WRITER'S BLOCK EVIL!!!!!!! I had a full-fledged case of writers block, gomen nasai everyone, I'm soooooo sooo sooo sooo sooo sooo sorry!!!!!! I hate writer's block! *cries* I'm so sorry I didn't update for a while. It took me that long just to write this much, seriously. I just finished it this afternoon! ;_; waahhh!!!
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Chapter 27: Saved
"My soul will serve you forever." The words rang in Yami's ear as he slowly came back to the conscious world. They had seemed to be from the back of his memories, memories that had been locked up for a millennia and had only just started returning to him, creaking open like seldom used doors when the right person, or even, unlocked them. But who was it now that had unlocked this pledge that the Pharaoh now vaguely remembered, the details coming to him slowly, like grains of sand pushing through a small crack in the jar that had housed them.
Slowly the pieces of the jigsaw came together. The words had been spoken by one of Yami's High Priests—the priest Mahado—who, in the moments before his death, had locked his soul into a stone Shadow Game tablet—becoming, from that day forward—
Yami's eyes snapped open to see the Dark Magician towering over him, though the spellcaster was only kneeling. The magician's hands hovered over Yami, glowing brightly as the former priest cast healing spells on the pharaoh's wounds, eyes closed in concentration.
The spells were working. The throbbing pain in Yami's head slowed till it was no more than a tingle, then disappeared completely. The Dark Magician opened his eyes.
"Mahado?" Yami asked unbelievingly. "But I didn't summon—How did you… how did you find me?"
"Good you are awake, my Pharaoh. And to answer your question, I can sense your endangerment as long as you are in this realm, and I can come through the Millennium Puzzle without your direct consent if the need arises. This all arose when I pledged my soul to serve you five millennia ago, your highness.
Yami, sitting up now, nodded silently as he remembered. "Thank you, Mahado. You saved my life—once again," he thanked the spellcaster.
"You are most welcome, but something tells me my services will continue to be needed," Mahado replied matter-of-factly. Again, Yami nodded silently as he got up.
"I am afraid so," he said. "The reincarnation of your former colleague, High Priest Seito—now known as Seto Kaiba, has been captured by Morsei, Sakahet's son." Mahado's eyes narrowed at the sound of that name. Yami continued. "Caleia organized this expedition to save the boy, though we all know full well that Seto was taken to be bait for her to follow. Three of us came to this realm, Caleia, myself, and the former tomb robber, who you know, Bakura." Mahado's eyes narrowed, almost to slits, at the mention of that name.
"That white rat," he spat. Bakura and Mahado had a long story between them, Yami remembered, what with the Millennium Ring and causing Mahados' death and all. But there was a more pressing matter at hand.
"For now, the stupid tomb robber is an ally," Yami simple said. Mahado nodded slightly. "Anyway, the three of us entered the Shadow Realm, got here, and are now obviously separated," he continued matter-of-factly.
"This is not a good predicament," Mahado stated. Yami nodded.
"No it is not, but—as I am out of ideas, we will simple have to roam these corridors until we get some indication of where we should be going to find the others."
"An ingenious example of simplicity," the former priest mocked good-naturedly, trying to lighten the situation. A slight smile crept at the corners of Yami's mouth, but the worry in his eyes overshadowed it.
***
(backtrack about 10 min from last chapter)
Seto stood in a pitch black room, not knowing how he had gotten there in the first place. The last thing he remembered was an immense pain surging through his body, seeming to set fire to his very marrow, before he blacked out. He tried to command his body to move so he might be able to figure out where he was, but found that he couldn't as much as roll his eyes. An acute fear seized him. What if Morsei found him here, unable to move, to defend himself? Then it stuck him that this was probably Morsei at work anyway. He cursed inwardly.
He saw a door opening in front of him and a shadowy figure entering the room. It was too dark to make out who it was, but Seto just had this gut feeling it was Caleia. It was just something about her. Still, though, he could not move, could not talk, nothing.
The door closed, once again engulfing the room with the shadowless curtain of darkness. He could hear--whoever-it-was's-- breathing, though his own seemed silent, taking in only enough oxygen to keep him alive.
The torches around the room suddenly all flicked on, burning brightly, engulfing the room with momentarily blinding light. Now Seto could clearly see who it was that had walked into the room.
^Caleia!^ he tried to call, but his inability to control himself was unchanged. Instead, a voice spoke back to him.
^Stop trying, Kaiba, it won't work. You will do what I ask, your own weak mind is useless against me. It put in simpler terms, I've locked your soul inside your own body, though, as you can see, you are completely aware of what your shell is doing.^ It was Morsei's voice.
^Bastard,^ Seto hissed. He watched as Caleia's eyes widened at the sight of him, and heard her call his name. ^Caleia…^ he whispered softly as she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him. He felt himself move and was suddenly all too aware of what Morsei planned to do. He tried to stop himself as he pushed Caleia away, but could not as much as tighten a muscle. Caleia looked at him in disbelief. ^No!^ he thought.
He heard himself speak. "Go, my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" His prized monster came roaring to life before his eyes, in all its power. "Attack with White Lightning," his voice commanded. The dragon obeyed.
^NO!^ he screamed inside.
***
The cut on Bakura's neck bled furiously, but he didn't die--yet. It was just barely too shallow to kill him, but if something was not done soon, he would bleed to death. The Change of Heart thought hard on what it should do. It in itself did not possess the power to help the tomb robber. But, it did know others that did.
