A/N: This is the first day of school for me for the year and a new chapter for you. My next story will have a beta reader as she came back from Vietnam. I know that I made grammar mistakes in all of my chapters, but I don't notice them until at the minimum of 2 weeks after I write them. I don't think you want to wait two weeks for every chapter.
Chapter 12
"You did what?" Bakura said as he raised the stub where his right arm was. He was waving it around angrily at the short midget and reached for his sword that was on his waist. Yami moved to protect his counterpart with his arms out stretched. That, of course, wouldn't stop the Spirit of the Ring. The Pharaoh didn't understand that Bakura would gladly stab through Yami to get to the midget.
It was fortunate that Ryou figured that out and stepped in front of the two, causing his other half to hesitate. Bakura looked into the other's deep brown eyes and scowled in annoyance. He clenched the hilt of the sword in anger.
"Move out of the way now, Landlord," Bakura growled out darkly. He saw that the little boy that was a part of him moved to defend Ryou. Akefia looked at the other with a familiar fierceness.
"Don't hurt him!" Kefie shouted. Ryou tried to urge him out of the way, but the small boy was firmly standing his ground against the taller man.
"Look, kid," Bakura started out. "He won't be hurt if he moves out of the way."
"So you can hurt my friends?" Ryou asked. "I won't do that. Besides, Yugi might have a good reason for giving the Puzzle to Zorc. We're not going get anywhere if you kill them right now."
Bakura growled in annoyance and put away his weapon. He expected the other to move, but Ryou was smart. He knew that Bakura might have been tempted to stab the Pharaoh if Ryou were to let him.
"I did do it for a good reason," Yugi squeaked out. "I did it to save Yami. He was trapped on the throne, because of Zorc and he wouldn't be let go unless I gave him the Millennium Puzzle. I couldn't just leave him there and run for it!"
"Ugh," Bakura hit his head with his hand. "That sentimental feeling called love and friendship, am I right?"
He shook his head at the two as he took out his sword. Ryou jumped, feeling that Bakura had lost his patience with them and was ready to murder them, but found that the Spirit of the Ring was drawing something in the sand.
"Then, we'll just have to make sure that the Millennium Ring doesn't get into the hands of Zorc," Bakura said as he looked at them. This certainly shocked Ryou, but he couldn't help but to smile. Bakura was back to planning some evil plot. It was kind of refreshing to hear him go on about his plan. "So, look here Pharaoh, there's these entry ways into the city…"
Yami stood on top of Slifer's head with Ra next to him. He crossed his arms and tried to ignore the shouts that came from the citizens of the city. He was given a job to do. He had to buy time for his partner to get into the palace. He had to be distracting and stand over the city, showing off his Egyptian Gods with a cool confidence that might lure out the missing Egyptian God, Obelisk the tormentor. This was something that was practically made for him.
He grinned as the wind made his cape flowed dramatically. This was how to make an entrance. Another monster rose from the palace. It was Obelisk, just as Bakura had planned, but instead of the freaky face of Zorc, Yami found that he was staring at his own face.
"Stop pretending to be me!" Yami shouted out to the other.
"You're pretending to be me," Zorc said to keep up his false image in front of the dolls. He crossed his arms. Even though his appearance looked a lot like Yami's, his eyes were evil and manipulative. There was also a dark aura around him, but Yami doubt that the others could tell from this height. "You don't even know my name."
"Your name is Zorc Necrophilis!" Yami shouted out angrily.
"Not that, silly fake Pharaoh," Zorc said darkly. "You don't even remember your own birth name. Yami this, Yami that…Wake up, Princess! Your name isn't Yami."
There was no actual response from the other, only an animalistic growl of annoyance, before chaos happened in the city. While they were talking, Malik had managed to make his way into the city with brute force. Of course that was what the other was going to do, it fit his style. Malik was joined up with Marik, who was making the enemy fight each other. They were the best team when it came down to it.
"Really? Is this how Akefia plans to defeat me, with brute force?" Zorc said, looking down at the blood that was spilled down below. His lips formed an evil grin that matched Malik's psychotic smile. While his attention was focused on the fight below, Yami had ordered Ra to tackle Obelisk.
Obelisk tilted slightly back, but manages to regain its balance as he tried to punch the other in the face. However, because Zorc was still disoriented by the sudden attack, Obelisk didn't react in time. Ra was already soaring into the sky out of his reach. Zorc looked at Yami with anger that made the veins in his face bulge up. It looked like Yami had somehow combined with Malik. It wasn't a pleasant sight to behold.
