This is the second to last chapter, things are starting to wind down now, information will be found, well at least Bakura thinks he's gonna find something; not exactly what he had in mind though.
Yu-Gi-Oh! characters and everything related is (c) Kazuki Takahashi
I stumbled into my room, scared half to death that I was going to meet myself in a few moments. Time travel is a tricky thing, would meeting myself cause some cosmic explosion? Would I create a paradox? My mind reeled with so many horrible thoughts I was sure Bakura could hear them as well. He walked in behind me and took note of his surroundings. Probably for future reference. Well, I was home so I set my bag down. Things were left as I remember, including my bed. A corner of the sheet had been turned up too, I was going to fix it but went to eat lunch first. Wait, wait... I don't remember anything after lunch. I remember going to bed, but what happened between lunch and that time is a blur...
"What's this?" he asked after raising a hand to point at an image on the closet door. It was of him and the Ring. "What is all of this?" he pointed to each item that held images of him or any of the others back in his world. "Looks like an unhealthy obsession to me," he raised a thin brow. "And why are we all... cartoon-like?"
"Duh, animated series and all. And it's not just you and the others around, have other things too," the woman replied as she opened the door.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To make sure I'm not downstairs too, I'll be back."
"Yes, you had better. Because if you fail to return, I will stay here and wait for your family. And apparently you share a room with a younger sister..."
"I will return," the woman said darkly.
A chuckle, "Good, I'll be waiting."
"God damnit, maybe this was a bad idea. I should have showed him to another part of town and gone from there," the woman muttered to herself as she descended the stairs. The lower floor was quiet, no sign of another person being home. To make sure she went through all the rooms and checked the front door. Nothing, she was alone, well besides Bakura she was alone.
"Shit! NO!" she hissed suddenly as she made a mad dash back up the stairs.
"Such a beautiful animal," Bakura cooed as he pet the sleek black cat nuzzling his leg.
"His name is Spectre," the woman closed the door when another black paw tried to push it open. "And Midnight is the one on the other side."
"May I see him?" Bakura asked as he stood back up. Spectre meowed and hopped up on a bed, asking to be pet again. The woman had no choice but to open the door and let Bakura view her other cat.
"You seem so worried," he chuckled as he pet the larger cat. "I would never harm a feline, they held special status in ancient Egypt. And being that you own two of the beautiful creatures I hold you in a slightly higher respect."
"I don't own them, they own me."
"An interesting view, but whatever," he shrugged as he gave Midnight one last pat on the head. Spectre was still meowing and craning his neck for attention. "But enough of the pussy footing around," he gave a smile at the pun. "Let's get down to business, show me what I want to know."
"Let me get these fur balls out of the room," the woman said as she shooed the two away.
"I did rather enjoy their company," Bakura said with a hint of sadness. Sarah couldn't tell if it was genuine or not though.
"Now, let me just log on and we'll start."
"Log on?" Bakura raised a brow. The white haired Spirit watched the woman stride to the desk near where they had entered through the portal. She slid out the large, low-sitting chair before pulling a thin object to the front of the desk.
"Internet, Tomb Raider," she said as she clicked open the latch and raised the screen on her laptop. With the push of a button the screen flashed and lit up. Bakura moved closer and indicated for her to take the seat, he would only watch over her shoulder.
"There are only a handful of persons who call me that," he whispered in her ear. He moved back and laughed. "What an interesting image I just saw. Was that myself, Jou, the Pharaoh, Seto and Malik?"
"Yes, it was. Default wallpaper on start up. That guy is actually what I see most the time," she pointed to the image of a man with stark white skin and hair, he was bare chested with shoulder guards strapped on, one being considerably larger than the other. His lower half was clad in black pants and armored boots. He clutched an interesting sword, the hilt holding a fanged skull with wing like protrusions on either side. The blade was wavy and flowing, a strange design for a sword. His most notable features were his pointed ears and fangs dripping with blood.
"Ah, I remember seeing him in your thoughts the first time I tried. Raziel was it?"
"No, Kain. Anyway forget that," she muttered as the dial-up screen popped up and began to automatically dial. "There are many sites to look at, I'll show you the ones with the most information."
"I had not expected this to be on the internet. I was expecting a material form."
"Yeah, well that would be in Japan. America is a year or so behind them. All I know about 'future' events comes from the internet. But here's the deal, right now I'm currently on the story arc of Battle City. Where Seto held his tournament in the city itself."
"Ah yes, I remember that. Hrm, and you say this is behind what is unfolding in Japan?"
"Yes, I don't know how far but I have enough of an idea of 'future' events," the woman grunted and clicked off an email alert, instead she pulled up IE and went straight to her favorites to hit a certain site. It had the scripts for shows posted, she didn't know how far it went up because she didn't actually read the scripts. "I'll be honest, I don't know how close any of this is to events but there you have it. You can look through things on your own. I trust you can work a computer?"
"Yes, I'm not a simpleton," the Spirit growled.
"Well it's all yours," the woman said as she moved from the seat. "I'll be here if you want to move to another site." She hesitated for a moment before turning on the radio. The Spirit gave her a quixotic look but said nothing, he went back to reading.
"Legacy of Kain soundtrack," she said absently as she turned the machine over to CD and hit play.
"Hmm, dark. I think I like," Bakura replied as he read.
