Rishid narrowed his eyes, going to the doorway and looking out. "Something is here," he said, voicing Ishizu's own suspicions. "I am going to investigate."
Ishizu looked immensely concerned. "Please be careful, my brother," she said softly, going over to Marik and sitting down beside him. She would have liked to investigate as well, but she knew someone needed to stay with Marik.
"I will be," Rishid smiled reassuringly.
Marik stirred after Rishid had left. The boy rolled onto his other side and opened his eyes, blinking at Ishizu. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Ishizu stroked her brother's hair. "Everything will be fine," she said comfortingly. "Rishid is just going to check on something."
"I sensed something evil," Marik whispered uneasily. "It crept into my dreams." He struggled to sit up. "Rishid may need help!"
At that moment a pain-filled scream ripped through the air and Marik sprang out of bed, his naturally tan complexion paling. "RISHID!!" he cried, running to the door and throwing it open. Ishizu, deeply concerned as well, quickly followed. To their horror, Rishid was scrapping with an unidentifiable creature on the floor. His arm had been clawed badly, hence his scream of anguish.
"RISHID!!" Marik screamed again.
Abruptly Rishid shoved the animal aside, sending it slamming into the wall. As he sat there, clutching his arm and breathing heavily, the creature dissolved into dust.
Marik and Ishizu only glanced at the ashes for a brief moment before running to Rishid. "Oh, my brother," Ishizu whispered.
"Rishid, are you badly hurt?" Marik cried, kneeling down beside him. "Let me see your arm!"
Groaning, the Egyptian man leaned back against the wall and started to shake, refusing to let go of his injured arm. Blood trickled through his fingers, dripping to the floor.
"Please, Rishid!" Marik begged, growing more frantic. "Let me look!!"
"No," Rishid retorted.
"He is growing weaker," Ishizu said softly, putting her arm around him gently and letting him lay his head on her shoulder.
"So fast?!" Marik exclaimed, again trying to get Rishid's hand pried away. "Please, my brother!! I only want to help you!"
"Leave me alone!" Rishid thundered.
Marik drew back as if he'd been slapped in the face. "Rishid? . . ." he whispered, not knowing why his brother was treating him so coldly.
Now Rishid stood, pushing both Ishizu and Marik aside. "I said LEAVE ME ALONE!!" With that he reached down and snatched the dust from the floor, holding it in the air in his fist. "Once the creature's powers have a new host, you will never stand a chance!"
Marik's mouth dropped open. After a moment he recovered from the shock and narrowed his eyes angrily. "You're not Rishid!!" he declared.
Rishid laughed maniacally, raising the dust to pour into the wound.
"Stop this madness!" Ishizu ordered, grabbing the man's wrist.
"Rishid, I know you're in there," Marik said, stepping in front of him. "Don't let whoever is possessing you keep control!"
"Rishid," the man repeated. "He can't hear you. But I can, and your pleas mean nothing to me!" With that he again pushed Ishizu aside and lunged at Marik, punching him in the stomach.
"Stop it, whoever you are!" Ishizu yelled. "Marik has been through enough today. And your taking over our brother is absolutely atrocious and wicked!"
"I'm alright, sister," Marik said with a weak smile, straightening up. Slowly he removed his hands from over his waist, revealing a nasty red mark.
"Well, fight me!" the stranger taunted.
Marik glared. "I'd be happy to fight you . . . but as long as you are in Rishid's body, I cannot, for I will not hurt him."
His reply was an evil sneer. "Then it seems I can hurt you as much as I want." He was about to lunge again when he abruptly collapsed to his knees, shaking once more.
Marik and Ishizu looked at him hopefully. "Rishid?"
The Egyptian man gazed at them, his golden eyes now full of kindness and sorrow. "I do not . . . wish to harm you," he whispered. "I have never wanted that. . . ." He looked away. "I . . . don't know what is happening to me. . . . It's something terrible and . . . and evil. . . ."
Instantly Marik embraced him. "It's alright, Rishid," he soothed. "You're fighting it. And you will win!"
Rishid returned the hug with one arm and then stood up, going to the window and flinging the dust into the wind. He narrowed his eyes, watching it be carried away to the sky, then placed a hand to his forehead and winced as he felt the evil tearing at his defenses again.
Marik and Ishizu came over to him, laying their hands on his shoulders. They knew that their brother would overcome this.
"You will not gain control again," Rishid vowed then, forcing it from the recesses of his mind. Feeling the full magnitude of the pain of his wound again, the man raised his arm and stared blankly at the slashes.
