Notes: Nuru is Des's character! ^____~
"Seth?!" Seto repeated in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Tea was already hurrying to the stairs. "Well, come on! Let's find out!" she cried.
Seto followed slowly, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Somehow, even though he despised Seth with every fiber of his being, he couldn't see the ancient priest being stupid enough to fall off the balcony. What on earth had happened?!
When they reached the accident site, several others had gathered around the crumpled form of the brown-haired man. As Seto approached, there were gasps all around.
"Who are you?!" one woman demanded. "His brother?! You look just like him!"
Seto's lip curled in disgust. "Thankfully, no, I'm not his brother. But how did he fall?" he wanted to know, crossing his arms.
"Someone pushed him!" a young boy exclaimed.
"Did you see who it was?" Tea asked.
The boy shook his head. "Naw. I just heard the guy scream as he fell over the balcony railing."
"Then you don't actually know if someone pushed him or not?" Seto mused.
"Well . . ." The boy paused, blinking. "There was some weird guy in a dark cloak who disappeared right after he fell, so I figured that he'd shoved him." He looked down at the still body, wide-eyed. "Is he dead?!"
Seto knelt down next to his "double", feeling repulsed. He was sure that it was Seth, especially considering the way the man was dressed. But how would he be able to tell if the ancient priest was dead?! Technically, he was already dead—and Seto had to admit that he wished Seth would just stay that way. Feeling stupid, Seto shook the mage on his shoulder. "Get up," he growled harshly.
"You might hurt him worse!" a woman cried indignantly.
"I know what I'm doing," Seto said defensively.
"I think his neck's broken!" another woman exclaimed then.
"That's crazy," Seto retorted, getting frustrated with this crowd clustering around.
"Perhaps not as crazy as all that."
Everyone looked up as a strange woman with short, silvery hair, penetrating orange eyes, and a dress that looked to be of ancient Egyptian origin pushed her way through the throngs of people.
"Who's that?" Tea wondered, narrowing her eyes.
"My name does not matter," she said, pushing Seto aside and kneeling next to the lifeless high priest. While those around watched in disbelief, the mysterious female took Seth's hand and concentrated hard, chanting an incantation in a language unfamiliar to all those around.
Seto observed coldly, wondering what she was trying to accomplish.
Suddenly Seth stirred, his blue eyes fluttering open. "Nuru," he uttered quietly, stroking the woman's cheek. If his neck *had* been broken, it was now healed.
Satisfied, Nuru leaned back and smiled, enjoying the attention she was getting from him.
Slowly the onlookers backed away, not sure whether to be relieved or disturbed at what had taken place.
"What's going on here?" Seto demanded at last, voicing the question they were all thinking.
Seth looked up at him and smirked, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Ah, the great Seto Kaiba," he said sarcastically. "I can assure you that this time around, you will not be defeating me."
"Enough of that," Seto growled. "How did you fall off the balcony?!"
"Did that cloaked person push ya?" the young boy from earlier wanted to know.
"Lord Seth cannot be plied with questions now," the woman called Nuru said stiffly, helping the priest to stand. "Leave him be."
Undaunted, Seto grabbed his ancestor and yanked him forward. "What happened to you?" he hissed. "I want to know—now." Especially, he thought grimly, if Seth was connected with everything that was going on.
"Intrigued, are we?" Seth nonchalantly brushed his nemesis's hands away. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to stay intrigued for a bit longer." And with that, he and Nuru vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Instantly murmurs rose from all directions.
"Magicians, they must have been magicians!!"
"Perhaps they were ghosts!"
Tea came over to Seto, her eyes showing her utter shock. "That . . . was definitely weird," she said at last.
****
The next day things weren't any less strange.
"Man," Joey said as everyone gathered in the dining room for breakfast, "I've hardly had any sleep!" He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "We were up half the night tryin' to see if Shadi would be okay."
"And how is he?" Ishizu asked.
"Unconscious," Tristan sighed.
"But the doctor thinks he'll pull through," Yugi added in relief.
Seto nodded curtly. "Now," he said abruptly, "I believe that someone should investigate that antique shop where those Egyptian artifacts were stolen." He had already explained about the newspaper article he and his companions had seen the day before.
