~Chapter XXVIII~
Nefertari's Tomb, Egypt, Present Day
Bakura worked on covering up the sceptre and the scythe with Nefertari's various other treasures, then standing up and beginning to wander out of the tomb. He had to seal it, according to Rena, to make sure nobody went inside it again - especially Riko and Sakura.
As he left the tomb he noticed that Marik, along with Ryo and Janeiro, had vanished. Tyre tracks in the sand already told him what he needed to know: Marik had escaped and had taken the other two with him.
"We don't need to worry about those fools anymore," came Rena's voice. Bakura simply frowned in response.
"There is no "we" anymore," he reminded, folding his arms. "If I do recall correctly you swore to let us go our separate ways once those artifacts were destroyed, and since they cannot be destroyed I now have no more tasks to complete under your command."
"Hm, you raise a good point, Bakura," Rena replied. "You are indeed correct; we are to go our separate ways from now on, but I cannot promise that you and I won't cross paths again."
Bakura wore a glare. He knew that Rena was most likely taking a path which would get in his way, but hopefully she wouldn't accomplish her own tasks faster than him; he wanted to destroy Yugi Muto and bring destruction to the world, but if someone else plunged the planet into eternal darkness then he would be forced to suffer under their reign. Rena had already proved that she had bizarre powers unlike his own, and even worse: he had no idea why she was so powerful. She had already admitted to being more than a rogue piece of his soul, but what was the rest of her made from? A "product" was how she described herself. But a product of what? The queen in the tomb? Janeiro? Zorc's soul? Could those things combined truly make an entity so powerful? So unpredictable?
"Have fun while you can, Bakura," Rena said in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Because I assure you, even your future looks dark." Her laugh, which sounded an awful lot like his, echoed in his mind and almost caused the evil spirit to cover his ears. He tightly closed his eyes and felt like he was spinning, but suddenly the laughter faded away. When Bakura opened his eyes once again, he found himself in the Shadow Realm. Rena was nowhere to be seen.
At first he was frowning, but then he smirked. This was his domain, and Rena was no longer intruding. He had already sent Ryo and Janeiro here not too long ago; they hadn't been devoured by the shadows just yet, he could sense it.
So he decided to plan something much worse.
...
"How are we supposed to wake up?" Ryo queried, pacing around thoughtfully. "I have no way back into my body, and neither do you. We're trapped here."
"There must be a way," Janeiro responded as she also looked around. "We must not give up! We must escape and stop Bakura before he hurts anyone, and we must stop my alter-ego!"
"We must also tell Yugi and the others about what we saw in those memories," Ryo added. "Though I'm fairly convinced that we did not see everything..."
"The spirit which controlled me didn't want us to see everything," Janeiro corrected. "It has something to do with Apophis; we heard so much about that Forbidden God and we saw Nefertari when she was infused with him, yet the next memory we saw showed that the spirit had been..."
"Removed," Ryo finished, stopping in his tracks to hold his chin and think. "And even when she was possessed, something was not quite right. She did not act like you or I; she was just herself, but her magic was tainted."
"Even she acknowledged the fact that she felt that something else inside her had taken Apophis' spirit," Janeiro reminded.
"Something else..." Ryo repeated thoughtfully. If Apophis needed a living host, then Nefertari had something alive inside her already.
Was she...
"Ryo!" Janeiro called out to him, pointing. "Look! An opening!" Ryo turned to see, and saw a thin portal which glowed almost with a blessed glimmer. He could see their bodies being treated by Ishizu, and Marik was sitting nearby getting some rest.
This truly was the way out.
Janeiro grasped his hand and ran with a gleeful smile on her face. Ryo was trailing behind her, a smile also on his face when he saw the exit drawing closer and closer.
And closer.
Closer.
Janeiro jumped through, her hand slipping from Ryo's.
But Ryo didn't make it through.
The exit closed right before his eyes after he was grabbed and pulled back, a hand over his mouth.
