Disclaimer – I am not making any money off of these stories, nor do I own the characters in them. I am merely borrowing them for amusement. If I did own them, GX would never have been created (abomination that it is).

Authors Notes and Review Responses –

Helix – Dealing with life is where I've been. This plot bunny died a horrible death after taking too many hits about minor inconsistencies that really shouldn't have mattered all that much, and didn't wish to be revived. I am forcing it to work now.

Raditz – I'm fairly sure the apocalypse isn't near yet. Soon, possibly, but not yet. I'm glad you liked the chapter, hope you continue to enjoy, and I'm going to try and update every Sunday until the story is completed.

Midnight Chamber – I apologize for the shortness of the last chapter. I'm trying to stick to an at least three type written pages minimum for each chapter, but some are proving harder than others. I will try for more, but I can make no promises.

Lynnwoo – I really mean it, I promise. I want this story done as much as you all do. I just regret it took so damn long.

Ferris Ulf – I have to torture my favorite muse, you know that! Besides, Kura gets his fair share of the limelight from me. Time he had something bad happen. So glad you bothered to review from me, hun, it's always an honor to have an author whose works I enjoy reading review my own.

Strgazer – Thank you! I'll try.

Sliders245 – every Sunday until it's done. Or at least, that's the plan.

Petalpixie – Why thank you. Kura is my favorite character, so you'll find much of my writing revolves around him. Kaiba is, or I should say was, a conundrum to me when I wrote this, so you won't see him much in this one, but he will be appearing in other works I hope to begin posting soon.

Tavia454 – likely this was buried in the annuls of fandom considering how long it had been since I put anything up. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Flamethrowerqueen – hey spazz! Yeah, I'm glad to be back writing on something I can get reviews for. I've missed my reviews!

Apollymi – if it weren't for the fact that I don't want to injure you, I would tackle glomph you into the next millennium, dear. You remain one of my all time favorite and inspirational authors, and I STILL go back and read your stuff off and on! I really do wish to see more out of you, and just for the fact that my writing is somehow keeping you in the fandom (when I figure that out, I'll let you know) I'm going to make sure I post stuff! I want more from you!!!!

And with that . . . on with the story!!!!

Chapter 21 –

The mansion was silent, sprawled upon the expanse of land the Collector had claimed as his own like some slumbering beast deep within its dreams of power and glory. Yami and Marik studied it through the gate silently, their presence cloaked (they hoped) by the shadows.

The lack of security alone was unnerving, but then again this age of technology made it fairly useless to have fleshly guards in place at all times. They knew the mortal security was there . . . Yami's rescue from this compound having given them far too intimate a view into those workings . . . but they did not know if their lack of presence until called for was normal.

And that musing did not take into account the faint pulse of shadow laden magic that seemed to enshroud the entire stone building within its dark taint. A taint that should NOT have been there.

"You don't think . . ." Marik began, and Yami shook his head, his own eyes dark with concern as he studied the building, recalling in his own mind how he and Bakura had gotten within that stone sanctuary the last time they had come. Somehow, he didn't think it would be as easy without the master thief himself to guide their efforts.

"This magic does not bear Bakura's signature," he murmured. "Each of us, when we use our magic, leaves an imprint upon the shadows we use. This . . . is not Bakura's doing." That thought, rather than soothing, was troubling in the extreme. He could see it in the young Egyptian's eyes, just as he could feel it in his own.

Outside of the King of Thieves, Master of the Shadows himself, there should have been only two other people capable of manipulating the shadows in any way, shape, or form. And two happened to be himself, and Marik. So, since he and Marik had not created whatever spell lay over the building, and it didn't bear Bakura's unique 'signature' . . . who had done it? Was there another shadow mage now loose who could pose a threat to their existence? If so, how? The Shadow Realm was sealed to all but those who had inherited its use, those who had at one time wielded a Millennium Item and still walked this world.

Yami liked puzzles, but this was a mental one he could have well done without. Especially considering the 'signature' WAS familiar to him, but he could not recall why, or where he had sensed it before. It just seemed to tug on him, at some ancient memory he had yet to have fully uncovered, but it did create a sense of foreboding within him. One that he was loathe to impart upon Marik for fear that it was unfounded.

