Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to One Last Step! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest and final edition of the Hope sisters. Due to certain events that happened at the end of One Last Step, this story will solely be told from Katherine's perspective.
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Katherine Hope, Yumiko Kazayama, the Hope parents and Kylie Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation, a flash back or anything spoken in a language that isn't Japanese. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 5: - Unexpected Return
With a small groan escaping my lips, I proceeded to push myself up from the surface that I was resting against, I felt slightly squishy and soft which caused me to look down. I spotted the fabric beneath my hand, seeing a light red colour beneath my skin, I lifted my head up and found that mum and dad were standing in front of me.
"You're back!" Mum whispered. Dad moved swiftly into the kitchen and soon returned carrying a glass of water for me, I took a hold of the glass and the moment it touched my lips I felt like I was dying in the desert and had just found an oasis, this resulted in me practically draining the glass in one swift gulp. "What happened to you? I know it was that woman you mentioned, Kebi, who took you, but I don't know why," Mum added on.
"It's… complicated," I responded. I wasn't entirely sure how to explain the situation to my parent, Aigami could be anywhere and spying on us with his dimension powers. "It has to do with a boy from my school named Aigami?" I admitted. The eyes of my parents widened they proceeded to exchange concerned looks with the other.
"This boy, is he dangerous?" Dad asked. My lips twisted into something that was probably a cross between a frown and a sneer before I swung my legs over the edge of the couch, but I made no move to stand up, instead I gripped my head by the sides of it and began to massage the skin underneath my hair. "I'll take that as a yes. And probably a very sizeable danger," Dad commented. I felt him move closer to me and sit down beside me as mum decided to do the same by sitting down on my other side.
"And if he's dangerous, that means you'll be fighting against him," Mum stated. My eyes widened and I proceeded to snap my head up so that I could stare at the woman and she smiled down at me whilst gently ruffling my head as a warmth swam within her eyes. "I'm your mum little lady, I can read you like a book written in Hieratic text," Mum joked. I twitched a smile at her words.
"Thanks mum. And you're right, I'm going to have to fight him, because if I don't then he's going to do something that can't be allowed to happen," I admitted. Understanding appeared in mum's eyes and I quickly hugged her before pulling back and turning to face dad, he looked concerned but nodded his head and so I hugged him. "I need to go and see Yugi… it's… necessary" I stated.
My parents looked at each other with raised eyebrows and likely a brief exchange of telepathic message, but they didn't stop me as I stood to my feet and I quickly packed an overnight back before darting out of my home. Once I was out of the doorway, I quickly ran to the one place I would be able to find comfort for the maelstrom of confusion in my heart and when I arrived, I pounded on the door to get his attention.
"Katherine! What's wrong?!" Yugi exclaimed once he opened the door. I walked straight passed him and Suguroku who I felt were staring at my back in shock and walked right up to where Yugi slept and collapsed onto the bed that lay in the room. "Katherine… are you ok?" Yugi gently asked. His hand came to rest on my back making a soothing rubbing motion up and down my spine, the warmth seeping through the thin clothing I wore.
"No! It's complicated! And I just want somewhere I can relax! Somewhere to temporarily forget about what is going on!" I cried. Yugi made no sound only lifting my body up so that he could hold me against him as the soothing wave from being near him calmed me down from breaking out into tears. "Yugi… can I please stay here for the night? I can't face this yet," I asked. Yugi nodded his head and he lay me back down onto the bed where I drifted off into sleep.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
The next day dawned and for a brief moment as my eyes bleary blinked open, I was deeply confused about where I could possibly be since this place didn't look anything like my room, it was only when I glanced down at my side allowing me to see the sleeping boy resting beside me, the memories of last night came flooding back causing my face to turn bright red.
I swiftly clambered out of the bed and into the bathroom so that I could slash some cold water onto my burning cheeks, falling asleep next to Yugi was hardly a rare occurrence but those events normally happened in the company of others and located on a floor or sofa so this had been quite a surprise for me, thus rather embarrassing as well; I was rather glad that Yugi had been asleep when I bolted from the furniture piece.
