The Final Hour
Disclaimer: See previous installment.
Chapter 2: Tarot Reading
*~*~*
(((((((Ryou's Point Of View)))))))
There is just the night, the light from the moon and stars, and his translucent form watching me.
I am terrified.
I accidentally fall out of bed in my hurry to back away, and of course, my own clumsiness takes a big part in it too. Thankfully I avoid hitting any sharp edges on the way down, just a rather hard bedpost.
Normally he would have smirked and criticized me for being such an idiot but tonight he just stares that unnerving stare at me. You know the one that sends all the intelligent forms of life in this world running, even if they only possess a semblance of intellect.
This is how I find out every day and night that I alone stand as the biggest fool of them all.
For I alone stare back, too shaken to run, too afraid to hide, and too tired to pray.
God help me I am a fool.
Yet he does nothing, which only serves to alarm me further.
"B-Bakura?" One question stuttered out of my mouth and I wish to recall it the second it leaves my tongue. It seems to have snapped him out of his reverie though.
So what next, Quick Fire? I think to myself softly, and make sure to think only to myself. I can get away with it sometimes.
A glare, so maybe I cannot after all, and a command.
/Come./
*~*~*
So here I am, 3:00 in the morning, waiting for my Yami to return from retrieving something from our room on the Human Plane. I am currently sitting in our soul room, chewing my nails down to the bone.
He returns with our dueling deck.
A game at this hour? I ask myself wryly curious, but it is a cautious kind of curiosity, not worth being killed over, so I wisely keep my mouth shut.
He once more turned daggers upon me and I silently pondered what was going on. Let us face it shall we, that is twice I have insulted him on his terms, even if it is in my mind. So why have I not eaten the ground yet? For that matter, why am I still breathing?
I do not know what has gotten into him.
I do not know what has gotten into me!
Bravery only goes so far however before leading into foolhardiness and of course even deeper trouble. Carefully I keep my mind and face blank as he approaches, shuffling carefully.
"In the Old Kingdom, there existed the Egyptian Book of Thoth, Thoth himself being the God of Knowledge. In it was contained the secrets of the Pharaoh and the Powers of Egypt. All of the records, legends, and most importantly Magic was recorded within its pages. Even now, the Tarot cards that Easterners use are merely a variation. No one knew of this… the fellahin and viziers alike knew not of its existence. I, however, was a true master of the Arts. No one knew that either, except for one."
I was left speechless and rather confused… never before had my Yami said so many words to me, especially about his past, in one instance and manage to not insult me.
I had a million questions bussing through my head now but suppressed them, deciding to let him tell the tale. Lest I face the consequences of interrupting, which like every other mistake I make would be atoned for painfully.
He began to talk again and I needed no encouragement to listen.
"What I am about to perform now is a variation of the past layouts. You'll need to come here," he announced.
Not exactly a question but it does not matter, I would not have refused him anyway.
He abruptly stopped shuffling the cards and handed them to me, indicating with a forceful gesture I should do the same. Still confused and wondering what this would lead to, I carefully mixed the cards as thoroughly and as quickly (the last thing I needed was for my Yami to become impatient with me) as I knew how.
"Choose the card from the top of the pile."
I did so and looked; to my surprise, Change of Heart appeared in my hand.
I gave both it and the rest of the cards back to him; he just smirked when he saw what it was.
"It seems to have chosen you to be its Keeper, I'd be wary if I were you. In a way this card can be quite the 'trickster' if not kept in check." He sneered as if at an old memory.
Okay, now I am terribly lost again. I thought it was Yami Yugi who always talked about the Heart of the Cards, never Bakura. The Dark Magician card always came when Yugi had need of it, is that what he is trying to say?
Bakura gave an annoyed sigh, "You should stop thinking so much Hikari, and it does not do you any good. You forget that all the cards have a soul and a base in the Shadow Realm. Whether they come when called is entirely up to the duelist. Some weaklings like the Pharaoh think they can get the cards' respect if they grovel, I prefer cards which can stand for themselves."
He finished reshuffling the deck while he was speaking, keeping the Change of Heart card out and face up, while he too picked up a card that lay on top.
There seemed to be more than a hint of pride when he showed me the Man-Eater Bug without even glancing at it himself.
"These are our significators; they represent us and what we stand for in the Court of the Gods."
He placed each one on top of the other, mine beneath his but still visible.
Then he paused for a moment as if in thought and reshuffled, relieving me of his intense blood red eyes as he closed them to concentrate on something I could not see.
Minutes passed by slowly but I was patient. I did not have any other say in the matter really but for this, I could wait.
Finally he pierced me again with his sharper than a knife edge gaze, seemingly to judge me fit for yet another unknown test to prove myself against, as he spread the cards out evenly on top of the table that had appeared before us earlier, in front of the other two. Once more intent on his work he began:
"This card covers us."
"This card crosses us."
"This crowns us."
"This is beneath us."
"This is behind us."
"This is before us."
"This is us."
"This is our house."
"This represents our hopes and fears."
"This is what will come."
After saying each he would place a card to the outside, forming a semi-circle around the significators. I took a deep breath when he reached for the first even though I had no clue what was going on.
He didn't seem to be perturbed in the least, in fact I could almost feel an eagerness radiating from him to begin.
The first was revealed.
The Wall of Illusion.
Bakura frowned.
"This represents the current situation... something we're not seeing?"
Apparently he saw something I did not, but that doesn't mean I didn't try. For a long moment I looked at it hard and still saw… absolutely nothing.
