Chapter Ten

True Night

Yami Bakura's heart was racing as he tore down the dreary hall. Now that they had reached the part without paintings, there were no lights overhead to shine on anything. It was long, it was bare, and it was dark. The only comfort was hearing Bakura's footsteps somewhere ahead of him. The boy was still alright; he hadn't blundered into another trap.

The former thief swore and cursed in both Egyptian and English as he chased his ward and dearest friend. Why had Yugi pushed for them to come up here? And why had Bakura regained memories of these darkest moments just from seeing the paintings? He hadn't before.

Maybe the sheer number of times something had gone wrong had something to do with it. The more bad memories there were, the more they built up in his subconscious mind until finally they had to break free.

"I never should have agreed to come up here," he snarled to himself. "What was the matter with me?!"

The footsteps stopped. He ground to a halt as well, straining to hear something, anything, that would show Bakura was still alive. "Bakura?" he called, his voice gruff and concerned. "Bakura, where are you?"

At first there was no reply. Then, finally, a quiet, "Here."

Yami Bakura hurried on ahead. Now he came to a T-like crossing; another hallway intersected with this one. At its head was a window looking out at the red sky, and underneath that window was Bakura, his knees drawn up to hide his face.

Relief washed over Yami Bakura even as he sat down next to the wayward teenager. "You shouldn't have run off like that, you fool," he growled.

"I know." Bakura didn't look up. "Everything is just suddenly so horrible, so confusing. It feels like . . . like everything I thought I knew is now a lie."

Yami Bakura frowned. "Do you think our caring for you is a lie?"

Now Bakura looked up with a start. "No! Of course not!" His shoulders slumped. "But it feels like . . . like no one trusts me to be able to handle anything. I know Téa said that wasn't the reason, and she and you and everyone said that again now, but still . . . it's hard to see it that way. . . ." He frowned too. "After all, Joey and Tristan apparently felt that I wasn't capable of knowing how to handle your being around again and that since I felt you were harmless now, they needed to step in and take over."

Yami Bakura peered at him. "That's what you think?"

"That's the way I felt when I walked in on everyone at the Game Shop," Bakura said. "They didn't pay me much mind when you really were causing trouble, unless you were directly going after them, but now that you're trying to turn over a new leaf, suddenly they're much too interested."

Yami Bakura growled. Bakura really wasn't under a spell, was he? This was the real him. He had snapped and run away like this once before, when he had felt that Yami Bakura was pressuring him to remember something he absolutely did not want to remember. They had become so much closer since then and Bakura had matured so greatly. But he was still young, and still very capable of being hurt.

For that matter, there was no age limit on being hurt.

"It's ironic, isn't it," Bakura mused. "I wanted so badly for them to pay attention to me, yet at the same time I knew I needed to stay away to keep them safe. But oh, I felt so left-out when they went to California without me to see about that Orichalcos mess! I wanted to help too."

"I know," Yami Bakura grunted. "But I was glad you didn't go. I knew about Dartz and I'd seen how the Orichalcos had twisted his mind. I didn't want you getting mixed up with him."

Bakura leaned back against the wall and looked at him. "If he had succeeded, you would have lost your chance for world domination," he remarked.

"That was true vice versa in ancient Egypt," Yami Bakura said. "Dartz was there and he stepped aside to allow Zorc and me our chance to conquer the world. I imagine he thought the Pharaoh would stop us, and I thought the same when Dartz returned in the present day. I was content to let the Pharaoh deal with him."

Bakura smiled a bit. "You wanted to protect me."

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Regardless of whether that was true or not, you're not angry about it the way you're angry about being protected now?"

That brought a sigh. "Oh . . . I don't know. I guess I'm so touched that you really did care back then that it's hard to be angry. At the same time, if we'd had this discussion back then, I would have told you that even though it meant a lot to me, I still wanted to help. And you know . . ." Bakura stared off into the distance. "I think I'm so upset about what happened in the Game Shop because I was afraid they really would try to send you away."

Now Yami Bakura was surprised. "Surely you didn't think they'd succeed."

"I didn't think so, but I thought maybe they'd be so intent on it that they'd go looking for some magical object to do it. . . ." Bakura shook his head. "I know it's ridiculous. And it's not really doing justice to any of them. Joey and Tristan may not like or trust you, but they know Shadi and Atem both allowed you back. They wouldn't try to overturn that. They were just talking." He sighed. "But it was such a shock that I didn't let myself calm down and process that. And I walked right into that attack from Yami Marik. . . ." He stiffened. "That's how we ended up in this world, isn't it?! It's my fault!" Anguish filled his eyes.