"Did you really think that you could escape me?" Bakura asked, grinning sadistically. Ryo felt his pupils shrink in fear; this was a set-up.
...
Yugi sat on the plane beside Tea, with Sakura taking the aisle seat; on the opposing three seats sat Tristan, Joey and Riko. Tea couldn't help but notice Yugi's thoughtful stare as he gazed out of the window.
"Yugi?" she asked him. "Is everything alright?"
"Huh?" Yugi reacted, meeting her worried gaze. "Everything's fine. I just hope that we're not too late to meet with Marik; something tells me that we don't have a lot of time on our hands."
"Well, we can't make the plane go any faster," Tea told him. "But don't worry, Yugi, I'm sure we can make it on time. We'll meet with Marik and he'll show us that tomb he told us about; there's nothing to worry about, I'm sure of it."
Yugi returned to gazing out of the window thoughtfully. "I sure hope you're right, Tea," he muttered.
...
Janeiro sat herself up very slowly, rubbing her head. She winced painfully and groaned, her vision completely blurred. Around her she could see three figures, and as her sight cleared she could see that she was being stared at with vary cautious gazes.
Marik, who was currently holding an ice-pack to his neck, stood himself up and staggered over to the girl. "Am I right to assume that you are Janeiro?" he asked. Ishizu looked up at him since she was currently sitting down opposite the blue-haired girl.
"She is herself," she confirmed.
Marik glanced at Ryo, who still lay still. "What about him?" he queried. Ishizu looked to Ryo but was unable to tell.
"I do not know," she replied. "He is still unconscious."
Janeiro, concerned for her friend, shook Ryo gently. "Ryo?" she called to him softly, but there was no response. "Ryo!" She gradually became more vigorous with her nudging, but she noticed that Ryo had started to stir. He stirred and he groaned as if in pain. As if he was fighting something. The three Egyptian siblings and Janeiro were all shocked and had frozen for a moment, but Janeiro quickly returned to Ryo's side and held his arm. She tearfully glanced back at the other three. "What's happening to him?!"
"He's fighting," Marik acknowledged. "He is struggling against whatever is holding him back."
"W-We came back together..." Janeiro whimpered, turning to face Ryo once more. "Ryo, please! Keep fighting, I believe in you!"
Ryo continued to writhe and struggle, whimpering and growling painfully as if fighting something internally in his mind. But suddenly he gasped as if he had been underwater for far too long, his eyes opening wide as his back arched. For a few seconds he was frozen like this, but then the tension in his muscles slowly eased as he lowered himself onto his back, then slowly sitting himself up. He rubbed his temple and let out a very quiet groan, letting the pain fade away before blinking hard a number of times, then finally looking Janeiro in the eye. "J... Janeiro...?" he croaked. Janeiro had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of relief. She released a sigh and clutched his arm.
"Oh, Ryo..." she exhaled. "I was so scared... I-I thought I had left you behind..."
Ryo smiled at her sweetly, clutching her hand. "I lost my grip and almost got pulled back into the Shadow Realm, but I was able to fight my way out." His brown eyes sparkled, displaying his own relief to be free. "You have no need to worry now, Janeiro; we're both free."
"You almost had me worried there, Baku- Ryo," Marik admitted, once again almost calling him by the name he did not prefer. "You took that blast of dark energy for me. I owe you one."
Ryo giggled softly to himself. "You would have done the same for any of us," he responded. "After all, we are all friends, are we not?"
Marik smiled. "Of course," he agreed. But then his smile faded. "Speaking of friends... I wonder how long it will take for Yugi to arrive."
"He will be arriving soon," Ishizu told him. "All we can do now is wait for him; he will be landing with the others in the evening."
"So in a few hours..." Marik told himself. "I suppose all we can do is wait and hope that the evil Bakura hasn't achieved his goal; I had to flee the tomb in fear of the three of us losing our lives for nothing."
Bakura had entered Nefertari's tomb? The thought terrified Janeiro; he was looking for something in there, and no doubt he would find it and use it. Unless he had other goals in mind - Bakura was such an unpredictable individual.
