As promised, a much lighter chapter. Enjoy!
Obligatory 'I don't own anything' because of several references made in this chapter.
The hushed whispering of Yugi and Marik on the opposite side of the room confirmed to Yami that the memory had faded. Or had it? He could still feel silken waves against his face, and his arm was draped around something warm.
"Okay, I'm officially freaking out right now! She's here, he's there, and you're here as well?!" Marik whispered loudly, presumably talking to Yugi.
"Just call Bakura! Maybe he can figure out what's going on?!" Yugi replied in a not-so-quiet whisper.
Both sounded extremely shocked. Yami debated opening his eyes to see what the fuss was about, but he was content to hold onto the last bit of memory as long as he could. He assumed both were still coming to terms with their late-night guest and her lack of attire. He heard tapping followed by a very low ringing. He could also hear the not-so-quiet voice of the person on the other end of the conversation since the room was exceptionally quiet.
"Tomb Keeper, why the fuck are you calling me at this gods forsaken hour?"
"I...we...have a problem." Marik replied, continuing to attempt being quiet.
"Why are you whispering?"
"Well, that's part of our problem."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Please don't tell me she found her way into your bed…."
"Not mine. She's laying over in Yugi's bed right now. Can you please come get her?"
Another long pause. "She….Yugi's bed? That's extremely disturbing to hear…"
"That's not all. Right now the Pharaoh is in Yugi's body...and he's lying next to her. We can't get him to wake up! And I can see Yugi as some sort of spirit beside me!" Marik rambled quickly.
"Slow down! One thing at a time. The Pharaoh is in control...and laying next to Kat…."
"Isn't that what I just said!"
Yami opened his eyes, becoming both extremely surprised and extremely confused. As Marik had said, he was indeed in control of Yugi's body, and was laying curled up next to last night's intruder.
"Okay, that is even more disturbing than I had originally thought…"
"Okay, you find it disturbing, I get it. It creeps me out too. Can you at least explain how I can see Yugi? And hear him as well?"
"It's possibly a side effect from visiting the Halls of Osiris. They were never meant to be walked by the living. Seriously though, the Pharaoh? And Kat? Please tell me at least one of them is clothed. No way am I coming over and seeing that."
"Huh? What are you….wait...did you think that I meant...gods no! It's nothing like that! I swear! According to Yugi she just showed up last night and passed out!"
"Uh huh. Sure. And I'm Cleopatra."
"Can you please just get over here right away?! And bring Kat some clothes!"
"Would love to Tomb Keeper...but I have a better idea. Just give me a few minutes to contact someone. I'll text you the details."
Yami slowly sat up on one elbow, looking down at the body that was sprawled out face down on the bed. Bits of golden skin peeked it's way through the midnight waves on Kat's back, the comforter covering only her lower half. His cheeks felt hot at the realization that his hand (or technically Yugi's hand) was laying across the small of her back.
"Look who finally decided to wake up…" Marik stated, looking bitterly towards the Pharaoh while still attempting to keep his voice lowered so as not to wake their guest.
Yami looked sheepishly over at his host. "I don't know how...this isn't…" He was at a complete loss for words. He had been locked into a memory. How had he taken control and blocked his host from regaining it?
"I'm not certain either, but could you please move my hand and maybe move over to this side of the room?" Yugi asked dryly.
"Oh...OH!" Yami stammered, quickly removing the appendage and trying to exit the bed without disturbing it's occupant. As soon as he was across the room he traded with his host. "I'm really sorry about that. I wish I could explain it...but I can't." he apologized, rubbing the back of his ethereal neck in embarrassment.
Marik checked his phone as a notification chimed in. "Okay…" he said uncertainly. "Bakura said he sent someone 'better qualified', whatever that means. I'm supposed to go meet them in the shop in the next few minutes."
"I guess you better get down there then. Grandpa should be opening the front door anytime now." Yugi replied while looking at the time on his own phone.
Marik nodded, then went downstairs to meet up with the unknown visitor.
"Seriously, what happened last night?!" Yugi questioned, rounding on the Pharaoh.
"I don't know. I closed my eyes for only a moment to think, then I found myself in another memory."
"That must be why I couldn't wake you. Still doesn't explain how you managed to take control though...or why you ended up laying next to Kat."
Yami thought for a few moments. "I wonder if it has anything to do with wanting to comfort her? The memory...it wasn't exactly...pleasant."
"What do you mean?"
