Chapter 12: Decisions

            A/N:  Thank you so much for all that reviewed!  I am always glad to see so many reviews, especially when they have constructive criticism.  I want to give a special thanks to Taiya, who reviewed and not only gave me some tips, but also gave me a few ideas! ;)  Anyway, thanks again, and please excuse me if my detail is not what it should, I'm still trying to work on that and my grammar.  Happy days!  Enjoy!

            "What?!" Alex and Yugi both yelled in unison.  The boy smiled at them, and stepped closer to Alex. 

"Alex it was your father's last wish," the boy's cold eyes pierced through her flesh like a knife and into her soul.

            "Like I would care, moron.  My father had no right to come into my life, he should have just left me be.  I was better off in not knowing he was still out there.  First you ruin my life, try to kill me, and now you want to marry me?  How screwed up are you people?"

            "Alex, it's not your decision-"

"Like hell it's not!" Alex yelled into his face, "It's my life and my heart . . . that belongs to some one else."  The boy looked at her then glared at Yugi.  "I mean, think of this before you act.  I don't even know your name and you're pushing me into this.  Which I hope you know by now, I'm not going along with."

"Why don't you think of this, Alex?  How do you think I knew what time you were going to be home that day?  How your mother would be home at the perfect time?  Don't you remember me, Alex?  It's me . . . Kyle."

"Kyle . . ." Alex's eyes shot away from his, she couldn't bear to look at him.  It couldn't be him.  This couldn't be the same boy she used to play with on the monkey bars when others shunned her away.  This couldn't be the boy who hugged her and reassured her it would always be alright as long as they were together.  It couldn't be him . . . the one she thought was going to be her only love . . . and the one who later dropped her like bricks when he saw a better piece of tail pass him by.  She looked up at him and shook her head, "Why Kyle?  Why now?  You had a better girl, didn't you?  Your little 'friend,' if that's what she really was.  Why come back to me now?  It has been three years since I last saw you."

"And in those three years I learned of your heritage, Alex.  You and I were meant for one another.  It was written in the stars that we were meant to be-"

"I should have known that the moment you walked back in my life it was you.  First you take, and later break, my heart, then my mother, and now you want to take my freedom?!  Think Kyle!  You used to be so smart . . . have you reduced yourself to their level of thinking?  To reduce to being given orders and following them with only a wave of your master's hand?"

"It's your rightful passage.  Our rightful passage.  You are destined to become one of the best hunters in history and be by my side as my wife.  Please, don't make me resort to killing your mother.  It was hard enough to take her from you."

"I bet it was," Alex's eyes focused on him.  She couldn't move, and then Kyle removed something from his vest . . . a golden pocket watch. 

"I think this is also rightfully yours," he tossed it into her hands.  Alex found it to be her father's and ran her fingers over the worn inscription of 'I'm Sorry'.  "Your mother left it when she ran away with you," Alex looked at him with questions burning in her eyes, "Your father told me everything.  What your mother was like, how much he loved her, and you.  At times, I felt like I was part of your family, which is why it was so hard to kill him."

Alex's eyes went huge and filled with tears, "You?  You are the one that killed him?" Yugi put his protective arms around her.

"He didn't trust anyone else," Kyle smiled, "I guess that we will never go on that 'family picnic' he had planed.  It's a pity . . . I had the potato salad all ready."

"How dare you!" Alex stepped toward him, but was held back by Yugi.  She looked at him as he shook his head as to tell her it wasn't worth the risk.  She closed her eyes and held the golden item closer to her heart.

"Alex, maybe you should go with Kyle," Alex opened her eyes and looked up at Yugi.  Something clicked in her mind like someone was starting an old movie projector.

FLASHBACK

It was at the end of the night.  All the stars were hidden behind a deep shade of dark blue, showing signs of on coming rain.  Alex had her hand clasped tightly over some one else's as she ran toward the gazebo in the middle of the park.  "I told you that it was going to rain, but you didn't believe me."

"It hasn't rained yet, Alex," as soon as her name was said a downpour started to swallow the cool night air around them.  Alex wore a smug grin on her face and looked into the eyes of the young man, "You were saying Kyle?"

