Seto and Mai happened to be walking near the park when the blonde girl suddenly gasped.
"What is it?" Seto demanded.
"There's someone hanging from the bridge!" Mai replied, pointing ahead frantically.
Seto's eyes narrowed. "I'll go get him. Call the police in case I need some backup."
Mai shakily nodded in agreement and hurried after Seto, pulling out her cell phone.
As Seto approached the bridge, he became aware of a frightened, soft, British voice screaming for help. "Bakura?" the young businessman said in astonishment, quickly bending down to look over the edge. "What are you doing down there like that?!"
Bakura looked up in relief. "I fell!" he explained hastily as his hands started to slip. "Please help me up!!"
Quickly Seto reached out and caught hold of the boy's wrists. "Grab on," he ordered, and Bakura shakily obeyed.
Before long the trembling boy was back on solid ground and he looked up at Seto gratefully. "Thank you," he said quietly, tears in his eyes.
Seto grunted.
Mai knelt down next to him in concern. "Hey, kiddo," she said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder, "are you okay?"
Bakura looked up at her, surprised at the gesture, then broke down in sobs again. "Everyone's going to die!" he wailed.
"What?!" Seto demanded, narrowing his eyes.
"They're all going to die because of me!!" Bakura sobbed hysterically.
Mai gasped. "Bakura, what happened to you?!" she cried.
"It's all my fault! I killed Amane! And I'll wind up killing all of my friends!!" Bakura simply could not be comforted.
Mai grabbed Bakura's shoulders fiercely. "Bakura, look at me," she said firmly.
Slowly the boy gazed up into her violet eyes. Mai could see that his brown orbs were full of pain and anguish. She smiled gently, knowing how tender and innocent Bakura was.
"Hon, listen to me. I don't know what happened to you, but I do know that you were never responsible for anyone dying," Mai said softly.
"But I was!!" Bakura wailed. "It's my fault about my poor sister!! Vivalene told me it was, and I know she was right!!"
Seto went rigid. "Vivalene?!" he gasped.
Mai, who had never met Vivalene personally but knew of her treachery, narrowed her eyes. "Vivalene? Look, Bakura, anything that woman tells you is a lie," she stated flatly. "You were not responsible for your sister's death, and no one here is going to die."
"But they will, unless they stop investigating!" Bakura replied shakily.
"Bakura, no one is going to die," Mai repeated firmly.
"Yes they will!!" Bakura screamed. "They'll all die because of me!!!" He fell forward, crying on Mai's shoulder. She held him close, shocked at his behavior.
"Kaiba, the poor kid's hysterical!" she exclaimed.
Seto clenched his fists. "What I want to know is, How did Vivalene come back from the dead?" he growled. "And what's she doing in San Francisco?!"
That was when Yami Bakura, Joey, and Tristan all hurried up, out of breath from all their running.
"Mai, what the heck happened here?!" Joey gasped, seeing the girl kneeling by the edge of the bridge holding a sobbing Bakura while Seto looked on, stone-faced.
"Bakura says that Vivalene told him that he was responsible for his sister's death!" Mai replied, feeling outraged at the woman's actions.
"WHAT?!?!?!" Joey cried in disbelief. "Vivalene's dead!!"
"Apparently, Wheeler, she's come back to torment us further," Seto grunted.
"Bakura needs some kind of help that I can't give him," Mai exclaimed as the boy continued to weep on her shoulder. "He's been affected seriously!"
"I'll take him," Yami Bakura snarled.
"Leave him alone," Tristan retorted. "Maybe Yugi's Yami thinks you care about Bakura, but I don't!"
Yami Bakura drew out the Millennium Ring threateningly. "Mortal, I honestly don't care what you think," he hissed.
To everyone's surprise, the thief knelt down by Bakura's side and touched his shoulder. "Bakura?" he growled.
The boy looked up. "Yami," he said weakly. "Yami, please don't go after Vivalene!!"
"She needs to be stopped," Yami Bakura retorted. "Of course I'm going to go after her!"
