Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing. I can't believe that I have 129 reviews. All of them have been nice, which really encourages me to keep going. I have the ending of this all done, but have been a bit stuck over how to get rid of Zorc. I have a few ideas, but still not too sure what to do. I wan't it to be really exciting, but what I have come up with thus far is a bit crappy to be honest! Writers block. Arrrgghh.
I am going to Tenerife on Wednesday, to do the K42 Canarias Anaga Marathon. I am away for a whole week so that we can make the most of the warm winter sunshine. Unfortunately this means no update next week because I won't have my laptop with me. I will endeavour to get the next chapter posted on 14th providing I can get rid of the writers block that has been plaguing me on the next couple of chapters.
Anyways...Here is the next chapter.
PS.. I don't own Yugioh.
For the Sins of the Father
Chapter 24. A Close Call
Nothing happened at first. Yugi carefully stepped forward and bent down to retrieve his sword.
Mana quickly handed Atem his crown, which he dutifully placed back on his head. She reached up and gently rearranged his golden bangs which were sticking out at a much stranger angle than usual, so that they framed his face a little better. Somehow the crown had the effect of making him appear even more handsome, regal and commanding.
With the help of Mana's healing spell, he was also feeling better, his wrists were now fully healed and he was ready for battle.
"Thank you Mana," he winked, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
As the swirling fog and dust particles where the labyrinth had been began to clear, they spotted Pierre laying motionless on the ground.
"NO.. Pierre!" Without thinking, Alain ran to where Pierre lay.
"Alain wait? It might be a trap," Yugi shouted. He had no choice but to run after him. "Mahad, watch my back?"
As Yugi and Alain went to help their fallen comrade, the shadows suddenly started to become darker and more sinister; like thunderclouds brewing for the mother of all storms.
Mana and Atem stood alongside Mahad, ready for whatever action they might have to take.
Atem's first instinct was to run and help Yugi, but Mahad held him back. "Let them handle it, we don't want to risk further casualties." As much as Atem hated admit it, he had to agree. It would be of no benefit to them if he were to run into danger as well. Yugi seemed more than capable of dealing with this without his help, but it was still hard for Atem when his first instinct had always been to protect Yugi.
Meanwhile, Bakura watched on, leaning on the wall at the back of the dungeon, with arms folded and a cross between a scowl and a smirk on his face. He was torn; while he didn't want to appear too keen to help them fight, he also knew that he might need to swallow his pride and get involved for his own self preservation.
"Yugi! He's not breathing!" Alain was panicking.
Fearing an attack was imminent, Yugi glanced up at the forming shadows, that were taking of the sinister appearance of Zorc Necrophades. "We have to hurry!"
Quickly, and none too gently, they lifted Pierre up between them and started to run back with him, but the shadow Zorc had already launched an attack.
A large clawed hand appeared to form around the three men, blocking their escape and obscuring them from the view of their watching friends.
Looking on in horror, Atem called out. "No! Yugi? I have to help them." He ran into the shadowy claw.
The clawed hand belonged to Zorc, but because he had merged with the shadows it was non corporeal, so he couldn't do them any actual physical damage such as crush their bones or tear off their limbs, but they could still feel it closing around them, like thick smog, choking their windpipes and crushing their lungs. Yugi slashed at it with his sword, but all it did was go straight through without doing any damage.
As Atem reached them, the shadow Zorc's claw turned all its hatred and attention to him, causing him to collapse on his knees coughing and gasping for air. This gave Yugi and Alain just enough time to pull Pierre out of the shadow claw. Mahad rushed forward to help Alain drag Pierre clear, while Yugi went back for Atem. He and Atem clung to each other, as together they fought to escape.
It looked as though they might be losing the battle to keep breathing. Mana could see them growing weaker as they struggled with its choke hold. She desperately wanted to do something but was afraid to fire into the shadow claw for fear of hurting Yugi and Atem. She stood pointing her staff desperately trying to decide how to attack.
"Ma-na," Atem coughed, "att-ack the sh-adow claw. Th-that's an or-der."
'Have faith, neither prince or Yugi will be hurt." Mana heard her Dark Magician Girl alter ego in her mind. Placing her faith in Atem's decision to order her to attack, she did as she was told, firing a burst into the clawed shadow that was suffocating Yugi and Atem. The moment Atem saw the bright ball of heka coming at them he grabbed Yugi "Lie flat on the ground," he quickly managed to relay through their mind link. Yugi, realising what was happening, did as he was told, laying flat on the ground with Atem.