"Well, I guess we have to start somewhere," Yugi agreed slowly. "Was that place in Chinatown?"
"Uh huh," Tea nodded.
"Do we have any other leads?" Bakura spoke up quietly.
"Let's see. . . . 'Eccentric old woman reports disappearance of archaeologist son,'" Mai read from a newspaper as she approached. "Does that count?"
"Let me see that," Yugi requested with a gasp, and Mai obligingly handed him the newspaper. After quickly scanning the article over, the short boy looked up thoughtfully. "According to this lady, her son had just gotten back from a dig in Egypt a couple of weeks ago," he reported. "He started acting weird shortly after that and she was sure that something had scared him back on his dig. Then he went out late two nights ago and vanished!"
"Oh my," Bakura said softly.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this is all connected somehow," Yugi declared. "Someone should go talk to her."
"I will," Bakura volunteered.
"And someone should visit the antique shop," Tea reminded them.
Yugi nodded. "Alright. Let's all split into groups," he directed. It took a while to figure things out, but eventually they decided on groups of twos—Yugi and Tea, Joey and Tristan, Bakura and his Yami, and . . .
"Marik." Seto looked at the Egyptian boy sternly. "Take Mokuba with you."
Marik blinked in surprise, as did Mokuba.
"Don't ask questions," Seto grunted. The truth was that he was planning to investigate some rather dangerous things and he didn't want Mokuba with him—but neither did he want Mokuba to be left in their room on the ship.
"Alright," Marik said slowly. "Do you want to come with me, Mokuba?" He smiled at his young friend.
Mokuba grinned. "Sure!" he exclaimed.
"Are you going all by yourself, Kaiba?" Mai asked.
"That's right," Seto said emotionlessly.
Mai smirked at him. "I'll come with you," she decided.
"I don't think so." Seto stood up and headed for the door.
Mai flipped her long hair and sashayed after him. "The fact that you don't want Mokuba along obviously means that you're afraid he'd get in trouble if he went with you," she declared. "And that means that *you* probably are going to. Therefore, you'll need someone to keep you in check."
Seto looked at her sternly. "I don't need anyone to come with me. I can take care of myself."
"Sorry, Kaiba," Mai said with a laugh. "I'm coming along for the ride and there's not a thing you can do about it."
Yugi had to laugh. "It looks like Kaiba may have met his match," he remarked.
****
As Bakura and his Yami arrived at the eccentric woman's house, the boy pleaded with the ancient tomb raider not to say or do anything embarrassing, to which Yami Bakura only grunted in reply.
Shortly after Bakura knocked on the door, it was opened by an elderly, kindly-looking woman—and five cats, which immediately went up to Yami Bakura and began rubbing against his legs.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!" The thief screamed loud enough that Bakura wanted to crawl into a hole and just stay there. In spite of the yelling, however, the cats were not frightened one bit. If anything, they simply cuddled him even more.
The woman chuckled. "They like you," she declared, then looked at Bakura. "Can I help you?"
Bakura scratched his cheek. "Well, um, we're actually here because we're . . . amateur detectives and we were hoping to ask you a few questions about your son's disappearance . . . if that's alright," he hastened to add. "We thought that perhaps it tied in with another mystery we're working on at the moment."
"Well, come right in," the woman smiled, holding the door open wide. "I'm Eliza Mason."
"I'm Bakura," the boy said shyly as he and Yami Bakura stepped into the parlor, "and this is . . ." He paused, trying to figure out how to introduce the old thief. "Yami," he said at last.
"Well, I'm happy to meet you both," Eliza said, gesturing around. "Go ahead and sit down."
Yami Bakura made his way over to the soft couch and sank into the cushions. Much to his annoyance, the five cats were joined by one more and they all gathered around him, purring loudly.
Bakura had to laugh at the comical sight. He would've thought that the cats would run from his Yami in terror, but instead they couldn't get enough of him!
Eliza chuckled as well. "Oh, my cats are just dears," she said, watching as one of them kneaded its paws into the thief's chest.