"Come. The sooner we are about this, the sooner Bakura will be among us again, and Ryou will be alright." He and Marik couldn't help the shared smile that passed between them with his words. Even in his wildest imaginings of what might be, the thought that he would be comforted by Bakura being anywhere nearby himself would never have arisen.

Times had certainly changed, as had people.

As silently as they could, the two shadow wielders slipped over the stone fence and melded into the darkness in search of the man who had become their friend.

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"They come."

Eliot, the Collector, looked up from where he was browsing the book open upon his lap, fingers lovingly moving over the gold scripted words as his lips moved silently, sounding out in his head the spell he would soon be casting for real. He glanced toward where the voice had spoken from, seeing nothing more than a writhing blue-black mass of darkness and seemingly random chaos and the deep red eyes that glowed from within that seething cloud of shadow.

"You are sure of this?" The cloud snarled, a bone jarring sound that threatened to drag the house down from its lofty heights back into the ground whose bones it was made from with the force of its rumble. "Forgive me. I do not mean to question a god." There was a great deal of insincerity in those words, but it was the utterance of them, not the tone, that was judged. Stupid godling, Eliot thought. When the gate was finally opened . . .

"You would do well to remember your place, mortal," the seething mass rumbled. "Simply because you are the one that opened the living gateway back into this realm for me does not mean that I am at your service. A god serves no one." Between one heartbeat and the next, things changed. "Shall I go meet them, then? Welcome them to my coming back party?"

"Yes, I believe that would be for the best." Eliot watched as the darkness made visible drifted out the door with a bland expression. Once the door had closed, however, the man sneered, setting the book aside and rising. He would be well rid of that one, once the portal was fully opened and the spell could be completed.

Smiling slightly to himself, the Collector wondered what it would be like to kill a god and take his place.

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"This is too easy." Yami started at the sudden sound of Marik's voice in the silence through which they had been moving, but he unfortunately had to agree with the blonde's assessment of the situation thus far. This WAS too easy.

They had encountered no one and nothing before arriving here, deep within the mansion and going from room to room looking for their missing companion and friend. No guards, no obstacles, nothing to impede their progress or even signal that someone knew they were here. It was disturbing, and it made Yami grit his teeth as his spine seemed to crawl with the itch to turn around and find the eyes that he was sure were upon them both.

"Where is everyone? Where is Bakura? They have to have known we would come for him . . . you would think they would guard this place better . . ." Marik continued as he checked another room cautiously, again finding it empty. Yami shrugged, keeping to his side of the hallway as they moved ahead from room to room.

"I do not know, Marik. Perhaps it is as we hoped, they did not expect us to move so soon and thus we have evaded their trap by pre-empting it." The hope, good as it was, sounded empty and unbelievable even to his ears. Even should that have been the case, they should have run into someone by now. The law of chances stated as much. This was almost as if the areas they were going into had been deliberately cleared of people . . . and that was a foreboding thought indeed.

Yami shuddered suddenly, coming to a standstill as what he could only define as an ill-met wind seemed to slip it's way through the hallway, fingers sliding up his already disturbed spine. He was not alone in that feeling, for seconds later Marik had stopped as well, and was looking at him with wide lavender eyes.

"What the hell was that?" the blonde Egyptian whispered. Yami shook his head, silently communicating his own ignorance . . . and then spun around as a cold, cruel chuckle sounded from down the hallway behind them.

"So nice of you to come, Pharaoh . . . Tomb Keeper. We've been expecting you." The end of the hallway had become enveloped in swirling shadows, leaving only a pair of glowing crimson eyes upon which they could focus their nervous attention.

"Who are you? What do you want of us?" Yami stepped forward, gesturing for Marik to get behind him as he drew himself up regally, crimson eyes narrowing as he took on a tone of command. "Where is Bakura?" The cloud seemed to become more agitated, even as it chuckled again darkly in amusement.

"Who I am, you already know. What I want, you will soon find out." Tendrils were beginning to creep down the hallway as it spoke, writhing as they slithered over carpet and wood. "As for the Thief . . . he is serving his purpose. As you will all serve your purpose before we are through." Yami hissed as Marik's fingers clenched in the cloth at his back with those words.