It worked! The shadow claw recoiled back into the cloud formation resembling Zorc, giving Yugi and Atem enough time to scramble free.
As soon as they were safely behind Mana and Mahad, Mahad put up a mirror force barrier to protect them. "I don't know how long I can keep the shadow Zorc at bay, we need to find a way to escape," he shouted.
"Zorc has blocked the exit, how will we escape?" Mana asked. They were trapped and unless they could work out a way to defeat Zorc, they were doomed.
Alain was frantically doing CPR on Pierre. "Can we help?" Yugi asked as he and Atem, still breathing heavily from their ordeal, bent down to help.
"Mana can you heal him?" Atem asked.
"I am not sure I can re-start a heart that has stopped beating." She shook her head sadly.
"We can't let him die!" Alain was getting exhausted doing chest compressions.
"Mystical Elf!" Yugi pulled the card out of his deck. The angelic looking elf appeared, looking serene. "Can you help him with your gift of healing?" He asked her. She nodded, closed her eyes and placed her hands together in prayer and started chanting.
"Yugi, we have to hurry, I can't hold this barrier much longer! Even in shadow form Zorc is strong."
"Yugi, give me Kuribo?" Yugi nodded and handed the Kuribo card to Atem.
Standing up to join Mahad, Atem summoned Kuribo. The brown fuzz ball appeared on Atem's shoulder and nuzzled up to him. "Kurreee, Master?"
Atem ruffled his fur. "Hello old friend. Kuriboh, use multiply and protect us from the shadows?"
Kuriboh blinked his wide owlish eyes and nodded his body. "Kurrrreeee..." Hundreds of mini versions of Kuriboh appeared, providing a barrier to help the rapidly depleting mirror force.
"Thank you Kuriboh." A rather weary and grateful Mahad was now able to concentrate on how to get them out of the situation they were in. Turning round he noticed Bakura leaning against the wall watching them struggle. The normally calm Mahad felt his temper starting to rise. "Why don't you try peeling yourself off the wall and help?" He seethed. "If you are truly the King of Thieves; the master of escape. Then do something useful?!"
The comment made by Mahad had irked his pride. Of course Bakura had a way out! He could slip out unnoticed at any time he wished. He just couldn't decide whether he wanted to help them by taking them with him. He could choose to sneak away and leave them to fight Zorc, in the hope that they might win. But then again, what if they lost? Zorc would be able to reclaim his body and become unstoppable.
Bakura wasn't sure he wanted the world destroyed, because for the first time ever, he was starting to feel a glimmer of hope for his future legacy. Yugi had made him think about his former vessel, Ryou Bakura. Sure he had mistreated poor little Ryou, but that was only because he was blinded by rage and driven by a thirst for revenge. But if Ryou truly was his reincarnation; and he had no doubt that he was, then it meant that there was some part of him living on, that was gentle and full of compassion for other people. Would he himself have been a nice, kind person if all this shit had never happened?
"Bakura? BAKURA?"
"Huh!" Oh crap he was zoning out! Mahad was shouting at him. What was wrong with him that he would drop his guard like this?
Pierre suddenly convulsed and vomited. Alain quickly rolled him on his side so that he wouldn't choke. He lay there shivering and was whimpering after his ordeal.
"It worked! Thank you Mystical Elf, you may return to your realm." Yugi was relieved, they had saved Pierre.
Mystical Elf nodded, and in a bright flash of silver light, she disappeared.
The wall of Kuribohs were doing a fantastic job of stopping the Shadow Zorc. Every time a tendril of shadow struck out, a Kuriboh would explode forcing the shadows back, and in its place another would immediately appear. But Kuriboh was getting tired; spawning endless copies of himself was exhausting and he was starting to struggle. This had not gone unnoticed by Atem.
"Kuribo is losing his strength. We have to get out of here and re-group to find a way of destroying Zorc." He shouted.
Everyone turned their attention to Bakura who had now prised himself off the wall. Oh well! He supposed he had better help.
"I am the Thief King. I always ensure that I have more than one means of escape," he sneered. "Follow me?" He turned towards a dark corner concealed by darkness. Yugi and Alain picked Pierre up between them and carried him. As they all got closer to the darkened corner they could just about make out a crevice in the wall; it looked more like a sort of fold in the rock. When they got closer however, it revealed itself to be a narrow passage.