Yami Bakura growled angrily and hissed something about summoning the Man-Eater Bug, but the cats only snuggled against him and fell asleep, preventing him from even moving.
"Well," Bakura said, stifling another chuckle, "can you tell us what sort of dig your son was on?"
Eliza shook her head. "He only said that it had something to do with a site that the Egyptians still say is under an ancient curse. Of course he didn't believe that nonsense, and so he went off. But when he came back, he acted so . . ." She paused. "Well, jumpy and on-edge," she finished at last. "I didn't know what to do. And two nights ago, he just up and left the house, and I haven't seen him since!"
"I'm so sorry," Bakura said softly. "And you have absolutely no idea where he might have gone?"
"None whatsoever," Eliza sighed.
****
"So where are we going, Marik?" Mokuba asked curiously as they wandered down the streets of San Francisco.
"Well . . ." Marik paused thoughtfully. "I thought we might have a look at that warehouse Yugi was talking about last night and see if there were any clues around there."
"Sounds good to me!" Mokuba chirped, then paused. "I'm worried about Seto, though," he admitted. "What could he be getting into?!"
Marik ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Now, I wouldn't worry about your brother, especially since Mai is with him." He chuckled.
Mokuba laughed too.
"Well, well. We were wonderin' where you were last night."
Marik looked up and gasped, seeing several wicked-looking men suddenly block their path. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. "I have never seen you before! And what do you want?!"
"What do we want?" the leader smirked, ignoring Marik's other question as he and his cronies forced the twosome to back up into a dark alley. "Let's see . . . your body dead on the ground would be nice. Or maybe we'll just take your young friend here." He reached to grab Mokuba, who stood his ground determinedly.
"You'll never get me!" the dark-haired boy declared.
"I will die to protect him," Marik said angrily, stepping forward.
Instantly he was grabbed and held up in the air. "You'll have to," the man sneered.
"Put him down!!" Mokuba screamed.
Marik struggled, wrenching the man's hand away. "I am not afraid of you!" he cried, drawing out the Millennium Rod and producing the dagger, forcing his assailant to back away and throw him to the ground.
"Marik, look out!" Mokuba shrieked. "Behind you!!!"
The older boy whirled around, but not quick enough to stop another thug from grabbing him and trying to break his neck.
"Stop it!!" Mokuba wailed. "You're gonna kill him!!"
"That's kinda the idea, kid," the thug sneered, clutching tighter.
Furiously Marik stabbed the man in the arm, trying to get his grip loosened. The thug grunted in pain, grabbing at his arm and shoving Marik backward.
"Stay away from us," the Egyptian boy hissed, pointing the Rod at the would-be assassin angrily.
Without warning two more bullies jumped him from the other side of the alley, beating him harshly and pulling the Rod out of his hand. Maliciously they then shoved him several feet back, where he hit his head on a brick wall and slumped to the ground.
"Marik!!" Mokuba screamed. Firmly he planted himself in front of his fallen friend's body and glared at the thugs. "You hurt him!! Just 'cause he was tryin to protect me, you hurt him!!!"
"We had orders to take him out," the leader said with a smirk, kicking at Marik hatefully. "He didn't keep his end of the bargain last night."
"Leave him alone!!!" Mokuba yelled. "What bargain?!"
Ignoring him, the men gathered around and prepared to use the Millennium Rod to stab Marik violently when there was a sudden flash of light.
"What's that?!" one of them yelled.
"I don't know," said another, "but I'm not waitin' to find out!"
And with that, they all tore through the alley, letting the Millennium Rod drop to the ground as they fled.
Mokuba watched them go, his heart pounding, and then knelt down by Marik and grabbed his arm. "Marik?" he said shakily. "Come on, get up! Please get up!!"
The Egyptian boy remained silent and still, not responding to his friend's pleas at all.
In desperation Mokuba grabbed his arm again and pulled, trying to raise him up, but to no avail. Marik's lifeless body was much too heavy for him to lift.
"Get up, Marik!" Mokuba sobbed. "Why won't you get up?!" Realizing it was no use, the younger boy embraced his friend tightly and buried his face in Marik's chest, tears streaming down his face.
