An Empty Shell
Review Comments
KaTyA: you know, I really like you. You write good stories and you actually review mine!!! Any way, I KNOW! There IS a problem picturing Yami nervous over a girl! Wasn't that convo amusing? I loved it! I'm actually speaking out loud. I'm talking to myself… well, I'm talking to the computer screen.
seashell: anything written by me can go good or can go bad. Get used to it. But someone's obviously eagerly anticipating the next chapter…
Trunks' Saiyajin Princess: you DO know that Kali is based on me, right? You DO know I, I, IIIIIIII go to a completely French Immersion school, right? Wow! You like me! *laughs conspicuously*
Keiko: *see the first part of Trunks' Saiyajin Princess* Any way, I've never actually heard of a half-French Immersion. All the schools I've gone to (including the one I'm at now, it makes four), it was all completely French Immersion. Hey! Consider it a compliment that Yummy Yami is ogling a Canadian! It says something to his good judgment… hehehe. Go, Canada!
Crystal Rain: I KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW THAT!!!!!!!!! I KNOW that Bakura is usually the evil one and Ryou the good one. I KNOOOOOOOOOW THAT! *see first A/N in Chapter 1* Somehow, it just never clicked in my mind the way most people put it. NOW STOP TELLING ME THAT! *exasperated sigh*
JR: that's exactly why I put Yami stuttering… because it's just too funny! *falls off her chair laughing* Ow. I'm falling all over the place! I fell off my chair in French class, I fell off my chair in the school computer lab, I nearly fell down the stairs… I'll fall off my chair again before this chapter is over.
jenruki-gal4ever: you know, you sound kinda like me when I don't want to come right out and say its not a great story. Sometimes I'll put that just for the sake of saving an author's delicate ego. If you didn't like the story, either don't review or tell me so! I'm not quite THAT fragile. I survived my friend and fellow authoress Midori, butt monkey princess's flames, I can survive ANYTHING!
A/N: *sigh* I'm pooped. But not so pooped that I can't write some more… Does Kali seem like a Mary Sue to you? I'm trying not make her one, because you know, they get just slightly annoying… Die, Mary Sue, die!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DISCLAIMER: I own only the following people and Silver Items: Aseliah Leighton, Kali Zona, the Millennium Glass, Awan Yahto, Son Yuma, the Millennium Sword, Caryn Handel, Reva Golegin, the Millennium Pendant, Paz Mariachi, Loella Mercedes, the Millennium Flute, William Turner, Blake Rider and the Millennium Lamp. (I was running out of ideas for Items by the time I reached William and Blake, which accounts for the Millennium Lamp) I don't know what the Items are in the series, so if somebody could kindly tell me what the others are besides the Puzzle, the Ring, the Eye and the Rod (? That's that dude Malik, right?) and the Item's bearer person. Bearer as in like Yugi is the Bearer of the Puzzle, Bakura/Ryou whatever you think of him as is the Bearer of the Ring, Pegasus with the Eye. Last names and families would be helpful. And does anybody know Bakura/Ryou's last name in the series, any way?
"speaking"
'thoughts'
*change of POV*
[mental link]
CHAPTER 2 :: Arrival of the Silver Bearers
Kali stared at her Millennium Glass for a while until she heard the bell ring vaguely, and in the back corner of her mind, a little voice said "Time to go to class" but she shut that voice out.
[Guys?] she called out tentatively, using the powers of her Millennium Glass to reach her fellow Silver Bearers.
[Hey, Kali, what's wrong?] came the reply of Son Yuma, from the USA. [Some big bully try to beat you up again and get turned to stone and now you don't know how to unstone him?]
Kali scoffed softly. [If only. I miss Canada already, and I've only been in Japan for less than two days.]
[Hey, what's going on here?] came the voice of Loella Mercedes, in Spain, as she joined the conversation of the spirits in the spirit chamber. [Great timing, by the way, Kali. Right in the middle of an oral presentation.]
[Yeah, technically I'm supposed to be in class, I guess.] Kali responded.