There were sites I could show him that had the details from the manga, which was vastly different from the animated series, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, more sites held information on the card game and show. It would have to do. I almost flipped out when I noticed Bakura's attention had been on an instant messenger window. How could I have been so stupid to not turn that off? Bakura had been reading it, but hadn't replied. It was one of my friends from another state, I simply closed the program without saying a word to the other person. Figured Bakura might decide to have fun with them if I didn't make it go away. I was also glad nothing embarrassing had been said while Bakura was reading. Not that my friends IM me out of the blue with stuff I don't want others to see, but mainly inside jokes and conversations that would take a lot of explaining for others to get.
Two hours passed, in that time I heard someone come in downstairs. Had to either be my brother or mom. When I didn't hear the door again, I assumed it was my mom. Jon never stayed home long anyway. Amazingly mom didn't come up, normally she does. But not today. More time passed, absent mindedly I turned the radio off and turned the TV on. This next bit was amusing.
"What the devil?" Bakura spun around when he heard a familiar name. He made a face as he studied the TV screen. "Well, guess I get to see how they handle things, then. The scripts are based on a central truth but still don't go exactly how I remember events," the Spirit paused and raised a brow when he saw himself. "I thought you said things were in the Battle City era, this is back during Duelist Kingdom where I first make my presence on the island known."
"Rerun, basically. They put new stuff on Saturday and reruns weekdays."
"I certainly hope I'm not that cocky and... obvious."
"No, you're not. But in this episode you are aptly dubbed Capitan Obvious."
"How kind," he grumbled. He tilted his head to the side and looked past the TV, to the bedroom door. "I believe we're about to have company."
"Fuck," the woman muttered, partially surprised at her choice of words. "Um, just stay seated. I'll handle it," the woman waved as the door opened.
"What?" Mary said when she saw her older sister standing close to the door.
"Just come in fully and don't say a word," the woman replied as she ushered her sister in.
"Why?" Mary questioned. "What the fuck!?" she suddenly barked. "That's Bakura!" she said rather loudly, Sarah clamped a hand over her mouth as the Spirit simply laughed.
"I see my reputation precedes me, again."
Mary managed to break free and stare openly at the white haired individual in her sister's computer chair. "You're the evil one, aren't you?"
Bakura nodded with a slight smirk.
"Crap," Mary said simply. "Um, be right back..." she set her backpack down and removed her jacket before turning around and going back downstairs.
"What's her name?" Bakura asked after a moment of silence.
"Mary."
"And where is she going right now?"
"Bathroom I think, she always comes up here to put her stuff down and goes to the restroom."
"For yours and her sake, I hope she doesn't bring anyone else up with her."
"Yeah, me too..." the woman reached over to turn the TV off before looking back at the Spirit, to see if he wanted it off.
"Go ahead, it would only be a distraction. I want to continue with this."
"Have you learned anything?" the woman asked as she leaned over the back of the chair.
"Some, mainly just details that occurred when I wasn't around. I can't say if there's any truth to these events or not. But I haven't found much of real value."
"And yet you don't seem mad about it."
"Why should I be? In the end I know I'll have what I want, this would possibly only help me get it faster. And I do quite enjoy the fact that if anyone else tries what I have they won't turn up much themselves."
"Funny, I never pegged you as such the optimist."
"And you say this after only known me for a few days? My dear, there are sides to both of us the other hasn't seen yet."
"Meh, whatever," she waved as the bedroom door opened again and Mary stepped in holding Spectre, Midnight snuck in as well.
"Went to pee," Mary said.
"Thanks for sharing," Sarah sighed.
"How old are you, Mary?" Bakura asked without taking his eyes of the monitor's soft glow.
"Fifteen, going on sixteen."
"Ah, high school age. Not that far behind Ryou's age then."
"Who...?" Mary asked.
"Ryou is the other half to Bakura," Sarah answered.
Oh crap, if Mary mentions something about not knowing the name, and Bakura realizes that the name Ryou was never used in the script and that I know it; he's going to think I'm hiding something from him. Then he might get mad because I don't know of any places that have information on the manga. Wait, no, I can still save my ass. He's reading the English stuff, I can just say they call both him and Ryou Bakura all the time. Cuz, well, they do. So it'll work, hopefully.
"I take it something is lost in the translation?" Bakura inquired.
"Yes, actually. For some reason they call you and Ryou by the same name, just happens to be Bakura."
"And the Pharaoh gets called Yami, I see. Joey, Tristan and Téa. I don't quite understand the naming, but whatever works," the Spirit shrugged.
"So, um, why is he here?" Mary tried to ask Sarah quietly.
"Looking for information to help back home," Bakura replied. "And I hope you aren't going to get talkative, I have work to do." He shot the blonde a hard look and she backed away, setting the cat down.
"Mary, just work on your homework or something, no TV though," Sarah commanded. "Unless you want to go downstairs to watch, but not here."
"No way, if she never showed up that can only mean one thing," Jou said. He was shaking, it was uncharacteristic for him. But the overwhelming sense of dread wasn't easily ignored.
"I never should have let her go," Mr. Mutou sighed.
"It's ok Grandpa, you didn't know."
"Yugi, maybe we should get out and do something. She took everything with her, could use it to make a trail if she's in trouble," Anzu offered.
"Let's do something, I don't like just sitting here," Honda added his voice.
