A/N: I don't own Hikari Motou my friend CuteYami does.
Last Time
"Each monster I
brought back from the grave cost me 500 points. Game over"
Raphael replied smiling fondly at his Guardians as his life points
fell from 4000 to 0...
"Raphael!"
Yuugi whispered, eyes wide, throat tight as he watched the Seal
shrink around Raphael, watching his sacrifice. "Are you trying
to show us something from this? Are you giving up to give us another
chance?"
"Yes
Yuugi...good-bye..." He replied expecting the Oracle to take his
soul but it didn't.
Yuugi stared as the Oracle left Raphael's soul in tact, leaving it in his body, close to him.
End Flashback
Anzu growled. "What's going on?!" she hissed.
"It's because of Raphael's attempted sacrifice." Yuugi replied.
"I get it, because he was giving himself up, the Oracle had no power to drain his soul, it really is just like last time." Vicky muttered.
Raphael stayed where he was, kneeling.
Yuugi stepped towards Raphael, unsure what to do, everyone else had fallen victim to the Oracle, even Ryou now, but Raphael remained, he stared at the man kneeling before him, hate no longer surfacing, only confusion.
"What's going on?" Raphael asked. He had lost hadn't he?
"Your sacrifice attempt to protect your guardians from the cemetery saved your soul. Like you did against Yami, didn't you?" Yuugi whispered gently.
"Yes... hey how did you know about that?" The surprised duelist asked having known Yuugi wasn't present the last time.
"Anzu and Vicky told me, they saw everything happen last time." Yuugi replied.
"I couldn't remember until the Oracle bonded with me and that guy that looked like Yuugi" Vicky answered. "I had a feeling he was called Yami. Hang on, you never told me what really DID happen to that Yami guy you were talking about earlier. That was him, wasn't it?"
"Yeah." Anzu replied.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" she asked, Destiny moving slowly towards her.
"Couldn't risk it. Anyway we wiped his memories of before now so he wouldn't be able to stop Yuugi and me." Anzu replied.
"Hey Yuugi?" Raphael asked softly.
"You erased Yami's memories too?!" Vicky gasped, almost horror-struck that they would do that.
Yuugi turned back to Raphael as he heard his name, leaving Anzu to nod silently in response to the question. "What is it Raphael?" he asked calmly.
"Just Yami's not Yuugi's." Anzu replied.
"Just out of curiously why were you using the Oracle? The Pharaoh told me you were pure." Raphael answered.
"I did it for Anzu." Yuugi replied. "She was fine with it and I wanted to be there for her so I did it to be close to her. Yami knows nothing anyway, he was trying to control me, that's why we sealed him away, took his memories and trapped him in the darkness." He continued in an almost cold tone.
Raphael's eyes widened for a moment before he calmed down.
"He'll be fine when he comes around; what's more important is what we're going to do with you." Yuugi growled, a hint of darkness back again. "You better leave and find your family, speak nothing of this or else we'll duel again and you won't escape because of a little sacrifice."
"Yuugi-san relax. I have no intentions of saying anything." Raphael said, calmly.
"I know, but the human nature will want you to. Just go now before things turn against you as badly as they did him." Yuugi warned sternly.
"Hold on... there was-" Before Raphael could continue a blindingly bright force entered the room.
Yuugi shielded his eyes from the light, behind him, the others did the same, he groaned, wishing the light could die down so he could see what had caused it.
"What the..." Raphael asked, stunned.
"No further harm shall come to the innocent who play against the Oracle!" a voice called out, Yuugi groaned, opening his eyes slightly, he knew that voice.
"Who the hell..." Asked Raphael.
The light faded to reveal a young girl staring ahead at the group before her, she stared sternly at Yuugi, he gasped upon seeing her, she was the last person he expected.
"Who are you?" Raphael asked, Airtos appearing in spirit form to protect him just in case.
"Don't worry Airtos; I'm not here to harm Raphael. I've come to see my cousin." she spoke.
"Hikari!" Yuugi gasped. He looked ahead, it was her. Brunette hair falling to her waist, her cream colored shirt, the black trousers that he remembered she loved. She stared at him with deep hazel eyes, a stern look; he stared at her in shock.
Raphael walked over to Yuugi giving her the girl a If-you-harm-him-your-dead look.