"Let's get that taken care of," Marik said gently, helping Rishid to the hallway where the First Aid Kits were kept.
****
Joey sighed, unlocking the door of his home and going in. It had been such a crazy night. . . . And nothing was nowhere near solved yet. . . .
Slowly he walked into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. I wonder how Bakura's doing, he thought to himself. They had tried to call the British boy and give him a ride home, but JP had told them that Bakura and his "brother" had already left for home after making sure that no one else had been hurt by the Frankenstein.
"So now we have a psycho monster from a book going around stabbing people," Joey sarcastically said aloud. "And if he thinks Bakura can identify him, then that poor guy's in big trouble."
He turned away from the sink and went out into the hall, keeping quiet as he passed by Serenity's room. His alcoholic father had finally just up and left a while back and Joey had been living by himself for a while before his mother had decided that she and Serenity would move in with him. The siblings were overjoyed to finally be together again, needless to say.
"Joey?!"
The boy froze. He had thought Serenity was asleep, but apparently she wasn't.
"Hey, sis," he smiled now as he turned to greet her.
"Joey, where have you been?!" Serenity cried. "It's nearly four in the morning!!" She looked down, a tear slipping from her eye. "I was so worried!!"
Joey smiled softly, pulling his sister close. "I went to the radio station like I said I was going to," he told her.
"But you weren't there that whole time, were you?" Serenity replied softly, knowing when her brother wasn't telling her everything.
Joey sighed. "No," he admitted.
"There was trouble, wasn't there." It wasn't a question.
Joey was silent for a long time, but he knew he couldn't lie to his sister. "Yeah."
"Joey, I hate to see you being in so much danger all the time!" Serenity cried. "Why do you always want to solve these mysteries? You never did give me a straight answer. Why do you always let yourself be put in danger?"
Joey just gazed at her for a long time. How would he ever deal with things if Serenity got hurt the way the Kaibas and the Ishtars always seemed to? How would *she* deal with it if he, Joey, was hurt?
He thought hard about all the mysteries they had solved . . . all the criminals they had brought to justice . . . all the times someone had nearly died. . . . Was it worth it? Was it worth all the pain? At this point, he still didn't know.
"I can't answer, sis," he said at last. "I wish I knew, but I don't."
Serenity hugged him tightly. "Joey? Just promise me two things. First . . . promise me that . . . you'll always let me come with you on your cases. And second," she hurried on before Joey could protest, "promise me you'll never leave me. Please promise me that!"
Joey stared at her, not knowing what to say. How could he promise those things? How could he allow Serenity to risk her own safety? And how could he promise that he wouldn't leave her, when he never knew from day to day if someone would die on their cases? But . . . how could he not? "I'll promise, Serenity," he said finally, "but only on one condition."
She looked up with him with her hazel eyes. "And what's that, big brother?"
Joey had to smile slightly at her words, remembering the past. "Promise me that *you'll* never leave," he said firmly. "Never again!"
More tears fell from Serenity's eyes as she continued to hug her brother. "Of course I promise," she choked out. "Of course I do!!"
****
Bakura looked around nervously as he walked down the dark streets, making sure to keep close to his Yami. "Maybe we should have waited for the others," he said quaveringly. "Yugi said they'd come back for us. . . ."
Yami Bakura grunted. "Knowing them, they're probably still in the canyons! Besides, you'll be perfectly safe."
A knife flew overhead and they both ducked down to the sidewalk instantly.
"Oh my!" Bakura exclaimed as he heard the knife thunk into a tree. "Yami, someone's after us!!" He knew it was probably the Frankenstein person. The police had been very concerned when Bakura had told them about what he had seen. The scar matched the description of a known mercenary that they had been after for months.
Yami Bakura growled. "I know that, you dolt!! Knives don't fly around by themselves!" Angrily he stood up and pulled the knife out of the tree, suddenly deciding to adopt Bakura's voice as he waved it above his head. "I will throw this back at you the minute I see you!" he growled. "And unlike you, I have perfect aim!"
Bakura winced, hearing his voice coming out of his Yami's mouth. He couldn't stand to have the thief there threatening someone and pretending to be him while doing so, even after what the person had just tried to do. "Yami!!" he cried.
"Hush!" Yami Bakura retorted irritably. "If they think I'm you, you'll be much safer!"
Oreo curled around the tomb raider's legs, hissing at someone unseen.
Whoever had thrown the knife did not attempt to make himself known, at least not as far as Bakura could tell, and eventually Yami Bakura simply threw the weapon in disgust, aiming for a bush in which he'd heard a rustling. Instantly there was a yelp of pain and Bakura's eyes went wide.