"Where do we start?" Jou asked.
"Where else, since she's with Bakura."
"I hate that place," Jou sighed.
"Best place to start, though," Anzu shrugged.
"We're about to have company," Bakura said simply as he stood and closed the laptop. "He's rather resourceful, tracking me across worlds like this." The Spirit glance to his ring, the gold was glowing harshly and the tips of the cones stood on end, pointing to where he had originally entered the room from.
"Who?" Mary asked simply.
"Yami," Sarah smiled. "You're going to meet Yami Yugi."
Mary's eyes widened and her legs gave way as she fell to a seated position on her bed. Her mouth worked silently saying his name over and over.
"Oh he's not that special," Bakura growled at her reaction. The spirit stepped closer to the second bed as the wall and curtain where he had just been sitting wavered and rippled. Cautiously a hand emerged, it looked to be feeling around. Annoyed with the slow progress, Bakura sighed and grabbed it before yanking it and it's owner clear through. Yami stumbled into the room, attached to his other arm was the chain of Jou, Honda and Anzu.
Yami took a moment to take in his surroundings before laying eyes on Sarah. Relief showed on his face and as soon as the others passed the shock, there was much shoving for Yami to move. He had the other three blocked in, with the desk and chair to his left and a dresser to the right there was no space for the other teens to move in.
"Interesting, is it not?" Bakura chuckled as he pointed to the desk, more importantly three six inch figures that stood in front of the stereo. "She's got a toy of you, your damned Magician and the mutt."
"I didn't know you called Joey that, I thought Kaiba did," Mary wrinkled her nose.
"I can call him whatever I please," the Spirit replied gruffly.
"Are we where I think we are?" Yami asked as his eyes once again scanned his surroundings.
"Heh, welcome to our room," Sarah said with a hand jerk to her sister and herself. "That's Mary, the younger sibling I mentioned."
"Are you alright, did he hurt you?" Anzu blurted out.
"I'm fine, really," Sarah shrugged. "No harm done."
"And nothing learned," Bakura added on a sour note. "It was a waste of time," he emphasized with a quick wave.
Jou tugged on Yami's sleeve and asked something, the Spirit turned back to the center of the room. "Look, I'm not quite sure what to think of all of this, but I agree with Jounouchi, if Sarah's back where she belongs we should return as well."
"And how do we do that, try to go back through that wall and you'll find nothing," Bakura smirked.
"Well, to get here we had to go through the Shadow Realm," Anzu started before she paused and furrowed her brow. "But, why didn't we emerge in the Shadow Realm, then?"
"Perhaps that's where the initial door is, pass the threshold and be deposited in your destination outside the Shadow Realm," Bakura shrugged. He stood in thought for a moment before clamping a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Really now, you shouldn't stand so close to me when I'm unpredictable." Without another word, the two simply faded away.
Honda shouted something before Yami turned to the slack-jawed sister of Sarah's.
"Anzu, you and the others stay here with her. I'll be back with Sarah," he promised before he pulled himself into the Shadow Realm.
"I-I don't understand, why are all these doors here?" Sarah asked, her voice rang out with a tinge of pain and overwhelming fear. Bakura studied each door intently as Yami materialized. He shook his head and blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"It's amazing, isn't it Pharaoh? Her mind is doing all of this," he waved to the doors.
"Where do they lead?" Yami indirectly asked the woman.
"NO! Stay away from there," she whimpered as Bakura neared one of the portals. He raised a brow and gave her a look of genuine confusion. "Nosgoth," she croaked, "It's Nosgoth. You don't want to go there." Tears were beginning to well in her eyes and she massaged her temple methodically with her fingers.
"What's wrong?" Yami asked in a soft tone as he took the woman by the shoulders.
"A pull, from each place. They're all trying to claim me, drag me in. It hurts," she said through gritted teeth. "And, and I hear," she stopped to swallow hard.
"You hear what?" Yami prompted. His eyes darted to the side to see Bakura approach, the other Spirit showing some concern for the strange reaction the woman was having.
"Voices," she whispered hoarsely. "Voices from these places, so many all at once. So many feelings of so many kinds. It's all coming too fast, I can't handle it. I feel sick, weak. I'm, I'm being pulled in too many directions, they all want me," she whimpered, tears flowing freely. "Get me out of here!" she wailed. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and Yami braced himself to carry her weight.
"I don't like this," Bakura hissed as he violently threw an arm at the row of portals. "What are they, why are they here?"
"Talk later," Yami hissed as he gathered his magic to transport himself and the woman back to her room.
So much hit me all at once, so many places that I knew. Places from books, TV shows and movies. Anything that made some impact on me was represented in those doors. So many of them in rows, all showing the worlds that lay beyond. Why. Why were they in my room? What caused it, what placed them there? Could anything come through them and into my world or into one of the other worlds represented there? Why was I just now learning about this? Had they been there forever? My mind reeled with possibilities, the thoughts never stopped even though I was aware of the fact my body wasn't responding to me. Yami and Bakura took me back home, I heard the voices of the others and my sister saying we needed to get my mom, the others insisted to wait for a bit. I was placed on my bed, I felt others sit around me and nudge me from all sides, trying to rouse my dormant figure. I could still hear the whispers from the other worlds, though they were fading now as was the pain that plagued me. Eventually my eyes obeyed me and fluttered open. Much to my surprise I found both the spirits to either side of my head, confusion and... worry didn't look right for Bakura.