"Her mother...was…" Yami felt sick to his ethereal stomach, his chest tightening around where his heart should be. "...her mother died in her arms." It was the only thing he could choke out. He couldn't bring himself to describe the atrocity he had witnessed.
Yugi's face went pale. "You….saw this?"
Yami nodded. "I tried to stop it, but…"
"What do you mean 'stop'?"
"She died...because of my father." Yami said very quietly, his head hung low. "As the memory ended though, there was shouting that my father had died as well."
"That's horrible! So you both lost someone close to you at the same time?"
The Pharaoh nodded slowly. "I wish I could say I was saddened hearing the news of his loss, but I don't remember him. Right now the only memory I have is of him suggesting the life of Katrina's mother in exchange for…" He stopped, the memory becoming too physically powerful for him again.
Both turned their gaze towards the bedroom door as two sets of footsteps approached from the other side. Marik entered in first, followed by someone that looked remarkably like a much older version of Seto Kaiba's younger brother, Mokuba. He had the same long untamed black hair and everything. The only noticeable difference(aside from the fact that he stood nearly as tall as Marik and was obviously several years older) being his bronzed skin tone. He was wearing a dark pair of skinny jeans paired with a faded gray tee that read 'I PAUSED MY GAME TO BE HERE'. His arms were sleeved in tattoos, and had multiple piercings down the length of both ears. His lower lip was pierced on both sides, along with several more piercings across his left brow.
The visitor took one look at the girl sprawled on the bed and shook his head, obviously accustomed to the scene. He took out some sort of digital data pad and began tapping away at it, occasionally looking back up at the girl while slowly walking around the bed as if making calculations. He returned to beside the bed, looked behind himself, took a large calculated step back, then help up three fingers. He slowly counted them down, making a flourished swoop with his index finger as got down to 'one', and pressed down on the center of the device.
Kat quickly jerked upward into a kneeling position while grasping her head. The Mokuba-double tapped the center again.
"What the actual fuck! Do you not understand the concept of a fucking hangover?!" Kat chided with a groan.
"Do recall what yesterday was?" questioned the double casually.
"Who cares! Gods, my fucking head." she continued to groan.
"Yesterday was Friday. What happens on Friday?"
"I was busy, okay?" she said while rubbing her temples.
The double slid his finger across the data pad, then pressed down again.
Kat grasped her head, leaning forward with her head on the bed. "Shut it off! Do the words 'Cruel and unusual punishment' mean anything to you?!"
"I prefer the term 'Psychological warfare'." he replied, tapping at the device again.
Kat released her head, glaring at the visitor through a veil of hair. "I don't need you blasting music through that stupid implant into my head. My brain does that bullshit on it's own."
"So about yesterday…"
"Mkhai, fuck off. I don't care that I missed raid night." Kat replied irritably.
The visitor, which Kat had called Mkhai, looked down at the girl with a hurt expression on his face. "You don't care? Without you we had to spam trade chat last minute for a new Shaman! And they sucked! We only made it as far as Supremus! I can't heal stupid! They stood in the flames the entire fight!" he half shouted, flinging his arms up in exaggeration.
Kat flopped down onto her stomach, burying her face in Yugi's pillow. "Sounds like a you problem, not a me problem."
"Oh, so that's how you wanna play." Mkhai stated, his husky voice slightly elevated. "Then let me give you a quick rundown of you problems. First, a little bird told me you openly challenged Osiris...in front of mortals no less. The Elder. Was. Pissed. Guess who was kind enough to step in on your behalf and smooth things over? Me. But that...that was nothing. The second item on my list however, that's something. Tell me what I'm looking at?" He casually tossed the data pad next to Kat's head.
She raised up slightly on her elbows to look at it. "Looks like a video."
"Ah yes. Brilliant observation. Press 'Play'." he orderd, slightly irritated.
Kat pressed the center of the digital pad. Her face went from groggy and tired to wide eyed. "But there shouldn't have been anyone around?" she commented, looking up at Mkhai slightly puzzled.
"Shouldn't doesn't mean wasn't. Sis, I already have facial recognition algorithms in place to edit whenever you get caught on camera. I can't hide magic use though. Add the fact that there are multiple faces in the video that are already familiar to the rest of the world, it's hard to pass it off as some kind of edited hoax. I spent the better part of the morning scouring every last corner of the web to get rid of that video. Do you know how many hard drives I had to remotely fry because it had been downloaded onto personal devices? Cause I do."