"Seth?!" Seto repeated in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Tea was already hurrying to the stairs. "Well, come on! Let's find out!" she cried.
Seto followed slowly, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Somehow, even though he despised Seth with every fiber of his being, he couldn't see the ancient priest being stupid enough to fall off the balcony. What on earth had happened?!
When they reached the accident site, several others had gathered around the crumpled form of the brown-haired man. As Seto approached, there were gasps all around.
"Who are you?!" one woman demanded. "His brother?! You look just like him!"
Seto's lip curled in disgust. "Thankfully, no, I'm not his brother. But how did he fall?" he wanted to know, crossing his arms.
"Someone pushed him!" a young boy exclaimed.
"Did you see who it was?" Tea asked.
The boy shook his head. "Naw. I just heard the guy scream as he fell over the balcony railing."
"Then you don't actually know if someone pushed him or not?" Seto mused.
"Well . . ." The boy paused, blinking. "There was some weird guy in a dark cloak who disappeared right after he fell, so I figured that he'd shoved him." He looked down at the still body, wide-eyed. "Is he dead?!"
Seto knelt down next to his "double", feeling repulsed. He was sure that it was Seth, especially considering the way the man was dressed. But how would he be able to tell if the ancient priest was dead?! Technically, he was already dead—and Seto had to admit that he wished Seth would just stay that way. Feeling stupid, Seto shook the mage on his shoulder. "Get up," he growled harshly.
"You might hurt him worse!" a woman cried indignantly.
"I know what I'm doing," Seto said defensively.
"I think his neck's broken!" another woman exclaimed then.
"That's crazy," Seto retorted, getting frustrated with this crowd clustering around.
"Perhaps not as crazy as all that."
Everyone looked up as a strange woman with short, silvery hair, penetrating orange eyes, and a dress that looked to be of ancient Egyptian origin pushed her way through the throngs of people.
"Who's that?" Tea wondered, narrowing her eyes.
"My name does not matter," she said, pushing Seto aside and kneeling next to the lifeless high priest. While those around watched in disbelief, the mysterious female took Seth's hand and concentrated hard, chanting an incantation in a language unfamiliar to all those around.
Seto observed coldly, wondering what she was trying to accomplish.
Suddenly Seth stirred, his blue eyes fluttering open. "Nuru," he uttered quietly, stroking the woman's cheek. If his neck *had* been broken, it was now healed.
Satisfied, Nuru leaned back and smiled, enjoying the attention she was getting from him.
Slowly the onlookers backed away, not sure whether to be relieved or disturbed at what had taken place.
"What's going on here?" Seto demanded at last, voicing the question they were all thinking.
Seth looked up at him and smirked, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Ah, the great Seto Kaiba," he said sarcastically. "I can assure you that this time around, you will not be defeating me."
"Enough of that," Seto growled. "How did you fall off the balcony?!"
"Did that cloaked person push ya?" the young boy from earlier wanted to know.
"Lord Seth cannot be plied with questions now," the woman called Nuru said stiffly, helping the priest to stand. "Leave him be."
Undaunted, Seto grabbed his ancestor and yanked him forward. "What happened to you?" he hissed. "I want to know—now." Especially, he thought grimly, if Seth was connected with everything that was going on.
"Intrigued, are we?" Seth nonchalantly brushed his nemesis's hands away. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to stay intrigued for a bit longer." And with that, he and Nuru vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Instantly murmurs rose from all directions.
"Magicians, they must have been magicians!!"
"Perhaps they were ghosts!"
Tea came over to Seto, her eyes showing her utter shock. "That . . . was definitely weird," she said at last.
****
The next day things weren't any less strange.
"Man," Joey said as everyone gathered in the dining room for breakfast, "I've hardly had any sleep!" He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "We were up half the night tryin' to see if Shadi would be okay."
"And how is he?" Ishizu asked.
"Unconscious," Tristan sighed.
"But the doctor thinks he'll pull through," Yugi added in relief.
Seto nodded curtly. "Now," he said abruptly, "I believe that someone should investigate that antique shop where those Egyptian artifacts were stolen." He had already explained about the newspaper article he and his companions had seen the day before.