"No, Yami, oh please no!!!" Bakura shrieked. "Please don't!!!" Mai gently released him then and the boy clutched the tomb raider's arm frantically.
"Dang, man, you can't go off—not when he's carrying on like this!" Joey cried.
"I'm not some imbecile!!" Yami Bakura roared. "DON'T YOU THINK I *KNOW* THAT?!" Slowly he turned to face Bakura and looked into the boy's tortured eyes. "Now. I'm not going to leave. Pull yourself together, Bakura."
Bakura just stared at him.
Joey slammed his fist into his palm. "Man, someone's gotta DO something!!" he declared. "Maybe we should go try to find Yugi!"
"Bakura needs a proper rest," Yami Bakura retorted. "I will take him back to the ship."
"Very well," Seto nodded curtly. "But I agree that Yugi should be told about these latest developments. And the police as well."
"Someone else can tell them," Yami Bakura grunted, scooping the hysterical Bakura into his arms and carrying him off.
"Please," Bakura screamed as he was hauled toward the docks, "please promise me that you'll stop investigating!! Please!!!"
Mai stood up slowly, her violet eyes wide and sad. "Poor kid," she said softly. It upset her greatly to see Bakura in such a distressed state and she found herself praying that he would be alright. "I don't know if he'll ever get over what that Vivalene told him!"
"He will," Joey said comfortingly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Oh man, he has to!"
****
When Marik was resting peacefully again, Rishid quietly excused himself and went off the ship to look for the beasts who had hurt his master and adopted brother. Mokuba had given him descriptions as best as he could, but he hadn't realized what the man was up to or he might have protested about it.
Now Rishid glanced about in the thickening fog as he neared the area where Marik and Mokuba had been ambushed. Of course it wasn't likely that he would find the thugs there, but he hoped to find someone who had seen them around in the past and would know where they might be now.
Even though he was on his guard, the last thing he was expecting was to suddenly have a knife thrust out in front of him as he approached the alley.
"One more step and I'll slit your throat," a dangerous voice hissed.
****
When Yugi and Tea left Uncle's shop, they had more questions than answers.
"So now what?!" Tea cried in frustration. "It seems like everything's just gotten more confusing than it was before!"
"I know," Yugi sighed in agreement. "Apparently Vivalene's back from the grave and she's out to cause trouble again . . . but where did she come from and how did she wind up meeting this Daolon Wong person? And how does Seth and that healer and that other guy fit into things?" He shook his head.
"Hey!" Tea exclaimed. "Isn't that Bakura up there?!" She pointed ahead at a boy with long, silvery hair and a sweater that resembled the one that their friend owned. "Bakura!!" she called then without waiting for Yugi's reply. "Wait up!"
Instead of stopping, the boy only increased his speed and tore around a corner.
"Well, that was weird," Tea remarked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"Come on!" Yugi cried. "Let's go after him!" Quickly he dashed ahead as fast as his short legs could carry him, soon arriving at the corner where their friend had vanished. "I don't see him now," he exclaimed in surprise.
"I don't either," Tea admitted, looking in all directions. "Bakura? Bakura, where did you go?" She stared ahead, blinking. "Hey, there he goes again!" the girl burst out in complete confusion.
"Bakura!!" Yugi yelled. The boy again quickened his pace and darted away.
"I can't understand why he's acting like this!" Tea said, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm sure he can hear us calling to him, so why is he avoiding us like the plague?!"
"Maybe," Yugi mused now, "that's not Bakura!"
"Oh no!" Tea moaned when she realized what Yugi was getting at. "He's got a double too?!"
"I'm afraid I wouldn't rule it out," Yugi replied with a sad smile. "But just incase that is our friend, we'd better keep trying to catch up to him."
****
Marik woke up hearing the door open. "Ishizu?" he called, thinking that perhaps his sister had gone out and was now returning. He glanced over at Mokuba, who was curled up asleep in a nearby chair, and then called out again. "Rishid? Is that you?"