Kat let out an exasperated sigh. "I get it, I get it. I'll try to be more careful." she said while grabbing Yugi's comforter and sitting up, keeping herself covered while hanging her legs over the edge of the bed.
"That's what you always say." he replied, tossing a bag onto the bed next to her.
She opened the bag and pulled out the clothes she had been wearing the day before, rummaging around the bottom of the bag in search of something. "Where is it?" she muttered quietly to herself.
"It's not in there. He asked to keep it."
She groaned irritably. "Damned mutt…."
Mkhai raised a brow. "Really? You're mad at him? What did you expect? That everything was going to be all hunky-dory and it would all go back to how it was before?"
Kat hung her head. "I don't know." she replied dejectedly. She quickly got dressed beneath the blanket with obviously practiced skill. She then looked around the room, taking it in and realizing where she was. "I do know that I hadn't intended on coming here of all places."
"Oh really? Where exactly had you planned on going while walking around in the nude with an entire amphorae of wine from the era of Thutmose the Second?" he questioned dryly.
"I….don't know. Not here though. Well...on second thought…" she glanced over at Marik. "Maybe I came to see the pretty one." Kat cracked a smile in the Tomb Keeper's direction, causing him to blush.
"Yeah, Bakura told me you kidnapped the current head of the Ishtar clan. He also told me that he had to talk you out of jerking the Puzzle from it's owners neck. Something about wanting to smash it and tossing into the Shadows?" Mkhai said, glaring hard down at the girl on the bed.
Yugi grabbed tightly at the relic around his neck upon hearing this.
Kat looked away under Mkhai's scrutinizing gaze. "I was upset. I didn't mean it." she said quietly.
Mkhai sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her. She leaned into his side. "Of course, it was that predictable temper of yours that made you say it, right?" he said while looking down at the small girl under his arm.
Kat let out a small sigh while hanging her head slightly. "Sorry about the mess. Thank you for cleaning up after me...again."
"Meh, that's what brother's are for I guess. But you're still not excused from skipping raid night." he said casually. "Hmmm….which punishment would best fit the crime?"
"You can't be serious. You're still on about that?"
"Raiding is serious business. And our Rogue needs the Twin Blades of Azzinoth. I need to make sure you won't forget to show up next time." His face was deadpan as he stated this. "I'll be nice and let you choose. Either help me sort all forty seven-thousand eighty-four pieces of my new Lego Imperial Star Destroyer and assemble it, or you can sit through a marathon of both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies."
Kat's face fell as she let out a groan of annoyance. "You are the biggest dork to have ever been born. I just got you a factory sealed copy of Dark Tower, isn't that good enough?"
"Nope. Now I need another. I can't open the one you got me. That one goes on the shelf next to the DnD campaign books."
Kat looked at him irritably. "Who the fuck you going to play it with? Cause I'm not going to."
Mkhai looked over at the two teens and the spirit that were silently watching the spectacle across from them. "They look like they would enjoy a good RPG." he said while nodding towards the three.
"I take it you really like games." Yugi chuckled.
"Yeah, kind of runs in the family." he replied with a smile, glancing knowingly in Yami's direction.
"I'm all for trying out a new game, but it would be nice to know who I'm playing against. Bakura didn't really fill me in on who you are exactly." Marik stated.
"He didn't? That was rude of him." Mkhai said sarcastically. "Name's Mkhai Miamosha. I'm this shrimp's younger brother." he motioned towards the girl under his arm.
Kat lightly punched him in the rib. "Who you calling 'shrimp'?"
Mkhai 'oofed' at the impact in his side, laughing lightly after. "Well, to be technical, I'm her half-brother. We share the same mother. My father was a former Pharaoh."
"Akhenamkhanen..." Yami stated quietly.
Mkhai looked towards the spectre. "Yeah. I thought you couldn't remember anything?"
"It's slowly coming back. So far all I have been able to remember is the day I met your sister…" Yami paused thinking one how to go about saying the next part. "...and the day both your parents passed on to the next life."
Kat looked towards the Pharaoh uncomfortably. "When did you encounter that particular memory?"
"Last night after you showed up and passed out here. I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop my father." he said quietly, looking directly into her eyes as he said it.
"Don't. I never blamed you for that. Bakura and Set might have, but I never did. Akhenamkhanen is the only one I blame for that day. Though I am still sorely disappointed that his death wasn't by my hand." she stated bitterly.
"Who's Akhenamkhanen?" Yugi questioned.
"My father….and his." Yami said while looking towards Mkhai.
