WSJ: Oh, craters! A plauge on Brood Mayran! She turned me into a house fly and won't change me back!!! This chibi here is Fuu Fuu Choco Taco, Brood's muse, whom I have muse-napped. The flower I'm sitting on is Zutsokaki, or Zutso-miki as I now call him, whom I have again kidnapped. *sweatdrop* In return, Brood has muse-napped Ryou, and Li muse-napped Bakura, but thankfully I need neither for this chapter. Let's hope Brood desides to turn me back soon, because don't flies only live a couple days...? *gulps*
Zutsokaki: *rustles his petals in an annoyed sort of way*
Fuu Fuu: *glares*
Yami-WSJ: *gives in to temptation and falls over laughing*
WSJ: *sweatdrops again* I don't own YGO, nor do I own Lobsang or Susan.
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All Saints' Night
Chapter 5 -- Web of Time
"M'kay, let's go," Yugi said, taking a deep breath. He had no idea what was going to happen next, but hey! Enough less-then-normal things had happened to him in his life that he'd learned to cope with it.
Lobsang gave him a smile and turned toward the brick wall at the end of the alley. "Right, now to get us to the Web of Time..." He concentrated, and the wall wavered before disappearing completly. In its place stood a tall door, gilded in brass and gold. Lobsang stepped up to it and pressed a palm flat against it, causing it to swing smoothly inward. He stepped forward, and after one last backward glance at Yami, Yugi followed.
It had crossed Yugi's mind several times that maybe this was a trick, from someone in the Shadow Realm, but if it carried even a slim chance of helping his yami and friends, even Bakura, then he had to do it.
Lobsang and Yugi immerged from the door into a huge room, the walls and ceiling of which stretched upward and outward as far and farther then the eye could see. In the center of the room hung what looked like an enormus skeen of thread, pulsating gently with a soft purple light. It hung from millions of strings, which shot away from in in every direction, anchoring to the walls, floor, and, presumably, the ceiling as well.
Yugi's eyes widened. "What is this?"
"This is the Web of Time," a female voice answered. A woman stepped out of the shadows to stand next to Lobsang. Her hair was black except for one white streak, and stuck out from her head in a style that rather resembled Yugi's own. She had on a long black robe, and black boots. "My name is Susan Sto Helit, granddaughter of Death."
"Wait a minute, Death? Granddaughter?" Yugi asked.
"Yes, Death. You know, tall chap, rather bony? Big scythe? He adopted my mother." Susan said.
Yugi nodded uncertainly. "Um, okay... What am I supposed to do?"
Lobsang and Susan exchanged a look. "Untangle it," Susan said simply, gesturing at the ball of tangled threads.
Yugi's eyes widened. "You mean it's not supposed to be like that?"
Lobsang shook his head slowly. "No. A woman by the name of Briar-Rose somehow found her way in and tangled it up. The threads are supposed to run in strait lines, connecting thousands of pasts to millions of futures. At times they may merge with or cross over another thread, but they should not be in a huge mess like this!"
"Everything's going wrong," Susan said quietly. "Even your own time and place are beginning to blur, little Yugi Moto. Things are beginning to creep in at the edges. Time itself is mixxing. Your Puzzle holds the power to unlock it all, and put things back rightly."
"It does?"
But the two of them said no more, and when Yugi turned back to look at them, both Susan and Lobsang had disappeared, leaving him with a huge ball of tangled times. He stared at it, his mouth slightly ajar. It would take ages! How much time did he have?
"As much as needed, little Yugi," Susan's voice rang through the void, though she was no where in sight. "No time at all passes here."
Yugi took another deep breath, and then set himself and stepped up to the ball, unsure of how to begin. Uncertainly he reached out to grasp a thread-
-Cold water, a feeling of change. Holding a blue-haired girl in his arms. Running atop a chain-link fence with a feeling of perfect balance-
-Yugi gasped and immediatly let go. Was this how it was going to be every time he tried to grab one of those threads?
"Yes," This time it was Lobsang's voice. "Each thread represents a destiny. A destiny that you must help set itself back onto the right track. You will not need to touch many, just ones that need extra help. Look, they respond to the presence of your Puzzle and already begin to weave their way back where they are supposed to be."
"But what has my Puzzle got to do with anything?" Yugi yelled into the void.
"It was forged in the powers of Time itself," Susan again. "Or did you ever stop and ask the Pharoah just how it was he made the Items? Each has, in addition to Shadow Powers, the powers of the element under which the Pharoah forged them. Fate, Time, Death, Passion, War, Hatred, and Desire. Each is a cataclismic force in its own right, and stopping them would be like stopping the sun."
Yugi gasped. "Which is which? You just said that the Puzzle is Tme-"
"Desire for the Millenium Eye, for above all its holder desires love. Fate for the Millenium Ring, for the poor innocent was fated to have it." Lobsang again, and Yugi realized he was talking about Ryou and the other Holders. "Passion for the Millenium Ankh, for its Holder is passionate about what he must protect. Death for the Millenium Tauk, for it can see into the future, past death's hold. War for the Millenium Scales, for they were created to delay one. Hatred for the Millenium Rod, because its Holder shows no love. And Time for the Millenium Puzzle, because the Pharoah stands immortal."