"What have you done??!!" he screamed at his Yami as he was pulled up and shoved forward.
"I've just saved your sorry skin," Yami Bakura grunted. "That person was raising an automatic! Now go!!"
Bakura struggled as his Yami pushed him along. "But Yami, you've hurt someone!!" he wailed.
"So? He was going to kill you. He might as well get some of it back," Yami Bakura retorted.
"Yami, we can't leave him there without seeing if he needs help!" Bakura insisted, trying to break away.
Several bullets landed by his feet.
"Does that answer your question?!" Yami Bakura snarled. "He's obviously well enough to use his gun, and he wants you dead!! Now MOVE!!" Without waiting to hear what Bakura would say next, Yami Bakura picked him up and dashed around the corner, Oreo scampering past at his heels.
****
Téa tossed around in bed, unable to sleep without having the same strange dream over and over again. There was fire . . . so much fire everywhere. . . . She wandered through it, trying to find her way out, but every possible way was blocked.
"Téa!" she heard a familiar voice scream. "Téa, help me!!"
She looked around frantically, trying to place whose voice it was. It changed every time her name was called. First it was Yugi, then Marik, then Bakura. . . . One by one, each of her friends called desperately for her, but she could never find them in the flames, no matter how hard she tried.
Instantly her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed, breathing heavily. What can it mean?! she cried out silently.
Groaning, she climbed off the bed and went over to the answering machine, which was blinking. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, even though she was so exhausted. Bakura had called her a few minutes ago and left a message on the answering machine that he had returned home safely. But he sounded so shaken, Téa thought as she listened to his voice now. What if he was in some terrible danger?
****
Bakura was not in for a pleasant surprise when he awoke the next morning. Yami Bakura was downstairs, examining something out the kitchen window and looking annoyed.
"Yami, what is it?" Bakura exclaimed.
"It seems," the thief replied, "that someone has already tracked you." With that he pointed out the window to where a bloody knife was stuck in a tree.
"OH!!" Bakura cried, his eyes wide. His Yami had tried to lead their pursuer on a wild goose chase the previous night, but it seemed it hadn't done a mite of good.
"They want you, Bakura," Yami Bakura muttered. "Dead or alive, they want you. But especially dead."
Ishizu looked immensely concerned. "Please be careful, my brother," she said softly, going over to Marik and sitting down beside him. She would have liked to investigate as well, but she knew someone needed to stay with Marik.
"I will be," Rishid smiled reassuringly.
Marik stirred after Rishid had left. The boy rolled onto his other side and opened his eyes, blinking at Ishizu. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Ishizu stroked her brother's hair. "Everything will be fine," she said comfortingly. "Rishid is just going to check on something."
"I sensed something evil," Marik whispered uneasily. "It crept into my dreams." He struggled to sit up. "Rishid may need help!"
At that moment a pain-filled scream ripped through the air and Marik sprang out of bed, his naturally tan complexion paling. "RISHID!!" he cried, running to the door and throwing it open. Ishizu, deeply concerned as well, quickly followed. To their horror, Rishid was scrapping with an unidentifiable creature on the floor. His arm had been clawed badly, hence his scream of anguish.
"RISHID!!" Marik screamed again.
Abruptly Rishid shoved the animal aside, sending it slamming into the wall. As he sat there, clutching his arm and breathing heavily, the creature dissolved into dust.
Marik and Ishizu only glanced at the ashes for a brief moment before running to Rishid. "Oh, my brother," Ishizu whispered.
"Rishid, are you badly hurt?" Marik cried, kneeling down beside him. "Let me see your arm!"
Groaning, the Egyptian man leaned back against the wall and started to shake, refusing to let go of his injured arm. Blood trickled through his fingers, dripping to the floor.
"Please, Rishid!" Marik begged, growing more frantic. "Let me look!!"
"No," Rishid retorted.
"He is growing weaker," Ishizu said softly, putting her arm around him gently and letting him lay his head on her shoulder.
"So fast?!" Marik exclaimed, again trying to get Rishid's hand pried away. "Please, my brother!! I only want to help you!"
"Leave me alone!" Rishid thundered.
Marik drew back as if he'd been slapped in the face. "Rishid? . . ." he whispered, not knowing why his brother was treating him so coldly.
Now Rishid stood, pushing both Ishizu and Marik aside. "I said LEAVE ME ALONE!!" With that he reached down and snatched the dust from the floor, holding it in the air in his fist. "Once the creature's powers have a new host, you will never stand a chance!"
