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Chapter 12

The Door of Darkness Has Opened

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh!:

"Bakura. I might have drawn out the game one more turn, but it shall be the last turn you shall posses the Millennium Ring in. Your sick and twisted game ends now." Atem dropped the dice and the three watched attentively as they danced about the rough terrain. They slowed and stopped. Anzu's heart sank as Bakura laughed loudly and callously.

Atem's face gave away none of his emotions. It was a blank canvas. Even though he had just rolled a four.

Bakura held the dice in his hand. "You are right, Pharaoh. This is the last turn that I shall posses the Millennium Ring. After this, I shall own not just the ring, but the puzzle as well!"

Anzu watched in dread as Bakura dropped the dice. Atem remained emotionless. The dice began to slow their wild spinning.

X

Anzu had never felt so scared in her life. If Bakura's dice landed anything above four, she and Atem were goners. What were the chances of him landing anything below four? Her gaze flickered briefly to Atem. He was emotionless. She wished she could read his mind.

His gaze traveled from the dice to her. A small spark of emotion flashed in his eyes before they returned to the dice and narrowed slightly. Anzu sat back in her chair, astonished. Had that been confidence in his eyes? Was he sure that he could win? Anzu shook her head. She had to be confident, too. They were going to win. They had to.

The dice made their final roll. Bakura and Anzu gasped loudly at the final number. Atem smirked proudly.

"Snake eyes?" Bakura screamed.

Atem pointed his finger at Bakura. "You have lost, Bakura. Now return to me Anzu and the ring."

Beads of sweat formed on Bakura's brow. He nervously glanced down at Anzu. Her face was split with a smile of relief. He narrowed his eyes. In a quick, fluid motion, he yanked the knot holding Anzu down, releasing its hold on Anzu and pulled her up to him. She gasped as her back collided with his front. One of his arms encircled her waist and his free hand went to around her throat. Anzu's eyes widened in fear and her own hands went up to Bakura's, grasping frantically.

"Anzu!" Atem made as if to move towards them, but stopped when Bakura's hand tightened, causing Anzu to whimper breathlessly. Atem growled.

"I refuse to give up the ring!" Bakura yelled, his voice hysterical. "I will make my escape with the girl. If you try anything, I will send her soul to the Shadow Realm." Bakura stepped backwards, dragging Anzu with him.

Atem growled again. How could he get Anzu away from Bakura?

A part of his question was answered when something heavy and fast crashed into the door. The door flew into the room, crashing against the wall behind the. A person flew through the air behind it, yelling. A black motorcycle flipped over end and landed within the doorway, blocking the exit.

Screams erupted from outside when the motorcycle landed wrong and exploded. Flames and pieces of metal flew through the air. Atem launched himself across the table and grabbed Anzu by her slender waist, pulling her away from a startled Bakura. They both grunted as they landed on the ground harshly; Anzu's head slapping against the unyielding floor. Atem placed his body over Anzu's to protect her as debris soared around them and a heat wave blasted against them; ruffling their hand and clothes. A few pieces of debris flew at them, some bouncing off harmlessly, while others cut into flesh.

Anzu and Atem breathed heavily. Slowly, they opened their eyes as the wave of heat began to recede slightly and the clanking of metal raining down stopped. Anzu smiled up at Atem.

"You did it! We won!" She cried out happily, throwing her arms around him and pulling him down to her.

Atem buried his face her hair. He had not quite finished the game. However, he would take joy in this small victory. Atem leaned away from her and stood, pulling her with him. He tried to smooth her hair back from her face. There was a small gash across her forehead and blood slowly oozed from it.

"Are you badly injured?" He inquired, barely placing his fingers over her head wound. She winced.

"Just scratches." He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was more worried about him. He nodded, alleviating her worry.

He placed an arm around her waist and pulled her to his side as they turned to stare down at Bakura. He gaped up with wide eyes. Pieces of the table were atop him, but he was not badly injured.

Atem reached down and yanked the Millennium Ring from around his neck. He clutched it in his hand. "You did not follow the rules, Bakura. Penalty game. The door of darkness has opened!" The Eye of Sennen glowed upon his forehead again. "Mind Crush!" Atem yelled.

Bakura screamed in agony as the darkness in his heart was shattered. His coffee eyes went blank. Anzu leaned heavily against Atem.

"Is it…over?" She asked quietly. She felt as if anything else would push her over the edge and she would collapse.

Atem turned them away from Bakura. He released her gently and bent down, carefully knocking pieces of table aside to reveal all seven of the RPG pieces lying together on the floor. "Not quite," Atem answered her as he picked up the one of Mana. "I still have to return Mana's soul to her body and free these souls so they may move on to the Afterlife. And destroy the game pieces."

Anzu dropped to her knees beside him. She carefully picked up the piece that looked like her. Atem watched her curiously as she glanced up and eyed a small fire burning on the ground a few feet away from them. She chucked her piece into the fire. They watched as the paint ran down the figure, the browns, pinks, and blues mixing and bubbling from the heat. Then the silver metal began to melt into itself. Atem looked at Anzu, watching the flames dance across her determined face.

Atem then turned his attention back to the five remaining pieces. He murmured the spell that would release the souls of Anzu's friends and the two watched in wonder as their spirits rose from the tiny toys, twisting and dancing together, before exploding into tiny, twinkling orbs that floated towards the ceiling and disappeared.

Together they tossed the five figures into the flames and watched them join Anzu's figure. They looked up when they heard sirens in the distance. Shakingly, they stood; Atem shoving Mana's figure back into his jacket pocket.