In a normal situation, Bakura would probably kill anyone and anything that did what the Change of Heart did next, but, then again, this isn't normal situation, is it? The Change of Heart placed his hands on the Millennium Ring and tapped into its power. For a moment, the pure power from the Ring almost overwhelmed him, but he just managed to control it and direct it to a summoning. He called to an old friend, another card of magic, Dian Keto--the Cure Master.
Coming through the Ring, Dian Keto materialized in the corridor. He looked confused, but then, who could blame him. It wasn't everyday that a magic card was summoned though a Millennium Item by another. "Change of Heart, what is the meaning of--" the Cure Master stopped as he saw Bakura, the pool of blood under him growing larger with each minute, the cut on his neck having hardly clot at all.
"Please, you are the only one I know," the Change of Heart pleaded. Dian Keto nodded and summoned a healing spell. Change of Heart stepped back from Bakura to give him some space. The Cure Master directed his spell to Bakura's neck. It took a few seconds to start working, but finally the skin started knitting itself back together. The Millennium Ring might usually have helped, but it made barriers against light magics, which are what Keto uses. Without Bakura manually lowering those barriers, Keto's magic had to be twice as strong to cure half as well.
The world slow swam back into focus. Bakura groaned in pain, panicking for a moment before realizing Keto's magic. He had a faint recollection of what happened, and lowered his shields to assist Keto's magic. There was a throbbing pain at his neck, but that was slowly subsiding. Dimly he could feel something wet on the floor under him, and as all his senses returned to normal, he realized it was his own blood.
Seeing that the mage was finished healing him, Bakura sat up, and an immediate feeling of lightheadedness overtook him as his heart worked vigorously to pump his thinned blood through his body. He leaned on the wall behind him for support, and dimly looked at the pool of blood on the floor. He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. He could feel the Millennium Ring stimulating his body to produce more blood.
He looked at the two mages standing in front of him and nodded his gratitude before he recalled them. Feeling close to normal now, he picked up his sword, got up, and started down the corridor. No use just standing around here.
***
Caleia threw her arms over her head and conjured the most of a shield that she could in the split second she had, but it seemed like paper against the white-hot attack of the Blue Eyes. In less than a second the attack broke through, hitting Caleia and throwing her against the wall, knocking the air from her lungs.
She was breathing hard as she stood up, clutching her right shoulder which had absorbed much of the impact against the wall--her eyes didn't know which emotion to show except for shock. Her should, luckily, didn't feel broken or dislocated, but it was certainly throbbing.
A spasm hit her and her wobbling knees gave out. Letting go of her shoulder, she braced herself up with said arm and the floor. She looked up at Seto. He ordered the Blue Eyes to attack again. Caleia was more anticipating this time, and rolled quickly out of the way of the attack.
"Seto, stop!" she cried, almost in a commanding tone. Seto smirked and ordered the dragon to attack again.
Caleia conjured up a shield and deflected the attack. Here eyes narrowed to slits. The Eye of Horus was on her forehead and the Sunstar Crest shone on her chest. "You dare attack your Keeper?" she asked the Blue Eyes in a menacing tone. The Blue Eyes hesitated. He looked from Seto to Caleia and back again, unable to make up its mind. Finally he bowed his head and started to recall himself. Seto called him back.
"You obey me!" he commanded in a voice not like his own. "I've been you're master more than once. You obey me." Unable to deny a flat out command from it's master, the Blue Eyes stayed. A third voice, much too identical to Seto's own for coincidence, spoke next.
"My faithful dragon, you would not attack against your original master's will, would you?" Both Caleia and Seto looked to a shadowy part of the room. A figure walked out into the light. As he did, Caleia gasped.
Trapped in his mind, Seto gasped also as he stared at a copy of himself. Dressed in the robes of his rank, High Priest Seito walked between the Blue Eyes and Caleia, turning to face the dragon. It seemed that the Blue Eyes was surprised also, for he knew that the High Priest had passed into the realm of death millennia ago.
Loyal to the end of time, the dragon bowed his head and disappeared back into the shadows, resisting the calling of Seto, or the shell of Seto, anyway.
Caleia was still in shock, her eyes wide, jaw slack. She just stared at the person in front of her, not believing her eyes. "S-S-Seito?" she finally sputtered. The priest turned, offered her his hand, and pulled her up.
"Caleia," he whispered as he wrapped his lean arms around her. She returned the embrace and could really feel the tears coming.
"Seito," she repeated his name, saying it in a whisper, as if if she said it louder, he would disappear. "H-how? I don't understand." Seito looked into her eyes as he answered.
"Osiris bid me come to help you, and let me out of the Afterlife for a time being," he explained. He let go of Caleia and looked at Seto. "I do not appreciate my reincarnation being taken as a mind slave, Morsei," he said fiercely. Seto grinned evilly.
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Okay, now I am seriously confusing myself. Modern Seto is going to be spelled S-e-t-o while Priest Seto is S-e-I-t-o (extra I), just to tell them apart. How am I going to get though this one? When I write I'm not always aware of what I'm writing, and that leads to good ideas a lot, but also, when I stop, I don't know what's going to happen next. AHHH!!! That's not good!!!! Anyway, I'm already working on it, though, cuz I wrote up most of it and continued so I wouldn't lose my stream of ideas. Next chappie should be up in not-too-long! Sorry about this one taking so long L . Please Review!
~Kirsta~