"Raphael, I don't mean any harm to anyone, I cam to see him after I heard what happened. We're family; you of all people should understand what that means. Go to your family, let me set them free." she spoke calmly.
"No. Yuugi is my closest friend besides my Guardians. I treat him like I do my Guardians."
"Raphael!" Yuugi whispered in surprise. "Why are you defending me I almost captured your soul." He blinked, a sinister look returning, a glare, his voice became dark along with the eyes. "Besides I told you to go before I did to you what we did to Yami."
"Because I care about you Yuugi." The older duelist replied.
Yuugi sighed before turning to Anzu, she'd have a better idea what to do with the defending rival than he did, Hikari did nothing as she awaited their confusion to pass.
Raphael knelt down to Yuugi. "I owe you. Yuugi...please you're the only person I care about excluding my family."
Yuugi gasped before turning to Anzu, a desperate look on his face, Raphael was loyal but he wasn't stupid, he wasn't likely to join the Oracle's forces again after his family were returned to him; he mouthed words to Anzu, pleading her to help him in deciding what to do.
"Yuugi... If you have an ounce of good left in you you'll listen to my words." Raphael said.
"What are they Raphael? What is it?" Yuugi whispered.
"I sacrificed the duel to try to help you. But I can see that was in vain…" He turned to leave hoping Yuugi would stop him.
Yuugi stared at Raphael, Hikari moving to the side, wondering what was happening as he stared at Raphael. "What do you mean?" Yuugi whispered. "You sacrificed yourself for your family; you're supposed to be with them. When Yami brought them back, this was something that you weren't supposed to get caught up in so much. The plan was defeat you, not do this." He glanced at Anzu once again; still nothing had come from her.
"I understand that... But you're the closest friend I have excluding my family. Don't you know the bond that makes?"
"It makes one of strength I understand, great strength." Yuugi sighed. "But this isn't your fight any longer, it's mine. I wanted to stop you getting involved in all this all over again. That's why we planned to defeat you, make it easy for you."
"So your plan was to try to kill me?" He joked though he was still quite serious.
"I guess." Yuugi sighed as he continued. "Just try to keep you out of everything bigger, the original plan wouldn't have extended to you, but when you arrived and everything grew, there was no way to get you out of the way without dueling you."
"I'm guessing you want me to leave now?"
"It'd be for the best Raphael, the Oracle already overpowered us before, you don't even want to see what it did to Yami." Yuugi sighed, glancing at Anzu; it was in her mind that Yami still remained. "Listen, go and just enjoy the time you have with your family. We'll handle things here."
"As you wish just be careful with that thing will ya?" He asked ruffling Yuugi's hair before he got on his motorcycle and rode off.
Yuugi smiled as Raphael finally left, understanding that he couldn't truly leave his family in the risky chance of facing the group again; he turned to Hikari, a dark look in his eyes that clouded his normal look. "So what are you doing here?" he asked, before turning to Anzu, sneering at his cousin.
Anzu giggled sneering back at Hikari.
"I've come to help you." Hikari replied blankly. "I heard what happened and came back to help you. But you have to release Yami and set Anzu apart from the Oracle before anything can happen. I doubt you'll listen, I'll have to try another way of getting you to understand."
Yuugi laughed wickedly. "You've lost it. My plans are nearly complete." He smiled evilly back at Mokuba.
Hikari noticed Mokuba close to Yuugi, around the back row, Vicky and Destiny stood close by, Rebecca remained in the shadows, Anzu stayed closest to Yuugi. "I understand, everyone else has tried and failed, even Yami. You will release them when this is over, whether it's by choice or because of Oracle turns on you." she mumbled sternly.
"The Oracle will never turn on it's new king and queen." He winked at Anzu as he said queen.
"So you say, but it will." Hikari replied emotionlessly, looking much like she was in a trance as she continued. "It turned on Dartz when he couldn't win and made him and the Leviathan one. It's been turning on you several times from the start and there's nothing you can do about it. If you don't turn back, it'll swallow you both and take you to the place where the others went when they lost."
"Shut up..." Replied Mokuba, coldly.
"You of all people have struggled Mokuba, you know what its like." she replied, turning her head slightly towards him in an unusual manner. "When Kaiba gave up everything just to free you, you were freed until afterwards, the Oracle took your human self and left this. Just like it did to Rebecca and Yami, mindless puppets capable of doing nothing when they've been pushed too far. You were lucky to escape that role."
