"That's cool," I nodded.

"Hmmm," was his answer.

I glanced over at him, awkwardly. He raised an eyebrow in my direction. A snicker escaped my lips at the same time it left his. God, we were weird.

"Am I even going in the right direction?" I smirked.

"Yeah. We've got about another hour before we hit the nearest teleportation point. Kaiba's got them set up all over the country to get anyone to Area 51," Namu explained.

"Where is the actual place, though?"

"No idea. No one knows, really. Well, except the Kaiba brothers and Bleu. Maybe her, too," he indicated towards Atem. "I think the idea is that if anyone were to get captured, they wouldn't be able to reveal the location of the base and attack it."

"So no one knows? At all? Wow, I knew that the guy was paranoid, but that's pretty insane. But then again, it is the Kaiba Cave. It's his secret lair for a reason..." I grumbled.

Namu sputtered, "Kaiba...Cave? That's brilliant - just brilliant!"

"You think?"

"Hell yeah! God, why didn't I think if that? I'm so calling it that from here on out!"

I grinned maniacally, "Awesome."

Then I heard it, the banging of a very angry foot against the back of the trunk. I groaned and Namu huffed. Atem's eyes blinked open.

"What is that sound?" She asked as I pulled over. We were never going to reach the teleportation point at this rate.

I looked at her in rear view mirror, "One of our guests are awake. Coming?"

She nodded, yawning as she reached for the door handle. Namu was already standing in front of the trunk. Atem and I made our way over to him. She clenched her hands and he popped the trunk.

"About damn time!" Sherry LeBlanc screamed as soon as the light hit her face, "I've been pounding on that thing for hours!"

In all honesty, it was probably about five minutes. But who was counting?

"You want something?" I snapped.

"Yeah! Let me go," she indicated to her tied wrists.

"That's not an option," Atem frowned. She reached for the trunk lid, but LeBlanc's eyes widened.

"No wait! Stop! Please, I think there's something wrong with her," she looked over at the other occupant of the trunk. The sniper girl who's shot me only a few hours ago looked as pale as death.

LeBlanc focused on Atem, "Look, I don't care what you do to me, just help her. She's innocent."

"She's anything but," Atem hissed back at her. "She made her choice. I don't suggest lumping yourself in with the likes of her."

I felt like I should have been surprised at her harsh attitude, but for some reason I wasn't. Something bubbled up inside me, shifting and twisting within. I heard Touzoku mutter in the back of my mind, Hypocrite.

I wondered what that was about. I'd have to ask later because now was not the best time to dive into my own mind for answers.

"Hey, we need to help. She...could have information. Valuable information," Namu fought back. "We need to help."

"My orders stand. You follow me," Atem snapped at him.

"Well, this is my car. And unless you want to walk the rest of the way, we help the girl," he stared her down, not giving an inch.

She didn't blink, but Atem's eyes narrowed. Finally, she gave, "If this comes crashing down, it will be on your head."

She stomped away, towards the thick, thorny bushes off the side of the road. I yelled after her, "Where are you going?"

"Washroom," she answered and that was the end of that conversation. There was certain ways that I wanted to see her with her clothes off, but that was not one of them.

"Bakura, give me a hand here," Namu called. I turned back to him and helped him lift LeBlanc from the trunk. Immediately, I tapped her legs in specific pressure points, Touzoku's knowledge flowing through my mind, and her knees collapsed underneath her.

"Can't have you running away," I shrugged apologetically. LeBlanc stared at her legs in horror and then back to me.

"She's barely breathing," Namu commented, eyes focused on the sniper girl. "And she's shivering like she's frozen."

"Let me have a look," I nudged him over, hands glowing red. I scanned her body, but... "Odd."

"What?"

"Physically, there's almost nothing wrong with her," I told him. "She's not running a fever, her lungs are fine, her heart is pumping. It's her blood - it's moving slowly, despite her heart rate. Like it's thicker then usual."

Namu frowned, "What the hell?"

"Orichalcos cravings," Atem announced her return from the bush-washroom. "She's in the initial stages. Hallucinations are next, though they'll show in about a few days - maybe a week, if her luck is good."