Silence, except for the approaching footsteps.
Marik decided to pretend that he was asleep for the moment and so he laid back down and closed his eyes. Before long he sensed that someone was standing by the bed and he immediately sat straight up to face the intruder—only to stare as Shadi suddenly towered over him.
"Shadi?!" the boy gasped. "You shouldn't be out of bed already! You're still hurt from that chest wound!"
Still the man was silent, his vacant red eyes boring into Marik's appalled lavender ones.
Wait a minute . . . red eyes?!
Now Marik took a closer look at the Millennium Items' guardian, new concern growing in his heart. Shadi's eyes were glowing red and showed no trace of any emotion or consideration for anyone. In his hand he held the Millennium Ankh, which he now raised up to Marik's eye level. Abruptly he grabbed the boy viciously, his expression never changing as he raised him off the bed and into the air.
Marik gasped, struggling against his captor. "Shadi, what is it you want?!" he demanded. "If you are Shadi at all!" he added. Could this be a double?
In the next moment his hopes of that were dashed, however—Shadi's robe fell open at the chest and revealed the blood-soaked bandages covering his stab wound.
"You are Shadi," Marik exclaimed, drawing his breath in sharply.
Mokuba started to stir then, his blue-gray eyes fluttering open. "Marik, what's . . ." As the scene registered before him, the younger boy leaped up in shock and horror. "Shadi, let him go!!!" he yelled.
Shadi never paid attention to Mokuba and just continued to yank Marik forward until they were eye level with each other. The Rod, Shadi's red eyes seemed to ask. Where is the Rod?
Marik's eyes widened. "You want it!" he cried. "You want the Millennium Rod!"
Shadi continued to stare at his prisoner in a penetrating way, never wavering.
"What's going on?!" Mokuba burst out. "Has he gone crazy?!"
"I don't know," Marik replied, struggling to get free. "Either that or he's just turned evil!"
That was when the door opened and Ishizu entered. She gasped when she saw what was unfolding and rushed forward, grabbing at Shadi's arm furiously. "What are you doing?!" she demanded. "Let my brother go!!"
To Mokuba's and Marik's surprise, Shadi released the Egyptian boy from his grasp and tossed him back onto the bed. Then, however, he faced Ishizu and grabbed for the Millennium Tauk around her neck.
Angrily Ishizu seized his wrists and restrained him from continuing his attempt. "Shadi, you are not well," she said solemnly. "You are very ill."
Shadi wrenched his hands free and took hold of the Millennium Tauk, still refusing to speak.
Marik's eyes lit with a rage as he rushed forward. "What do you think you're doing?!" he screamed.
"Marik," Ishizu said calmly, "call the steward and tell him that we have an intruder."
Marik stared worriedly but picked up the phone and did as he was told, all the while looking worriedly at his sister.
Now Shadi was trying to work the clasp on the back of the necklace and get it open. Ishizu grabbed his wrists again. "Listen to me, Shadi," she said quietly. "Your health is ailing. You are not in your right mind or you would never be doing this. You are the guardian of the Millennium Items, appointed to protect them from thieves."
"Yeah!" Mokuba broke in. "You're not supposed to be a thief yourself!"
"Excuse me," a voice from the doorway said suddenly and the steward stepped in. "Is there a problem in here?"
"There certainly is!" Marik exclaimed, leaping off the bed.
Shadi turned to look at the approaching steward and then suddenly bolted for the door, bowling the man over and disappearing down the hall.
"Well, of all the . . ." Marik clenched his fists angrily.
The steward got up slowly and looked perplexed. "What just happened?" he demanded.
Ishizu looked at him grimly. "That man was stabbed last night. He is in no condition to be wandering through the ship. Just now he tried to steal some . . . items belonging to myself and my brother Marik."
"But he was fine just a while ago! Just being stabbed wouldn't make him go like that!" Mokuba burst out, still upset over the whole incident.
Ishizu stared out the door somberly. "No, it would not, little Mokuba," she agreed. "It would not."