They heard a groan from across the room. A person rolled over. A few small fires burned around him and more metal debris were scattered around him as well. Anzu and Atem rushed to his side.

"Oh, gods! Honda!" Anzu cried as she kneeled beside him.

Honda looked up and smiled at her weakly. "I got the door open," he whispered. His brown eyes rolled into the back of his head before closing. His head slumped to the side.

Tears gathered at the corners of Anzu's eyes. "No…Honda!" Anzu's hands fluttered uselessly around as she choked back her sobs. The outsides of her vision began to darken and grow blurry.

"Anzu! Atem!"

Anzu did not turn when she heard Yuugi call out. Atem stood and called back. "Yuugi! I need help lifting Honda!"

"We can't get in! The door's blocked, but help is coming!" Yuugi called back.

Anzu leaned against Atem's legs. She could no longer support herself. Honda was one of her best friends and he had risked his life to help her and Atem. Atem glanced down at her and dropped to his knees behind her, gripping her shoulders.

"Anzu? Are you all right?" Anzu could barely hear him over the sirens. She looked back at him. Her vision closed in on his face.

"Atemu…"

She slumped back in his arms. She had reached her limit.

V

It took the fire department half an hour to extinguish the flames in the doorway and haul the remains of the motorcycle out of the way. Two firemen came in to extinguish the small fires that burned within the warehouse. Once it was deemed safe, three stretchers were wheeled in to collect Bakura, Honda, and Anzu. It took the E.M.T. a few minutes to convince Atem to allow them to take Anzu away.

Atem walked beside Anzu's stretcher as they wheeled her out of the building and towards an ambulance. Yuugi, Jonouchi, and Miho rushed to their sides. Yuugi cried silently.

"Is Anzu okay?" Jonouchi asked.

Atem nodded as they hefted her into the ambulance. "She fainted. She hit her head, though. And Ra knows what Bakura did to her before I arrived."

Another stretcher wheeled passed them and Miho turned and cried out, "Honda-kun!"

The E.M.T.s began to hook him up to breathing and monitoring machines before he was even loaded in. Miho rushed to his side, sobbing.

Atem turned to Jonouchi. "Why did Honda ride a motorcycle into the door?"

"We couldn't get it open. It was his idea. It probably just made everything worse, though." Jonouchi crossed his arms sorely.

Atem smiled lightly. "Remind me to thank him. His entrance is what allowed me to rescue Anzu in the end."

"Neyh?"

Yuugi whipped his eyes on the back of his hand. "Really?"

Atem watched as two E.M.T.s began to hook Anzu up to breathing and monitoring machines. "Bakura had her and if Honda had not crashed into that door, I do not know how I would have saved her." He explained quietly.

The three males turned when Bakura was wheeled beside them. He was awake now. Aria and Yamada stood next to his stretcher.

"Mutou Atemu?" Aria asked.

Atem nodded.

"Can we ask you a few questions?"

Atem glanced at Yuugi and Jonouchi. "What have you told them?"

"We told them that the murderer had Anzu and you had gone in to rescue her." Yuugi said. He glanced at Bakura, chewing his lip.

"Everyone's reason here has been explained save him." Yamada supplied; handcuffs gleamed in his hands.

Atem stared up at Aria and Yamada, his crimson eyes hypnotizing. It was true that Bakura had murdered and tortured people, but it had not been him. It had been the darkness of the Millennium Ring. Atem knew he could not explain that to these outsiders and he knew that he could not allow the pure Bakura to take the fall for Yami Bakura.

"He was-"

Bakura grabbed his arm. Atem stared down at him, his lie dying on his tongue. Bakura peered up at him earnestly.

"It was me. I killed those girls and took Anzu-chan." Bakura whispered.

Atem-tachi watched in silence as Yamada slapped one cuff to Bakura's wrist and the other to the railing of the stretcher. Aria began to state Bakura's rights as he was lifted into the last ambulance.

Honda's ambulance screamed as it flew away; Miho riding along with him. Bakura's flew afterwards; Yamada riding with him as Aria followed in their squad car. An officer turned to the remaining teens. "One of you may ride with Mazaki-chan," He said gently.

Jonouchi back away, his hands raised. "She would want one of you two with her."

Atem and Yuugi gazed at each other. They both knew that the stronger man would let the other ride with her. It would be like in that book in the Bible where the mother gave up her half of the baby so it would be happy. Yuugi looked down, gripping his backpack straps in his small hands.

Atem reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Anzu's cartouche. He dangled it before Yuugi. Yuugi's amethyst eyes were wide with confusion.

"You go with her. There is something I have to do. Just…give this back to her when she wakes up." Atem whispered. Though his voice was strong, Yuugi could see the pain deep in his eyes.

Yuugi reached for the cartouche and nodded. "Okay…"

As Yuugi jumped into the ambulance and sat on the small bench beside Anzu, he kept his gaze on Atem. Atem stared at Anzu with a mixture of regret and love in his eyes. Yuugi's eyes watered as the doors were slammed shut and the vehicle lurched forward.

He had lost the game again. He had not been man enough to let Anzu go, even though he knew she loved Atem. Yuugi glanced down at Anzu's face. Her eyes were closed and if it wasn't for the wire under her nose, the crusty gash on her forehead, and the bruises and scrapes, one would think she was simply sleeping peacefully. Yuugi carefully clutched her cold hand, mindful of the I.V. stuck into her hand.

"Anzu…" He whispered.

"…Atem…" Anzu murmured.

Tears spilled from Yuugi's eyes, rushing down his face to fall on their clasped hands.

Okay, there's like two more chapters left. So, what pairing do you think this will end as? Review please.

~Azarath101