"Well, I guess we have to start somewhere," Yugi agreed slowly. "Was that place in Chinatown?"
"Uh huh," Tea nodded.
"Do we have any other leads?" Bakura spoke up quietly.
"Let's see. . . . 'Eccentric old woman reports disappearance of archaeologist son,'" Mai read from a newspaper as she approached. "Does that count?"
"Let me see that," Yugi requested with a gasp, and Mai obligingly handed him the newspaper. After quickly scanning the article over, the short boy looked up thoughtfully. "According to this lady, her son had just gotten back from a dig in Egypt a couple of weeks ago," he reported. "He started acting weird shortly after that and she was sure that something had scared him back on his dig. Then he went out late two nights ago and vanished!"
"Oh my," Bakura said softly.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this is all connected somehow," Yugi declared. "Someone should go talk to her."
"I will," Bakura volunteered.
"And someone should visit the antique shop," Tea reminded them.
Yugi nodded. "Alright. Let's all split into groups," he directed. It took a while to figure things out, but eventually they decided on groups of twos—Yugi and Tea, Joey and Tristan, Bakura and his Yami, and . . .
"Marik." Seto looked at the Egyptian boy sternly. "Take Mokuba with you."
Marik blinked in surprise, as did Mokuba.
"Don't ask questions," Seto grunted. The truth was that he was planning to investigate some rather dangerous things and he didn't want Mokuba with him—but neither did he want Mokuba to be left in their room on the ship.
"Alright," Marik said slowly. "Do you want to come with me, Mokuba?" He smiled at his young friend.
Mokuba grinned. "Sure!" he exclaimed.
"Are you going all by yourself, Kaiba?" Mai asked.
"That's right," Seto said emotionlessly.
Mai smirked at him. "I'll come with you," she decided.
"I don't think so." Seto stood up and headed for the door.
Mai flipped her long hair and sashayed after him. "The fact that you don't want Mokuba along obviously means that you're afraid he'd get in trouble if he went with you," she declared. "And that means that *you* probably are going to. Therefore, you'll need someone to keep you in check."
Seto looked at her sternly. "I don't need anyone to come with me. I can take care of myself."
"Sorry, Kaiba," Mai said with a laugh. "I'm coming along for the ride and there's not a thing you can do about it."
Yugi had to laugh. "It looks like Kaiba may have met his match," he remarked.
****
As Bakura and his Yami arrived at the eccentric woman's house, the boy pleaded with the ancient tomb raider not to say or do anything embarrassing, to which Yami Bakura only grunted in reply.
Shortly after Bakura knocked on the door, it was opened by an elderly, kindly-looking woman—and five cats, which immediately went up to Yami Bakura and began rubbing against his legs.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!" The thief screamed loud enough that Bakura wanted to crawl into a hole and just stay there. In spite of the yelling, however, the cats were not frightened one bit. If anything, they simply cuddled him even more.
The woman chuckled. "They like you," she declared, then looked at Bakura. "Can I help you?"
Bakura scratched his cheek. "Well, um, we're actually here because we're . . . amateur detectives and we were hoping to ask you a few questions about your son's disappearance . . . if that's alright," he hastened to add. "We thought that perhaps it tied in with another mystery we're working on at the moment."
"Well, come right in," the woman smiled, holding the door open wide. "I'm Eliza Mason."
"I'm Bakura," the boy said shyly as he and Yami Bakura stepped into the parlor, "and this is . . ." He paused, trying to figure out how to introduce the old thief. "Yami," he said at last.
"Well, I'm happy to meet you both," Eliza said, gesturing around. "Go ahead and sit down."
Yami Bakura made his way over to the soft couch and sank into the cushions. Much to his annoyance, the five cats were joined by one more and they all gathered around him, purring loudly.
Bakura had to laugh at the comical sight. He would've thought that the cats would run from his Yami in terror, but instead they couldn't get enough of him!
Eliza chuckled as well. "Oh, my cats are just dears," she said, watching as one of them kneaded its paws into the thief's chest.