Yami Bakura pushed away from the wall and gripped Bakura's shoulders. "Now you listen to me," he growled. "It is not your fault! That fiend wanted to send us here and he would have done it whether you had walked into his path or not. And . . ." He hesitated. "Technically, he told us we weren't supposed to let you know we're really us. You were supposed to think we were the Duel Monsters we're dressed as. We tried that for a few rounds, but you were never fooled, so we finally gave up. Maybe we should have ignored that demon's other rule and told you the rest of the truth as well. It wasn't that we didn't think you could handle it. It was that what's been happening has been so draining, so devastating, that we wanted to spare you the pain we've been going through."

"Yami. . . ." Bakura leaned forward, pulling the man into a hug. "I want to share the pain. But . . . I'm so happy that I have true friends like you and Yugi and all the others. I'm sorry for being a twit and running off like that. I want to apologize to all of them."

"You don't have to, Bakura."

The two started. Everyone else had caught up and was standing awkwardly at the end of the hall. Clearly they had heard a great deal of the conversation.

"We should apologize for eavesdropping on a private conversation," Téa said.

"Not to mention for making you feel like we would ever try to go against your wishes and get rid of this guy," Joey added, gesturing at Yami Bakura.

Tristan nodded. "You're right, we never would have really done that."

"And if they'd brought it up, Téa and I would have put our feet down," Yugi said.

"That's good to know," Yami Bakura flatly commented.

Bakura smiled. "Yes, it is." He got to his feet. "I hope we won't have to start over any more times. But if we do, will you promise to include me and not leave me out of the loop?"

"I sure do," Téa said. "It's been really hard holding back!"

"Same here," Joey nodded.

The others chorused various expressions of agreement.

"Good," Bakura said. "Honestly, I think that if Yami Marik had a reason for keeping me in the dark, it was because he knew that we would become all the more united if I was in on everything. So he frightened you by saying something terrible would happen if I was told."

"I have to say, that makes a lot of sense," Tristan said.

"So let's start off all together now and see if we can find the way out," Bakura continued. "There are two paths leading off from here. Let's try one of them, and if we fail, we'll try the other on the next round."

"Sounds good to me," Joey said.

Yami Bakura had to marvel at how calmly Bakura talked about another possible round. Of course, even if he was remembering bits and pieces of the truth, it was nothing compared to the agony of a death happening right there in the here and now. If that happened again, the boy's heart would be pierced.

And then he would forget and it would all start over again. . . .

Yami Bakura pushed the thought aside as they agreed to try the left-hand path first. But it was always there in the back of his mind, and he knew it was the same for the others. Would a statue fire an arrow? Would the floor open up? Would something heavy crash down from the ceiling? They were all on high alert, tense and afraid of when and where the next disaster would strike and who it would strike. It seemed odd that the hallway they had just come through was trap-free. Maybe it was meant to lure them into a false sense of security and these branch-off paths would be filled with traps.

"It's interesting down here," Bakura mused, reaching to finger a statue of The Dark Ruler on a table.

Yami Bakura grabbed his hand. "Don't touch that!"

Bakura jerked. "Why not?!"

"Because it might be poisoned," Yami Bakura growled. "Another statue was."

"Oh!" Bakura quickly moved away from the table, his eyes wide.

Tristan sighed. "I don't remember your Dark Sanctuary card having any backstory to it or having anything to do with The Dark Ruler. I thought the only monster card connected with it was Dark Necrofear."

"Yes, that's true," Yami Bakura said. "Apparently that demon decided to fill in the blanks."

"But The Dark Ruler is supposed to be the ruler of the Underworld," Bakura said. "Does that mean we're in . . ." He swallowed hard.

"It's supposed to be the Duel Monsters' dimension," Yugi said. "But for all we know, maybe this is their Underworld."

"It feels enough like Hell to be the real thing," Yami Bakura growled.

Bakura had the feeling he was not just being sarcastic.

"This hallway sure goes on forever," Joey frowned. "And there's barely anything here! Do you think they're really saving all this space for more paintings?"

"I bet they are," Téa moaned.

"Well, let's just make sure they don't have the chance to fill them all up," Tristan said.

"Easier said than done," Yugi sighed.

"Hey," Bakura said then. "We're coming up on something. It looks like another staircase." He pointed ahead.

