High Twilight
Part Four
An Ultimate Sacrifice
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or anything relating to it, really.
Except for Elendil and Estel. They're mine.
This takes place roughly five years after Hidden Truths ends.
Have fun, and remember, please don't sue me, I am nothing more than a lowly college student living off of imaginary food!!!
Oh yes, a bit of a warning.
That case of the flu I've been complaining about has turned out to be a little more drastic than I first thought.
Seems I have something called toncilitis(sp?), and my bronchitis has reared its ugly head yet again.
Which means all the lovely medication I'm on makes my head more than a little addled.
So, I apologize from here on out for everything else I write until I get better, because it's likely to suck.
You've been warned, but I hope you like the story anyway!
:)
~~~~~Three Days Later (Monday)~~~~~
"Estel? Is something wrong?" Ms Reed asked as the pale little girl stared out the window of the classroom, completely ignoring her hiragana(1) chart. It was unusual, Estel was always the first to get something done, and the last person in the entire world to dream off into space, while she had school work.
After her work was done was another thing entirily.
"No, Ms Reed." Estel whispered polietly, going back to her school work, refusing to allow her hand to shake, after what she had seen.
Her father was standing outside, waiting for his beloved little children......
"Elendil." Estel whispered softly, catching her brothers arm. Elendil rolled his eyes, shaking himself free.
"Don't tell me you're afraid to walk home now!" Elendil laughed, the group of friends he had aquired gathered around the tiny albino girl, pointing and joining in with the fun, calling her names.
"Elendil, Ms Reed wants to see you." Estel whispered, ignoring the glare on her brothers face as she walked out the doors, alone.
"Well, well, what have we here? You shouldn't walk home alone, you know, little girl. You never know what kind of people you're going to meet!"
"Father," Estel looked up at Bakura solemnly "I already know who you are." Bakura's grin faltered, quickly clicking back into place as he took hold of the young girls long braid.
"Seems you take after me. Wonder what your brother looks like....." Bakura trailed off, looking up curiously. Elendil was still in the school, looking for Ms Reed.
"He died two weeks ago." Estel said simply, staring into the depths of Bakura's darkened brown eyes. Bakura growled.
"What do you mean my son is dead!?" Bakura demanded, hauling his daughter up by the cuff of her blue dress jacket. Estel remained expressionless, she had predicted he would react like this.
"He got sick. It was...." Estel paused as she tried to remember the right word, "Genetic."
Bakura nearly dashed Estel against the sidewalk there and then, but her large, innocent amethyst eyes stopped him, and he grinned again, setting her down delicatly, dusting off her shoulder. Estel remained unfazed, staring up at her father, studying him silently.
He didn't seem as evil as her Puzzle Papa had told her, just confused, lost, and angry. More than anything else, he was angry, though Estel, still unexperienced with the odd sense that seemed to buzz in her mind recently, could not tell what he was so angry with.
"You have your mother's eyes, you know." Bakura smiled, his face a little less scary. Estel nodded.
"But you have my looks. Yami must have hated you for that! He must have loved your brother, but you, no. He couldn't love you, you look like me, you're my child!" Bakura grinned as Estel's face paled a few shades, taking hold of her hand.
Estel went without a whimper, or cry for help. She didn't plea, and she didn't sob. She knew that Bakura was here to claim what he thought his, and it would be the only way he would ever leave them be. She would leave Elendil behind, leave her Uncle Mokuba and Papa, to protect them.
And most of all, she would leave Nuhta.
She hoped she had done the right thing......
"Hey, Papa." Elendil sighed as he clomped through the door, alone. He was mad at Estel for lying to him, and making him look like a fool in front of all his new friends.
Seto looked up curiously, glancing at the clock. Elendil was half an hour late, and Estel was still not home. Something was wrong, Estel was never irressponsible, and Elendil was never late home for snack.
"Elendil, where's your sister?" Seto asked, following the spiky haired boy into the kitchen, where Mokuba was munching on a bag of chips. Elendil rolled his eyes, climbing up on a chair, Mokuba passing him the bag.
"Don't know. She left before me. She said I was in trouble, but Ms Reed didn't know anything about it, so I went home. I figured she was already here." Elendil munched, spraying bits of potato across the counter, Seto paling visibly.
"Elendil, your sister is very sick, remember!?" Seto grabbed the phone, dialing 911(2), Mokuba glaring at the elder twin.
"I forgot!" Elendil cried, tears streaming down his face as he ran sobbing to his room. Mokuba sighed as Seto orginized a search party over the phone.