"What kind of hallucinations?" I questioned.

She shrugged, "They're different for every person, though a common one is thinking that your insides are on fire."

I winced. That was not a fate I'd wish on anyone.

"Is there anything we can do?" Namu turned to her.

"It's best if she keeps sleeping. That way, she can ride out the worst of it. When she wakes up, she'll be exhausted. And thirsty," Atem added. "Very thirsty."

He nodded, "We should probably stop and pick up something for her, then. In case she wakes up.". He raised his hand to his brow, shading the sun from his eyes, "I think there's a sign up ahead. Maybe it'll tell us if there's a drive thru we can grab some water."

"Do what you want," Atem rolled her eyes, kneeling down in from of LeBlanc. "Hello, Agent."

LeBlanc spit in her face. It was probably the only offensive action she could take at this point, sans a head-butt (Atem was out of reach, though, so that wasn't happening). It still pissed me off, though. My fingers were curled around the hilt of my knife before I even realized it was in my hand.

"Classy," Atem wiped the saliva from her cheek. "Really, after over a thousand years, you think that people would get a bit more creative about how they expressed their being upset."

"Go fuck yourself, bitch," LeBlanc snarled.

"I've just got one question and I'll be getting my answer one way or another," Atem said in a voice that was both soft and cutting at the same time, "Why did you come back to the house?"

"What part of 'Go fuck yourself, bitch' did you not get?" She roared back.

Atem sighed, "Alright then." She reached forwards, placing here hands on each side of LeBlanc's suddenly petrified face, "Don't struggle. This will be unpleasant enough as it is."

Atem closed her eyes, focusing. Then LeBlanc gasped, eyes rolling into the back of her head and her body trembling visibly. I realized that Atem was searching through her mind, picking through her memories in search of one particular thought that would answer her question. I swallowed hard. This was something that could happen to me if I wasn't careful due to my nonexistent mental shielding.

Enchantment had always seemed like a joke class for me at Atlantis. I could see now just how powerful and frightening it could be. If something ever happened to me, I'd give everything away without opening my mouth.

After several minutes of shaking, LeBlanc's form collapsed. Atem let her go, placing a gentle hand on her back, whispering comforting words and telling her to breathe.

"W-w-what the hell...are you? What...what was t-that?" LeBlanc coughed up what looked like phlegm, spitting it out on the ground as she hunched over.

"Breathe. Just concentrate on breathing right now," Atem shushed her. She glanced up at Namu and myself, "We've got a bit of a problem."

"What?" I frowned.

"She's not an FBI agent," instead of Atem, it was Namu who answered. We both turned to him in surprise, "I found out last night, but between us getting shot at and your two 'sleeping'," he made air quotation marks around that last word, "I wasn't able to tell you."

I blanched, thinking that maybe he'd heard the two of us last night. But then again...last night...Mmmn...

Nope! Need to focus. I could think about that later (and would, definitely, think about it). Right now, though, I had to keep in the moment.

"So what is she then?" I questioned.

Atem raised an eyebrow at LeBlanc, "Are you going to admit it or am I just going to have to spill your little secret myself."

The woman was so terrified that her knees were rattling against the pavement, but managed to pry open her jaw enough to speak, "I'm a data analyst for the FBI, not an agent."

"Then why are you faking like you are?" I snapped at her.

"None of your damn business!" She growled back.

"You're not just a data analyst, your boss has you registered as being on vacation," Namu crossed his arms. "Right now, you're supposed to be checked into La Cabana Beach and Racquet Club, soaking up the sun on Eagle Beach. And yet, here you are in good old New Mexico. Why are you passing up a month in Aruba for this place?"

LeBlanc's mouth clamped shut. I sighed, looking over at Namu, "Back in the trunk?"

"Oooh yeah."

Thee was much yelling and shouting and at one point, Namu was bitten, but we managed to get LeBlanc stuffed back inside. Just before we slammed the door shut, I pressed my hand to the side of her neck, pulling my best impression of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (and they say TV teaches you nothing). She was asleep within moments.

Atem sighed beside me, "And now to find water."