"What is it?" Seto demanded.
"There's someone hanging from the bridge!" Mai replied, pointing ahead frantically.
Seto's eyes narrowed. "I'll go get him. Call the police in case I need some backup."
Mai shakily nodded in agreement and hurried after Seto, pulling out her cell phone.
As Seto approached the bridge, he became aware of a frightened, soft, British voice screaming for help. "Bakura?" the young businessman said in astonishment, quickly bending down to look over the edge. "What are you doing down there like that?!"
Bakura looked up in relief. "I fell!" he explained hastily as his hands started to slip. "Please help me up!!"
Quickly Seto reached out and caught hold of the boy's wrists. "Grab on," he ordered, and Bakura shakily obeyed.
Before long the trembling boy was back on solid ground and he looked up at Seto gratefully. "Thank you," he said quietly, tears in his eyes.
Seto grunted.
Mai knelt down next to him in concern. "Hey, kiddo," she said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder, "are you okay?"
Bakura looked up at her, surprised at the gesture, then broke down in sobs again. "Everyone's going to die!" he wailed.
"What?!" Seto demanded, narrowing his eyes.
"They're all going to die because of me!!" Bakura sobbed hysterically.
Mai gasped. "Bakura, what happened to you?!" she cried.
"It's all my fault! I killed Amane! And I'll wind up killing all of my friends!!" Bakura simply could not be comforted.
Mai grabbed Bakura's shoulders fiercely. "Bakura, look at me," she said firmly.
Slowly the boy gazed up into her violet eyes. Mai could see that his brown orbs were full of pain and anguish. She smiled gently, knowing how tender and innocent Bakura was.
"Hon, listen to me. I don't know what happened to you, but I do know that you were never responsible for anyone dying," Mai said softly.
"But I was!!" Bakura wailed. "It's my fault about my poor sister!! Vivalene told me it was, and I know she was right!!"
Seto went rigid. "Vivalene?!" he gasped.
Mai, who had never met Vivalene personally but knew of her treachery, narrowed her eyes. "Vivalene? Look, Bakura, anything that woman tells you is a lie," she stated flatly. "You were not responsible for your sister's death, and no one here is going to die."
"But they will, unless they stop investigating!" Bakura replied shakily.
"Bakura, no one is going to die," Mai repeated firmly.
"Yes they will!!" Bakura screamed. "They'll all die because of me!!!" He fell forward, crying on Mai's shoulder. She held him close, shocked at his behavior.
"Kaiba, the poor kid's hysterical!" she exclaimed.
Seto clenched his fists. "What I want to know is, How did Vivalene come back from the dead?" he growled. "And what's she doing in San Francisco?!"
That was when Yami Bakura, Joey, and Tristan all hurried up, out of breath from all their running.
"Mai, what the heck happened here?!" Joey gasped, seeing the girl kneeling by the edge of the bridge holding a sobbing Bakura while Seto looked on, stone-faced.
"Bakura says that Vivalene told him that he was responsible for his sister's death!" Mai replied, feeling outraged at the woman's actions.
"WHAT?!?!?!" Joey cried in disbelief. "Vivalene's dead!!"
"Apparently, Wheeler, she's come back to torment us further," Seto grunted.
"Bakura needs some kind of help that I can't give him," Mai exclaimed as the boy continued to weep on her shoulder. "He's been affected seriously!"
"I'll take him," Yami Bakura snarled.
"Leave him alone," Tristan retorted. "Maybe Yugi's Yami thinks you care about Bakura, but I don't!"
Yami Bakura drew out the Millennium Ring threateningly. "Mortal, I honestly don't care what you think," he hissed.
To everyone's surprise, the thief knelt down by Bakura's side and touched his shoulder. "Bakura?" he growled.
The boy looked up. "Yami," he said weakly. "Yami, please don't go after Vivalene!!"
"She needs to be stopped," Yami Bakura retorted. "Of course I'm going to go after her!"
