A/N: Hey everyone! If you reviewed then you hopefully got my message about only updating on weekends! Well anyway, here's the new chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to update but I'm lazy and busy! As always this chapter is dedicated to all my amazing reviewers!! You each get a virtual pat on the back! (Okay, I'm sorry the reward is so crappy, but I'm running low on holographic money!)
Disclaimer: YG-curled up in a dark corner-
Yugi to Yami- Is she okay?
Yami-shrugs-
Yugi- YG are you okay?-shakes shivering girl-
YG-in a thin voice- I'm sick Yugi…It took me a lot of strength just to get up and write this chapter…
Bakura- Ha you pathetic mortal! You've contracted a mere bacterial virus that has caused you to cower upon the ground! You humans are weak!
Yugi- Bakura! Shut the hell up!-throws brick at tomb robber-
Bakura-dodges brick- Pathetic mortal! You shall pay for your insolence! –knocks Yugi out with shadow powers-
Yami- How dare you lay a finger on my hikari you impertinent peasant!-throws Bakura against the wall with shadow magic-
YG-in a weak voice- While those two idiots argue, I just have to tell you that I don't own any of the characters or ideas of Yugioh. Now please just read the chapter while I take some aspirin…
Yugioh: The Return of Evil
Chapter 13: Secrets and Allies
Rain pored down from the blackened sky, cascading upon the lone figure in voluminous sheets. Lightening forked across the dark expanse above him, casting the person's face into sharper focus. His hair was gold and red-violet trimmed black spikes that, at the moment, were plastered down over his face by the torrent of rain. The boy dashed across the muddy landscape, dry sobs racking his body as thunder rumbled hungrily in the distance. His feet pounded upon the slick earth, occasionally slipping on the wet soil.
Suddenly, a cold voice filled the void around the sprinting figure, drowning the noises of the storm with its sheer volume. "Run all you want, little prince, there is no escape!" the unseen speaker cackled, making the runner quake. "I won't let you win!" the shaking runner called, turning on his heel to face the oncoming voice. A gigantic black hand materialized from thin air, stretching out towards the small boy. Its shadowy fingers coiled tightly around his throat, forcing his chin upward to reveal a pair of bright amethyst eyes. "Mine!" the eerie voice proclaimed as the life began to drain from the figures face, his eyes going dull. "Mine…"
Jennifer shot up, nearly knocking her head against the canopy of her bed. Gasping for air, the girl's eyes whirled wildly around her bedroom. Nothing seemed out of place. The Guardian Angel Joan mural upon the pail golden wall gazed unseeingly back at her, blue eyes, forever chiseled into the wood, glazed and unresponsive. The tanned girl sighed, running trembling fingers through her sweat drenched hair. That dream…it had seemed so real…but it couldn't be… she told herself, shaking her head and detaching herself from the damp bed sheets she was currently entangled in.
Stumbling over to the adjoining bathroom, Jennifer flicked on the lights, illuminating the marble covered countertops and sleek golden bathtub. Ignoring the splendor around her, the girl hobbled over to a near by mirror and peered intently at her reflection. She looked a mess. Her face was deathly pale and her brown hair stood up in mangled patterns around her head. Her bangs lay plastered down to her forehead and her eyes were red and blood shot, as though she had not slept in days. Jennifer brought a shaking hand up and touched her finger tips to the glass, her ghastly reflection mimicking her actions.
'I look terrible.' She thought, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of a comb, before raking it through the unruly knots in her tangled mane of hair. 'What was that dream about anyway?' she thought to herself as she coaxed the brush through a rather stubborn mass of knots. She recalled the image of the young, running boy and shivered as the unknown owner of that cruel voice wrapped his shadow-made claw around his slim throat. A tear slid silently down her cheek as the boy's dying amethyst eyes swam before her. The pleading, helpless look that glowed within his pupils racked Jennifer's body with tremors of emotion. "Those eyes…" she whispered another tear streak marking her cheek. "They were Yugi's eyes…" Over taken by a sudden urge to see the boy and make sure everything was alright, Jennifer glanced at her reflection once more, to insure she was presentable, before charging out the door and across the hall.
