Um. So, I could list the hundred or so reasons I have for why I went and left you guys with a huge cliffhanger for over a year, BUT. I think you've all waited long enough, so I'll just say that there were indeed Reasons and leave it at that.
Content warning(s): some gross/disturbing imagery
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Chapter start!
Submersion
By: The Half-Blood Guardian
Previously:
"The power of the Millennium Puzzle cannot be allowed to continue being used by one with an unstable mind. I challenge you to a Shadow Game." Said Shadi.
"A game?" The spirit sneered. "No. We already played a game. You have tried my patience long enough. I will finish you now!" Shadi only sighed.
"I had suspected you might deny me a chance at counteraction. That is why I devised a means by which I could ensure your cooperation." He stepped to the side, revealing a cloudy-eyed Jounouchi standing silently, mouth slack and staring into the middle distance.
The Shadows shrieked furiously, and the spirit nearly reeled back. The teenager felt… empty. Like his body was there, but his mind was not.
"What have you done to him!" The spirit roared.
"I redesigned the room of his soul." Shadi replied calmly. "This boy is now a puppet who cannot speak or think. He cannot move without my first willing him to do so." He tilted his head to glance at the blond. "This is why you will not try to harm me without first defeating me. Because you obsess over your host, and I control this boy that your host so cares for. If I ordered him to die…" he looked directly at the entity and narrowed his eyes, "…he would die!"
The spirit's fists clenched so hard they shook, but knew he could do nothing to retaliate at the moment. "I accept your challenge!" He snapped bitterly.
"Very well." Shadi nodded, then gestured to a clock on the wall. "Come to me when the clock strikes eight. I will be waiting for you on the roof."
The spirit turned to look at the clock, which read 7:51. When he looked back, the man was gone. So was Jounouchi. He snarled again, pacing the empty study while his Shadows screeched and helpless anger seeped down into him until the very marrow of his bones demanded retribution.
Chapter 16: Shadow Game Part 1
Oftentimes, the spirit could feel the energy of the Puzzle pulsing within his labyrinth, as if in waiting. An unseen well of unknowable power and potential, maybe? Or, perhaps, just another empty void in an infinite maze of nothingness, given "life" that wasn't there through his mind's imitation of sensation. Like many things concerning himself, he did not fully understand it.
His eyes narrowed.
That didn't matter right now. It didn't matter that there were many things about himself and his own mind that he did not know. Just like it didn't matter what Shadi's reasons were.
Because one thing he was sure of was that Shadi was his enemy.
He looked up as the clock chimed eight. His Shadows immediately engulfed him, and within moments he was standing on the dark roof of the university.
Shadi was waiting for him when he stepped out of his Shadows' embrace.
He swept his eyes across the darkened rooftop for a glimpse of Jounouchi. A shock of messy hair caught his attention. The blond was standing at the edge of the roof, staring blank-faced into the night. A strong breeze ruffled his locks and threatened to upset his precarious balance. The spirit started towards his Light's Friend. Shadi spoke.
"It won't do you any good. He is under my control, and will be for as long as I wish." The spirit flashed his teeth instinctively at the implied threat.
"You are not going to use him in your plans!"
Shadi shook his head. "On the contrary, spirit creature. I am. If you lose this game, it will mean this boy's death." He gestured to Jounouchi, and the spirit stiffened.
"Before I explain the rules, there are a few points I need to bring up about the Item around your neck. I don't know how Yuugi got his hands on it, let alone how he managed to complete the puzzle that no one else has managed to solve for three thousand years; nor do I need to know. However, both you and he seem to think it is a coincidence. That is wrong. The Millennium Puzzle chose him, after waiting over three thousand years. He would not have been able to solve it otherwise. My bloodline, too, has been chosen by the Millennium Items to be their wielders. I do not know how you became so entangled in his soul that you are capable of wielding the power of the Item he possesses, but unlike us, you were not chosen by a Millennium Item."
"I've heard enough." The spirit cut in. "Don't you dare try to tell me that my Light and yourself are some sort of allies! Look at what you are doing! You are holding his Friend hostage and threatening to kill him if I don't win! Now cease spewing your nonsense and tell me the rules of this game!"
Shadi tilted his head.
"…You are afraid, spirit creature." He observed. The spirit froze, caught off guard, and the comment managed to penetrate his mind with its deviation from expectation.
Afraid…? Was he afraid? He didn't think so. At least, not in the sense that he felt fear consistently. Was he worried about the situation he was in currently? Yes, absolutely. But… he didn't think that was what the man meant.
"Somewhere in your heart, you are afraid of that power," Shadi continued, heedless of the spirit's contemplative silence. "You fear the unknown power of the Millennium Puzzle."
The spirit's lips twitched, itching to twist into a snarl. This man's words were useless, only serving to distract him from what he needed to do. And what he needed to clarify.
"I said I've heard enough!" He glared. "If you won't refrain from speaking, at least answer me this: when I am victorious, will you release Jounouchi and the professor, unharmed?"
Shadi dipped his head. "If you are victorious, I will."
The spirit's eyes narrowed. He stepped closer to the man, and something like instinct, like a knowledge long buried and not understood, had him extending his right hand, Shadows swirling around it. "Swear it."
Shadi frowned. "Unless it is stated otherwise in the rules laid out by the game's creator, one cannot lie in a Shadow Game."