Mokuba's stone activated trying to take Hikari's soul on it's own.
"That won't work." Hikari spoke, still her voice calm and emotionless, her eyes blank, the black of her pupils overpowering the iris. "That stone will just turn, your anger towards me will feed it and it'll just take your soul from all you've given it."
Mokuba looked shocked that it hadn't worked.
"You're scared aren't you? Because you know that it hasn't worked on me but it'll work on you. I'm not wrong." Hikari replied coldly. "In the next moments, your soul will be stolen."
"Heh...not true it will take yours…"
"Of course it will, then why's the fear in your soul?" Hikari replied, watching with the same blank stare through the eyes that were narrow, her eyelids low, giving her a possessed look, her lowered her head slightly, her look slightly darker from the new angle.
"There isn't." Then just as the younger Kaiba had predicted the Oracle appeared below her.
She smiled, the face still blank, but the smile showing off a slightly darker side of her, the girls close to Mokuba watched as the Sennen Eye appeared on her forehead, she was combining the powers, they glanced back at Mokuba, wondering what was going to happen next.
"What the…" Mokuba asked, stunned.
"Didn't I tell you?" Hikari teased. "The Oracle won't take me because its power has been stretched; the power of the Sennen Items has been not so much. It won't take me because it's ready to turn on you."
"I told you I am loyal to it. Besides..." Mokuba laughed spitefully. "I have no soul left for it to steal."
"Not on the surface, but underneath the real Mokuba lurks, trapped, trying to break free so he can save his brother" Hikari answered. "You will see, I will not leave."
"He's long gone..."
"That's what you're saying to stop the Oracle from taking you. Think of all the good that he did for you, all the times he saved you even if he was delayed, all the times he at least tried, the way he broke the control over you before. That's what will show you the truth. You can't hide behind the Oracle's lies forever. Look what it did to Dartz, listen to the truth, the memories and you'll see."
Mokuba's eyes turned bloodshot red almost.
Hikari smiled, waiting for the moment when the truth would break through to the real Mokuba buried away inside his shell.
Mokuba glared a evil fire burning in his eyes.
Hikari made no response, the Oracle remained under her, the light of the Sennen Eye on her head, she continued to smirk darkly and blankly at Mokuba, waiting to see what he'd try and pull.
"What's with her Yuugi-kun?" Anzu asked.
"She's been like this since I can remember." Yuugi sighed. "We were wondering what was up with her blank behavior sometimes, her eyes would do this and she'd take on a completely different personality, normally calm like this. We still haven't had an answer yet, but I have a theory that she has a link with the Sennen Items, I mean, look at her head. This happens sometimes and she's just using it to get to us. Once it's over, she'll be back to herself."
"Yes but this weakens her right Yuge?" A voice said.
Yuugi turned to see someone he didn't expect, the voice sent a chill down his spine, he gasped, eyes wide with horror when he noticed the other behind him. Hikari smiled darkly as the truth came to Yuugi, it had happened again.
"J-Jonouchi?!" Yuugi gasped in surprise.
"Yeah it's me Yuge." Jou replied as he stepped out but this time he too bore the Oracle Symbol.
"See what it's doing?" Hikari asked. "It's possessing Jonouchi's body - and even the others - because it knows that it won't need you much longer. Face the truth, its the one in control."
"That's it I've had it with you!" Mokuba shouted punching her as hard as he could.
Hikari fell against the wall, she stood afterwards, grinning strangely as a small trail of blood trickled down from her mouth, she turned to Yuugi, he stared at her, slightly unnerved.
"She's done this before!" he whispered. "But never like this. Never this bad."
The Puzzle began to glow as Yuugi tried to send her spirit to the Yami No Darkness.
"Yuugi, you can send me away, but I'll be back the instant Yami's set free. You can't get rid of me that easily!" she hissed sternly, the smile fading.
The shadows around closed in, gripping her tightly before growing, blanketing her entire form, she stared at Yuugi still blankly before fading away under the force of the shadows.
As the last of Hikari vanished, the entrance to the city opened, a young boy stepping through, with Hikari gone, their plan was set, he was finally back, he smiled at the city around him, and the place to go wasn't far from his current location.
Whose the one released because of Hikari's demise? Find out next time!