[Think of it this way,] Reva Golegin spoke up, all the way in Denmark. [It can't be any colder there in Japan than in Winnipeg.] (A/N: Winnipeg is the capital of Manitoba, for those who don't know their Canadian Geo. It's got plenty of nicknames, such as "Winterpeg, Manisnowba" or "Windypeg, Maniblowba". You get the idea it's cold and windy in the wintertime. It's just torture year-round, really.)
[That's true,] Kali admitted. [ I wish I could see you guys face to face again, though.]
[I wonder where Blake is?] Loella wondered aloud.
[Probably sleeping or stuffing his face,] Son said wisely. [You'd think the guy had never slept or seen food before in his lives.]
[Blake has joined the throng!] came the cheerful cry of Blake Rider, in England. [Hey-a, Kali! Having fun in Japan?]
[Not really.]
[Why don't you go do something productive?] Reva said helpfully. [Do whatever it was that you and Aseliah were doing in Winnipeg.] Kali got the impression of Reva slapping a hand over her mouth. [Oh, gosh, Kali, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—]
[Never mind, Reva.] Kali sighed. [I did get a volunteer job at a hospital here in Domino City. In the children's ward, I start on Saturday. Then I'm working at some big ole pizza place on other nights. I think it's Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.]
[Busy girl,] Son noted.
[Gotta keep busy,] Kali muttered. [Otherwise…] The other spirits nodded understandingly.
[Tell you what,] Blake suggested. [How about we all go out to Japan for Christmas break?]
[Good idea!] Loella agreed enthusiastically.
[D'you have any idea how hard it'll be to sneak a sword onboard a plane?] Son asked skeptically. [Besides, does everybody's hikari's parents have the money to send us all to Japan? Other than Paz, everybody knows her parents are loaded.]
[Loaded pistols,] Loella muttered.
Kali was aware of someone standing behind her and she said quickly, [I have to go, so I'll talk to you guys later, maybe?]
[All right.]
She exited the spirit chamber and turned around to face a scowling Yami. "Yes, Moto?" she asked aloofly.
"The teacher sent me out to find you. You're now twenty minutes late for class."
"Only twenty?" Kali muttered as she slipped her Glass back into her bag and stood up, ignoring Yami's outstretched hand. "I hoping to just skip the entire period."
"No such luck," Yami told her. "Mr. Yukio doesn't take late students to his Geo classes very well."
"Yuck." Kali muttered. "I hate Geography. I'm a History person."
They reached the class without any more said and as the two entered the classroom, Yami returned to his seat in the back of the class and Kali took the last seat, coincidentally right next to the window. 'Yes!' she thought happily. 'Somewhere to divert my attention while this teacher is droning on and on and on and on…'
"Miss Zona?" came the crisp voice of the Geo teacher, Mr. Yukio. "I hope you don't intend to make it a habit of yours to come to class twenty minutes late?"
"No, sir," Kali answered innocently. "I plan to come fifty minutes late. Just long enough for me to pass the class."
"Not this classroom, Miss Zona."
Kali was extremely glad when the last bell of the day rang and she was one of the first out the door. Shoving her unneeded books into her locker and stuffing her binder in her backpack, she slammed the door shut, locked it and was confronted by Yugi and entourage. "What do you want?" she asked nastily. "And make it snappy, I have a practice to get to."
"Oh, all right," Yugi answered, unfazed by her obvious unfriendly attitude. "I was just wondering if you wanted to walk home with us. I noticed you came from that direction this morning."
Momentarily touched by this reach of friendship, Kali risked eye contact with Yugi, then with one glance at his eyes, just a few shades darker than hers, and Aseliah's, own lavender eyes, split.
*Yugi's POV*
I was jolted momentarily by a scary sensation of… nothing. It wasn't that I didn't feel something, it was just that feeling was an overwhelming nothingness. It's hard to explain.
"Ah!" I cried out and then nearly collapsed if not for Yami and Joey grabbing my arms at the last moment.
"Yugi!" everyone exclaimed.
"What happened?" Joey demanded, gripping my arm with a shaking hand.