As far as anyone else knew, Estel could be lying by the side of the road right now, gasping her last few breaths, alone.....
"They do teach English at that school of yours, don't they?" Bakura asked as the two arrived at the airport. Estel nodded, looking around.
The airport was extremely crowded, flights coming in and out constantly, people pushing and squeezing into every spare space. Bakura sighed, reaching down and grabbing Estel, settling the tiny child on his shoulder, keeping her out of trampling range.
Estel stayed as silent and straight faced as always.
"Two tickets for Seattle!" Bakura growled as he pushed and shoved his way to the front of the line. The woman behind the desk smiled, and cooed at Estel as she typed into her computer with a curt nod.
Bakura paid in cash.......
~~~~~One Week Later~~~~~
"I'm sorry sir, but there's no trace of her. I'm afraid we've got to call off the search. Contact us if you receive a ransom note." the police officer sighed, leaving Seto standing in the doorway, boiling with rage.
They had already given up on ever finding Estel on their own. They had come to the assumption that she had been kidnapped, by very unique people. People that left no ransom notes, demanded no money, and did not make themselves known.
Seto pounded his fist into the wall, looking over at the weepy eyed Elendil sadly, shaking his head. The small boy burst into tears again, clutching Nuhta as he sobbed, blaming himself for his siter's dissapearence.
The worst of it all, Seto was forced to admit, was that he, the youngest, and richest CEO in Japan, could do nothing at all. For the second time in his life he was helpless, and he hated himself for it......
~~~~~In Seattle(3)~~~~~
"So, it will just be you and your daughter then, eh?" the manager asked as Bakura looked around the apartment, a few blocks from Green Lake(4). It was small and cramped, much like most of the Japan Estel had seen, but the air was lovely, and the city green.
Bakura grunted and nodded gruffly.
"Good, now, if you'll just come with me, we can fill out the rental contract!" the manager smiled, and Bakura looked over at Estel, who was standing in front of the tiny window, gazing at the large oak tree across the street.
"Anna(5), you stay here." Bakura said gruffly, using the name Estel had been given on the forged documents.
Anna nodded, not bothering to look over at her father, and sighed as the two left the room, watching a pidgeon walk down the street, lonely.
She had been stripped of everything within a week, her life turned upside down as Bakura, now Bakura Williams, had dragged her across the world to this strange and foreign land of Seattle, where the rain was considered more necessary than the sun itself. And even her name had been taken from her, her past, and anything she might have run to. She was Anna Williams now, daughter, and only child, of the European History teacher for the local high school.
The door opened again, and Bakura stepped in, a scowl on his face.
He despised the English language.
"This will be our home now, Anna. Do you understand? No more running to little papa Seto, it's just you and me." Bakura whispered, resting his hand gently on her head. Anna nodded solemnly, her eyes burning with youthful wonder.
"Father," Anna looked up at Bakura, "Can I play across the street, with the boy in the big oak tree?" Bakura looked down at her, and out the window, where a wild haired boy was scrabling in and outof the tree, and nodded.
"Be careful, though, Anna. I've already lost one child, I don't want to lose you too." Bakura whispered, his last words almost too faint to hear as Anna ran across the street, introducing herself shyly to the boy with the wild brown hair and grass stained pants......
~OWARI~
Well, here ends the second part of the Tingilya Arc.
I know, I know, it was a short little bit, but very necessary for what is coming later on.
Explanations:
1: Hirigana is a form of writing in Japan.
Sort of like the English alphabet.
2: I do not live in Japan, where this story takes, took place.
911 is more familiar to me, and I'm assuming most of the audience.
Whatever the equivalent of 911 is in Japan, that's what's supposed to be there.
3: Seattle has a HUGE Japanese population.
I should know, I live in the area.
And, if it's not your native tongue, it's pretty safe to bet it will become the second, third, or fourth one you learn.
4: Green Lake is an actual place.
I lived there for a while when I was younger.
It isn't really a lake, just sort of a depression that the water collected in, and now there's a city around it.
It has a lot of algae, and it's not the smartest thing in the world to swim in.
The Monolith (Someone put a Monolith up in Magnison Park on 2001) resided on Bird Island, in the middle of Green Lake, for a while too.
5: Anna, believe it or not, is also an Elvish name.
It means Gift.
Quite pretty, if you ask me.
Well, this was but a brief lull in the angst, a sort of dramatic pit stop, if you will.
A chance to lead the story in two directions, to where the true sorrow lies......
R&R!!!