"True, and it's another spiral staircase," Yami Bakura mused. "It may go into one of the towers."

"Let's hope so!" Yugi said.

They all mounted the stairs and started up, wary of traps. When there were still none, they grew more suspicious instead of less.

"Man, any second I'm thinking something terrible is going to happen and then it doesn't!" Joey exclaimed.

"That should really be a good thing," Tristan remarked. "Only it isn't when we're all tense."

"You said it," Joey said. "This place gives me the creeps!"

They reached the top and stepped out onto a round floor. Windows surrounded them on every side.

"Well, hey, what do you know," Tristan commented. "It really is one of the towers."

Joey ran to the nearest window. "We're really high up," he gulped. "I'd hate to fall from here."

"Then don't lean over too close, you fool," Yami Bakura snapped.

Yugi nodded in agreement. "We can see all we need to without doing that. From the middle of the floor we can see the other towers and where they are. It looks like one of them is directly across from here. It's probably down the right-hand path."

"And there's two more beyond it," Téa pointed. "With another, shorter one down there."

"There is one tower we cannot see from here," Yami Bakura pointed out. "The largest tower in the middle. My guess is that our final challenge may lie there."

"Aww great," Joey said in frustration. "And how're we gonna find that one?!"

"We'll just have to look everywhere," Yugi determined. "There have to be some stairs somewhere, if we're meant to get to that tower."

"Meanwhile, there's nothing to see here," Tristan said. "Let's go back down and take the right-hand path."

"Actually, there must be ways to access all of the back towers from here," Yami Bakura remarked. "We'll have to try all along the wall for secret panels leading to them."

"Works for me," Joey shrugged. "Only if they're all as bare as this one, what's the point?"

"The others may not be as bare as this one," Yami Bakura retorted.

Yugi nodded. "We'll have to try."

And try they did. They searched desperately all along the back wall when they got back down to the third floor. After much poking and prodding without success, they were all frustrated.

"Man, maybe there isn't a way into those other towers from here," Joey said in despair. He leaned on the wall with one hand.

A brick suddenly pushed in, nearly sending him to the floor with a yelp when it moved.

"Joey, you found it!" Bakura exclaimed. "At least you found the way to one of them!"

"I did?" Joey turned, blinking dumbly at the wall as it groaned and swung inward. Then he beamed. "Alright! What'd I tell you, folks? That's some Joey magic right there!"

"How about, that's some dumb luck right there?" Tristan returned. "Or maybe dumb luck is the Joey magic!"

Joey scowled. "Ha ha. Very funny."

"Let's just go up, guys," Yugi encouraged. He had never really understood some of the ways Joey and Tristan showed affection for each other; insults and physical fights were certainly not his way. Téa, who often enjoyed a good tease, understood it better. Yami Bakura looked slightly, darkly amused, while Bakura chuckled quietly and scratched his cheek.

It was another spiral staircase beyond the open wall, and just as Bakura had when they had first discovered the secret panel to the picture room, he placed a table in the opening so the wall hopefully couldn't swing shut again and trap them inside. As they went up the stairs, Téa was the first to notice that something wasn't right.

"Eww! Gross!" She was staring at the torches lighting the way up.

"What's the problem, Téa . . . GAH!" Joey stared too. "Okay, now that is just sick!"

Yami Bakura just laughed. "You people can't handle the sight of hands holding up the torches? They're not real hands; they're sculpted!"

Indeed, every torch-holder was shaped like a hand firmly gripping the object. But not just any hands—they were highly realistic and detailed, with every wrinkle and curve standing out against the light of the fire they bore.

Yugi cringed. "That really is pretty grotesque. . . ."

"Leave it to Yami Marik to go and do something like that," Tristan scowled.

Bakura shuddered. "You're really not bothered, Yami?"

"Why should I be?" Yami Bakura snorted. "Now, if they were actual, severed hands, that might be a different story. Although, since that wouldn't be possible and such a thing could only be an illusion . . ." He sneered. "I might enjoy teasing certain susceptible people with such an illusion."

"Oh Yami!" Bakura lightly swatted him on the shoulder. "That's horrible!"

"That's . . . quite possibly the most disturbing thing I've heard in a while," Tristan said.

A shrug. "I'm not trying to destroy the world, but I'm still not a saint," Yami Bakura said. "It's not any different than people who want to decorate for Halloween in the most realistically gruesome way."