Yugi and Marik looked repeatedly back and forth at the three.
"So let me get this straight, the Pharaoh and Kat share a half-sibling? But they aren't related themselves, correct?" Marik said, trying to puzzle out the weird relation triangle.
"Yup. That pretty much sums it up." Kat replied casually.
"I understand how Katrina and Bakura are immortal, but I can't figure out how you can be as well." Yami commented towards Mkhai.
"Yeah, that's a mystery to everyone. He can't use magic, but his intelligence rivals that of both Thoth and Seshat." Kat stated. "Unfortunately the modern era has turned him into a massive nerd." she added dryly.
"Hey, you enjoy the modern era too. You're always going on and on about how great the music is." Mkhai retorted.
"Hello?! Metallica...Led Zeppelin...Pink Floyd...Queen...AC/DC...Black Sabbath..those are just the ones I can name off the top of my head!" Kat stated matter-of-factly, while repeatedly poking a finger in her siblings face as she listed off each rock band.
Yami smiled, amused at watching the two bicker over something trivial. He wondered if that's how it had been back during ancient times, when he was still alive. Did he ever have this kind of relationship with Mkhai?
Kat glanced over, spotting the smile that played across Yami's face. "Hmph. You must really find this entertaining."
"Kind of. I'm more curious than anything. I haven't remembered enough though to determine much."
"You're curious? I'm still trying to figure out why you're suddenly remembering shit. You shouldn't be able to without my help."
"But you were the one that led me to the first memory? I saw you inside the Puzzle just before, only you were still a small child."
"You don't say?" Kat said quizzically. She shrugged her younger brother's arm off her shoulders, changing her posture into one that nearly mimicked the Pharaoh's usual concentrated pose.
"And here I thought only the Pharaoh did that when thinking." Marik commented.
"That makes two of us." Yugi added.
Mkhai just laughed. "You should have seen them whenever they would play Senat. It was like looking at two mirrors that were facing one another."
"Shut it baboon-brain. I'm trying to think." Kat berated, her eyes closed in concentration. She let out an irritated sigh. "I think I know who's responsible for your little trips down memory lane." Kat opened her eyes, looking directly towards the Pharaoh. "It appears you don't have to seek out the Shadow Walker, as he's already taken the initiative to try and restore your memories." she stated bitterly.
Yami was confused. "If I might ask, who exactly is this 'Shadow Walker'?"
Kat hesitated before answering. "The only thing you need to know is that he has taken a personal interest in seeing that you will be resurrected in the foreseeable future."
"Is that a good or bad thing?"
"Both."
Yami, Yugi, and Marik all looked at each other, perplexed.
"You said you could help restore my memories. Will doing so change things?" Yami questioned.
Kat looked away. "No. The outcome will still be the same. I've been trying to buy time, but it appears that I'm running out." She shook her head, letting out a curt, hollow laugh. "The irony."
Just then a phone began ringing. Kat dug into the ruffles of her skirt, fishing her cell from a hidden pocket. She looked at the screen, as if debating on whether to answer it or not. Mkhai grabbed it and pressed the 'Answer' function on the screen, pressing another button right after.
"You're on speaker. What's up?"
"Where's Kat?" Bakura's voice sounded a bit confused as to why someone else was answering the phone.
"Next to me. She's not too happy about you keeping the pendent."
"Forget the stupid ankh. Are you outside? Or near a window?"
"Yeah…"
Everyone looked towards the window in the room. Yugi walked over and drew back the curtain, exposing the Shadows just outside.
"A Shadow Game?" Yugi questioned with concern.
"Trust me kid, this is worse than a Shadow Game."
"What could be worse than a Shadow Game?" Marik asked.
"How about a member of the Ogdoad walking about in the realm of the living with two of his generals."
A very audible animalistic growl erupted from beside Mkhai. Kat was standing, her fists clenched tight, her hair visibly bristling. Her eyes had become hidden in shadow, while her lips were pulled back in a snarl, exposing her fanged canines.
"Anubis…."
Big interwebs high-five if you know what game Mkhai is talking about!
Sorry if this feels like it's becoming too much of an OC fic. It was originally created around my OC. I am doing my best to not keep her front and center too much, but it's difficult sometimes. Unfortunately she has a full on OC fam and background. Aside from Mkhai, there is only one more that will make an appearance. Both the unnamed OC and Mkhai will be more filler than forefront, but that doesn't stop me from trying to flesh them out.