"I… I'm not quite sure," I whispered. "She looked at me, right at me and then…"
Joey released me, only to be stopped by Tristan from running after Kali. "That little…" then called her a few choice words that shouldn't be repeated. (A/N: in case there are innocent-minded overprotected children reading this fic! Such as me… hehehe. Or in case there are parents reading over shoulders, for some odd reason.) "You want me to go deck her for you?" (A/N: aw man, now this sounds like The Parent Trap!)
"No, Joey, I'm fine." I said softly, standing up with Yami still in possession of my arm, with a death grip on it.
Joey growled a few more incoherent words until his breath, but turned his back on the hallway and grabbed his bag. "C'mon, let's go."
*Kali's POV*
I have got to get a hold of myself. I've only been in this school for a day, and I've already started to affect the hikaris. Granted, I have to make eye contact with them, but still… it took almost two weeks in Canada to get that far gone.
I entered the music room, and took the music folder out of my bag. Normally, I would have to be in Band to take Jazz, but they told me I could be an exception. Sitting down at the keyboard, I brushed a hand lightly over the bright keys, feelings that still reminded me of Aseliah washing over me…
"Hey, Kali, hurry up!" Aseliah called over the brutal screaming wind. "We're going to be late for piano!"
"Not while I'm here!" I called back, running to catch up. "Hey, can't you take the bag for a while?"
"Nope!" Aseliah laughed. "Mom said to stop carrying those heavy bags, remember?"
"This isn't heavy!" I exclaimed. "Heavy is taking both of our school bags home when the teachers from EVERY subject gave us homework!"
"Right, Kali." Aseliah joked. "Your life is so difficult."
"Of course it is!"
"Can we warm up with a B$+ scale?" called the Jazz instructor, Ms. Janizon. (A/N: the musical scale written is B flat major. It's sort of jazz scale. We used the flat major [B flat, A flat, E flat] scales a lot in Jazz Band last year. I can't go this year because I have to be in Band and I REFUSE to play French Horn just so I can play piano in Jazz. _ And now my friends tell me I could've played piano in Band. Grr…*steaming mad*)
'Okay, Kali, just keep a hold of yourself,' I thought to myself, as my fingers went up and down the scale in automatic jazz tempo. 'You can do this. Because after all, you have no idea how long you have left. Gosh, I hope not long…'
~~A week or so later~~
*Third-person POV*
Kali stepped off the bus in front of the doors to the airport, wondering how her friends, her nearest friends left to her now, would react when they finally met her without the protective shield of the spirit chamber.
She paced uneasily in the waiting area for the flight from Denmark, where Blake and his hikari William Turner, and Reva and her hikari Caryn Handel would be arriving shortly. Blake and William had come from a connecting flight from England to Denmark and now from Denmark to Japan.
"Flight 196 from Copenhagen has now arrived at Gate A17," came the bored voice of the intercom person. "I repeat Flight 196 from Copenhagen has now arrived at Gate A17. Gosh, I hate my job…"
Kali, rather than shove her way through the crowds, slunk towards the back, and waited for Blake and Reva to contact her.
[Hey, Kali, where are you?] asked Blake. [I can't see you.]
[That's because I'm hidden in the back.] Kali answered.
[Ah! Gosh girl you've gone downhill!] Reva yelped as the wave of negative power hit her. [How can you stand this?]
[Really?] Kali asked dryly. [I hadn't noticed. Don't come too close, though. I made a guy at school faint a few days ago.]
She remembered that quite clearly…
"I have a small project for you!" said the English teacher Mrs. Kjornas cheerily. "You'll go into groups of three, which I will assign, and your task is to recount as many plays of Shakespeare as you can, and give a brief summary of two of them."
Kali zoned out; this was fairly easy stuff, until she heard "Yami Moto, Bakura Hino, and Kali Zona."
'No!' she groaned inwardly. 'Not the spirit dude, and the other hikari. I can't go too close to them.'