The brown eyed girl raised a hand to knock, when, suddenly, she was stopped by the sound of voices on the other side of the door. Moving towards a gap where the door stood slightly ajar, Jennifer peered in and gasped at the sight before her. Yugi sat on his violet colored bed, feet dangling a good foot off the ground as he spoke in a low voice. But it wasn't Yugi that disturbed her, oh no, it was the person to which he was speaking! Sitting beside the small teen was a translucent figure with red-violet trimmed black spikes and blonde bangs, three of which shot up into the black spikes. His face was sharp, and his eyes were a deadly crimson that held a fierce amount of intimidating strength and an aura of overwhelming power. It was the same hallucination she had seen the other day while walking home from school, but it couldn't be a hallucination, for Yugi was talking to it!
"Well…it's been a while and nothing remotely evil has even come our way." Jennifer heard Yugi mutter to the fearsome figure beside him. Moving closer to the crack, Jennifer listened as the stranger replied in a deep baritone voice that sent chills down her spine "We just have to wait Yugi, be patient."
'Why would they want to encounter something evil?' Jennifer wondered to herself, fear and nerves tossing her stomach around. She took quick step away from the door, no longer interested in the malicious plans Yugi was making with the translucent being. Her main priority was just to get the hell out of there that instant! She took another swift step backwards and gasped as the heel of her foot made contact with a loose floorboard. She stumbled frantically before falling with a defining 'bang' on the hardwood flooring. The voices abruptly stopped and shuffling footfalls warned her that some was approaching. 'Crap it's them!' she mentally screamed as the door to the room crept slowly open.
"What was that?" Yugi whispered out loud, standing up and striding over to the bedroom door, as Atem disappeared back inside the puzzle. Gasping the knob, Yugi braced himself for anything dangerous or unexpected and pushed the door open.
"Jennifer?" the small teen said as his amethyst eyes landed on the brunette girl before him. Jennifer lay on her back in the middle of the floor, dressed in a lilac night gown that splayed out around her like the blades of a fan. The brown eyed girl rubbed the side of her head as she stood, and peered at Yugi with curiosity and, something that thoroughly confused him, mistrust and fear.
"Jennifer, are you okay?" the small teen asked, extending a pail hand out towards the girl who flinched and edged away from his touch. "What's wrong?" he said, confusion lacing his voice as he advanced towards the now retreating girl.
Jennifer cursed as she felt her back make contact with the paneled wood of the wall. Yugi's amethyst eyes peered at her with a mixture of confusion, hurt and concern as he extended his hand towards her. His strange translucent twin was no where to be seen, but Jennifer wasn't taken any chances. No way was she going to take the hand of someone she had just heard wishing for evil to find him! She tried to edge away from the innocent looking boy, but tripped once more and landed flat on her back.
"Jennifer!" Yugi cried, reaching down to help the fallen girl from the ground. As he reached towards her, however, he noticed something golden glimmering around the girl's cinnamon colored neck. "What's this?" he asked, hooking a finger around the thin golden chain and pulling the rest of the necklace out from underneath Jennifer's nightgown.
As the hallway lamps illuminated the small golden pendent Yugi let out an exclamatory screech. "What?!"
Bakura eyed the dark haired boy before him with contempt. 'This mere mortal wouldn't dare harm me!' he mentally cried in triumph, advancing upon the black eyed boy. 'Don't get too… cocky…Bakura…' Ryou practically whimpered through their link as the bonds Bakura had placed around his consciousness constricted around him. 'We don't…know what he's…capable of…'
'Oh please.' Bakura cackled, brushing Ryou's warning away with a lazy flick of his wrist. 'No pathetic little teenager could harm me! I'm Bakura, The King of Thieves!'
The white haired thief reached out towards Derus, who was now only standing three feet away from him, when suddenly a pulsating light emanated from his chest, and the Millennium ring shot upwards, its pointers quivering as the landed upon a spot in Derus's trench coat.
Bakura's brown eyes followed the pointers path and directed one of his fingers towards the selected section of coat. "What's in your pocket, boy?!" Bakura cried, in voice dangerous enough to make a lion run for cover. To the thief's astonishment and extreme anger, the teenager threw his head back and howled with insane laughter. "You insolent little brat!" Bakura cried, rushing forward and gripping the collar of the still laughing teen's shirt. "How dare you laugh at The Thief King! I should send your soul to the shadow realm where it will forever be feasted upon by the creatures of the darkness until you are nothing more than an empty pitiful excuse for life!"