"What happened back there?" a soft question from Bakura broke the silence. The tone was foreign to him, he immediately felt wrong for even using it. Perhaps a bit of Ryou had come through in that moment.
"The places you saw, each one beckoned me. They tugged on me, pulling energy and strength from my being. That's all I know," she said in a voice so hoarse she couldn't believe it had been her that spoke.
"Why would they do that?" the Spirit of the Ring turned to Yami.
"I don't know," the Pharaoh narrowed his eyes. "I'm going back, to study them," he stated before his form melted away.
"You're not going alone," Bakura snarled before he did the same.
"They shouldn't have gone," Sarah croaked as she pulled herself to a seated position and wiped damp eyes. "We don't know if anything can come out of those door."
"Doors, what doors?" Anzu asked. "I'll translate for Jou and Honda as you go."
"What do you feel?" Bakura asked as Yami joined him.
"In here, nothing. When I get close enough to a portal I feel a slight pull. I don't think this is the Shadow Realm, similar maybe but not the same. Magic doesn't have the same effect on this world as it does ours."
"Then what is it?" Bakura demanded, almost as if he expected some other being to answer.
"Do you believe in miracles?" Yami asked suddenly.
"Everything has a cause, someone somewhere does something. Miracles are nothing more than some unseen power's handiwork."
"That's pretty much what I was getting at. Look, bare with me a moment. I'm going to go out on a limb here and I don't know if you'll follow or not."
"Try me," Bakura stated as he crossed his arms.
"A person's mind can be a powerful thing, if channeled properly. One mind alone is just that, one mind. But if you get more minds working together things that couldn't happen alone spring up. What if since so many other minds know the same thing, specifically about our world, that somehow their combined effort makes a bridge between the gap?"
"Are you getting at what I think you are, that all these persons made a bridge to us?"
"And they are totally oblivious to the fact as well," Yami nodded.
"But how, if none of them know one another? And what about the other places we saw?"
"More minds combined for those, it's said that if you believe in something long and hard enough it can come true. Maybe that's what's happened here, some sort of supernatural force is tuned to the thoughts of these people. It doesn't have to be just here that this happens, it could be in our world and each of the worlds we see here," Yami motioned to the portals.
"A web across space, worlds actually making contact without realizing it," Bakura mused.
"The one thing I don't understand is why aren't we going through the same thing Sarah did."
"Maybe we're detached enough so it won't effect us? We should bring someone else in to test that theory. I vote Anzu comes," Bakura smirked.
Yami glared hard at him. "I don't want her or any of them here."
"You aren't willing to test the thesis? Sarah is fine, should anything happen to the others you can just remove them," Bakura waved before his form vanished. Yami scowled and simply remained where he was, a moment later the Spirit of the Ring returned with a wildly protesting Anzu.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the teen hissed as she stalked away from him. She made it three feet away before she stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to take in the surreal quality of her surroundings. "These, these are the portals?" she asked in awe.
"And she's unaffected. You worried over nothing," Bakura snorted.
"What's here that would affect me?" Anzu asked as nervousness began to wash over her.
"I don't know, but it seems to only have effected Sarah," Yami answered as he watched Bakura stick a hand through a portal. "She warned you about that one," Yami reminded him.
Bakura scowled at the Pharaoh and closed his eyes. A moment later they shot back open and he violently removed his hand. "Soul Stealer," he hissed as he stepped away from the portal. "And in there too," he pointed to another."
"Brilliant move there," Yami raised an elegant brow.
"From what I gathered," Bakura ignored the other Spirit, "these portals only work one way unless you know how to get back through."
"So, we're stuck away from home?" Anzu dared to ask.
"No," Bakura said simply. "She was a key after all," he said more or less to the Pharaoh. "But she isn't the only one."
"Key, who?"
"Sarah," Yami replied. "We should return now, get away from this place. It's starting to leave an empty and hollow feeling inside me. I don't like it."
"Agreed," Bakura nodded simply before he vanished.
"Don't leave me!" Anzu blurted as she turned and dashed towards the other spirit.
"Why would I?" he gave her a puzzled look before transporting the two back to the room.
"It makes it annoying when I can't talk to them," Mary whined at the lack of understanding between her and Honda and Jounouchi.
"You just need a translator, that's all," Anzu said as soon as she, Yami and Bakura were back.
"Any change?" Yami asked the seated woman.
"Better now, and for the record I never want to go back in there again," Sarah replied. Yami bit his lip and turned away, it took Sarah a moment to realize what he meant. "Oh no, no way!" she protested.
"Well would you rather we all stay here?" Bakura snapped.
"How do I get back home?" she demanded.
"I suppose you come with us, then once there you pass back through to here," Yami thought aloud.
"Could I come...?" Mary asked quickly.
"No," Sarah answered. "I won't allow it."
"But I want to see what it looks like!" Mary protested.
"I said no," Sarah snapped. "Come on, let's get you folks home. The sooner I do this, the sooner I can get away from that surreal shit in that other realm."
"One question before we go, didn't you put a hand through one of the doors, Bakura? Do we really need Sarah?"
"Yes, I got a hand through but met something on the other side. Think of it as a partially opened door with a chain lock, I couldn't remove that last lock. We need her," the Spirit answered.
