Chapter 7: Daddy?

            Alex woke up grumbling and dizzy.  She opened her eyes to see a blurry vision of the room around her.  After her vision cleared a bit she could look around the small room, 'This seems so familiar . . . like I've been here before.'

'I don't like this, Alex.  I'm getting a strange feeling from this place.'

'Me too, Amunet.  This place may seem familiar, but it doesn't feel as cozy as it looks.' 

There was poster after poster of unicorns that plastered the light pink wall, and Alex looked at the bed that she was in and saw the pink heart frame that was supporting the mattress.  The mattress was covered in lavender and pink heart sheets and comforters.  Stuffed animals and baby dolls were scattered around the room some piled on top of others making mountains in all four corners of the room.  Most of them had that fake smile that most Barbie dolls have printed on their face, but others had blank expressions, showing no emotion behind their black eyes.  Some gave Alex a cold feeling and sent shivers down her spine.  She felt her head and straightened up in bed, "What the hell happened?"  She looked around and then heard some one in the shadows, "Alright, I know there is some one there, so don't be stupid.  Show yourself."

"You know, you shouldn't talk so much, you might hurt yourself," a man came out from the shadows.  He was middle aged, and his age was just now starting to show in his appearance.  Most of his hair was still a dark brown, but some grey was starting to show on the top and the sides of his head.  He was wearing a dark cape that surrounded his build, so Alex couldn't really tell if she could get passed him without getting hurt, if she ever wanted to escape.  "Maybe I should say the same to you, but we'll see after you answer a few of my questions," Alex swung her feet over the side of the bed, "Why am I here?"

"I wanted to help you understand."

"Understand what?"

"The Millennium items and what there is to know about them.  How to use them to your own advantage mostly."

"You know about millennium items?"

"I know that you have one around your wrist," he walked forward stretching out his hand toward the bracelet.  Alex held it tightly with her other hand and leaned away from the man.  "Huh, your mother was the same way with that bracelet.  Wouldn't let it go for the world.  Even when she was threatened by something she couldn't bear to lose."

"How would you know about my mother?" Alex looked at the guy in the eyes.

"You know, it's very sad."

"What's that?"

"It's very sad when your own daughter doesn't even know who her father is," he stared back and Alex saw her same eyes in his, matching almost perfectly.

"Daddy?"

***

Yugi ran all night, thinking that the feeling that he was in his stomach was leading him somewhere.  At most points he just felt like he was going around in circles, watching the same places pass by him each time he turns a corner.  Alex was hurt somewhere and he couldn't find her . . . he felt so helpless.  Neit followed Yugi smelling different objects and so called landmarks hoping to pick up Alex's scent on something.

Then a few minutes before sun rise, Yugi couldn't run any longer, he stopped to take a breath on the curb.  He leaned back on his hands and watched as the sun began to peek out from behind the tall buildings in the east.  Yugi looked down at Neit who curled up in his lap, nudging her head against his chest.  He patted her head and forced a smile, to try to convince himself that maybe Alex was just out walking around, and spilt something on her clothes . . .  But deep inside he knew that he was kidding himself. 

He knew that Alex wouldn't go anywhere with out Neit.  He knew that Alex wouldn't be going around tearing her clothes and scattering them around the park.  He knew that she was somewhere out in the world . . . with out a friend.  And no matter how hard she tried to hide it at times, Yugi knew that she always needed a friend by her side.  Yugi's smile began to fade from his face.  He picked up the cat and started to walk down the street toward Alex's house.  Maybe he could find something there.

***

"So you do recognize me."

"Well, I shouldn't exactly call you daddy, since you never really were one to me."

"What do you mean?"

"No, what do you mean?" Alex stood up from the bed and noticed a small piece of her cargo pants were missing, and a bad scrape on her leg, "You left mom when I wasn't even born!  You went on another one of your little bar hoping field trips and never came home.  She waited for you, night after night, but you never came home.  Sometimes, even when I just turned sixteen I would hear her crying in her sleep to you, Henry."

"Is that what she told you?  That I was a drunk and let you two to fend for yourselves?  She told you lies.  She probably fed them to you everyday, and you ate every single one of them up without question."

"What else was I suppose to believe, Dad?  You weren't ever there to tell me different!"

"You want the truth?"

"That would be nice, but I don't trust many people with black capes on that hit me over the head and drag me into a room that just doesn't set well with me."

"You don't remember this room do you?"

"Why should I?" she turned away from him.

"This was your room when you were first born."  Alex looked over her shoulder at the man behind her, "The truth was that I was there when you were born.  You were such a happy baby.  I couldn't ask for anything more, or for a more perfect babe.  Your dark brown eyes always shined with intelligence and your smile always plastered another smile on mine.  I worked so hard on your room, finding out that I was having a girl; I bought every pink or unicorn item that I could find.  I waited with anticipation for the day of your arrival.  And when it came I was so proud."

"Then why did you leave?"