The dark eyed boy just starred at him, before breaking out into a far louder fit of mirth.
Howling with rage, Bakura threw the boy roughly to the ground before reaching down towards his ring. "You asked for this mortal!" he cried as the room began to fill with ghostly shadows.
Derus stood, still chuckling, and fixed Bakura with his malicious stare, a cruel smirk twisting the corners of his mouth. "I'll show you what's in my pocket." He whispered, reaching into the coat with his right hand, black eyes ever leaving Bakura's face. Said thief was too curious to know just what his ring wanted him to find to notice that the shadow around him had disappeared.
Derus's wondering hand suddenly stopped shifting through the folds of his clothing and an eerie smile replaced his smirk. "Behold, Thief King." He cried, yanking his arm out to the jacket "The Millennium Rod!"
"Oh my God!" Yugi cried as his eyes raked over the pendant in his palm. "Jennifer do you know what this is?!" he gasped looking at the girl with a mixture of excitement, fear, and glee.
Jennifer just gazed at the boy, her brown eyes searching his amethyst pools for a hint of malevolence and sign that he meant her harm, but there was none. The teen just seemed overjoyed and slightly scarred at his discovery of her necklace. She wasn't going to take any chances, however. She knew people could be amazing actors and she wouldn't put that skill past the charms of the little ball of "innocents" before her.
"It's a family heirloom!" the tanned girl suddenly snapped, wrenching the golden pendant from a very shocked Yugi's hand. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't touch it with your grubby little fingers!" she huffed irritably, tucking the trinket safely within the front of her night gown.
Yugi took a step back at her harsh words, hurt and dismay clearly visible in his violet irises. Jennifer felt regret instantly well inside her at thought of hurting the perfect, angelic boy, and almost reached out to stroke his face and ask for forgiveness for her atrocious behavior. Almost.
Placing a smug smirk upon her face, Jennifer turned on her heel and headed back down the hallway, wanting to escape the lingering, melancholy eyes that followed her.
As her fingers clasped around the knob of her bedroom door, a frantic pulsating glow emanated from her necklace as the hallway behind her filled with a blinding white light.
"Wait!" a deep, commanding voice ordered. Jennifer shivered involuntarily. She knew that voice.
Shaking with terror, the brunet turned slowly on her heel to face none other than the entity Yugi had been speaking to in his room, only the person before her was most certainly not translucent. His blazing crimson eyes bore down upon her and a very real, very solid had reached out towards her quaking form.
Jennifer's breath quickened as her heart beat out a frantic rhythm in her chest. Pressing her body as close to the wall as it would allow, Jennifer watched in horror as the figure approached. She could almost see the palpable aura of power and dignity that surrounded him, as if his very existence demanded respect.
"I would appreciate it if you would explain how that powerful item came into your possession." The entity growled, sending spasms of fear through out Jennifer's body.
"Yami stop this, you're scarring her!" a familiar voice said from somewhere behind the looming stranger. "Yugi?!" Jennifer cried in shock as the small boy stepped around the strange entity. "What…why…" she stuttered as she examined the boy before her, if he was still as boy. The normally solid teen now stood before her, translucent as his now solid friend. Astonished, see through amethyst eyes gazed back at her as the "spirit" Yugi gasped "Jennifer? You can see me?"
She nodded, a million questions streaming through her mind as the one dubbed Yami said "It must be her necklace Yugi. It allows her to see us in spirit form." The smaller look a like nodded and turned to face his shaking companion. "I bet you're very confused right now."
"Hell yeah!" she almost screamed, casting nervous glances between the two. "Well then let me explain."
What the she witnessed next startled Jennifer out of her senses. Without opening his mouth Yugi said 'Yami, let me take over.' 'As you wish.' The taller replied, without so much as a twitch of the lips. There was another blinding flash of light that caused her necklace to pulse and then it was no longer Yami that was standing before her.
"Yugi?" she asked quietly. The small teen nodded, a half smile stretching his lips as he traversed the few feet that separated them. "But how and he…" Jennifer stuttered, pointing to the now translucent Yami that stood beside the young teen.