"That wasn't exactly fair," the other growled out, his voice sounding more demonic.
"Why should I, when you don't fight fair," Yami said as he crossed his arms. Fair? Really? That was a laugh. From his experience, Yami knew that evil villains will do anything to win. Now with the world at stake, shouldn't it be more fair if he broke a couple rules? It's seemed to even the playing ground at the very least. He was happy that his partner wasn't there to see him now though. He knew that Yugi would find that this act was very shameful and give Yami that look.
"Interesting," Zorc said as he touched Obelisk. The blue skin of the beast had suddenly corroded to a black color. The eyes were shining brighter than ever, because there was a sense of malice behind them. "I hope that you're prepared. I plan to make you the sacrifice to my grand revival!"
"I think it's here somewhere," Yugi said softly to himself as he entered the Pharaoh's chambers. He managed to get into the palace safety as Malik and Marik had distracted the people that were supposed to guard the place. Truthfully, he didn't expect this plan to work, seeing how Bakura's plans would often fail against Yami. The short midget assumed that the only reason that the plans seem to be working was because Bakura was on their side now, even if it was only temporary.
There wasn't that odd about the room that Yugi could pick up. He needed to find the Puzzle, but he didn't know where Zorc would hide it. Bakura suggested that it was in a mold that the Millennium Items could fit in.
"He said it would be big," Yugi said, trying to remember the thief description of the stone, but they were so exact on how it looked that the little guy forgot all about it. How did Bakura know so much about it? Yugi decided that he shouldn't ask the other and sat down. He jumped up as he felt like he just sat on the Millennium Puzzle. The thing is he was. "…Oh I found it."
He saw the Millennium Items were pressed into the carvings of the stone. All of the items were there besides the Millennium Ring. Yugi tried to take out the Puzzle, but it was lodged in there tightly. He tugged harder and harder, but the thing wouldn't come out. It was like it had become one with the stone.
"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice said. Yugi sighed as he turned around. He already knew it was Priest Seto that was standing behind him with the fake Millennium Rod in his hand. "You're here to steal the Pharaoh's gold, aren't you? You thief!"
"No! I came for the Puzzle," Yugi said frantically. "I'm not here to steal any gold! The Puzzle belongs to me."
"It does not!"
"No! You don't understand, Seto! Zorc is trying to revive himself with the Millennium Items-"
"Who is this Zorc? You just making this up aren't you!" the other shouted. "You're just saying this to mess with my head like your friend the Thief King was trying to do, aren't you?!"
"Look, I don't know what he was talking about," Yugi said as he put his hands up to show that he meant no harm to the other. "I just know that if all of the Millennium Items are placed into this stone, Zorc will be revived. I don't understand why he said those things to you, or what purpose it gained, but I'm trying to help you, Seto!"
"That's a lie," Priest Seto shouted as showed what he was hiding behind his back. It was Akefia being held by the shirt, half choking on the hold. The little boy swung his legs frantically. Yugi instantly was shocked, because the boy was supposed to be with Ryou and the boy had the Millennium Ring! All this planning would be fruitless if the Ring was pressed into the stone.
"I w-wanted to help," Kefie choked out as he sobbed.
"Seto! Leave him out of this. He's only a child," Yugi shouted.
"I'll prove it by putting the Millennium Ring in that blasted stone that you're obsessed with," Priest Seto said as he walked closer to the other.
"Seto! No! Don't do something like that," Yugi shouted. He wanted to add it was a stupid idea, that was going to get humanity killed, but he knew that if he said that Seto would be irked by the claims and do it anyway. Kaiba took the Millennium Ring from Akefia and threw the kid to the side.
"No! Don't take that! That was given to me by Mama!" Akefia shouted as he ran over to the other even though he was hurt and bruised by the throw. He hit Priest Seto's legs as hard as he could, but honestly, it wasn't strong enough to hurt the other. "If you take it something bad will happen!"
"Shut up," Priest Seto said as he tossed the little boy to the side. Yugi tried to stop Seto, but he was like the Kaiba he knew out in the real world, stubborn and ready to do anything to prove that he was right. The other pressed the object into the stone and a bright light came from the stone, blinding everyone in the room.
"Where's Kefie?" Ryou asked his other half as he looked around. "I didn't see him since Yugi left."
"I don't know," Bakura said as he focused on the scene in front of him. He needed to put Diabound in the moment that Obelisk falls. It was a cheap way to make his Ka stronger, but it works out fine. He watched as the whole city was in chaos.