But Janeiro remembered that the information her and Ryo learned had to be mentioned as soon as possible; seeing that Marik, Ishizu and Odion were all well-educated in Egyptology and had experience when dealing with the past, it was safe to come to the conclusion that they would possibly understand what memories had been uncovered.
"Ryo and I were sent to the Shadow Realm," the girl revealed. "Bakura sent us both there. We both started seeing strange illusions - memories from Ancient Egypt. We concluded that the riddle my other half wrote was definitely connected to the two individuals we saw on the walls of that queen's tomb. In fact, we found out many things, didn't we, Ryo?"
Ryo nodded his head. "That's right," he answered. "We found out about our ancestors and how they are connected to current events. A lot of things are starting to make sense now, but now everything, I'm afraid."
"Right," Janeiro agreed. "There are many unanswered questions."
"You saw memories of the past?" Ishizu asked, surprised. "And you're certain they are true?"
"Yes," Janeiro replied. "Although, the first memory had some falseness to it, I believe... somebody in the memory interacted with me. A child. And I never saw the child in the memories Ryo and I witnessed together."
"That sounds strange," Ishizu admitted, glancing downwards thoughtfully. "I would say that Bakura or Rena decided to play mind-games with you, or the shadows were making you deluded, but if only one memory out of the many others was false... that makes no sense; what would one gain out of creating an obvious illusion?"
"We should focus on that later, sister," Marik told her, then looking at the two fair-skinned individuals. "What were the memories you witnessed?"
Janeiro looked to Ryo and then let out a very quiet sigh. "Well... we witnessed the love affair between my ancestor, Nefertari of Outcasts, and Ryo's ancestor, Akefia of Thieves," she began. "Akefia was by no means an innocent man, but he was not the criminal many believed him to be. He met Nefertari in the village she ruled after attempting to steal her ancient Duel Disk, the DiaDhank, but after being severely wounded he became a prisoner and eventually a guest. He protected the Outcast Queen from harm, until one fateful night when he was forced to leave. The pair of them knew that being together made them both weaker, and Nefertari wanted Akefia to avenge the people of the fallen village of Kul Elna, so she made him leave so that he could strengthen his Ka, Diabound, in order to get his revenge. But his departure gave a group of magic-using bandits the advantage; these people, known as the Desert Children, worshiped Apophis and wanted to summon him into the world so that he could destroy everything. Apophis' spirit was forced into Nefertari, and at some point his spirit was removed from her before her execution."
Marik, Ishizu and Odion all just stared at the girl, unsure what to think of the overwhelming information. Ishizu was the one who eventually chose to speak up in response to Janeiro's words.
"So you two witnessed the love between the "king and queen" the evil spirit spoke of in her riddle," she summed up. "Not only that, but you witnessed some form of ritual involving Apophis; that's a name we have not heard in the family for thousands of years."
"Have you heard it before?" Janeiro questioned.
"It has been mentioned, but it was never something we were warned about," Marik answered. "Apophis was forgotten years ago. There are no records of him ever being reborn into the world and causing any devastation."
A worried look was on Ryo's face. "You don't suppose he's still waiting, do you?" he asked. Now the others look just as concerned when hearing his question.
"...Perhaps he is," Ishizu admitted. "Like how Zorc the Dark One awaited revival for millennia."
Ryo looked then to Janeiro. "Janeiro, when Rena awakened within you, it was not just a part of my alter-ego's soul," he reminded her. "Something else was awakened, and seeing that our journey has so far led us to discovering your forgotten ancestor, Nefertari, could it be possible that the evil spirit within you is Apophis?"
Janeiro looked completely terrified? "Do you think that's who is controlling me?" she asked him. "Do you believe that it is truly Apophis who awoke within me?"
"It might very well be," Ryo responded. "Like how Zorc awoke within me because I was the reincarnation of his original host, Apophis may have awoken within you because you were the reincarnation of his original host: Nefertari."