Marik's mouth dropped open. After a moment he recovered from the shock and narrowed his eyes angrily. "You're not Rishid!!" he declared.
Rishid laughed maniacally, raising the dust to pour into the wound.
"Stop this madness!" Ishizu ordered, grabbing the man's wrist.
"Rishid, I know you're in there," Marik said, stepping in front of him. "Don't let whoever is possessing you keep control!"
"Rishid," the man repeated. "He can't hear you. But I can, and your pleas mean nothing to me!" With that he again pushed Ishizu aside and lunged at Marik, punching him in the stomach.
"Stop it, whoever you are!" Ishizu yelled. "Marik has been through enough today. And your taking over our brother is absolutely atrocious and wicked!"
"I'm alright, sister," Marik said with a weak smile, straightening up. Slowly he removed his hands from over his waist, revealing a nasty red mark.
"Well, fight me!" the stranger taunted.
Marik glared. "I'd be happy to fight you . . . but as long as you are in Rishid's body, I cannot, for I will not hurt him."
His reply was an evil sneer. "Then it seems I can hurt you as much as I want." He was about to lunge again when he abruptly collapsed to his knees, shaking once more.
Marik and Ishizu looked at him hopefully. "Rishid?"
The Egyptian man gazed at them, his golden eyes now full of kindness and sorrow. "I do not . . . wish to harm you," he whispered. "I have never wanted that. . . ." He looked away. "I . . . don't know what is happening to me. . . . It's something terrible and . . . and evil. . . ."
Instantly Marik embraced him. "It's alright, Rishid," he soothed. "You're fighting it. And you will win!"
Rishid returned the hug with one arm and then stood up, going to the window and flinging the dust into the wind. He narrowed his eyes, watching it be carried away to the sky, then placed a hand to his forehead and winced as he felt the evil tearing at his defenses again.
Marik and Ishizu came over to him, laying their hands on his shoulders. They knew that their brother would overcome this.
"You will not gain control again," Rishid vowed then, forcing it from the recesses of his mind. Feeling the full magnitude of the pain of his wound again, the man raised his arm and stared blankly at the slashes.
"Let's get that taken care of," Marik said gently, helping Rishid to the hallway where the First Aid Kits were kept.
****
Joey sighed, unlocking the door of his home and going in. It had been such a crazy night. . . . And nothing was nowhere near solved yet. . . .
Slowly he walked into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. I wonder how Bakura's doing, he thought to himself. They had tried to call the British boy and give him a ride home, but JP had told them that Bakura and his "brother" had already left for home after making sure that no one else had been hurt by the Frankenstein.
"So now we have a psycho monster from a book going around stabbing people," Joey sarcastically said aloud. "And if he thinks Bakura can identify him, then that poor guy's in big trouble."
He turned away from the sink and went out into the hall, keeping quiet as he passed by Serenity's room. His alcoholic father had finally just up and left a while back and Joey had been living by himself for a while before his mother had decided that she and Serenity would move in with him. The siblings were overjoyed to finally be together again, needless to say.
"Joey?!"
The boy froze. He had thought Serenity was asleep, but apparently she wasn't.
"Hey, sis," he smiled now as he turned to greet her.
"Joey, where have you been?!" Serenity cried. "It's nearly four in the morning!!" She looked down, a tear slipping from her eye. "I was so worried!!"
Joey smiled softly, pulling his sister close. "I went to the radio station like I said I was going to," he told her.
"But you weren't there that whole time, were you?" Serenity replied softly, knowing when her brother wasn't telling her everything.
Joey sighed. "No," he admitted.
"There was trouble, wasn't there." It wasn't a question.
Joey was silent for a long time, but he knew he couldn't lie to his sister. "Yeah."
"Joey, I hate to see you being in so much danger all the time!" Serenity cried. "Why do you always want to solve these mysteries? You never did give me a straight answer. Why do you always let yourself be put in danger?"
Joey just gazed at her for a long time. How would he ever deal with things if Serenity got hurt the way the Kaibas and the Ishtars always seemed to? How would *she* deal with it if he, Joey, was hurt?
He thought hard about all the mysteries they had solved . . . all the criminals they had brought to justice . . . all the times someone had nearly died. . . . Was it worth it? Was it worth all the pain? At this point, he still didn't know.
"I can't answer, sis," he said at last. "I wish I knew, but I don't."