Yu-Gi-Oh! characters and everything related is (c) Kazuki Takahashi
I stumbled into my room, scared half to death that I was going to meet myself in a few moments. Time travel is a tricky thing, would meeting myself cause some cosmic explosion? Would I create a paradox? My mind reeled with so many horrible thoughts I was sure Bakura could hear them as well. He walked in behind me and took note of his surroundings. Probably for future reference. Well, I was home so I set my bag down. Things were left as I remember, including my bed. A corner of the sheet had been turned up too, I was going to fix it but went to eat lunch first. Wait, wait... I don't remember anything after lunch. I remember going to bed, but what happened between lunch and that time is a blur...
"What's this?" he asked after raising a hand to point at an image on the closet door. It was of him and the Ring. "What is all of this?" he pointed to each item that held images of him or any of the others back in his world. "Looks like an unhealthy obsession to me," he raised a thin brow. "And why are we all... cartoon-like?"
"Duh, animated series and all. And it's not just you and the others around, have other things too," the woman replied as she opened the door.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To make sure I'm not downstairs too, I'll be back."
"Yes, you had better. Because if you fail to return, I will stay here and wait for your family. And apparently you share a room with a younger sister..."
"I will return," the woman said darkly.
A chuckle, "Good, I'll be waiting."
"God damnit, maybe this was a bad idea. I should have showed him to another part of town and gone from there," the woman muttered to herself as she descended the stairs. The lower floor was quiet, no sign of another person being home. To make sure she went through all the rooms and checked the front door. Nothing, she was alone, well besides Bakura she was alone.
"Shit! NO!" she hissed suddenly as she made a mad dash back up the stairs.
"Such a beautiful animal," Bakura cooed as he pet the sleek black cat nuzzling his leg.
"His name is Spectre," the woman closed the door when another black paw tried to push it open. "And Midnight is the one on the other side."
"May I see him?" Bakura asked as he stood back up. Spectre meowed and hopped up on a bed, asking to be pet again. The woman had no choice but to open the door and let Bakura view her other cat.
"You seem so worried," he chuckled as he pet the larger cat. "I would never harm a feline, they held special status in ancient Egypt. And being that you own two of the beautiful creatures I hold you in a slightly higher respect."
"I don't own them, they own me."
"An interesting view, but whatever," he shrugged as he gave Midnight one last pat on the head. Spectre was still meowing and craning his neck for attention. "But enough of the pussy footing around," he gave a smile at the pun. "Let's get down to business, show me what I want to know."
"Let me get these fur balls out of the room," the woman said as she shooed the two away.
"I did rather enjoy their company," Bakura said with a hint of sadness. Sarah couldn't tell if it was genuine or not though.
"Now, let me just log on and we'll start."
"Log on?" Bakura raised a brow. The white haired Spirit watched the woman stride to the desk near where they had entered through the portal. She slid out the large, low-sitting chair before pulling a thin object to the front of the desk.
"Internet, Tomb Raider," she said as she clicked open the latch and raised the screen on her laptop. With the push of a button the screen flashed and lit up. Bakura moved closer and indicated for her to take the seat, he would only watch over her shoulder.
"There are only a handful of persons who call me that," he whispered in her ear. He moved back and laughed. "What an interesting image I just saw. Was that myself, Jou, the Pharaoh, Seto and Malik?"
"Yes, it was. Default wallpaper on start up. That guy is actually what I see most the time," she pointed to the image of a man with stark white skin and hair, he was bare chested with shoulder guards strapped on, one being considerably larger than the other. His lower half was clad in black pants and armored boots. He clutched an interesting sword, the hilt holding a fanged skull with wing like protrusions on either side. The blade was wavy and flowing, a strange design for a sword. His most notable features were his pointed ears and fangs dripping with blood.
"Ah, I remember seeing him in your thoughts the first time I tried. Raziel was it?"
"No, Kain. Anyway forget that," she muttered as the dial-up screen popped up and began to automatically dial. "There are many sites to look at, I'll show you the ones with the most information."
"I had not expected this to be on the internet. I was expecting a material form."
"Yeah, well that would be in Japan. America is a year or so behind them. All I know about 'future' events comes from the internet. But here's the deal, right now I'm currently on the story arc of Battle City. Where Seto held his tournament in the city itself."
"Ah yes, I remember that. Hrm, and you say this is behind what is unfolding in Japan?"
"Yes, I don't know how far but I have enough of an idea of 'future' events," the woman grunted and clicked off an email alert, instead she pulled up IE and went straight to her favorites to hit a certain site. It had the scripts for shows posted, she didn't know how far it went up because she didn't actually read the scripts. "I'll be honest, I don't know how close any of this is to events but there you have it. You can look through things on your own. I trust you can work a computer?"
"Yes, I'm not a simpleton," the Spirit growled.
"Well it's all yours," the woman said as she moved from the seat. "I'll be here if you want to move to another site." She hesitated for a moment before turning on the radio. The Spirit gave her a quixotic look but said nothing, he went back to reading.
"Legacy of Kain soundtrack," she said absently as she turned the machine over to CD and hit play.
"Hmm, dark. I think I like," Bakura replied as he read.