Yugi smiled a true smile, gesturing towards the figure beside him. "Jennifer I would like to introduce you to my yami."
Derus smirked at the shocked look the yami was giving him. "Yes Bakura…" he said the name with a smirk "This is the Millennium Rod, and I believe by your reaction that you've seen it before?"
"Yes, you pathetic mortal." Bakura growled, bristling as the insolent teen addressed him in such a disrespectful manner. "And how did a speck of dirt like you come to hold such and item?"
"Well…" Derus said airily, twirling the rod around his finger in a very annoying fashion. "That's kind of a long story…"
"Then tell it you runt!' Bakura shouted, his temper getting the better of him.
"Now now." Derus said mockingly, shaking a disapproving finger at the white haired thief. "Let's not get angry. Maybe someone needs a time out." He said in a voice reminiscent of a mother scolding a young child.
"That's it!" Bakura cried ignoring the plea his hikari shouted at him and lunging at the arrogant teenager's throat. He was surprised as a wave of shadow magic rushed over him, sending him flying backwards into the far wall. His head collided with the paneled wood and he slid down into a sitting position, the shadows twisting around his arms and legs, immobilizing his limbs.
"That's better." Derus said, striding over to the fallen yami and looking gloatingly down at his prisoner. "Now, if you'll be a good little boy I'll let you go." He sneered, tweaking the tip of his captive's nose.
'BOY!!' the yami screeched indignantly inside his mind. Letting out a feral cry, he summoned his own shadow powers and prepared to launch a counter act at the still grinning teen. "Ah, ah ,ah…" Derus said in a sing song voice, waggling his finger.
Suddenly, Bakura felt the reserves of shadow magic he had called forward disappear. "What the…" he gasped, mentally groping around for a hint of his powers. He found none. "Derus!" he bit out "What did you do?!"
Derus laughed then. A high, cold, unbroken note full of twisted malice. "Well. You truly are ignorant aren't you?" he sneered. "I would have expected better from the legendary Thief King!"
"Why you little..." Bakura retort was cut short as a band of shadows wrapped around his mouth.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt me." Derus said casually, leaning against Ryou's bed post. "Now, as I was saying. You are ignorant, but not to fear, I am here to show you the true power you should be searching for!" At the last word, Derus brought up his Rod and the mass of shadows around him bubbled, twisting and contorting, to form an image of ancient Egypt.
"My father was an archeologist in Egypt." Derus muttered, the shadows shifted to show an image of a kind looking man with jet black hair and warm green eyes. "Every summer he would bring home different artifacts he had discovered on his digs. I loved each piece he brought back, but what I treasured above all were the stories he learned while reading ancient tablets in lost tombs." The image of the man vanished, to be replaced by a wall of Egyptian Hieroglyphs. "My favorite of his stories was the tale of the nameless pharaoh that sacrificed his soul to save his people from a great evil Thief King known as Bakura."
Derus smiled as the hieroglyphs morphed into a shadowy version of Bakura's face. "Every day I would ask him to tell me that story, and he complied, thinking I was enraptured by the selflessness of the king!" Derus cackled, throwing his dark head back in an eerie fashion. "Little did he know it was you who I sympathized with! The great King of Thieves! An almighty title. Much better then the nameless pharaoh!" As Derus chuckled the shadows contorted into a picture of a much younger looking Derus, surrounded by massive piles of books, and bent double over a large, dusty volume. "I was determined to learn more about you, so for years I searched through countless archives, legends, tombs, and anything else that might help bring me more information about your life." As each description passed Derus's lips, an image of the scenario would form from the shadows. "And at last I struck gold…" Derus whispered, a small smile toying with the corners of his mouth.