"Zorc was in the Millennium Ring," Janeiro reminded.
"True, but a part of Apophis' soul may have been hiding within the Millennium Ring," Ryo theorized. "Like how my alter-ego hid within Yugi's Millennium Puzzle without the Pharaoh noticing."
Janeiro looked back at Ryo with an odd stare. She had never heard about how Bakura hid within Yugi's puzzle. Did anyone know about that? How did Ryo know?
"...That sounds possible," Janeiro agreed quietly. "Apophis may have been within the Millennium Ring, so the day the ring burned away at my soul... Apophis may have entered. He combined with a portion of Bakura's soul to create what is now known as Rena - she is a combonation of Apophis and Zorc, along with their hosts, Nefertari and Akefia. She is a complete amalgamation."
"Indeed she is," Ryo said in response.
"So, what you are trying to say is that Apophis resides within Janeiro's other half," Ishizu noted. "We have to destroy Rena in order to destroy Apophis, but to do that we must make sure that Rena is not within Janeiro. We must draw her out, or else we will destroy Janeiro with her."
Ryo stared at Janeiro almost curiously, as if thinking about something. Janeiro caught sight of his stare; he was in deep thought, but somehow his stare lacked any sign of sympathy or concern. She wondered what was on his mind...
"There must be a way to draw her out," Marik spoke up. "We saw Bakura in a separate body; while it was only temporary he was still no longer a part of Ryo. And he's probably still out there, in that tomb..."
"I think he has left," Ryo corrected. "And I don't think he is our main concern; he, too, seems to want to destroy Apophis, seeing that in the past Apophis was an enemy of Zorc's. We should eliminate Apophis first, then we will worry about my evil spirit."
Marik and Ishizu looked at him with doubtful expressions. "How can you be so sure that he is not a threat?" Marik questioned.
"He prefers to strike at the right moment," Ryo recalled, remembering how Bakura had controlled him since he was a young child. "He is very patient and often prefers to take time instead of acting quickly; after all, as an ancient spirit who lives longer than any mortal being, he quite literally has all the time in the world. Apophis, on the other hand, seems to be in more of a hurry; Rena has been highly active and even Bakura has shown some form of concern regarding her sudden appearance."
Marik rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You have a point," he agreed. "Bakura enjoys toying with people and is even willing to play fair as long as he is given a tempting offer. Like how he agreed to work with me during the Battle City tournament when he could've easily refused and taken my Millennium Rod by force."
Ryo nodded in agreement. "Yes, he does enjoy taking his time," he summed up. "As someone who hosted his spirit for almost a whole lifetime, I can be certain that Bakura is not someone to worry about just yet."
"Unless he agrees to help Rena," Janeiro added.
"I doubt that will happen," Ryo admitted. "The evil spirit only works with others if it leads to his own success; his ancient hatred for Apophis should not be easily forgotten, but if it is, we should still defeat Rena first. She has more power than Bakura and no one knows her limits. Besides, Rena would only take charge of him and he would temporarily follow her orders."
"Ryo is right; perhaps Bakura truly is not someone to be concerned about just yet," Ishizu decided. "But we must still be quick; the quicker we defeat Rena and Apophis, the quicker we'll stop Bakura before it is too late."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Janeiro. "We'll leave Bakura alone for now and hope to never cross paths with him again, and we'll wait for Yugi and the others to arrive so that we may find out how to defeat Apophis."
"There is no need to show Yugi the tomb now," Odion spoke. "These two have solved the mystery of the king and queen."
"No," Marik disagreed. "We did not get to fully explore the tomb. There may just be other clues on how to defeat Apophis, and we must see if Bakura has done any damage."
"Of course, Master Marik," Odion replied.
Ryo looked at Janeiro. "It looks like we will be staying here for a while," he said to her.
"Your luggage from your flights were brought upstairs," Odion told the pair. "You must have left them within or near the museum I work at; they were handed in as lost property, and I recognized the names."