There were sites I could show him that had the details from the manga, which was vastly different from the animated series, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, more sites held information on the card game and show. It would have to do. I almost flipped out when I noticed Bakura's attention had been on an instant messenger window. How could I have been so stupid to not turn that off? Bakura had been reading it, but hadn't replied. It was one of my friends from another state, I simply closed the program without saying a word to the other person. Figured Bakura might decide to have fun with them if I didn't make it go away. I was also glad nothing embarrassing had been said while Bakura was reading. Not that my friends IM me out of the blue with stuff I don't want others to see, but mainly inside jokes and conversations that would take a lot of explaining for others to get.
Two hours passed, in that time I heard someone come in downstairs. Had to either be my brother or mom. When I didn't hear the door again, I assumed it was my mom. Jon never stayed home long anyway. Amazingly mom didn't come up, normally she does. But not today. More time passed, absent mindedly I turned the radio off and turned the TV on. This next bit was amusing.
"What the devil?" Bakura spun around when he heard a familiar name. He made a face as he studied the TV screen. "Well, guess I get to see how they handle things, then. The scripts are based on a central truth but still don't go exactly how I remember events," the Spirit paused and raised a brow when he saw himself. "I thought you said things were in the Battle City era, this is back during Duelist Kingdom where I first make my presence on the island known."
"Rerun, basically. They put new stuff on Saturday and reruns weekdays."
"I certainly hope I'm not that cocky and... obvious."
"No, you're not. But in this episode you are aptly dubbed Capitan Obvious."
"How kind," he grumbled. He tilted his head to the side and looked past the TV, to the bedroom door. "I believe we're about to have company."
"Fuck," the woman muttered, partially surprised at her choice of words. "Um, just stay seated. I'll handle it," the woman waved as the door opened.
"What?" Mary said when she saw her older sister standing close to the door.
"Just come in fully and don't say a word," the woman replied as she ushered her sister in.
"Why?" Mary questioned. "What the fuck!?" she suddenly barked. "That's Bakura!" she said rather loudly, Sarah clamped a hand over her mouth as the Spirit simply laughed.
"I see my reputation precedes me, again."
Mary managed to break free and stare openly at the white haired individual in her sister's computer chair. "You're the evil one, aren't you?"
Bakura nodded with a slight smirk.
"Crap," Mary said simply. "Um, be right back..." she set her backpack down and removed her jacket before turning around and going back downstairs.
"What's her name?" Bakura asked after a moment of silence.
"Mary."
"And where is she going right now?"
"Bathroom I think, she always comes up here to put her stuff down and goes to the restroom."
"For yours and her sake, I hope she doesn't bring anyone else up with her."
"Yeah, me too..." the woman reached over to turn the TV off before looking back at the Spirit, to see if he wanted it off.
"Go ahead, it would only be a distraction. I want to continue with this."
"Have you learned anything?" the woman asked as she leaned over the back of the chair.
"Some, mainly just details that occurred when I wasn't around. I can't say if there's any truth to these events or not. But I haven't found much of real value."
"And yet you don't seem mad about it."
"Why should I be? In the end I know I'll have what I want, this would possibly only help me get it faster. And I do quite enjoy the fact that if anyone else tries what I have they won't turn up much themselves."
"Funny, I never pegged you as such the optimist."
"And you say this after only known me for a few days? My dear, there are sides to both of us the other hasn't seen yet."
"Meh, whatever," she waved as the bedroom door opened again and Mary stepped in holding Spectre, Midnight snuck in as well.
"Went to pee," Mary said.
"Thanks for sharing," Sarah sighed.
"How old are you, Mary?" Bakura asked without taking his eyes of the monitor's soft glow.
"Fifteen, going on sixteen."
"Ah, high school age. Not that far behind Ryou's age then."
"Who...?" Mary asked.
"Ryou is the other half to Bakura," Sarah answered.
Oh crap, if Mary mentions something about not knowing the name, and Bakura realizes that the name Ryou was never used in the script and that I know it; he's going to think I'm hiding something from him. Then he might get mad because I don't know of any places that have information on the manga. Wait, no, I can still save my ass. He's reading the English stuff, I can just say they call both him and Ryou Bakura all the time. Cuz, well, they do. So it'll work, hopefully.
"I take it something is lost in the translation?" Bakura inquired.
"Yes, actually. For some reason they call you and Ryou by the same name, just happens to be Bakura."
"And the Pharaoh gets called Yami, I see. Joey, Tristan and Téa. I don't quite understand the naming, but whatever works," the Spirit shrugged.
"So, um, why is he here?" Mary tried to ask Sarah quietly.
"Looking for information to help back home," Bakura replied. "And I hope you aren't going to get talkative, I have work to do." He shot the blonde a hard look and she backed away, setting the cat down.
"Mary, just work on your homework or something, no TV though," Sarah commanded. "Unless you want to go downstairs to watch, but not here."
"No way, if she never showed up that can only mean one thing," Jou said. He was shaking, it was uncharacteristic for him. But the overwhelming sense of dread wasn't easily ignored.
"I never should have let her go," Mr. Mutou sighed.
"It's ok Grandpa, you didn't know."
"Yugi, maybe we should get out and do something. She took everything with her, could use it to make a trail if she's in trouble," Anzu offered.
"Let's do something, I don't like just sitting here," Honda added his voice.
"Where do we start?" Jou asked.