A gentle yet husky laugh came from behind me as arms wrapped around my waist, looking in the mirror I saw Yugi had appeared behind me as he came to rest his head on my shoulder, he was seemingly enjoying having found me in such a flustered state which was so rare nowadays. Yugi gently pressed a kiss against my neck before turning his head back to the mirror so that he could look at our reflections.
"Sorry, when I found you like that, I didn't have the heart to move you and I ended up falling asleep as well," Yugi apologised. I allowed a smile to appear on my face at his explanation and I gave one of his hands a firm squeeze, with that the two of us untangled ourselves and proceeded to set about getting dressed for school in separate rooms.
Once done and fed, the both of us set off towards the school just like any other day although the memory of Kebi's ominous warning and Aigami's threat hung heavy within me almost like a lead weight within my stomach. I didn't like being dragged back into a fight for the fate of the world after two years of peace and quiet, but to keep Atem and Kylie safe from their happiness being destroyed, well I'd do anything for the two of them.
The two of us arrived at Domino High and met up with the rest of our friends and proceeded to take our seats although we were still talking to one another until the teacher decided to show up, once the teacher arrived it was revealed that we were to be practicing our graduation today since it was only a few days away from now.
All of us gathered in the room where our graduation would be held with Yugi being up on the stage making a speech however that ended up getting interrupted by a clattering sound echoing behind me causing me to look backwards along with everyone else around us, seeing that Jounouchi had somehow collapsed backwards from his chair causing a sweat drop to form on my head.
"Why are we friends with this knucklehead again?" I asked Yugi. The only response I got was my boyfriend's mental laugh as our gym teacher yelled at Jounouchi for falling asleep, with that done all of us returned our attention to the front where Yugi continued his speech although I heard Jounouchi complaining about having to do the rehearsal.
Anzu told Jounouchi off, but the blonde didn't believe anyone was listening to Yugi's speech and told the girl to 'lay off' as he gently knocked his fist against the back of Honda's head however the brunette boy had indeed been listening to Yugi's speech as he had tears festering in his eyes and begged for a tissue so I pulled out a handkerchief I carried just in case which the boy proceeded to use.
Suddenly my magical instincts flared and I tightened my hands into fists, Kebi's words from last night flashed into my mind as my eyes scrunched shut, I shouldn't look otherwise I might alert the others and their happy life would be gone as I was dragged into the fight against evil once more with them being forced to follow me. But I couldn't just ignore it either, so I lifted my head and glanced backwards through my curtain of hair, my eyes widened as I spotted Aigami standing there with the silhouette of another person beside him.
Yugi finished his speech, but I was barely listening to the words, there was something about that silhouette beside Aigami, my instincts calmed when I focused on that person meaning that there was nothing to fear about this individual; yet I couldn't even sense the person who was meant to be there, almost as if this person was outside of reality.
It was then that the strange silhouette faded away along with its' feeling and everyone was dismissed from the practice so we all proceeded to leave the room and walked down the corridor with Jounouchi being glad that the practice was finally over and done with before the blonde went on to ask if we wanted to hang out.
"Yugi-kun," A voice called. My boyfriend stopped moving and turned around so the rest of us followed his turn allowing us to see that it had been Aigami who had called out to the boy.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
I'm not entirely sure how it happened but Aigami had been invited to hang out with us and we were currently at a bowling alley with Anzu having just rolled a strike causing the rest of us to clap at the girl's success although the boy we'd invited didn't seem to exactly understand the game by his more subdued reaction to the score.
"Come on everyone, let's go grab some food," I suggested. Naturally Jounouchi agreed with my words, so we head over to a restaurant and ordered our food with the blonde knucklehead showing of his deck to Aigami who seemed to be impressed that our friend had a Red-Eyes, I had to continue to keep calm so that Aigami didn't catch onto my suspicious attitude towards him.
Given what I knew about him now, I wasn't about to immerse myself in building a friendship with him, but I really needed to shake my head from the dangerous thoughts that plagued it. If Yugi figured out about the threat that Aigami posed, then he would naturally involve himself in the scenario but that might just cause Atem to return anyway or potentially make things worse.