Serenity hugged him tightly. "Joey? Just promise me two things. First . . . promise me that . . . you'll always let me come with you on your cases. And second," she hurried on before Joey could protest, "promise me you'll never leave me. Please promise me that!"
Joey stared at her, not knowing what to say. How could he promise those things? How could he allow Serenity to risk her own safety? And how could he promise that he wouldn't leave her, when he never knew from day to day if someone would die on their cases? But . . . how could he not? "I'll promise, Serenity," he said finally, "but only on one condition."
She looked up with him with her hazel eyes. "And what's that, big brother?"
Joey had to smile slightly at her words, remembering the past. "Promise me that *you'll* never leave," he said firmly. "Never again!"
More tears fell from Serenity's eyes as she continued to hug her brother. "Of course I promise," she choked out. "Of course I do!!"
****
Bakura looked around nervously as he walked down the dark streets, making sure to keep close to his Yami. "Maybe we should have waited for the others," he said quaveringly. "Yugi said they'd come back for us. . . ."
Yami Bakura grunted. "Knowing them, they're probably still in the canyons! Besides, you'll be perfectly safe."
A knife flew overhead and they both ducked down to the sidewalk instantly.
"Oh my!" Bakura exclaimed as he heard the knife thunk into a tree. "Yami, someone's after us!!" He knew it was probably the Frankenstein person. The police had been very concerned when Bakura had told them about what he had seen. The scar matched the description of a known mercenary that they had been after for months.
Yami Bakura growled. "I know that, you dolt!! Knives don't fly around by themselves!" Angrily he stood up and pulled the knife out of the tree, suddenly deciding to adopt Bakura's voice as he waved it above his head. "I will throw this back at you the minute I see you!" he growled. "And unlike you, I have perfect aim!"
Bakura winced, hearing his voice coming out of his Yami's mouth. He couldn't stand to have the thief there threatening someone and pretending to be him while doing so, even after what the person had just tried to do. "Yami!!" he cried.
"Hush!" Yami Bakura retorted irritably. "If they think I'm you, you'll be much safer!"
Oreo curled around the tomb raider's legs, hissing at someone unseen.
Whoever had thrown the knife did not attempt to make himself known, at least not as far as Bakura could tell, and eventually Yami Bakura simply threw the weapon in disgust, aiming for a bush in which he'd heard a rustling. Instantly there was a yelp of pain and Bakura's eyes went wide.
"What have you done??!!" he screamed at his Yami as he was pulled up and shoved forward.
"I've just saved your sorry skin," Yami Bakura grunted. "That person was raising an automatic! Now go!!"
Bakura struggled as his Yami pushed him along. "But Yami, you've hurt someone!!" he wailed.
"So? He was going to kill you. He might as well get some of it back," Yami Bakura retorted.
"Yami, we can't leave him there without seeing if he needs help!" Bakura insisted, trying to break away.
Several bullets landed by his feet.
"Does that answer your question?!" Yami Bakura snarled. "He's obviously well enough to use his gun, and he wants you dead!! Now MOVE!!" Without waiting to hear what Bakura would say next, Yami Bakura picked him up and dashed around the corner, Oreo scampering past at his heels.
****
Téa tossed around in bed, unable to sleep without having the same strange dream over and over again. There was fire . . . so much fire everywhere. . . . She wandered through it, trying to find her way out, but every possible way was blocked.
"Téa!" she heard a familiar voice scream. "Téa, help me!!"
She looked around frantically, trying to place whose voice it was. It changed every time her name was called. First it was Yugi, then Marik, then Bakura. . . . One by one, each of her friends called desperately for her, but she could never find them in the flames, no matter how hard she tried.
Instantly her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed, breathing heavily. What can it mean?! she cried out silently.
Groaning, she climbed off the bed and went over to the answering machine, which was blinking. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, even though she was so exhausted. Bakura had called her a few minutes ago and left a message on the answering machine that he had returned home safely. But he sounded so shaken, Téa thought as she listened to his voice now. What if he was in some terrible danger?
****
Bakura was not in for a pleasant surprise when he awoke the next morning. Yami Bakura was downstairs, examining something out the kitchen window and looking annoyed.
"Yami, what is it?" Bakura exclaimed.
"It seems," the thief replied, "that someone has already tracked you." With that he pointed out the window to where a bloody knife was stuck in a tree.
"OH!!" Bakura cried, his eyes wide. His Yami had tried to lead their pursuer on a wild goose chase the previous night, but it seemed it hadn't done a mite of good.
"They want you, Bakura," Yami Bakura muttered. "Dead or alive, they want you. But especially dead."