"Where else, since she's with Bakura."
"I hate that place," Jou sighed.
"Best place to start, though," Anzu shrugged.
"We're about to have company," Bakura said simply as he stood and closed the laptop. "He's rather resourceful, tracking me across worlds like this." The Spirit glance to his ring, the gold was glowing harshly and the tips of the cones stood on end, pointing to where he had originally entered the room from.
"Who?" Mary asked simply.
"Yami," Sarah smiled. "You're going to meet Yami Yugi."
Mary's eyes widened and her legs gave way as she fell to a seated position on her bed. Her mouth worked silently saying his name over and over.
"Oh he's not that special," Bakura growled at her reaction. The spirit stepped closer to the second bed as the wall and curtain where he had just been sitting wavered and rippled. Cautiously a hand emerged, it looked to be feeling around. Annoyed with the slow progress, Bakura sighed and grabbed it before yanking it and it's owner clear through. Yami stumbled into the room, attached to his other arm was the chain of Jou, Honda and Anzu.
Yami took a moment to take in his surroundings before laying eyes on Sarah. Relief showed on his face and as soon as the others passed the shock, there was much shoving for Yami to move. He had the other three blocked in, with the desk and chair to his left and a dresser to the right there was no space for the other teens to move in.
"Interesting, is it not?" Bakura chuckled as he pointed to the desk, more importantly three six inch figures that stood in front of the stereo. "She's got a toy of you, your damned Magician and the mutt."
"I didn't know you called Joey that, I thought Kaiba did," Mary wrinkled her nose.
"I can call him whatever I please," the Spirit replied gruffly.
"Are we where I think we are?" Yami asked as his eyes once again scanned his surroundings.
"Heh, welcome to our room," Sarah said with a hand jerk to her sister and herself. "That's Mary, the younger sibling I mentioned."
"Are you alright, did he hurt you?" Anzu blurted out.
"I'm fine, really," Sarah shrugged. "No harm done."
"And nothing learned," Bakura added on a sour note. "It was a waste of time," he emphasized with a quick wave.
Jou tugged on Yami's sleeve and asked something, the Spirit turned back to the center of the room. "Look, I'm not quite sure what to think of all of this, but I agree with Jounouchi, if Sarah's back where she belongs we should return as well."
"And how do we do that, try to go back through that wall and you'll find nothing," Bakura smirked.
"Well, to get here we had to go through the Shadow Realm," Anzu started before she paused and furrowed her brow. "But, why didn't we emerge in the Shadow Realm, then?"
"Perhaps that's where the initial door is, pass the threshold and be deposited in your destination outside the Shadow Realm," Bakura shrugged. He stood in thought for a moment before clamping a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Really now, you shouldn't stand so close to me when I'm unpredictable." Without another word, the two simply faded away.
Honda shouted something before Yami turned to the slack-jawed sister of Sarah's.
"Anzu, you and the others stay here with her. I'll be back with Sarah," he promised before he pulled himself into the Shadow Realm.
"I-I don't understand, why are all these doors here?" Sarah asked, her voice rang out with a tinge of pain and overwhelming fear. Bakura studied each door intently as Yami materialized. He shook his head and blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"It's amazing, isn't it Pharaoh? Her mind is doing all of this," he waved to the doors.
"Where do they lead?" Yami indirectly asked the woman.
"NO! Stay away from there," she whimpered as Bakura neared one of the portals. He raised a brow and gave her a look of genuine confusion. "Nosgoth," she croaked, "It's Nosgoth. You don't want to go there." Tears were beginning to well in her eyes and she massaged her temple methodically with her fingers.
"What's wrong?" Yami asked in a soft tone as he took the woman by the shoulders.
"A pull, from each place. They're all trying to claim me, drag me in. It hurts," she said through gritted teeth. "And, and I hear," she stopped to swallow hard.
"You hear what?" Yami prompted. His eyes darted to the side to see Bakura approach, the other Spirit showing some concern for the strange reaction the woman was having.
"Voices," she whispered hoarsely. "Voices from these places, so many all at once. So many feelings of so many kinds. It's all coming too fast, I can't handle it. I feel sick, weak. I'm, I'm being pulled in too many directions, they all want me," she whimpered, tears flowing freely. "Get me out of here!" she wailed. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and Yami braced himself to carry her weight.
"I don't like this," Bakura hissed as he violently threw an arm at the row of portals. "What are they, why are they here?"
"Talk later," Yami hissed as he gathered his magic to transport himself and the woman back to her room.
So much hit me all at once, so many places that I knew. Places from books, TV shows and movies. Anything that made some impact on me was represented in those doors. So many of them in rows, all showing the worlds that lay beyond. Why. Why were they in my room? What caused it, what placed them there? Could anything come through them and into my world or into one of the other worlds represented there? Why was I just now learning about this? Had they been there forever? My mind reeled with possibilities, the thoughts never stopped even though I was aware of the fact my body wasn't responding to me. Yami and Bakura took me back home, I heard the voices of the others and my sister saying we needed to get my mom, the others insisted to wait for a bit. I was placed on my bed, I felt others sit around me and nudge me from all sides, trying to rouse my dormant figure. I could still hear the whispers from the other worlds, though they were fading now as was the pain that plagued me. Eventually my eyes obeyed me and fluttered open. Much to my surprise I found both the spirits to either side of my head, confusion and... worry didn't look right for Bakura.
