Ishizu had sunk to the floor, propped up against a wall, by the time Yugi finished telling her exactly what had happened.
"Dear gods," she breathed as he concluded his tale. She felt dizzy, faint, numb, but somehow also hurting so much, every beat of her heart was painful…
"You said you knew…?" Yugi half-asked hesitantly.
It took a few tries before Ishizu found her voice. "Marik sent me a letter," she managed at last, "telling me…that he'd dug up the Millennium Items, and was with the evil spirit of the Ring, whom he brought back somehow…telling me that he had chosen darkness."
"I thought his dark side was gone," Yugi said.
"I did too!" Ishizu cried. "I really thought it was over. I don't know why he would turn from us again…I tried so hard to let him know that we didn't hate him for the things he'd done, that we forgive him and love him…"
"Maybe you tried too hard?" Yugi suggested.
Ishizu sighed. "Maybe," she said, not even sure what she was agreeing with.
"Ishizu…I'm so sorry," Yugi said softly.
"Don't apologize to me," she told him, a bit of surprise worming its way through the grief. "You didn't do this. If anything, I should be apologizing to you."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Yugi told her. "I know you tried your best to help Marik, and I know he's hurt you as much as he's hurt us. More, even - stab wounds are one thing, but your own brother has betrayed you twice now. I can't imagine how you must feel…I wish there was something I could do for you."
A little bubble of hysterical laughter escaped Ishizu's throat. Typical Yugi - her brother had put one of his best friends in the hospital, and he still found it in his heart to be concerned about her feelings. He was such a bright, pure soul…the only one who could ever have made Atemu's soul complete…
"Listen…I know this is hard for you," Yugi said, and another laugh started clawing at her throat. "But…what should we do? Marik is…dangerous, now. He and Bakura tried to kill us. Well…Bakura wanted to kill us. For what it might be worth, I don't think Marik was as into it as Bakura was."
"Thank you," Ishizu breathed.
"But still, what should we do?" Yugi asked. "We need to do something - one or both of them might come back to try again. And even if it's not us, they might hurt other people."
Ishizu managed to chuckle in spite of everything. "Yugi…have you called the police?" she asked.
Silence over the line told her that he hadn't thought of that.
"I know you're used to facing these things…these people…yourself," Ishizu said, "but there's no need to do that now. There's no way you could. Leave it to people whose job it is to keep everyone safe."
"But Marik and Bakura both have Millennium Items," Yugi pointed out. "Magic. And I don't think they'd hesitate to use it."
"That doesn't make it your problem to fix," Ishizu told him. "It doesn't matter how much experience you have with magic if you have none of your own to counter it with. I know how badly you want to do something, Yugi - I wish it too! But there's nothing…"
She trailed off.
I wonder if it will choose someone else to wield it…
Ishizu's eyes were drawn to the table where she'd spent night after night trying to reassemble the Millennium Puzzle. One of the pieces had fallen onto the floor when she'd dropped it to pick up the phone. The Puzzle wouldn't come together for her…but Yugi had solved it. He was the chosen one, or at least a chosen one.
"Ishizu?"
The Egyptian woman took a deep breath. "Yugi," she said firmly, "stay with your friends, stay safe, and wait for me. I'm coming to you, and I'm bringing something with me that might help."
"Okay," Yugi said without hesitation. "I hope we'll see you soon."
"Me too," she said softly as she hung up. "And I hope Fate is still with us."
She forced herself to her feet and walked through the house to wake Odion.
"What is it?" he asked her when he was awake.
"Something's happened," Ishizu told him, unable to bring herself to repeat the whole story.
But Odion's eyes narrowed slightly, showing he understood well enough. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm going to Domino City," Ishizu said, "and I'll be bringing the only thing that might be able to stop this madness."
"The Millennium Puzzle." It wasn't a question.
Ishizu nodded. "I need you to stay here and keep looking for the Millennium Necklace," she told him. "Retrieving the Items and keeping them safe is very important, we mustn't forget that."
Odion nodded. "I will," he vowed.
"Thank you, my brother," Ishizu said gratefully. "I hope I can put an end to this soon."