Once they were safely inside the passage, Atem recalled Kuriboh, who rather than go back to the realm of the beasts, decided to stay with them. "Kurrrrrr," he purred. "Two masters!" He nuzzled Yugi, tickling his neck. "Hey! Kuriboh," he giggled. Kuribo then settled himself on Atem's shoulder since Yugi was busy helping to hold Pierre up.
Meanwhile, back in the dungeon, Zorc was left fuming. He'd almost had them, but they had just vanished into thin air? He hadn't been able to see them enter the concealed passage, through the wall of Kuribohs. Dam then for escaping. He thought they had been trapped.
::::::::::::
After ten excruciatingly tense minutes, the resuscitation team working on Pierre, managed to re-start his heart and a gentle blip, blip, blip could be heard coming from his heart monitor. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The team had shocked him three times before they had got his heart going again.
During this time Anzu, Jonouchi and Grandpa had all been watching Yugi's heart monitor, after his heart rate had increased to the sort of levels you would expect from some one cycling up a steep hill. Anzu had held onto his hand tightly, hoping for some sort of reaction from him, but there was nothing, not even the twitch of a muscle. It seemed strange how their hearts could react, when their bodies were void of their souls.
To Little Atem all this activity was bewildering, he had no idea what the machine that was bleeping so loudly was, or why everyone was staring at it. So he just copied everyone else looking at it, wondering what it was going to do next.
A little later Mokuba arrived with Rishid. Ishizu as usual, had thought ahead and asked them to bring Anzu's bag to the hospital. There was a small shower and toilet cubicle to the side of Yugi's room where she could freshen up.
Mokuba immediately rushed to Anzu and gave her a big hug. "I'm sure everything will be okay," he reassured. "Anything you need, just ask? And don't worry about Seto. I will stay in Egypt until Yugi wakes up and is ready to go home. He made me flight captain for this trip, so I say when we leave, not him." He pulled back from the embrace and winked at her.
"Thank you Mokuba, Yugi and I really appreciate your help. We all do." He was so different from his brother. Anzu had a lot of time for Mokuba. Surprisingly, he had grown up into a very fine and pleasant young man.
Once everything had settled down, everyone apart from immediate family, was required to leave. Visiting hours were ending. Anzu had a bit of a battle with Little Atem not wanting to leave her. But Jonouchi managed to persuade him with the promise of a swim in the pool, followed by ice cream and cartoons with his Great Grandpa, Sugoroku. Mokuba told him that he had some special balloons and would make him some balloon animals, which also helped distract him. He would be far better off at the beach house than at the hospital.
After they had all left, Ishizu entered the room to have a quiet word with Anzu. Pulling a chair up close, she spoke in a hushed tone.
"I believe I know who is responsible. I have spoken to Marik about events leading up to the temple collapse, and it would appear that the Thief, Bakura might have taken them to the Shadow Realm. For what reason? We can only assume."
Anzu gasped. "Yugi said something about a falcon attacking one of the men! He mentioned Bakura. If Bakura has taken Yugi then..." Her eyes went wide as a thought occurred to her. "Do you suppose he could have done something to Atem as well? Can he hurt people in the afterlife?" She suddenly realised she was raising her voice. Hopefully no one had heard.
"It is possible that Yugi may have been reunited with Atem. All we can do is hope that they are together and can be victorious in whatever battle they are facing. The incident a little while ago would imply that they are in danger, and almost lost Pierre." She squeezed Anzu's hand. "I must leave you to your bedside vigil now. Goodnight Anzu." She got up to leave.
"Good night Ishizu." Anzu watched her as she quietly closed the door behind her.
Anzu rested her head on Yugi's shoulder and gently placed little kisses along his collar bone to his throat, before leaning up and looking into his expressionless face. He looked like he was sleeping deeply but without any of his usual little facial twitches. Whenever she had watched him sleeping, she had always noticed the way his mouth sometimes twitched, or his eyelids would flutter. "I hope you and Atem have found each other. As a team you are strong." It comforted her to think that Yugi and Atem might be together.
Kicking off her shoes, Anzu decided to do some gentle warm ups and practice some of her routine.
Yugi loved it when she danced for him. Usually she would tease him, while at the same time, showing him whatever routine she was learning. She could almost imagine his laughter and encouragement, along with his hopeless attempts to dance seductively with her while she attempted to teach him the dance steps. After a while he would always give up trying to dance and become distracted, steering her to the couch or bed with thoughts other than dancing on his mind.