"No, Yami, oh please no!!!" Bakura shrieked. "Please don't!!!" Mai gently released him then and the boy clutched the tomb raider's arm frantically.
"Dang, man, you can't go off—not when he's carrying on like this!" Joey cried.
"I'm not some imbecile!!" Yami Bakura roared. "DON'T YOU THINK I *KNOW* THAT?!" Slowly he turned to face Bakura and looked into the boy's tortured eyes. "Now. I'm not going to leave. Pull yourself together, Bakura."
Bakura just stared at him.
Joey slammed his fist into his palm. "Man, someone's gotta DO something!!" he declared. "Maybe we should go try to find Yugi!"
"Bakura needs a proper rest," Yami Bakura retorted. "I will take him back to the ship."
"Very well," Seto nodded curtly. "But I agree that Yugi should be told about these latest developments. And the police as well."
"Someone else can tell them," Yami Bakura grunted, scooping the hysterical Bakura into his arms and carrying him off.
"Please," Bakura screamed as he was hauled toward the docks, "please promise me that you'll stop investigating!! Please!!!"
Mai stood up slowly, her violet eyes wide and sad. "Poor kid," she said softly. It upset her greatly to see Bakura in such a distressed state and she found herself praying that he would be alright. "I don't know if he'll ever get over what that Vivalene told him!"
"He will," Joey said comfortingly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Oh man, he has to!"
****
When Marik was resting peacefully again, Rishid quietly excused himself and went off the ship to look for the beasts who had hurt his master and adopted brother. Mokuba had given him descriptions as best as he could, but he hadn't realized what the man was up to or he might have protested about it.
Now Rishid glanced about in the thickening fog as he neared the area where Marik and Mokuba had been ambushed. Of course it wasn't likely that he would find the thugs there, but he hoped to find someone who had seen them around in the past and would know where they might be now.
Even though he was on his guard, the last thing he was expecting was to suddenly have a knife thrust out in front of him as he approached the alley.
"One more step and I'll slit your throat," a dangerous voice hissed.
****
When Yugi and Tea left Uncle's shop, they had more questions than answers.
"So now what?!" Tea cried in frustration. "It seems like everything's just gotten more confusing than it was before!"
"I know," Yugi sighed in agreement. "Apparently Vivalene's back from the grave and she's out to cause trouble again . . . but where did she come from and how did she wind up meeting this Daolon Wong person? And how does Seth and that healer and that other guy fit into things?" He shook his head.
"Hey!" Tea exclaimed. "Isn't that Bakura up there?!" She pointed ahead at a boy with long, silvery hair and a sweater that resembled the one that their friend owned. "Bakura!!" she called then without waiting for Yugi's reply. "Wait up!"
Instead of stopping, the boy only increased his speed and tore around a corner.
"Well, that was weird," Tea remarked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"Come on!" Yugi cried. "Let's go after him!" Quickly he dashed ahead as fast as his short legs could carry him, soon arriving at the corner where their friend had vanished. "I don't see him now," he exclaimed in surprise.
"I don't either," Tea admitted, looking in all directions. "Bakura? Bakura, where did you go?" She stared ahead, blinking. "Hey, there he goes again!" the girl burst out in complete confusion.
"Bakura!!" Yugi yelled. The boy again quickened his pace and darted away.
"I can't understand why he's acting like this!" Tea said, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm sure he can hear us calling to him, so why is he avoiding us like the plague?!"
"Maybe," Yugi mused now, "that's not Bakura!"
"Oh no!" Tea moaned when she realized what Yugi was getting at. "He's got a double too?!"
"I'm afraid I wouldn't rule it out," Yugi replied with a sad smile. "But just incase that is our friend, we'd better keep trying to catch up to him."
****
Marik woke up hearing the door open. "Ishizu?" he called, thinking that perhaps his sister had gone out and was now returning. He glanced over at Mokuba, who was curled up asleep in a nearby chair, and then called out again. "Rishid? Is that you?"