"Even mine?" Janeiro asked. Odion nodded his head.
"The contents were similar to Ryo's," he explained, "and you had a foreign name tag."
Janeiro giggled softly. "Thank you, you're so kind for bringing our belongings," she thanked. Ryo smiled and nodded his head in agreement before standing up, offering his hand to Janeiro.
"Shall we?" he asked. Janeiro tilted her head and even felt her cheeks flush as she reached his hand, letting him pull her up to her feet. She stumbled slightly but he caught her, holding her in his arms. The white-haired male looked down at her, still smiling kindly, before taking her by the hand once again and leading her upstairs. They had to share the small spare room, since this house was not very big. Together they began unpacking their bags, but Janeiro stopped when she saw a familiar box which linked to a game she did not play...
"Are you alright?" Ryo asked her, seeing her freeze for a moment. Janeiro snapped out of her thoughts and smiled at him, nodding her head.
"Yes," she assured. "I just... have no idea why I brought some of these things. But that's what happens when you let your evil alter-ego pack for you, heh heh!"
"I know how you feel," Ryo told her. "My alter-ego has left a few nasty surprises himself!"
The pair only laughed together; it felt somewhat good to just laugh about the very things they feared the most.
Well, Ryo was laughing with Janeiro for a different reason.
...
Ryo remained completely immobile, held in place by the shadows and frozen by the strong dark energy produced by the Shadow Realm. A normal person would become a feast for the shadows at this point, but Ryo's experience with Yami Bakura had led him to become immune - especially since this was the only place Ryo could go when Bakura was in control.
Bakura stood laughing loudly as he witnessed the scene between "Ryo" and Janeiro, peeping into a small pool he had opened up himself.
"Not even Little Miss Observant can see that you are not quite yourself, landlord!" he mocked. "But I suppose I have become rather good at pretending to be you after living within your body for many years." The evil spirit laughed again; he was using a part of his own soul to control Ryo's body, and he was keeping the real Ryo in the Shadow Realm - and nobody, not even Janeiro, was aware of this.
"When will you leave me be?!" Ryo screamed at him, trying to contain his tears. "When will I be rid of you forever?!"
Bakura grinned and looked at him without any sympathy. "It is not you who shall be rid of me, but me who shall be rid of you!" he corrected. "I will take over this world and you, along with your pathetic friends, will be banished to the Shadow Realm for good! I will become a supreme ruler of the darkness!"
"Leave me!" Ryo demanded. "Leave me at once, spirit! There is no need for you to do this!"
"You're right," Bakura agreed. "I don't need to control your feeble mind, I want to! It is so much more fun this way; I can watch you struggle as I toy with everyone you love and care about. And I can destroy Rena in a much more efficient manner."
Ryo's eyes widened. "W-What...?" he reacted, barely able to use his voice. Bakura maintained his grin and chuckled lowly.
"Janeiro does not know that the Ryo she is currently with is in fact me," he explained. "Rena is currently residing within her once again, and... well, you heard what Ishizu had to say in response to my question: unless we remove Rena from Janeiro, the only way to destroy her is by destroying Janeiro as well. That's exactly what I intend to do, and nobody will suspect a thing!"
Ryo gasped almost as if he had been terrible wounded. "No!" he howled. "You can't! I won't let you!"
Bakura only laughed again. "Go ahead and stop me, vessel!" he challenged. Ryo realised that he could physically do nothing to stop his other half and almost felt himself breaking down in tears.
"Leave her alone..." he begged. "Please... Why must you hurt everyone I try to get close to?!"
"Because sometimes I just like seeing you sniffle and sob," Bakura admitted heartlessly. "Now hush and enjoy the show, my vessel; you don't want to miss Janeiro's final moments!"
Tears streamed down Ryo's cheeks as he stared into the pool which showed Janeiro and his evil other half having a good time, laughing and chatting as if they were best friends. Janeiro had been completely fooled and Ryo could do nothing to save her from him.
And all he could do was watch.
~End of Chapter~