"Your mother . . . and the bracelet that you wear around your wrist."

"What does the bracelet have to do with anything?"

"I'm a rare hunter, Alex.  So was my father, and as soon as you were old enough you were going to be one too.  I hunt for rare cards, and rare items.  When your mother and I were together, she knew nothing about rare hunters, until that one day that I saw her with the bracelet on.  I saw the marking and I knew that I had to get it back to . . . I just had to get it.

"She wouldn't let me near it.  Kept telling me it was too precious, and has been in her family for years.  And then I told her what it really was, a millennium item and how much power it held.  She still wouldn't let me have it.  She didn't trust her own husband.  I told her about my plans for you in the future and she ran out of the room, hearing nothing of it.  I suspected that she needed time to herself, so I left her alone, most of the time that is what we did when we had fights.  I left the house and when I got back; your mother had left, along with you in tow."

"Well, if you had the power of other millennium items, how did you not find us?"

"I couldn't see you two.  There was a special power protecting you from my sight."  Alex could feel her wrist glow and Amunet placing her hand on Alex's shoulder, whispering something to her.  "I couldn't be there for you because your mother never let me."

"I know why now," Alex lifted her head up from the bracelet, "Mom was Egyptian.  She was a descendent from Amunet's family who kept the bracelet.  And she knew all about it and about rare hunters . . . and never told me," Alex stared at him straight in the eyes, "She never had the chance, because you did eventually find us, didn't you?"

"I didn't . . . others had."  He finally sat down in one of the small pink chairs by what looked like a tiny tea table, "Some of the other hunters felt a presence.  A strong one, one that could only come from your item.  They never told me, until they came back with your mother.  They tried to get you to hand the bracelet over, but you wouldn't-"

"They didn't give me a choice about the matter!  I didn't want to give up the bracelet, because I just got it from mom.  Then the monster that . . . that took her just waged the whole duel on her.  And I lost!"

"That was the only way!"

"Oh please, Henry."

"Don't you ever call me that!  I am your father, so call me by that title!"

"I never knew why I was so into Egyptian history, or why I felt so comfortable with it.  It's because I am an Egyptian.  And I'm destined to guard the bracelet from rare hunters like you."

"I thought that your mother never told you about the bracelet."

"She didn't."

"Then how do you know all that?"

"Amunet."

"What?"

"Amunet, the spirit awoken from my millennium item.  She told me everything.  About you, and your search for power.  And I'm telling you my answer now, I'll never join you.  So don't waste your breath in asking."

"You're just like your mother, except I was hoping you would be wiser," he turned from her and walked out the door.  The door shut quickly and Alex ran to it, but couldn't get it open no matter how she tried.  She watched through a small window at her father talking to another figure in a black cape.  The figure turned towards her room and she could tell that it was the same man that beat her before.  Her father brought something out from his robes, and Alex could see a glint of gold as he placed it back underneath the waves of pitch black.

She slid down the side of the door facing back into her room, 'Now what?'

'Now I tell you the whole story about the bracelet.'

'The information would have been nice from the beginning, Amunet.  Especially the information about my mother wearing the bracelet.'

'I never knew that she did.  You were the first to wear the bracelet and awaken me.  But I did know about what the bracelet is, I'm sorry.

'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I didn't want you to get hurt just because you were trying to protect the bracelet.'

'Well, I already did that, Amunet.  Too late now.'

'I guess your right, Alex.  Well, I didn't come by the bracelet by mistake.  It had always been in my family because we were the ones chosen to protect it.  I never knew the power of the bracelet myself until I was trapped inside it.

'It is very powerful, as I have said before.  It may be humanity's final hope for peace.'  Alex walked over to the bed and laid back down to listen to the rest of the story, 'It has the power to heal, the power to bring peace to even the darkest hearts, and even to bring love into someone's life.  But it also has the power to do the opposite.  To kill, bring destruction and hatred into every place on the globe.  Your mother, and the people before her knew of this, but neither you nor I knew until now.  It took me over thousands of years to realize this.  I'm so sorry, I never told you sooner.'

'Amunet?'

'What is it Alex?'

'Thank you for protecting us all those years from my father.  I just don't understand how you did.'

'Who ever held the bracelet was always protected by my will or not.'

Alex sighed, 'I guess it's up to me to save the world.'  She stared at the ceiling, 'I just wish I had a friend by my side right now.'

'I know . . . I miss Yami just as much as you miss Yugi.'

'I never got to say I was sorry, Amunet.  I never got to say what I felt.'

'Somehow I think he already knows.  And if you keep heart, he will find you, and you will be together again.  Now, try to get some sleep.'

'Amunet, I just slept by being knocked out.'

'But this sleep will help, now go on.  Sleep.'  Even though Alex tried to fight Amunet and sleep with in her mind, she eventually lost the battle and fell into a deep sleep.  Finally reaching her dream of calling out to Yugi, only standing a few feet from her outreaching arms.