"I was in Egypt with my Father on an expedition, when I found it." He murmured, the scene in the shadows shifting once more to show the present day Derus walking through a high walled valley the sun beating mercilessly down upon his dark hair. "As I was exploring some near by land, I stumbled upon the wreckage of what looked like and an ancient pharaoh's tomb. Curious, I shifted through the rubble and discovered this." He looked down at the Millennium Rod, stroking its sides lovingly. "The moment my fingers brushed against it I was overwhelmed by waves of power." He laughed again, the image in the shadows displaying a Derus surrounded by shadows and blasting everything in his path to smithereens. "As I…tested my new found abilities I stumbled upon the entrance to a small cave." As he spoke a replica of the events played across the shadows. Bakura felt as though he had been transported into Derus's memory as he watched the dark eyed teen stride purposefully through a dimly lit hallway, reading the strange hieroglyphs that adorned the walls. "I felt compelled to continue down the never ending hall, as though some force was calling out me, drawing me towards it. After a while I finally reached the end of the hall, which opened up into a magnificent golden chamber." An image of a room completely incased in the glimmering metal, swam before Bakura's eyes as the shadows reflected the scene. "In the center of the room there was a tablet… and on that tablet was a prophecy…"
As the tablet appeared in the shadows, Bakura read the ancient prophecy in graved on its surface. "I didn't know this King of Shadows or Prince of Light…" Derus muttered "…but I did know that!" the dark haired boy pointed a commanding finger at the picture in the shadows. Bakura's eyes followed the path he was directing and beheld…
'The Millennium Puzzle!' Ryou mentally screamed. With new determination, the hikari tried to free himself from the bonds around his mind, concern and fear for his friend completely dominating Bakura's senses. Reaching within himself, the white haired thief used whatever mental strength he had to subdue the struggling boy, forcing him backwards into the deepest parts of his physique.
"So…" Derus continued, unaware of the mental battle that was raging before him. "I had heard of the Millennium Items through the many sources I'd scavenged through, and I knew that I was now the holder of the Millennium Rod and that that boy…" he waved a had towards tablet " the holder of the Millennium Puzzle, was the wielder of the incredible power of light as told of in the prophecy." He smiled a true smile then, which only made his features seem, if possible, even more insane. "To hold such power…" Derus whispered, stroking the sides of the Millennium Rod. "… to finally have enough strength as to be remembered as in the same category as the great Thief King…" his eyes darted to Bakura once more "…I had to have it…I had to find this prince and take his light for my own."
The scene in the shadows shifted to show Derus walking into a dusty looking tent, were the kind looking man with jet black hair and green eyes lay splayed out on a cot, covered with dust and staring at an old T.V., whose antenna were twice the size of the screen. "Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing who this prince was, were he lived, or even if he had been born yet!" Derus continued. "But when I returned to our campsite that night, I discovered my father watching some old Duel Monsters matches. That old fool always had a strange fascination for the card game." Derus scoffed, rolling his black eyes. "But for once his obsession served me well, for who should be on the screen dueling Seto Kiaba? None other than Yugi Motou!" the young teens face swam before Bakura in the shadows as he called an attack on Kiaba's life points. "And what did I see sitting on that midget's chest? Why…the Millennium Puzzle of course!" Derus cackled with joy. "The reporter on the screen said that the 'King of Games'…" he said the name mockingly "…was currently living in Domino City in the states." (A/N: Remember in this one they live in America) "Using the power of the rod I…convinced my father to move us immediately to Domino. Little did I know that I would not only discover the Prince of Light in the city, but also the spirit of my hero. The Thief King."
Leaning down so that he could whisper in Bakura's ear the teen said "And I'm so glad I found you…because now…we can take down the prince and his little pharaoh friend, and use his light to control the world that should have been yours all those millennia ago…" Straightening, Derus flicked his wrists so that the bonds around Bakura vanished. The spirit stood on shaky legs and turned to face the maniacal teen. "Do you accept?" Derus asked. An evil smirk graced Bakura's face as Ryou mentally screamed in protest. "Why…I thought you'd never ask…"
YG-Well that's the chapter! I hope you liked it! It took forever and a day to write!
Yugi- You feeling better YG?
YG-nods- Thank God for aspirin!
Yami- Hey has anyone seen that baka Tomb robber?
Bakura-stubbles in holding his head and coughing violently- You insolent mortal! You've infected me with your viral bacteria!-sneezes-
YG-Who's laughing now!
Bakura- Why you little-sneezes-I'm going to destroy you!
YG-Bring it!
Bakura-lunges after YG holding a knife-
YG-pulls out baseball bat- Hey! No fair! Knives aren't aloud!
Yugi and Yami-roll eyes- Please review! You know how much she loves them!
Bakura-Ouch!
YG-Take that you albino creampuff!
Yugi and Yami-Bye!