Glancing over at him laying motionless on the bed, Anzu smiled at all those happy memories they had together. She hoped there would be many more. Yugi had been hinting at having another baby, but while she did want to have another child, she hadn't felt ready to go through another pregnancy just yet; especially once her dancing had started to go well again. Something terrible like this happening to Yugi had suddenly put everything in perspective. What if he didn't wake up? Her chance to have another child with him would be gone. Any career success would feel empty and lacking in purpose without the joys of being able to complete their family. Yugi had always made it clear that he didn't want Little Atem to be an only child like he had been, and Anzu felt the same way. She really couldn't see herself ever wanting to have another child with anyone else.
Humming softly to herself she used the bar at the foot of his bed for support while she did some eccentric stretching, before pirouetting round in the limited space. As she danced she was unable to stop the tears that had welled up in her eyes, from trickling down her cheeks.
::::::::::::
Having to place his trust in a man he despised was hard for Atem. Being tortured by him was still fresh in his mind, and his first instinct was to bring him to justice. Instead, they were following him to Ra know where in order to hide from Zorc. "Where are you taking us Bakura?" Atem demanded.
They were inching their way along a crumbling pathway, with a deep looking drop on each side. It was impossible to see how far they would fall if one of them were to stumble and go over the edge, because of the swirling shadows, but Atem guessed it would be a very long way down indeed.
"That is for me to know Pharaoh."
"You had better not be leading us into a trap." He growled, kicking at a shadow that was annoying him.
Every now and again a shadow tendril, would either reach out to touch them, or lash out spitefully. Making progress painfully slow and more dangerous.
"Is it me, or is this path leading us downwards?" Yugi was sure they were descending down deeper into shadows. He and Alain were helping Pierre, who was struggling to walk.
"How perceptive Yugi," Bakura sneered. "We are almost there. Don't worry yourself Pharaoh, it's not a trap."
The path eventually led them to a cave. Everyone stood and stared in amazement at ceremonial swords, daggers, catapults and gold plated body armour. There was even a chariot, along with chests full of coins and jewellery. They appeared to come from all eras.
"Where on earth did you get all this stuff?" Atem picked up an elaborate gold Wesekh collar, encrusted with jewels. "I recognise this. It belonged to my mother!" He glared at Bakura
"I can break into anyone's cosy little afterlife and rob them. I am the King of all Thieves. Welcome to my treasure stash."
"Couldn't you have just accepted the gift Anubis gave you and pass into the field of reeds with the rest of the spirits from Kul Elna?" Mahad asked.
"You mean the gift of sparing my worthless soul. Pftah.." He spat and the pressed it into the ground with his foot.
"They all might be happy to live their afterlives as if nothing happened, but I am not. Do you know what I see every time I visit my family?" Everyone looked at him blankly. "No? I will tell you what I see... I see their mutilated corpses. I see my father; disembowelled, his body cut up and thrown into a cauldron. I see my baby sister; without her head. And my mothers naked, violated body. They all died because of your esteemed royal family..Pharaoh." He stared directly into Atem's face.
Atem couldn't meet his gaze at first, and looked away for a moment. Mana, sensing his discomfort tightened her grip on his arm protectively.
Yugi went and stood beside Atem and placed his hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "Don't let him get to you, it was not your fault," he whispered.
Of course it wasn't Atem's fault, but he had been the one to pay the price for his family's sins. His father had not questioned Aknadin when he had asked for permission to use forbidden alchemy, when maybe he should have done. He had been far too preoccupied with saving the kingdom from invasion.
Bakura had not been the only one to suffer. Atonement had fallen upon Atem's young shoulders, and he had paid for it by giving up his life; a life full of love and happiness, which he had cherished. He had planned to wed his childhood sweetheart, Mana. Together they would have produced heirs to the throne. But he had been forced to throw their happiness away to save his kingdom, in return for 3000 years of confinement, with no memories of who, or what he was. It seemed that even now, he still needed to shoulder the responsibility for the sins of others.
He looked up then and met Bakura's steely glare with a strong sincere look of his own and swallowed his pride. "I am sorry Bakura," he spoke in a deep voice. "I am sorry that you and your family had to suffer. But I cannot change the past."
An awkward silence ensued as everyone stood, waiting for someone to speak. After a few tense moments where you could have cut the air with a knife, Bakura relaxed his shoulders slightly and snorted giving a half smile. "I suppose an apology is better than nothing. Anyway, we have more important things to discuss right now. Like how the fuck we are going to get rid of Zorc!"
Everyone relaxed a little. Now was not the time to fight among themselves, they shared a common enemy and urgently needed to formulate a plan to defeat it.
The battle to defeat Zorc will be coming soon!
Hope you enjoyed.