"If we run by a restaurant, breakfast is on me," I said.

"If gh05twr1tt3r is your sister, then you've got one of my debit cards. So breakfast is not on you, it's on the English monarchy's tab," Namu corrected me. I grinned at the thought of Charles and Camilla wondering how come they were being charged for a breakfast burrito and coffee.

I slid into the driver's seat, Atem taking passenger and Namu lay down in the back. He was asleep before I pulled into the lane.


Churches made me uncomfortable. Being inside one made me feel awkward and out of place. It wasn't that I was against Christianity or anything, because I'd probably feel the same if Weevil decided to one day drag me to a Synagogue or Marik took me to a Mosque. Religion was an odd subject when it came to me.

I sure as hell wasn't an atheist. I did believe that something was out there - the existence of Magic only made that belief stronger. But when it came to God or a multitude of gods and goddesses, now that was something I was unsure about. The afterlife, too, which was probably weird coming from me. I was a Necromancer. The afterlife was practically my way of life. And yet, I didn't even know what happened to the spirits that I'd sent onwards.

I used to believe, wholeheartedly, when I was a kid. Mom never really tried to get Amane into Shinto, but dad gave her a Bible one year for Christmas. She didn't often read it, but I did. However, I stopped after she left me. I'd prayed for her to come back and God hadn't answered.

So yeah, churches made me uncomfortable. I didn't help that the first time I saw a spirit (my grandfather), it had been in one. Not one bit. I really felt out of place in them, like I wasn't supposed to be there.

Which was why I was really, really fidgety when Namu instructed me to pull into the parking lot of a church just off the main highway. It was a small little place with a sign out front that said it was evangelical in variety. Namu clicked his key fob and his car, once again, disappeared into a swirl of green nanite smoke.

"So this is it?" I asked.

He nodded, "Closest one to Roswell anyways. The minister here is a pretty nice guy and a friend of Mahad's, I think. I'll go see if he's in. You two grab our guests."

I glanced over at Atem. She hadn't moved to pick up the Convert sniper-girl yet. Instead she was staring blankly at her. As I got closer, I noticed that her eyes were open.

"...Water..." she whispered, voice horse and strangled. "Please...water..."

But I didn't have any water. And neither did Atem, though something told me that she wouldn't have given any to the girl even if she did. I heard Thief King whisper in the back of my mind, telling me that if I didn't have any on me, I could still make some.

There was a tree near by, large and leafy green. I pushed my magic into it's trunk, feeling the liquid just below the surface and tugged. The water, straight from the ground, slithered through the air and into my waiting hands. I heard a gasp behind me. LeBlanc was awake again and had seen what I'd just done.

Ignoring her as she began to stutter at the impossibility, I bent down and offered what I had to the girl. Atem stiffened disapprovingly, but let me do what I wanted.

"Here, drink."

The girl was sluggish, reaching for my hands but missed. She grabbed at my hair and pulled it forwards, though there wasn't enough strength in her body for it to hurt. Eventually, she realized that she'd grabbed the wrong thing and tried again. This time, I brought my hands to her.

She drank greedily, spilling half of it down her front. When she was done, I asked what her name was.

"Brianna," she answered.

"Do you have any idea what's happening to you?"

She coughed, scratching at her arms as if there were insects under them, "I need the stone."

"No you don't. Trust me, that is the last thing you need right now," I told her. "Do you know what it is?"

"Power," she said.

"Brianna, it's killing you, not giving you power," I told her.

"I'll die without it," she curled up into a little ball and started to shake.

"Who gave it to you?" Atem spoke from behind me, maroon eyes dark.

Brianna shrugged, "Some guy."

"What did he look like?"

"I don't know, it was a club," she whined pathetically. "Everyone was getting stuff from him."

"Stuff?" I raised an eyebrow, hoping that this mysterious guy wasn't just giving Orichalcos stones like candy.

"Acid. Powder. Speed," she mumbled. "He wasn't my usual dealer...He said it was something new. Gave it to me when I...said I could shoot."

"What's she saying?" Atem nudged me in the side, not understand the slang.

"She's a drug addict. She got the stone from someone you usually sells cocaine and LSD, probably a few other things, too."