"What happened back there?" a soft question from Bakura broke the silence. The tone was foreign to him, he immediately felt wrong for even using it. Perhaps a bit of Ryou had come through in that moment.
"The places you saw, each one beckoned me. They tugged on me, pulling energy and strength from my being. That's all I know," she said in a voice so hoarse she couldn't believe it had been her that spoke.
"Why would they do that?" the Spirit of the Ring turned to Yami.
"I don't know," the Pharaoh narrowed his eyes. "I'm going back, to study them," he stated before his form melted away.
"You're not going alone," Bakura snarled before he did the same.
"They shouldn't have gone," Sarah croaked as she pulled herself to a seated position and wiped damp eyes. "We don't know if anything can come out of those door."
"Doors, what doors?" Anzu asked. "I'll translate for Jou and Honda as you go."
"What do you feel?" Bakura asked as Yami joined him.
"In here, nothing. When I get close enough to a portal I feel a slight pull. I don't think this is the Shadow Realm, similar maybe but not the same. Magic doesn't have the same effect on this world as it does ours."
"Then what is it?" Bakura demanded, almost as if he expected some other being to answer.
"Do you believe in miracles?" Yami asked suddenly.
"Everything has a cause, someone somewhere does something. Miracles are nothing more than some unseen power's handiwork."
"That's pretty much what I was getting at. Look, bare with me a moment. I'm going to go out on a limb here and I don't know if you'll follow or not."
"Try me," Bakura stated as he crossed his arms.
"A person's mind can be a powerful thing, if channeled properly. One mind alone is just that, one mind. But if you get more minds working together things that couldn't happen alone spring up. What if since so many other minds know the same thing, specifically about our world, that somehow their combined effort makes a bridge between the gap?"
"Are you getting at what I think you are, that all these persons made a bridge to us?"
"And they are totally oblivious to the fact as well," Yami nodded.
"But how, if none of them know one another? And what about the other places we saw?"
"More minds combined for those, it's said that if you believe in something long and hard enough it can come true. Maybe that's what's happened here, some sort of supernatural force is tuned to the thoughts of these people. It doesn't have to be just here that this happens, it could be in our world and each of the worlds we see here," Yami motioned to the portals.
"A web across space, worlds actually making contact without realizing it," Bakura mused.
"The one thing I don't understand is why aren't we going through the same thing Sarah did."
"Maybe we're detached enough so it won't effect us? We should bring someone else in to test that theory. I vote Anzu comes," Bakura smirked.
Yami glared hard at him. "I don't want her or any of them here."
"You aren't willing to test the thesis? Sarah is fine, should anything happen to the others you can just remove them," Bakura waved before his form vanished. Yami scowled and simply remained where he was, a moment later the Spirit of the Ring returned with a wildly protesting Anzu.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the teen hissed as she stalked away from him. She made it three feet away before she stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to take in the surreal quality of her surroundings. "These, these are the portals?" she asked in awe.
"And she's unaffected. You worried over nothing," Bakura snorted.
"What's here that would affect me?" Anzu asked as nervousness began to wash over her.
"I don't know, but it seems to only have effected Sarah," Yami answered as he watched Bakura stick a hand through a portal. "She warned you about that one," Yami reminded him.
Bakura scowled at the Pharaoh and closed his eyes. A moment later they shot back open and he violently removed his hand. "Soul Stealer," he hissed as he stepped away from the portal. "And in there too," he pointed to another."
"Brilliant move there," Yami raised an elegant brow.
"From what I gathered," Bakura ignored the other Spirit, "these portals only work one way unless you know how to get back through."
"So, we're stuck away from home?" Anzu dared to ask.
"No," Bakura said simply. "She was a key after all," he said more or less to the Pharaoh. "But she isn't the only one."
"Key, who?"
"Sarah," Yami replied. "We should return now, get away from this place. It's starting to leave an empty and hollow feeling inside me. I don't like it."
"Agreed," Bakura nodded simply before he vanished.
"Don't leave me!" Anzu blurted as she turned and dashed towards the other spirit.
"Why would I?" he gave her a puzzled look before transporting the two back to the room.
"It makes it annoying when I can't talk to them," Mary whined at the lack of understanding between her and Honda and Jounouchi.
"You just need a translator, that's all," Anzu said as soon as she, Yami and Bakura were back.
"Any change?" Yami asked the seated woman.
"Better now, and for the record I never want to go back in there again," Sarah replied. Yami bit his lip and turned away, it took Sarah a moment to realize what he meant. "Oh no, no way!" she protested.
"Well would you rather we all stay here?" Bakura snapped.
"How do I get back home?" she demanded.
"I suppose you come with us, then once there you pass back through to here," Yami thought aloud.
"Could I come...?" Mary asked quickly.
"No," Sarah answered. "I won't allow it."
"But I want to see what it looks like!" Mary protested.
"I said no," Sarah snapped. "Come on, let's get you folks home. The sooner I do this, the sooner I can get away from that surreal shit in that other realm."
"One question before we go, didn't you put a hand through one of the doors, Bakura? Do we really need Sarah?"
"Yes, I got a hand through but met something on the other side. Think of it as a partially opened door with a chain lock, I couldn't remove that last lock. We need her," the Spirit answered.