"Yeah, yeah . . ." he let go of her hand and leaned on one of the railings staring out into the rain.  He looked puzzled or distracted and Alex walked over.

"What's bugging you?"

"Nothing."

"It's about Ebony, isn't it?"

Kyle snapped his head toward her, his blond hair swinging in his eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"She isn't just your friend, is she?"

"Alex, you are the only girl for me."

Alex looked away from the glare of his blue eyes, "Then why were you two kissing while I was supposedly getting punch at the dance last night?"

"You were watching me?"

"Funny how things work out, huh?  They ran out of punch since the whole bowl was spiked.  You don't feel for me the way I do you."

He held his head down, "Why did you bring me out here, Alex?"

"To give you your ring back," Alex took it off her finger and placed it in his hand, "I bet you would want to give it to her."  She closed his hand around it and pressed it against his chest.

"Alex . . ." he looked in her eyes and knew that he couldn't play the game with this girl, "Maybe you're right.  And maybe I just decided that the others were right.  You are a freak!"

Alex backed away from him, "It's not like you're much better Kyle!"

"At least I know when to quit, Alex!  At least I don't hold on!"

"Maybe you should go with Ebony," Alex said looking past him, "She's been waiting for you by that tree ever since we arrived.  Maybe you should just go."

He turned away from her and made his way out into the rain.

"And Kyle . . ." he turned back to face her, rain already taking it's toll, "Don't you ever come back into my life! I don't need any more jerks!"

"NO PROBLEM!" he turned his back on her for the last time, signaled Ebony to jump in the car, and sped off leaving her stranded in the small gazebo.

END FLASHBACK

Alex snapped back into reality, "Yugi . . . I can't go with him.  He broke my heart once, please don't do the same."

"I don't want you nor your mother hurt."  She could see the worry inscribed on his face, and strong fire of determination in his eyes.

"No Yugi, I can't leave you.  Our bond is so much stronger then this.  I can not break it!  I can not lose you as I did him."

"I'm not asking you to," he took her hands in his, "I just want you to be safe until I can find you again.  And I will find you again, I promise."

Alex took one of his hands brought it up to have it touch her cheek.  She closed her eyes and thought of what to do.  'Mother . . . please help me,' suddenly a flash of a picture ran through her mind.  Her mother was asleep, tied to a bar of some kind.  Barely awake . . . if even alive.  Alex opened her eyes and looked at Yugi, "They don't have her."

"What are you talking about?" Kyle took a step toward them, "Of course we have her."

Alex regained her strength and walked toward Kyle, "You don't have her.  You're pretty sure that she is somewhere tied to a bar and dead."  Kyle backed away from her stuttering, "Yo-You do-"

"As soon as you took her you tied her up somewhere, injected her with the same stuff Connie stuck me with and left her to die.  You never had her prisoner; you never had her this whole time.  You murderer!"

"You shouldn't just end with calling me murderer.  Your father helped too!"

"I know, and for that he's helping me now," Alex lifted her arm to show the glowing bracelet with another glowing piece of gold that used to be her father's.  "This was never a pocket watch as we all thought," Alex opened her father's possession, "It's an old compass . . . with the power of the old magic of Egypt."

"He never told me . . ."

"He never trusted you.  He always knew that you would betray him in the end," Alex turned to Yugi, "He trusted me to figure it out.  He wanted me to do what I wanted, even if I wasn't going to be a rare hunter . . . he was a good man.  And I called him a fraud."

"Then why did he help us kill you mother?"

"Didn't you listen to yourself earlier, Kyle?  He truly loved my mother, unlike the false love that you fed to me and more then likely Ebony.  He didn't give her the poison . . . he gave her something else and you all fell for it.  With his help I will find my mother and come back to end rare hunters in an all out duel!"  Alex turned from Kyle and started to walk away with Yugi, reaching out her hand for his.

"Alex, you're missing something that can't be explained!  We are that something!   We were once together, let that be again!  We are your destiny!"

"My destiny is far from your murdering kind!" Alex turned around and hit Kyle with a blast of light from her bracelet.  He was hit into a tree and fell to the ground with a sickening thud.  Alex stumbled a little, but regained her balance back quickly.  She looked over at the girl that was Kyle's date.  "Tell your boss that I'll never join you.  Stop trying and leave me and my loved ones alone!" the girl, already afraid that she would be next to hit the ground nodded her head and ran off.