"Ah," she nodded. "Brianna, where are you right now?"

I frowned, not understanding what she was getting at. But then the Convert started talking and my blood turned to ice, "...Yellowknife? I live in Yellowknife."

I didn't even know where Yellowknife was, but I doubted it was in New Mexico. This girl didn't even know where she was.

"How old are you, Brianna?"

"I turned twenty last month," her shivers seemed to intensify.

"And what was last month?" I was catching on now, but I hoped that she said October.

"May? May, right? I need a stone..."

Shit. Had it been a blackout? Or had she just been so driven that she didn't even realize where and when she was anymore? I remembered the little green stone that Atem had destroyed earlier this morning and hated it even more than I had before.

"Guys?" Names head reappeared from inside the church doors, "The minister's got the transporter fired up. Oh, and LeBlanc is escaping."

Double shit. Luckily, LeBlanc's legs were still not functioning properly so she was doing more of a hopping, skipping combination then a full on run. We caught up pretty quickly and I slung her over my shoulder, carrying her into the church kicking and screaming. Namu cradled the tremor-racked form of Brianna in his arms as Glitch settled on his head, following behind. Atem grabbed our bags.

The minister was a blonde, bespectacled man that Namu introduced as Reverend Smith. He had a sharp face and a sharper smile.

"Hello there," he greeted us and I wondered what an odd picture we must have made in his eyes. "Come on in. It's in my office. Do you need any supplies?"

We hadn't found a restaurant, so our stomachs somehow decided to all growl in unison, alerting him to our hunger. He directed us to what looked like a staff room, where there was bagels and other breakfast stuff. I set LeBlanc down, reapplied Touzoku's leg incapacitating technique, and shoved a donut towards her.

"Here. Eat. I don't know if there's food where we're going."

She didn't eat anything, just glared for a moment, "I recognize you."

"Yeah. We met before, in front of an elders home," I figured that she wasn't going to eat the donut, so I took a bite out of it instead. Mmm, chocolate sprinkles…

"No, it's not from that. You were in the news for a few weeks. That explosion at that school dance," she frowned. "You killed thirty people."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself as I remembered that terrible night, filled with death, my father holding gun to my head, and facing down something that could only be described as a monster. I remembered Tristan Taylor.

My voice was dark, "I never killed those people. I went to school with them for four years. I never would have killed them."

"There was a profile. You-"

"I never touched them!" I shouted, startling those around me into paying attention. Even Brianna, as out of it as she was, turned her head.

Atem stepped forwards, placing a hand on my shoulder. Her thumb rubbed against my shirt, calming me. I glanced back at her, wanting to say something but not knowing what. I reached back, gripping her hand.

"It wasn't him," Atem told LeBlanc. "I know him very well. The last thing that he would do is kill needlessly."

"I'd check the blueprints of that place he supposedly blew up," Namu said, once again shocking me about how much he knew. I wondered if he'd dug up my information himself or if he'd gotten someone else to do it.

"What's that got to do with anything?" LeBlanc challenged him.

"The police report says that he caused the explosion using the gas system. The building was using geothermal energy, so where'd he get the gas?" Namu shrugged.

The so-called FBI agent stopped talking, seemingly tripping over her tongue.

"Well, aren't you the interesting bunch?" Reverend Smith smiled, "I don't get folks like you everyday in my church. Had enough to eat?"

"I'm not hungry any more," I lied, getting up and moving as far away from LeBlanc as I could. My jaw clenched so hard that it physically hurt.

Atem walked over to where I was. Damn it. Damn it, I thought I was over this. It shouldn't freaking bother me. I should be over this. It had been months since Domino.

Yeah, months in which I'd ignored everything that happened that day. I'd seen people die, almost died myself. I felt like banging my head against a wall, repeatedly. Stupid-stupid-stupid.

"I never hurt them," I told Atem what she already knew. "I could have, but I never did. I saved some of them. I did what I could, but dad...he -"

"Bakura," she breathed, pulling me down into a hug. I felt her fingers against my back, so different then they had been the night before. They were nice, really nice. It reminded me of a day long ago where her hands where in my hair and there was nothing but an empty room and the beginnings of a crush that was probably doomed to fail.