Silence, except for the approaching footsteps.
Marik decided to pretend that he was asleep for the moment and so he laid back down and closed his eyes. Before long he sensed that someone was standing by the bed and he immediately sat straight up to face the intruder—only to stare as Shadi suddenly towered over him.
"Shadi?!" the boy gasped. "You shouldn't be out of bed already! You're still hurt from that chest wound!"
Still the man was silent, his vacant red eyes boring into Marik's appalled lavender ones.
Wait a minute . . . red eyes?!
Now Marik took a closer look at the Millennium Items' guardian, new concern growing in his heart. Shadi's eyes were glowing red and showed no trace of any emotion or consideration for anyone. In his hand he held the Millennium Ankh, which he now raised up to Marik's eye level. Abruptly he grabbed the boy viciously, his expression never changing as he raised him off the bed and into the air.
Marik gasped, struggling against his captor. "Shadi, what is it you want?!" he demanded. "If you are Shadi at all!" he added. Could this be a double?
In the next moment his hopes of that were dashed, however—Shadi's robe fell open at the chest and revealed the blood-soaked bandages covering his stab wound.
"You are Shadi," Marik exclaimed, drawing his breath in sharply.
Mokuba started to stir then, his blue-gray eyes fluttering open. "Marik, what's . . ." As the scene registered before him, the younger boy leaped up in shock and horror. "Shadi, let him go!!!" he yelled.
Shadi never paid attention to Mokuba and just continued to yank Marik forward until they were eye level with each other. The Rod, Shadi's red eyes seemed to ask. Where is the Rod?
Marik's eyes widened. "You want it!" he cried. "You want the Millennium Rod!"
Shadi continued to stare at his prisoner in a penetrating way, never wavering.
"What's going on?!" Mokuba burst out. "Has he gone crazy?!"
"I don't know," Marik replied, struggling to get free. "Either that or he's just turned evil!"
That was when the door opened and Ishizu entered. She gasped when she saw what was unfolding and rushed forward, grabbing at Shadi's arm furiously. "What are you doing?!" she demanded. "Let my brother go!!"
To Mokuba's and Marik's surprise, Shadi released the Egyptian boy from his grasp and tossed him back onto the bed. Then, however, he faced Ishizu and grabbed for the Millennium Tauk around her neck.
Angrily Ishizu seized his wrists and restrained him from continuing his attempt. "Shadi, you are not well," she said solemnly. "You are very ill."
Shadi wrenched his hands free and took hold of the Millennium Tauk, still refusing to speak.
Marik's eyes lit with a rage as he rushed forward. "What do you think you're doing?!" he screamed.
"Marik," Ishizu said calmly, "call the steward and tell him that we have an intruder."
Marik stared worriedly but picked up the phone and did as he was told, all the while looking worriedly at his sister.
Now Shadi was trying to work the clasp on the back of the necklace and get it open. Ishizu grabbed his wrists again. "Listen to me, Shadi," she said quietly. "Your health is ailing. You are not in your right mind or you would never be doing this. You are the guardian of the Millennium Items, appointed to protect them from thieves."
"Yeah!" Mokuba broke in. "You're not supposed to be a thief yourself!"
"Excuse me," a voice from the doorway said suddenly and the steward stepped in. "Is there a problem in here?"
"There certainly is!" Marik exclaimed, leaping off the bed.
Shadi turned to look at the approaching steward and then suddenly bolted for the door, bowling the man over and disappearing down the hall.
"Well, of all the . . ." Marik clenched his fists angrily.
The steward got up slowly and looked perplexed. "What just happened?" he demanded.
Ishizu looked at him grimly. "That man was stabbed last night. He is in no condition to be wandering through the ship. Just now he tried to steal some . . . items belonging to myself and my brother Marik."
"But he was fine just a while ago! Just being stabbed wouldn't make him go like that!" Mokuba burst out, still upset over the whole incident.
Ishizu stared out the door somberly. "No, it would not, little Mokuba," she agreed. "It would not."