"You must really love dueling yourself, huh, Aigami-kun?" Yugi asked. The boy responded that whilst he did duel, he was pretty bad at it – liar! – Bakura then commented about Yugi being a tough opponent and then Honda joined in the conversation by adding in about Yugi having beaten Seto which Aigami seemed to be impressed by, I shook my head at this exchange almost feeding off of the positive energy that they gave off.
"I got it Aigami-kun, why not challenge Yugi-kun," Bakura suggested. Aigami was a bit nervous about the prospect of the match although he did agree to it, despite Yugi reassuring him that it shouldn't be described as a challenge then Jounouchi went on to claim that Aigami had to face him first before dueling Yugi but that caused a lightbulb to go off in my head.
"I've got a brilliant idea!" I exclaimed. I rushed in front of my friends and turned to face them as a bright smile cracked across my face with my hands being linked together behind me back. "Why don't the seven of us… maybe more, have a Dueling tournament. Just good fun between friends," I suggested. Yugi smiled brightly as he pulled me into a hug clearly pleased upon hearing my plan… which was actually a way to trick Aigami into letting me feel him out in order to counteract his Directional World Monsters.
"That's a great idea Katherine. Why don't we all meet up on Sunday to have the tournament," Yugi agreed. Honda quickly accepted the plan with Anzu and Bakura also agreeing to the invitation so the lot of us split up to prepare ourselves for the tournament, when we were a distance away from the others, I felt Yugi grab my hand. "Katherine, who were these other people you thought of?" Yugi asked.
"Well, I was thinking of Yumiko so she could get experience seeing as she really wants to learn how to Duel and maybe Seto if I can get a hold of him," I admitted. Yugi's lips pulled into a smile at my suggestion, it was likely that Yugi would like to face off against the person who had been Atem's biggest rival during his time in our world.
We split up before reaching our homes and I stepped inside, finding that the entire place was silent which actually suited me just fine as I headed up to my room, setting aside my bag as I walked over to the desk that was in my room. I pulled out the chair and moved in close to the wood as I stood on my tiptoes and proceeded to pull a box down from the shelf that it was resting on, I sat in the chair and set the box on the desk in front of me.
Moving my hands around the polished red wood of the rectangular box I pressed my fingers against the seam of the lid and box, I proceeded to lift the lid up which revealed the contents inside of the box. A stack of Duel Monsters cards contained within it, I wrapped my left hand around the cards and lifted them out in order to look at them as my right hand pulled out my own Deck, I looked at the cards at the base which allowed Yellow Dragon from my left and Chaos from my right to stare up at me.
"Kylie, I know you probably can't hear me in the next world, but just in case you can," I spoke. Holding Kylie's Deck even after two years had passed since her departure filled me with an intense emotional feeling that caused a small sting of tears to fill my eyes. "I'm in a bit of a bad spot at the moment… and I'm going to need the strength you possessed in order to defeat the enemy opposing us," I admitted. I felt Yellow Dragon pulsing underneath my fingertips as I held onto him and Chaos, I would definitely need their strength in order to stop Aigami's deadly machinations; the real question was if their strength was all I was going to need?
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
Sunday had arrived and the three of us were currently at Kame Game shop and up in Yugi's room, all of us were sat down as we looked through our decks with Yumiko having a beginner's Deck, but she was eager to practice. Although from the rumours I heard, it seems my eccentric uncle was making a brand new deck for her and had already given the first card to Suguroku which she had received a few days ago.
"Yeah, I just can't keep this card out," Yugi commented. Yumiko excitedly leaned around whilst I allowed a smile to grace my lips, knowing exactly who Yugi was talking about, his most faithful servant that had crossed thousands of years just to stand at the side of his Pharaoh once more, Black Magician. "I wonder what kind of deck Aigami-kun uses," Yugi admitted. I tensed up hearing those words, knowing that Aigami's Deck was ridiculously annoying given its' Special Effect focus and had even pushed Seto into a corner.
"It's so pretty," A soft female voice spoke. All of us looked up surprised to see a young girl with brown hair and eyes standing before us, yet none of us had sensed her approach, she wore a pink dress that partially exposed her shoulders with an ankh symbol on the middle and each of her two front locks were wrapped with two golden rings, both her arms and legs also had golden rings on them and she also wore purple shoes. "So very pretty, that golden box," She explained.