"I hated them, but I'd never hurt them," I was better then that. I wasn't a murderer.

"I know. I know," she whispered back. Those fingers ran up and down my spine and it made my heart pound. I remembered kissing her more than anything else. I remembered her lips against mine and I wondered more than anything just what we were heading towards.

And for that matter, I wondered what was in our joint past. There was something there, more dark and terrible than anything else that I'd seen before. I knew it, somewhere inside me I just knew it -

I slipped into a memory. I didn't know who's because I didn't think it was Touzoku's and it was far too coherent to be Dark God's. I couldn't see anything, though it wasn't like I was blind. It was like my sight was just missing.

I remembered screaming. A hundred screaming voices - something within me shouted "Ninety nine. Not one hundred, ninety nine" - and the smell of blood. It was thick, getting in between my toes and under my nails. I felt the shafting of rope against my skin as I tried to escape my binds. My throat burned as I yelled, pleaded at the top of my lungs, "Please! Please, stop it! Please!" I heard Atem crying beside me and that was something that I never wanted to hear but couldn't they see, this was wrong -

I gasped, snapping away from Atem and breathing hard. I gripped at the wall, looking for some semblance of normal, while at the same time feeling as if I was going to vomit. The smell of blood lingered around me and my knees shook. But I knew what I'd just 'seen'.

I'd just felt my way through the rebirth of the Orichalcos. Dear god, what had happened that day?

"What happened?" Atem asked, "Bakura, what-"

"I know why you don't want to talk about that day now," I spoke haggardly. "God, you were crying. You never cry, not unless it's really bad."

"Bakura, what did you see?" She sounded terrified.

"Didn't see anything. I could hear things, feel things. The blood. The screams," I tried to make sense of what just happened to me. "That day, I just had a snap shot, but it was terrible."

"It was," she admitted.

"You..." Brianna's head turned towards Atem slowly and lethargic. "You're familiar."

The Immortal stiffened, "I've never met you in your life."

"No...you feel familiar. Like me."

"I'm nothing like you," Atem snapped. She looked over at the Reverend, "We'll be going now."

The man nodded, gesturing towards the door. Atem was the first to stomp out. Namu handed Brianna to me and went to go scoop up LeBlanc. The Convert moaned, as if in pain.

"...Stone," she said, eyes scrunched closed.

"You don't need one. It'll just make things worse," I told her.

"No...no...Stone. My last name," she turned towards my shoulder. "Thirsty..."

I nodded, concentrating on a water battle in the corner. It floated over with the power of my Morphing magic. I adjusted my grip and held the bottle to her mouth.

"Thanks..." Brianna whispered.

"No problem," I smiled back at her.

"I'm not...in Yellowknife, am I?" She asked as we entered the office. Reverend Smith pulled back a rug and revealed a trap dour underneath.

"No," I told her. "To be honest, I don't know where that is."

"Canada," she mumbled. "Northwest Territories. Where's here?"

"America. Specifically, a church in New Mexico."

"Shit, what did I take?"

"Something really, really bad for you."

There was a hidden floor beneath the Reverends' office. Down a rickety set of stairs was an underground room with metal plating on the sides. It looked a lot like the transport room that Kisara had once taken me into on the main floor of the KaibaCorp building. But...

"Do they always have to be this cramped?" I raised an eyebrow.

"For now," Namu explained. "I'm working on a better one , but it's so small because there's only so much mass that can travel between one point and another at any time. At least, until I can make my breakthrough."

And until then, we were all going to get very cozy, apparently. We all squished into the tiny compartment (LeBlanc almost nailed me in the head with her foot in an attempt to kick her way to freedom). The Reverend smiled sweetly at us from just outside as he said, "Activate PORT."

Everything's gone black. It's dark, so maybe I've closed my eyes or maybe I haven't. I don't know. And I'm falling. Why am I falling? I just –

We landed in a familiar hanger, but that wasn't what made me smile. It was a pair of black eyes and black hair, hands on her hips and a grin painted across her face.