"You don't think he went into the Palace?!" Ryou asked, panicking. "Oh, no. The little boy is going to turn into a kebab without us."
"Why do you care so much about him?!" Bakura shouted at the other as he grabbed the other's shirt. He was getting pissed off at his light. He didn't like how he was constantly worrying about the little boy like he was actually his brother. It wasn't so much the fact that his Hikari was obsessed with another person. It was the fact that Akefia was practically him when he was fresh from the slaughter of his home. Seeing the boy pissed him off actually. He didn't like seeing how weak he was when he was younger.
"Because!" Ryou said, but never really finished the sentence. He looked away, trying to find some interesting thing to stare at other that the other's face.
"Why? You know, he's basically me," Bakura spat. "I put you through pain and torture. I put your friends in comas and laughed at your suffering. Why would you care about someone that did that to you, even if it was just the child version of him?"
Ryou clenched his hands and glared at Bakura. There was such fierceness in his eyes. Bakura wondered what happened in all those years that he was gone. The other grew a backbone in his absence. It was amusing.
"It's because he's you!" Ryou shouted. "True, you've been nothing but trouble to me and as an evil doer, it would have been better if you weren't in my life, but I missed you."
"What?" Bakura dropped the other. He didn't expect that from his mouth.
"I missed you, okay?! It didn't really hit me the first two years, but I started to realize that you took a lot of my life so when you were gone, I didn't have anything else to do with my free time," Ryou explained as he looked down at his hands. "I was alone. I was scared. Akefia came back into my life and just taking care of him made me feel a little less lonely."
"How were you lonely? Did you have Pharaoh and his friends? I heard that Marik is your new best friend too."
Bakura raised an eyebrow.
"You can be alone, even when you're surrounded by people," Ryou said looked down.
The Spirit of the Ring didn't know what to say to the other. It was the first time that anyone actually missed Bakura. It was usually the other way around since they died before he did. Somehow, Ryou depending on him made him a little happy on the inside. He felt that he saw his Landlord in a new light, or maybe he was finally going insane from millennium of being alone in the Ring.
"Landlord," Bakura said as he tried to say something to the other, but he couldn't find the right words. They just seemed the slip his mind even though he usually had something clever and witty to say. He tried to regain his train of thought by looking around and noticed that the fight between Zorc and the Pharaoh was progressing fast than he expected, or maybe time passed while he was distracted.
"We should go," Ryou said as he frowned. "I'm sure that if Kefie is probably with Malik or Yugi. He will be fine."
"I suppose," Bakura said. "Hide your Millennium Ring. I don't want Zorc to be targeting you the whole fight. That would be annoying."
Ryou nodded and tucked in the Millennium Ring. He shivered when the familiar feeling of the cool metal touching his bare chest. Bakura summoned Diabound and helped Ryou get on as he needed to keep an eye on his counterpart. He knew what would happen if the Millennium Ring would fall into Zorc's hands. The stone would light up so bright that it would swallow the land and then an eerie darkness will take place. Once a sacrifice was made, then Zorc would be able to exist out in the real world.
On Diabound, he made his way over to Obelisk. His Ka had taken a bite out of the Egyptian God and he was face to face with the fake Pharaoh.
"Hello, Zorc. It's pleasant to see you again," Bakura said with a glare to the other. It was a lot easier to hate him now that he had taken on the form of the Pharaoh. There was a lingering feeling of doubt when he last encountered him, but that was implanted into his mind because of the deal he originally had with Zorc. It was supposed to trick him and cause him to be an easy puppet for Zorc to control, but the other wouldn't allow something as that to happen.
"Bakura, it's not too late," Zorc said with a grin. "You can still join me and have your revenge with the Pharaoh. Look, he's right there. You could probably kill him or push him off Slifer and you'd have your revenge."
There was a pause.
Ryou looked at the other, hoping that there was some goodness in the other. No, he knew that were was goodness in the other. Akefia had proven that, but Ryou was worried that the other would be blinded by his rage and anger.
"I'm sorry, Zorc. I'm working with him to get what I want first," Bakura answered and Ryou sighed in relief. Yami also was relieved and he really thought that the other would betray him at the last minute.
"You're lying."
"Well, you're right. I'm actually not sorry at all," Bakura said as he unsheathed his sword and ran to stab through the chest of Zorc. He wasn't going to stab through the heart. That wouldn't make sense. Zorc had no heart.
Bakura grinned psychotically as he was so close. Nothing was going to stop him. Well, that was supposed to be what happened, but a bright light had came from the palace. It blinded him and he suddenly felt like he was falling.
"Bakura!"
