Next chapter is here... Sorry for the lateness, again. ^^;;; All I seem to
do lately is post chapters late...
Am currently in a bit of a hurry, so you'll get review responses with the next chapter. Also, if you're interested, I'll be posting a new oneshot next Friday, and any feedback on this or that on would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy the latest chapter... ^^
Slaying the Dreamer, chapter 26: Winning the Future
---Ishtar POV---
Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. Concentrating my senses inward, I tried to find the source of this feeling. Something... feminine. What...?
I couldn't understand this feeling... Where was it coming from? As far as I could remember, I hadn't met any women lately, except...
Except...
Except for Marik's sister.
//Pharaoh... Can you feel it?//
//Indeed I can. Do you recognize the other person?//
//It's the little one's sister. ...we should probably do something about that. Despite what it might appear, they're very close, and she _does_ have one of the Items//
//...how did she come to be in possession of one of them?//
//I have no idea. Thought they were supposed to be in possession of the Hunter...//
We looked at each other. This could get complicated... What to do with the mortals? If we both left they would be defenseless...
"But, we already know where he is... There should be no danger to them while we know that"
"I agree. But do you really want to leave them, even despite that?"
I could see from the corner of my eyes how the attention of all the mortals had turned to me and the Pharaoh. It must seem weird for them... Starting to speak aloud in the middle of a conversation...
"You have a point there. But what must be done, must be done. We should be able to do this"
He glanced at Yugi. Perhaps they were speaking in their minds? No, it didn't seem like it. And he wasn't as stupid as to tell his human what was really going on...
Was he?
"Let's go. Yugi, Jounouchi, you stay here. You too, Ryou. We'll be back as soon as we can"
I could see their confusion, I could sense it... It was so thick it covered the whole room. The only one who wasn't radiating it was...Marik. How very enticing... He just looked on passively, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on. And if it didn't happen, he would be fine with it... At least for now. I smiled.
//You stay here too. Make sure that they don't do anything stupid. Feel free to create chaos, though, would love that//
/You know, that sounds very alluring... Sure you won't be gone for long?/
//In fact I am. Just wait patiently, dear...//
He nodded, scowling a bit at the 'dear' part. He didn't like it? So interesting...
I walked off, followed closely by the Pharaoh. He was scowling, too, didn't like following someone? Well, he had every chance to go first if he wanted to... It's not like I was the one slowing us down.
//You know, we might want to be a bit quicker about this, there's no way to tell what will happen if we wait too long//
He nodded at me, and we took off, towards the source of this disturbance. The Hunter... It had been so long... How would this meeting go? However it went, it would certainly be amusing. I couldn't help grinning again.
---Bakura POV---
Damn that priest... Couldn't he be at least a bit less annoying?!
After I had left his place I had drifted around, feeding on several persons, just taking in the new world. I didn't want to think. It was all so complicated... Why couldn't this be a mere case of kill-and-be-done-with- it?
Right now I was nearing Yugi's place. There was no point in avoiding this any longer, was there... I had to do it sometimes, I couldn't stay out of it. I was part of the prophecy after all, as a carrier of an Item and a vampire who had lived for thousands of years... Life wasn't easy sometimes, if you could call this a life.
It wasn't until I had stood across the street from Yugi's house for five minutes when I noticed it. I couldn't feel the Pharaoh's and the Guardian's presence here... Had they gone somewhere else?
Suddenly worried, I went in. I was no trick at all to get in past the locked door... Did they really think something like that could hold anyone? So simple... I walked with silent feet, peeking in the rooms as I went, searching for the others. They had to be somewhere here... The humans, at least, the other two... Well, they couldn't hide their presence from me, so they had to be somewhere else.
It wasn't long until I found the humans, all in one room, one more of them than I had expected to find... But that was all right, probably. As long as that one didn't hurt _my_ human. Which he didn't seem like doing, in fact he was yelling at the dark-skinned one, who was calmly ignoring him.
What a situation I had walked in on... Ryou was looking from farther away as Yugi tried to keep that golden-haired one away from the Guardian's human... What had happened here? I leaned on the doorframe, raising an eyebrow. How entertaining...
But this really wasn't what I had come here for. I wondered how long it would take them to notice I was here. They hadn't, yet, their attention was on the little scene...
"Jounouchi-kun... You really can't blame Marik-kun for what happened! Please, calm down...!"
"Why the heck should I calm down?! _He_ was the one who started it, he should at least apologize!"
Marik kept reading his book, not even batting an eye at the shouting. Ryou desperately tried to keep a suffering smile on his face, and that's when he finally noticed me... His eyes widened a bit at that, but then his smile became genuine, if a bit shy.
"I didn't notice when you arrived..."