"Hey there, Ryou," Amane's laugh was full of joy. "Since when did you start abducting women?"

I glanced down at Brianna and then across to Namu with LeBlanc. I shrugged, "Don't really know. I think it's a phase I'm going through."


"Is she going to be alright?" I asked, leaning against one of the polls in the hospital area of the Kaiba Cave. Brianna Stone was lying in one of the beds, arms tied down to the side railings.

Ishizu sighed, "Depends on what you mean by alright. She's going to live, but she'll never be the same. We've tracked down her parents. She's been missing for almost seven months. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had almost stopped looking for her."

"Are they coming in?"

"Hmm?"

"The Stones? Her parents? Are they coming in?"

"And what are we going to tell them, Bakura?" Ishizu turned to me, eyebrow raised, "'We've found your daughter, but she's severely addicted to a magical substance that is slowly going to destroy her soul. So you're not going to be able to take her home. Forever.' As much as I'd like to bring a family back together again, we just can't."

"So what now?" I rubbed my arm anxiously.

"Now, we hope that she can outlast the worst of the cravings so that she can begin to function normally again," she explained.

I looked over at the sleeping girl, who not much older then I was but already so deep into a war she knew nothing about, "What are the chances of that?"

"Pretty good, actually. We caught the addiction early. Any longer and the Orichalcos would have gotten too good of a lock on the soul. The destruction of the stone would have ripped her apart," Ishizu's voice took on a darker tone and I knew that she had seen it happen before.

I looked down the aisle of patients, all chained to their beds. A few of them were awake, groaning and moaning. Others were shaking in their beds, looking as if they wanted to tear at their own skin.

Brianna opened her eyes, blinked groggily. I walked over to her, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

But she didn't answer, instead her arms wrenched against she bindings, pulling and tugging in order to free herself. A strangled scream ripped it's way out of her lips as she began to convulse in a way that was in no way healthy for her.

"Brianna! Bri - Ishizu, help! Do something!" I yelled.

The woman shook her head, hands glowing blue. She stepped forwards, placing them on the sides of her head. Brianna's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed back onto the bed.

I stood there, shaken. A hand touched my arm. I turned, seeing that Amane stood there. She shook her head, tugging me off to the side, "Come on. There's nothing you can do."

My shoulders sagged, but I followed her outside the hospital ward. Once outside, she pulled me into a tight hug, "I missed you, Ryou."

"Me, too," I admitted, pulling back and getting a good look at her. "It's been too long."

"Only a few weeks," she giggled.

"So how long have you been here?"

"No long," she answered as we began to walk towards the main hanger area. "Two days, maybe. After the whole debacle with Mokuba almost getting shot, Kaiba's putting us on the trail hunting this Yubel chick. But she's gone off grid, so we're lying here for a little while in hopes she'll show again."

"So who is she?" I asked.

"Yubel? She's from India actually. From what we can tell, she was imported into the country by some of the higher ups in the Orichalcos army to be their go-to-girl for high profile assassinations," Amane explained. "The thing is, she came from a really poor region, so she's got pretty much no paper trail. I don't even know if Yubel is her real name."

"Jaden knew her," I remembered the meeting I'd attended a few days before leaving Atlantis.

"He would," she nodded. "Yubel's a master Enchanter. She used his friend Jesse in one of her plans once. Poor guy had to eat out of one tube and piss into another after she was done with him."

"Fuck," I shook my head in horrified awe. That explained the look on Jaden's face when Yubel appeared on the screen.

"But forget about me. What have you been up to? You're chasing down the Thousand Spell Book! Have you got any leads?" Amane asked excitedly.

"Actually, yeah. Did someone explain to you how the whole Roswell alien thing was faked?". She nodded, so I continued, "Well, one of the people who came out afterwards about 'seeing' aliens, Glenn Dennis, actually found the Book. But the government moved the thing."

"Yeah, I know this," she frowned.

"It gets better: he kept the location secret for years, but then he was visited twice by people who wanted to know where it was," I was trying to build up tension. I hoped my story telling abilities were up to par and not boring Amane to death, "Dennis showed us the memories before he died. The first one, I didn't get to see - the image was blocked or something. But the second time...have you ever run across the name Yusei Fudo before?"