With that Lobsang's voice faded away, and Yugi was again left alone. He swallowed hard, and looked up at the ball of lives. It suddenly seemed smaller, and even as he watched, another thread peeled itself away from the rest and retook its previous course across the room. Yugi squared his shoulders and stepped forward to grasp another thread, now somewhat more confident that he could do it. He reached for the first thread he saw and-
-A beating with no mercy, in the middle of the night. The feeling of being completly alone, with no one to care if he lived or died. A fleeting thought of suicide. Darkness, and cold-
-With a gasp Yugi realized that the thread he held was that of Ryou's destiny, and was tempted for a moment to keep ahold of it, to look forward to Ryou's adulthood, to see what would be. Already images of his friend's future were coming-
-Dark, but not the dark of blindness, instead the black of the Shadow Realm. A scream, and the sound of cursing. A feeling of fear, then of courage. The sound of a single gunshot-
-Yugi jerked back from the thin thread, his heart pounding. "What was it?" he whispered to no one in particular. "What was it trying to tell me? Or was it trying to warn me?"
"The future cannot be more then hinted at, little Yugi," Susan's voice drifted to him. "You must take what you have and remember it. Heed it. It was a warning."
Yugi waited, but Susan said no more. With a sigh Yugi got back to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-A lone figure standing against a painted sunset. A flippant smirk. A toss of the head which sent a long brown braid flapping. 'Omae wo korosu'...-
-Yugi wiped his forehead on his sleeve and looked up to see that the thread he had just placed was the last. He stared in amazment. It was done. The web was as it was supposed to be.
"Well done, little Yugi,"
Yugi whirled to see Lobsang and Susan standing behind him, their proud grins making it all worth it. "How long did it take?" he asked with a sudden pang of worry.
Lobsang chuckled. "No fear Yugi, no time passes here, remember? But for the record, if there were seconds and minutes, it would have taken you a little over three days."
Yugi stared at him in shock. Three days?! "Really?"
Susan nodded, allowing a rare smile onto her face. "Yes really. Now that time is as it should be, Kuroi is no longer still alive, and the spells he placed on your two friends will be wearing off. So I suggest that you get back there."
"Yami's all right?"
Lobsang nodded as he led him back toward the big doors. "Yes, he is fine. You've been gone for less then a second, so be prepared!"
And with that they were gone.
Yugi stood in the alley, right where he'd been when Lobsang had sliced time. Yami was in front of him, looking around in puzzlement. "Where's Kuroi? He was here only a moment ago..."
"Less then a second, I'd say," Yugi remarked, a wave of releif washing over him. "I-I guess things went back to the way they're supposed to be."
Yami gave him a long look, and opened his mouth to say something, when Bakura groaned. Yugi sighed in releif, and Yami shot him a look. "You can tell me later." the Pharoah said before striding over to drop to one knee beside the tomb robber. "Bakura?"
Bakura groaned again, and his eyes fluttered open. "What happened Pharoah?" he growled, sitting up on the hard ground and swiping a hand across hsi eyes.
Yami gave Yugi another half-amused look before answering his old nemesis. "I do not know, I-" He was interrupted as Ryou shifted slightly and moaned.
Ryou suddenly jerked completly awake, as well as upright, his dull eyes skittering about wildly. He let out a muffle cry, and Yami put a gentle hand over his mouth to quiet him. "You're safe Ryou," he assured the hikari. "Don't worry, you're back in our time, where you belong."
Ryou jerked away from him, causing Yugi to blink in surprise. "Ryou?"
"Y-You betrayed me!" Ryou accused, pointing an unsteady finger in the general direction of the Motos.
"Betrayed you? I just saved your life!" Yugi said incredulously, confirming Yami's suspicions that he had, indeed, done something.
"You left me!" Ryou yelled, tears in his eyes. A white aura began to form around him, lifting him off the ground as he flung his arms wide. "You left me alone with that monster! How could you do that, how could you watch me moan and wince the next morning, and pretend you didn't know? How could you do that and still dare to call yourself my friend?!"
Half-terrified and half-amazed, Yami grabbed Yugi and sheilded his hikari behind him, backing up until Yugi felt the hard stone of the wall press into his shoulder blades. No longer was there a gold door there, just an impenetrable wall.
Ryou was levetating about two feet off the ground, and dimly Yugi was aware of Bakura calling to his aibou. "Ryou, stop!" There was a sickening crack, and Yugi tore his eyes away from his enraged friend to watch in horror as Bakura collided with the wall and fell, barely concious.
"How could you!?!"
After a brilliant flash of white, all was dark.
()()()()()
WSJ-the-Housefly: Okay, fine, so I did need Bakura and Ryou, but only for a bit, and I already had it written out twice before, so it was no big deal. *waves at Fuu Fuu Choco Taco wih one of her front legs* Hey Fuu, since Zutsokaki's a flower, would it be possible for me to pollinate him?
Fuu Fuu: *looks rather sickened*
Yami-WSJ: Aibou, even I think that's too gross... I really hope Brood changes you back soon... Is there any way we can get her to hurry up?
WSJ: *ponders* Go read and review her awesome story Another Chance at Everything. Bug her to put the next chapter up, because she said she won't change me back until she does.
Chapter 6: Just what was it that Ryou did?! Can Bakura, who's pretty badly hurt, talk some sence into his hikari before he does something trully horrible?
God bless minna-san!