". . . I hate to say he's got a point," Tristan frowned. "I never was much of a fan of realistically gruesome Halloween decor."

"Only people know the decor is fake," Téa pointed out.

"And any halfway intelligent person should know the same thing about apparently realistic hands coming out of the wall bearing torches," Yami Bakura sneered.

Joey swallowed hard. "I really hope all this talk is just getting to me, because if it's not . . ." He quaked. "One of those hands just moved!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Yami Bakura snorted. "They couldn't!"

A strange creaking noise brought everyone's attention upward. One hand's forefinger was starting to move, uncurling from around the torch and pointing directly at Joey.

Quite naturally, Joey shrieked. "What the heck?! What's it doing!? Why's it pointing at me?!"

"Maybe you're going to be the next victim!" Téa cried.

"No way!" Joey yelled. "None of us are going to be victims! We're getting out of here this time! You hear that, you freaky Palm Tree Head?!" And he barreled past everyone to get upstairs.

"Joey, wait!" Yugi exclaimed.

"You might be doing exactly what he wants you to do!" Bakura added.

That caused Joey to stumble to a halt. "You really think so?"

"Hey, with that creep, who knows," Tristan said. "But why take chances? Let's all keep going up together."

Joey sighed. "Okay, Tristan. You win."

"Let's hope we all win," Tristan countered.

But the more they tried to ascend the stairs, the more other fingers on other hands uncurled and pointed at someone in the group. It wasn't always Joey; before long, fingers were pointing at every member of the group.

"You can't tell me this isn't creepy," Joey said, staring down the nearest finger.

"It's really creepy," Téa quavered.

"But it looks like it's just a psych-out tactic," Yugi said. "Nothing's happening aside from the pointing fingers."

"Unless . . ." Bakura looked up at the top of the stairs, which was very close now. "Maybe they're pointing to tell us that we're all doomed if we go up there. . . ."

Yami Bakura growled. "We had better not be doomed."

"I'll go first," Yugi insisted, walking past Joey to get in the lead again.

Joey stared at him in alarm. "But Yug . . . !"

"I have the most attack points now, thanks to these power-ups," Yugi said. "It only makes sense for me to go first."

"On the other hand, an even more powerful monster or a trap card can weaken or take out a player's strongest monster almost immediately," Yami Bakura gruffly pointed out. "Playing the strongest possible monster before seeing what the other player can do is often a very foolish move."

Yugi sighed. He of course knew that was true, but it didn't change his mind about wanting to go first to try to protect the others. He went up the final step and into the tower room. "I don't see anything up here," he started to say.

Something flew past him in the next moment and he yelped and ducked. Below on the stairs, Téa screamed and pointed her staff. "Dark Burning Attack!"

Whatever it was, was defeated.

"What was that thing?" Tristan frowned.

"I think it was some kind of bat," Téa shuddered.

"Well, hopefully it won't be a problem," Bakura said slowly. "There are several bats in Duel Monsters, but they generally have very low attack points and rarely have a dangerous effect."

"What about the times when they do?!" Joey shot back.

Bakura thought about it. "There's Vampire Bat. . . . It increases Zombie Duel Monsters' attack strength by 200 points. And if you have multiple Vampire Bats in your deck, you can destroy one of those in place of having one on the field destroyed."

"That thing definitely blew up," Téa said slowly. "So can we figure on it not having any creepy effects?"

"Probably," Bakura said. "Unless it was Vampire Familiar instead. . . ."

"What's that do?!" Joey yelped.

Yami Bakura glowered up at the tower room as they drew closer to it. "If it's Special Summoned, you can add another Vampire card to your hand, except another Familiar. More concerning, if it's destroyed, you can destroy a different Vampire card to bring it back to the field."

A strange, inhuman shriek filled the tower.

"Why do I have the horrible feeling it was a Vampire Familiar?" Joey moaned.

"It's a low-level monster," Yami Bakura growled. "Destroying it again shouldn't be a problem. It can't keep coming back indefinitely, but only as many times as there are other Vampire cards that you don't mind destroying. And honestly, with so many strong Vampire cards, it would be beyond foolish to destroy them to revive such a weak monster over and over again."

"I guess that makes sense," Joey said. "Only when we're dealing with a nut like Yami Marik, how do we know what he'd think?!"

Now a chilling laugh echoed throughout the tower—a dark, cruel, and familiar laugh.

"Whatever he's thinking, it's not good," Tristan groaned.