"Swear it!" The spirit snapped, his Shadows hissing.
Shadi sighed, as though he were being inconvenienced, and for a moment the spirit thought he would refuse. Then he pulled his own right hand from his robe and reached, a few wisps of almost invisible Shadow encircling his wrist and palm. He and the spirit clasped hands.[1]
"If you are victorious, I shall release this boy and the professor, who have been made to participate peripherally in this Shadow Game. At such a time, those mentioned shall not come to harm as a result of my tampering. Any harm caused by forces outside my control I do not hold responsibility for. By the Shadows, I so swear."
Two sets of Shadows, evident and subtle, mingled before returning to their respective masters. Both man and spirit let their hands drop and backed away. The former stood silent, contemplating his opponent, while the latter fought off shudders at the strangely familiar feeling of this contract sealed with Shadows.
Then the floor of the roof cracked in front of the spirit. He jolted in surprise and attempted to take another step back when a rotting, skeletal hand broke through the concrete and latched onto his ankle.
Another hand broke through, and another, and soon arms and shoulders and decomposing heads were pushing past the cracked cement like it was some sort of sick eggshell. More and more hands grabbed at his legs, and he barely managed to steady himself enough to keep from tripping and landing in a mass of wheezing, rattling, squirming corpses.
"Spirit creature," Shadi spoke. "Have you not realized that the game has already started?"
His Shadows shrieked indignantly and lunged to rip the offending carcasses off their master, but they slipped through as though there was nothing there, like the corpses were just slightly out of sync with the rest of the world. The phenomenon was familiar to the spirit, who had shifted his own Shadows' level of tangibility to suit his needs on many occasions, but he'd never experienced what it was like to be on the receiving end.
"There will be three stages to this game." Shadi continued. "This is the first of three trials. If you pass all three, the professor and your host's friend here will be unharmed, you will be free to go, and I will never challenge you to another Shadow Game. If at any stage you fail a trial or try to cheat, your soul will be forfeit. Attempting to harm me before the trials are over will be tantamount to such a failure, your soul will be forfeit, and your host's friend will jump."
The spirit growled at the man, then jerked his head away as a reaching hand tried to grab his cheek, his lips curling back in an aborted snarl.
"What creeps on the ground and clings to the pillars?" Shadi asked. "Answer this riddle correctly, and you will proceed to the next stage of this game. I will allow you three guesses."
He silently watched the spirit struggle to concentrate past the feel of encroaching corpses tailored specifically to horrify. It seemed his plan was going more smoothly than he had anticipated. Already the spirit creature was trapped in the man's illusion, showing weakness of heart. The further he sank into that weakness, the faster the illusion would smother him, drown him in his own hesitancy and anxieties. The only way he could overcome this challenge was to hold his heart strong, find the true nature of the illusion, and answer Shadi's question.
Shadi waited. It was only a matter of time before his opponent succumbed to his weakness; after all, in a Shadow Game, those with weak hearts would always lose. Had the spirit creature been chosen by the Millennium Puzzle, he would have known that.
The spirit bared his teeth and swiped a skeletal hand away, feeling himself panic. Every time he tried focusing on the riddle, another corpse would grab him and send a jolt of alarm through his chest. Instead of getting more used to the feeling of rotting hands and bodies around him, each second he stayed trapped in their clutches only drew out more fear, his heart beating faster and faster until he felt it might burst from his chest.
Even worse, the sunny warmth that he had gotten used to feeling since Yuugi had solved the Puzzle was growing dimmer and cooler, and he feared the reason behind the change. Was Shadi somehow breaking his link to his Light? Was he actually separating them?
Desperation forced from him the usual boundaries he would have when searching for a solution, and with nothing within his mind or his immediate surroundings providing relief, he cast his eyes further.
His gaze landed on blond hair. Then he caught sight of Jounouchi's blank expression. The fear gnawing at his mind slowed. The warmth of his Light's presence returned. The sputtering embers of his determination flared back to life, and he was finally able to force himself to focus on the man's words.
What creeps on the ground and clings to the pillars?
He looked back down, watched his servants hiss and thrash, attempting to free him. Thought of their actions in his labyrinth. The reminder of what he was fighting for shielded his mind from encroaching terror, and suddenly the answer was clear.
"A shadow!" He snapped, scowling at Shadi. "'What creeps on the ground and clings to the pillars?' The answer is a shadow." Rotting hands loosened and retreated. The mass of corpses slowly dispersed, leaving cracked and jagged concrete in their wake.
"…That is correct." Shadi replied. His gaze revealed mild analytical interest but was otherwise inscrutable as he watched the spirit. "You have passed the first test. Now it is time for the second."
To be continued…
Notes:
[1]: From what I've been able to find on the subject, in ancient Egypt, a handshake was a representation of a god handing over power to a mortal. Apparently, it was often used in official settings to seal a verbal contract – like the one Shadi made – and there were usually at least a couple of witnesses – the Shadows, in this case. (Why yes, I do like to use symbolism and real-world references in my writing!)
(Bonus note): You may have noticed that I decided against using the rope, plank, Key and ushebti/ushabti setup that was there in the original version. I had a couple of reasons for doing this, which I'll mention in the author's notes of a future chapter, since doing so here would give away some spoilers.