"Yugi?"

"Alex?"

"I want to go home," she wrapped her arms around his waist, trying at the same time to keep a hard hold on her father's item.

"Let's head home then," he hugged her and kept one arm around her waist as they walked home.

***

Alex was lying on her bed staring at her father's compass in her hands, 'Huh, it's strange isn't it dad?  You lived a lie to protect, and even then your daughter still hated you for it.  Oh daddy, I'm so sorry.'  She felt a small tear fall down her cheek, 'But thanks to you dad, I've seen mom.  She's still alive and I will find her.  I promise you that.'

'I know you will and I'll be right there beside you the whole way.  If you need any help I'm here, always.'  Alex smiled at Amunet's comment and heard a soft knock on the door.  Neit jumped off the dresser by the window and walked over to the door meowing.  Alex could hear Yugi's voice on the other side and her smile widened even more.  She opened her door to see Yugi in a white tank top and some old gym shorts, "You ok?"

"Yes, minus the fact that I'm very embarrassed."

"Why?"

"Because I'm standing in front of you with a giant t-shirt that says I'm with stupid pointing to no one unless you count the door."

He smiled, "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Alex stepped aside and let Yugi through.  She closed the door and sat down beside him on the bed.  "Your not ok are you, Alex?"

"It's just that my mother and father loved each other deeply and I never knew.  They both had to live a lie.  To keep it from their only daughter.  They couldn't be together because they had to protect the bracelet and me.  I never knew my father because of the stupid rare hunters.  And now, I will never know anything about him except for what I learn from his piece."

"What do you mean from his piece?"

"When I held my father's item I felt his presence.  I heard his thoughts," Alex looked up from the floor, "He was a good man, he just couldn't show it."

"What about Connie?  She was found with him."

"She followed orders as she needed to, but they needed her body to get me back into another foster home.  But they weren't expecting you."

"They killed her just for that?"

"Yes, she never saw it coming," they both stayed in silence for a while.

"So, now what?"

"Now, I find my mother, with the help of my father's piece I should be able to find her."

"You mean we, don't you?"

"We?"

"We are going to find your mother.  I'm going with you."

"I thought that you might say something like that," he gave her a hug.  

"You know, Alex.  You are the most complicated person I have ever known.  And to think, I thought that you just needed a friend.  I never thought that you were an Egyptian with an ancient past, rare hunters on your tail, one happening to be your ex-boyfriend, and you would take my heart.  Funny how things work out, huh?"

"What do you mean by an ancient past?" Alex asked, half laughing.

"Well, I'm the reincarnation of Yami in this life.  I'm thinking that you are the one to awaken Amunet's spirit, you are her reincarnation."

"That would be really weird . . . I mean, me . . . Amunet's reincarnation?"

"It's possible.  Yami fell in love with Amunet and I with you."

"Speaking of those two, have they been together recently?"

"Not that I know of."

"Maybe we should let them see each other."

"Amunet is talking to you again, huh?"

"Well, would you blame her?  Being separated from your love for over a few thousand years would be enough wouldn't it?"

"I guess you're right," Alex smiled and looked down at the bracelet.  

"I'll get the puzzle."  Alex watched him go into his room and let Amunet take over.

 "Thank you, Alex," Amunet sighed as soon as she got a breath of fresh air.

'No problem.  I would be going crazy if I couldn't see Yugi every opportunity I could.  I tip off my hat to you for be as patient as you are.'

Amunet smiled and looked at what she was wearing, "ALEX!  Why don't you have any clothes on?"

'I have clothes on.  I'm wearing something for sleeping- ur . . . bed-ur, well you know what I mean, right?'  Amunet shook her head. 

Then from the doorway she could hear some one clear their throat, "Hello Yami."

"Amunet," he came in and brushed his hand on the side of her face.  She smiled and kissed him on the lips. 

Afterward she looked him in the eyes, "I've missed you too."

"Is something on your mind?"

"Do you think it's true what your light said about Alex being my reincarnation?"

"I think that it is very possible.  And Yugi did bring up some good points."

"You mean about you falling for me?" Yami smirked and gave her another kiss.