"W- Welcome to the shop. Oh, you mean this?" Yugi commented. He then lifted the lid back onto the box and picked it up into his hands as both of us stood to our feet. "Sorry, this isn't for sale. This is my treasure and right now I'm storing my really important cards in it," Yugi explained. nothing about this girl seemed dangerous yet there was something… off about her making it kind of similar to the silhouette I'd seen days ago.
"And those cards are also beloved by the Pharaoh that resided within your heart," The girl commented. Me and Yugi stiffened into stone upon those words whilst Yumiko looked to be completely confused by the sudden twist in the conversation, even if she had briefly known Atem, she didn't fully understand about him or his bond with Yugi. "Long ago, there was a monk who served the Pharaoh, his name was Shadi, Shadi Shin," The girl added on.
No doubt all of us who knew that name were shocked, Shadi, the old spirit that had guided us during the beginning of our journey to help Atem and later had appeared to help us all reach the ancient spirit when his memories had taken a dark turn for the worst, but what on earth could this girl's connection to him be.
"That person's mission was to collect all eight of the Millennium Items to the Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories and send off his spirit to the afterlife," the girl spoke. Suddenly the world around us appeared to shatter under some magical force scaring Yumiko so I immediately pulled my young cousin into my arms to comfort her. "And then, there's you Muto Yugi-san, the one and only chosen vessel for the Pharaoh's spirit in this world. You continued on your path and protected the Puzzle," The girl added on. Could Shadi have told the girl all about us? But he had died years ago long before we ever met him, so how did this mystery girl know him.
Beautiful lights surrounded all of us as we gazed backwards as the light faded revealing a floating plateau with eight stone pillars in the centre and in the middle of these pillar was a stone image of the Millennium Puzzle. It was the same place that Kebi had taken me to in the vision and the girl explained that, supposedly, this was were the Prana gathered and those words immediately caused my entire body to tense up.
"This is where we of Prana assemble. We are the inheritors of the late Shin-sama's Will. The travellers to a new dimension. And, Yugi-san along with Katherine-san and Yumiko-san, all three of you are like us in that you possess a similar energy wavelength," The girl spoke. The image before us vanished and we turned around to stare at the girl as Yugi made the appropriate question of who this person was. "I am Sera. Come with us to a new world. All of you are one of the chosen just as we are," The girl admitted.
As she spoke, her fringe blew apart revealing that underneath was an upside down golden pyramid in the centre of her forehead, this pyramid glowed with magical light and once it faded all of us were back in Yugi's room. Yumiko was slumping down shivering rather badly, so I pulled her even tighter against me yet kept my eyes on the ground as my heart pounded rapidly in my head.
"Yugi, there's something I need to talk to you about," I admitted. Yugi looked at me confused, but I hadn't told him about anything Kebi warned me of yet although it looked like I was being forced to tell him the truth. "Good grief, I really wanted to not tell you, but it seems I can't do this without you," I commented. With that I reached my right hand back to scratch the back of my head in annoyance but the moment my fingers touch it I felt a sharp cold point instead of blunt warmth causing my entire body to go rigid.
"Kat, what's wrong?" Yumiko asked. Yugi's confused and hurt expression, shifted into one of worry upon seeing the frightened expression that I most likely wore but before they could ask, I hesitantly, almost mechanically, move my arm around so that I could stare at my hand causing my mouth to run dry as Yugi paled greatly upon seeing that my hand bore an extremely familiar piece of golden metal.
"Yugi… open… the box," I whispered hesitantly. Yumiko was admiring my slightly new to her yet old to the two of us adornment before looking at Yugi seeing how I had suddenly become so frightened. Yugi did as I insisted, causing a light to shine out from within as Yugi exclaimed 'but this is' all of us peered in to see a single piece of gold metal oddly shaped but the magical pulse that came off of it was unmistakable.
That girl, Sera, had somehow, someway managed to return to me and Yugi the very items we'd given up two years ago for the sake of our friend, the Millennium Gauntlet and a piece of the Millennium Puzzle had returned to our lives; then a knock on the door sounded.