She frowned, then her eyes widened, "Yes...I...his Life Book...in Magic's graveyard room...Fudo died in Rwanda. His whole team got wiped out. He was a Necromancer."

Okay, didn't get most of that, but the last bit was something I understood, "Fudo visited Dennis, too. His team was looking for the Book and Dennis told them that it was with someone named Martha. Now here's the kicker: one of his teammates, Crow Hogan - his mother's name was Martha and she worked with Dennis at one point. So once we're done here, we're going to go check out her grave. If nothing else, her bones may lead us somewhere."

"Very cool. You and Atem are like something out of National Treasure, traipsing around the country, looking for long lost clues to a secret fortune," she laughed.

"Are you saying I'm Nicolas Cage? Because he was also in Kick-Ass and that was a cool movie," I smirked. She nudged me in the arm, but then bit her lip, glancing at me nervously.

"So how are things between you and her?"

If that wasn't a loaded question, I didn't know what was. I didn't even know how to answer that properly. Things were, in a way, as they always had been. But at the same time, we went from occasionally kissing each other to last night in a matter of days. Was that good? Or bad? I didn't know how to gauge this sort of thing.

"Something happened, didn't it?" And it was moments like this that I remembered that my sister was a bit of a gossip hound in high school and could probably smell my uncertainty on me.

"It wasn't a bad something," I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. Very awkwardly.

She stopped, squinting at me like I was something under a microscope. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, nervous under her gaze.

"How far?" She asked suddenly.

"What?"

"How far? First base?"

Oh god.

"You know that much!" I pouted. Amane grunted in acknowledgement.

"Second base?"

Son of a bitch, why was I nodding?!

"Third?"

Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Really don't think about it. Shit, thinking about it - hot! But no! No! Focus on the moment.

"Yes..."

"Who did it?"

So this is what it's like to die of embarrassment.

"Is this really the best place to have this conversation?" I whined.

"Answer the question, Ryou," she folded her arms over her chest.

"She did," I admitted, red as a beet.

Amane nodded, barely hiding a smirk, "You dog."

Anxious laughter escaped my throat, "Thanks. I think."

"Did you, you know, thank her?"

"Um, I offered."

She was taken aback, "Atem said no?"

"She said 'next time'," I hurriedly covered for myself.

"Huh," Amane nodded once more and I felt like a jury of my peers for some reason was reviewing me.

"Just 'huh'? No, you know, reaction?" I looked almost concerned, remembering a very awkward conversation involving way too many things about myself being learned.

Amane's gaze softened, "I love you, Ryou, but I'm happy where I am now, with who I'm with. And besides," her grinned turned cheeky, "the sex is awesome."

"Too much information, Amane," I said in a complete deadpan.

"You're just jealous 'cause I'm getting some and you're not - well, sort of anyways," she cackled.

"Don't remind me. God or not, if I catch Magic with his hand up your shirt, it'll be the last time he'll be able to use them," I grumbled.

Amane continued to laugh at me. And as annoyed as I should have been with her, I simply reveled in the sound. It really had been too long.


Hey guys!

I'd like to thank those who reviewed for the last chapter: Aqua girl 007, Akikee, and InsanityByDefinition. You guys are, once again, beyond awesome.

So yeah, kind of an information chapter. There's going to be a few answers to the questions raised here in the next few chapters. Also, I am really digging Namu as a character. He's a bit different to write - he's more 'real world' then the others are, though that might be because he's based on a friend of mine, personality wise. Regardless, he's just fun.

I'm almost done my exams, so I'm going to have a little more time to write. I'm also going to be baking up a storm in the next few days, so I'm basically going to be covered flour until that's over. The holidays are coming up so things are just getting more and more busy. It's strange that the one time of year where everyone is taking time off work and school is when everyone just never seems to be able to truly relax.

I, of course, am I hypocrite in saying that, for I will be staying in bed for as long as physically possible tomorrow morning, curled up in the covers like it's my nest.

Happy holidays folks,

AlcatrazOutpatient