He rolled his eyes at my inferiority but said nothing, which I am not sure whether to be thankful for.
The second card was flipped face up. The Skull Servant.
The frown grew even deeper as he murmured. "This indicates events in the near future… betrayal?"
The third revealed Offerings to the Doomed, "The best course of action and the results of ignoring opportunities that arise."
Huh?
Fourth was the trap card Time Seal, "To mark that which was, that which will be again."
Fifth foresaw "The events of the recent" with Toll.
Sixth, "That which is soon to pass," was World Suppression, never a good thing I am sure.
Next came a card that made Bakura even grimmer and he refused to divulge the so called hidden meaning behind it.
The card itself was Painful Choice.
I felt myself grow a few shades paler for no apparent reason.
The one after that turned out to be none other than 'Yami' and I figured it was well suited when Bakura explained it was the setting in which all things _past, present, and future_ would take place in.
Just two more cards remained.
Why was I so nervous all of a sudden, or was that excitement? It was not as though these cards made a difference or actually held any answers. They were just cards after all, they could not possibly hold any secrets. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, a small voice disagreed and for once it was not Yami no Bakura.
The ninth card flipped revealed Last Will. Once more Yami did not say anything but I remembered this one to be our hopes and fears. I stayed silent contemplating this for awhile.
After a few minutes of being lost in thought, I realized that Bakura had yet to flip the last card. Closer inspection leads me to believe that maybe for once he was actually hesitant in doing so.
For the second time that night, he seemed to sense my gaze and resolutely exposed the remaining and final card.
I stared.
Then I looked a moment longer just to make sure what I thought I saw was real.
The Ultimate Offering card lay there ominously, taunting me.
No matter how long or hard I looked it didn't go away.
"The result, the outcome..." he let the rest hang.
Silence rang out.
Then my Yami shrugged noncommittally and started rearranging the cards into order.
"What will to past, will come," he said quietly, simply, without a tinge of regret or sorrow in his voice.
I just starred at him.
The trademark glare returned.
I gulped but refused to turn away.
Finally, he grew disinterested, deciding I was not worth his time anymore (not that I ever was in the first place), and turned to leave taking the cards in hand with him.
It was then that I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life since wearing the Ring for the first time. I am still cursed for it and until this day, it haunts me.
"They're just cards you know." My voice was quiet, I was not even sure he heard me.
Then he stopped halfway to the door and his whole body seemed to stiffen in response.
"What did you say?" His own voice was raspy and I could see him visibly quivering in suppressed anger.
Still I plowed on, unaware of the potential danger a few ill spoken words could cause.
"They don't mean anything Yami, they're just cards."
I was lifted from my feet and thrown against the wall so hard and fast I did not even know what hit me, but through the dizziness and judging by the familiar small trail of blood flowing down my chin from my cut lip, I could make an accurate guess.
I slid down to the ground, where the cards lay scattered among the floor.
The Tomb Robber slowly, painfully slowly, lowered himself to my level and looked me straight in the eye.
I flinched but looked down and said nothing, deciding to stay quiet and let him get it over with.
He grasped my hair in a painfully tight hold forcing me, however unwillingly, to meet his intense, slightly crazed gaze.
I could not tell all that was hidden but one emotion was familiar, from Duelist Kingdom.
It was a look of betrayal.
I drew in a breath of fear, he was so close, and his breathing I could feel on my face.
He came forward closer still though, until our noses were almost touching, still holding me silent with just that one look.
"No, they're not my Hikari."
With that I blinked and he suddenly vanished.
After a few seconds I started gasping for air, trying to refill lungs that had been emptied since he threw me down.
He had explained nothing.
The cards held no secrets to me, but Bakura does and always will.
They are dark secrets of which the world has never known.
Well, maybe only once before.
5,000 years ago.
*~*~*
I reached out carefully to lever myself up from against the wall when my hand touches a card. Bringing it into view face up I feel myself start to shake uncontrollably as the card itself drops from my numb fingers.
Invitation to a Dark Sleep.
The nightmares have only just begun.
I'm still afraid of the dark.
*~*~*
End of Chapter 2
*~*~*
Glossary (Egyptian):
Fellahin- peasants
Viziers- officials
*~*~*
Author's Notes:
I would like to thank those that reviewed for your kind words and help; I will probably take someone up on the offer of research. Because of that, as well, I decided to post this next installment right away and I hope you enjoy it as much as you did the first!
I kept the explanation of Bakura's reading vague on purpose; because I want the readers to predict on their own terms what they think will happen. I will be explaining each part of the Tarot reading in fuller detail during upcoming chapters, it was mostly for helping me foreshadow. It come from a mix of my own style but relies heavily on the more popular Celtic cross layout, considering they did not have one of those in Egypt I did not think it would go over very well if I used it directly. The book Bakura talked about is also very real; I will include a bibliography of all my sources when I reach the end of this fiction. Ryou's dream is entirely my own and will eventually continue and used as well as a means of looking back into the past for answers. All of the aforementioned pairs in the beginning of chapter one will have equal parts in the story line.
Final note I used the darkest cards that were available to me (which means from my own English Deck) to write the reading. I do not know for sure whether Ryou's deck actually contains those but I doubt it so please just use suspended disbelief for the time being. As for Yami Bakura, he does not as of yet have his own body but I plan to give him (and all the other Yamis) one in upcoming chapters and know just how I am going to do it too.
Thanks for reading!
~DruidessQueen
*~*~*