"Show yourself, demon!" The words echoed with power, and the force of the Pharaoh's fury. A fury that quickly died, sputtering into non-existence as the cloud swirled and eddied . . . then disappeared, leaving them staring at the very person they had come to rescue. "Bakura!" The pale features moved in a parody of a smirk, the dark red eyes smoldering in the shadow ringed sockets. "You are not Bakura, but you wear his body . . ." Yami whispered, horrified. Ryou had been right, it seemed. But what was it that was now in possession of the former spirit's physical form? What Shadow Monster would do such a thing?

"Age has not addled your too mortal brain after all, Pharaoh," Not-Bakura husked, tucking its hands into the jeans its current body wore. "The thief was and is a living gateway, a ready made host thanks to the darkness in his soul. He merely needed to be weakened, and the spell activated, for me to reemerge from the dark depths into which you cast me at the end of our last game." Crimson eyes widened as the memories surfaced with the creature's words, pieces falling into place, but it was Marik that spoke next.

"The demon master of the Shadow Realm . . ." The pale figure smirked wider and bowed mockingly, the burning red of his eyes never leaving their forms. "But . . . Bakura's body . . ."

"I can sustain it for any length of time . . . I am the true master of the Shadows, and all the power that resides therein. These mortal forms are merely shadow and substance made solid. An easy enough thing to do for one such as I." One pale hand waved gracefully, and the shadows began to gather again. Just before his face fully disappeared, the creature spoke again, a maniacal and all too expecting look in his eyes. "Do not trouble yourselves with the thief . . ." he murmured. "Once the ritual is complete, I will no longer need his body . . . and he can go to his justly deserved annihilation, which he is several thousand years late for. For now, I'll merely enjoy toying with him again. He's always been such a GOOD playmate."

"ZORC!!!!!!" The name rose to Yami's lips on the surge of a memory long buried. Yami didn't think, or even consciously make a decision. He simply charged, pushed over the edge of reason by the demon god's words. That Bakura should be in the hands of this . . . thing, this creature . . . no. It was unthinkable, and unpardonable that he consider leaving his friend in that situation. Dimly he heard Marik behind him swear, trying to get him to stop before the blonde was beside him, joining with him, joining him . . .

And before they even got close, they knew it was a hopeless battle.

The shadows swarmed around them, forming faces and figures both frightening and familiar as they put their backs against each other, calling upon their own magic's to fight the demon born shadows as Zorc's laughter echoed triumphantly around them. Fighting shadows with shadows was dangerous enough, but Zorc was their god, their master and possibly their creator as well. Yami and Marik knew that, no matter how powerful and how good their control of the Realm was, it could NOT match up to Zorc.

Yami could think of only one other thing to do.

"Bakura! Please, I know you can hear me! Fight him! You have to fight him!" He called to the thief, even as the numbers began to swell against them and he knew that he and Marik were running out of time. "Ryou needs you! I need you, you damn stupid albino! I am not going to be the only one our age in a group of teenagers!" Marik quickly picked up the thread, joining him in calling to the thief who had to still reside somewhere within Zorc, even as the circle of shadowy figures grew closer, their blasts less useful at keeping the tightening ring at bay.

"Yami . . ." Marik murmured as the wall of darkness closed ever closer around them.

"BAKURA, PLEASE!"

The figures stuttered, halted, and began crumbling apart suddenly, dissolving as an enraged scream encompassed them.

Run.

The word, more felt than heard, still gave them both the distinct impression of the pale thief behind it.

RUN!

They ran, as the howl of anger and betrayal arose from behind them.

"TOMB ROBBER!!!!!"

Yami whipped Marik around the corner and flung himself after. They had to get out of here, think of something else. Bakura, for the time being, was lost to them, and with Zorc loose upon the world their trump card of Shadow Magic was long gone. Now Yami understood why he had recognized the signature on the shadows encompassing the mansion, but hadn't been able to pinpoint where in his memories he had run into it before. Zorc had been banished long ago, or so he seemed to remember.

"That . . . we can't leave . . . Yami, Bakura . . ." Marik panted, and Yami shook his head, struggling to keep going.

"We have to, Marik," he snapped, not liking having to admit it. "We can't fight him. We'll have to think of something else."

"That, my dear Pharaoh, is a plan thought of too late." Yami had a moment to realize their error before blackness took him, and the last sight before his eyes was Marik crumpled to the floor at the Collector's feet, a golden book lying open in the man's hands.

All three pieces were now his.

- Okay folks, you know the drill. Review, please. Make my mood a little lighter, make it easier for this bunny to spit out the ideas!