Yami Bakura growled angrily and hissed something about summoning the Man-Eater Bug, but the cats only snuggled against him and fell asleep, preventing him from even moving.
"Well," Bakura said, stifling another chuckle, "can you tell us what sort of dig your son was on?"
Eliza shook her head. "He only said that it had something to do with a site that the Egyptians still say is under an ancient curse. Of course he didn't believe that nonsense, and so he went off. But when he came back, he acted so . . ." She paused. "Well, jumpy and on-edge," she finished at last. "I didn't know what to do. And two nights ago, he just up and left the house, and I haven't seen him since!"
"I'm so sorry," Bakura said softly. "And you have absolutely no idea where he might have gone?"
"None whatsoever," Eliza sighed.
****
"So where are we going, Marik?" Mokuba asked curiously as they wandered down the streets of San Francisco.
"Well . . ." Marik paused thoughtfully. "I thought we might have a look at that warehouse Yugi was talking about last night and see if there were any clues around there."
"Sounds good to me!" Mokuba chirped, then paused. "I'm worried about Seto, though," he admitted. "What could he be getting into?!"
Marik ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Now, I wouldn't worry about your brother, especially since Mai is with him." He chuckled.
Mokuba laughed too.
"Well, well. We were wonderin' where you were last night."
Marik looked up and gasped, seeing several wicked-looking men suddenly block their path. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. "I have never seen you before! And what do you want?!"
"What do we want?" the leader smirked, ignoring Marik's other question as he and his cronies forced the twosome to back up into a dark alley. "Let's see . . . your body dead on the ground would be nice. Or maybe we'll just take your young friend here." He reached to grab Mokuba, who stood his ground determinedly.
"You'll never get me!" the dark-haired boy declared.
"I will die to protect him," Marik said angrily, stepping forward.
Instantly he was grabbed and held up in the air. "You'll have to," the man sneered.
"Put him down!!" Mokuba screamed.
Marik struggled, wrenching the man's hand away. "I am not afraid of you!" he cried, drawing out the Millennium Rod and producing the dagger, forcing his assailant to back away and throw him to the ground.
"Marik, look out!" Mokuba shrieked. "Behind you!!!"
The older boy whirled around, but not quick enough to stop another thug from grabbing him and trying to break his neck.
"Stop it!!" Mokuba wailed. "You're gonna kill him!!"
"That's kinda the idea, kid," the thug sneered, clutching tighter.
Furiously Marik stabbed the man in the arm, trying to get his grip loosened. The thug grunted in pain, grabbing at his arm and shoving Marik backward.
"Stay away from us," the Egyptian boy hissed, pointing the Rod at the would-be assassin angrily.
Without warning two more bullies jumped him from the other side of the alley, beating him harshly and pulling the Rod out of his hand. Maliciously they then shoved him several feet back, where he hit his head on a brick wall and slumped to the ground.
"Marik!!" Mokuba screamed. Firmly he planted himself in front of his fallen friend's body and glared at the thugs. "You hurt him!! Just 'cause he was tryin to protect me, you hurt him!!!"
"We had orders to take him out," the leader said with a smirk, kicking at Marik hatefully. "He didn't keep his end of the bargain last night."
"Leave him alone!!!" Mokuba yelled. "What bargain?!"
Ignoring him, the men gathered around and prepared to use the Millennium Rod to stab Marik violently when there was a sudden flash of light.
"What's that?!" one of them yelled.
"I don't know," said another, "but I'm not waitin' to find out!"
And with that, they all tore through the alley, letting the Millennium Rod drop to the ground as they fled.
Mokuba watched them go, his heart pounding, and then knelt down by Marik and grabbed his arm. "Marik?" he said shakily. "Come on, get up! Please get up!!"
The Egyptian boy remained silent and still, not responding to his friend's pleas at all.
In desperation Mokuba grabbed his arm again and pulled, trying to raise him up, but to no avail. Marik's lifeless body was much too heavy for him to lift.
"Get up, Marik!" Mokuba sobbed. "Why won't you get up?!" Realizing it was no use, the younger boy embraced his friend tightly and buried his face in Marik's chest, tears streaming down his face.