Grudgingly, Yami and Bakura pulled over desks to where Kali was sitting; she could already see the unease in the spirit's face, and the pallor of the hikari. Praying for a lapse in energy, just for once, she said softly "So?"
"So what?" Yami asked. "What I want to know is what you did to Yugi that day."
"I didn't do anything," Kali retorted. "It's just… something I can't help."
"And why don't you look anybody in the eyes?" Bakura demanded, budging in closer.
'Don't come any closer,' Kali mentally tried to send him, but failed; without her Glass there, she couldn't communicate mind-to-mind with anybody.
Yami, in a quiet voice that commanded in tones as well as words, said quietly "Kali, look at me. Look right in my eyes."
"I… I can't," she answered just as quietly.
"Yes you can," Yami said not too kindly; he was running out of patience. "Lift your head up and look me straight in the eyes."
"No…" she tried again, but Yami, run out of patience, took her gently by the chin and lifted her head to look him in the eyes. (A/N: OMIGOSH! This sounds SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO romantic! I can't stand it! The romance, the romance!!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! *falls off her chair laughing* Ow. I have a tendency to laugh at romantic scenes. Aren't I mature! I tend to laugh at really bad attempts at sad scenes, too. Aren't I really mature!)
His hand dropped like a rock and he tumbled out of his chair, unconscious.
"What did you do?" Bakura demanded angrily, kneeling next to Yami as Joey came over. "What did you do to him?"
Joey, who had knelt down and checked Yami's weak pulse, stood up again, fire burning in his eyes. "I don't know who or what you are, but you can't be good. No decent person would deliberately hurt somebody without a purpose."
Kali, about to reply something along the lines of him not being worth a speck of dirt under a mortal's foot, decided against it and just fled to her apartment, where she spent the afternoon in agonized pain, both physical and emotional.
Blake, William, Reva and Caryn all grabbed their duffels and waited for the next flight to come in, which carried the other Silver Bearers.
A few hours later, the flight from Madrid, Spain arrived, carrying Loella and her hikari Paz Mariachi, and Son and his hikari Awan Yahto from the USA.
[Don't go too close,] Blake advised them as they came towards the group. [Believe me, it hurts.]
[How did you manage to faint a guy, anyhow Kali?] Reva asked curiously.
[Yeah,] Blake agreed.
[You fainted a guy?] Son and Loella asked in interest. [Do tell. You can't be affecting the mortals yet.]
[Nope,] Kali said. [But I'm getting pretty close. I nearly fainted a hikari.]
[Ai! Kali, don't talk so much. You hurt.] Son asked. [Hikari? As in there are other yamis here?]
[Uhh…] Kali stopped. [Didn't I tell you?]
[What, that there are other yamis? In Domino City?] Blake demanded. [No, I don't believe you did.]
[Tell me they aren't gold.] Loella said pleadingly. [Tell me they're some other form of yami, and not the Golden Egyptians.]
[Umm…] Kali faltered.
[KALI!] the other yamis exclaimed.
[They separated the Silvers and Golds for a reason, you know!] Reva yelled. [And you've dragged us ALL back here?! Kali, you idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
[Shut up, Reva!] Son yelled. [I'm sure Kali just forgot. She's got a lot more on her mind than you do, you know.]
*Son's POV*
I couldn't believe the nerve of Reva. She had always been a bit of an intolerable brat, but that was WAY out of line!
[Uh, Son?] came the tentative voice of Awan over the link. [What's going on?]
[Nothing, nothing.] I answered irritably.
[What's going on?] Awan asked again.
[Nothing!]
[What's going on?]
[Fine! Kali forgot about why the Golds and Silvers were separated in the first place and now she's gotten us all back in the same city, pretty much.]
[Oh, dear God.] Awan groaned. [She never did have much sense, did she?]
[Not really,] I admitted. Awan and I had always been closer to Aseliah and Kali than the others, mostly because we lived so close together. The girls had lived in Winnipeg and we live in Grand Forks, so every once in a while we would meet up with each other. Not since Aseliah's death, though. We all knew what was coming…
A/N: REVIEEEEEEEEWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!