"Neither did anyone else, by the looks of it"
The others looked up from their little scene at the sound of my voice. Great to see that I still could have that impact on people, despite everything that had happened lately.
"Now, where are the Pharaoh and that pesky Guardian?"
"Oh... They left in a hurry some time ago. Don't know why, they didn't explain themselves at all"
Left in a hurry and didn't explain? They wouldn't do that...except if it had something to do with...the Hunter... I hadn't really paid attention to my senses lately, had just been going with the events. Now I opened up and searched for a particular disturbance...
Oh yes. There was definitely something there, something very important.
I dashed off so fast it would have looked like I disappeared to the humans. As I went, I called one last thing to Ryou.
//Stay with the others. I'll be right back//
How _dare_ they leave me behind on something as important as this?!
---Yami POV---
It didn't take us long to arrive to the house where the Hunter and that Isis girl were in... Which was a good thing, the Hunter wasn't exactly known for his patience. Despite having to wait for the battle between us for so long, he really wasn't a patient person, most of the time.
I and the Guardian walked in on the scene, my heart pounding with the excitement of the situation. Finally something was happening... Perhaps we could get through this, to make it come to an end... We wouldn't have to worry so much anymore.
The Hunter was walking towards the woman, and she was standing behind a table, warily eyeing the advancing person, but not giving in to the obvious urge to escape. She must have been very brave to do that, or at least very determined.
"You had better leave now, Shadi..."
He turned around. It didn't seem like he was surprised to see us... Then again, he did have the same general abilities we had, he wasn't so very different from us in that aspect. Just in what he did, in the way he sustained himself... But that difference was a part of the reason this was happening wasn't it? That he had been made into one such as he was now... It was all because of the Items, and because of the Items we were in this mess now.
"No, _you_ had better leave. It isn't your business what I do here"
"Oh, but it is... You know, that woman is _my_ human's sister. If she gets hurt, my precious one will hurt as well... That makes it our business. Or at least mine, wouldn't know about the Pharaoh"
I sighed. Did he always have to be so definite about everything... Saying something like that to an enemy... it was just weird.
"What is the meaning of this?"
It seemed that the woman's calm exterior was cracking a bit, an edge of hysteria was coming through. Which was understandable, it wasn't every day you got into a situation like this... Two vampires and the Hunter coming to you... But then again, she didn't know, did she? She could only see three men in this room with her, and perhaps feel that something wasn't quite right... But there was no way she would actually know what we were.
"Oh, stay calm, my little human's sister. We'll take care of this, couldn't allow my precious one to get hurt... And I told you to be careful, you know, you should have listened to me"
It didn't seem like she was much soothed by what the Guardian said to her. If they had met before as seemed to be the case, it was probably justified. He didn't exactly seem like the most trustworthy person with that mad gleam in his eyes...
"Oh, with the ancient artifact? How is it that it's so important...? We haven't been able to ascertain its meaning, although I and my colleagues have been on this case for a year already"
...how very charming. I could have done without a remainder of being so ancient these days.
Shadi was looking impassively at the woman, if I knew him at all he had just received a piece of information that changed something in the way he looked at things.
"Are you claiming you know nothing? Fool... You must know _something_, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to hide its presence from me! Please give up and turn it over. You have no claim on it"
Isis turned her emotionless gaze to the Hunter.
"I cannot give it to you, it's the property of the museum"
Something unreadable flickered over the Hunter's face, gone as soon as it appeared. This was getting old... There was no way this thing could be solved by talking alone.
I took a deep breath and concentrated. It had been so long since I last had done this... I reached into the Puzzle, searching for the power I knew lay dormant within it. It didn't take me long to find it, hidden at the very core of the maze that would make the weak minds get lost, leaving the empty bodies of the would-be power-users behind.
I could faintly see the Guardian turning to look at me, a very startled expression on his face, and then I released that power, aiming for the Hunter standing so very close to us...
The light was bright, it hurt my eyes, and I could feel my skin prickling under the unexpected source of magical energy, so very like the sun that I hadn't seen since those days in Egypt.
And then it was gone... When I could see, I expected the Hunter to be gone, or at least dead. What I saw surprised me greatly.
He was still standing there, unhurt, holding out the Scales. Staring at me with those cold blue eyes of his.
"I told you, didn't I... That we would gain power, but that I would be the strongest one of us when we met again. You have no way to win against me"
I could only stare at him. What had he done to the energy I had blasted him with? That same amount of energy had killed his predecessor...
"You stupid little pharaoh, don't just stand there, move!!"
The Guardian grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the woman.
"The Tauk... Where is it?"
She looked at him, obviously not wanting to say anything. He sighed and took a firmer grip of the Rod. The drawers suddenly flew open, the items in them slamming against their sides from the force of it.
And there it was... The elegant form of the Tauk, laying just there, in the top drawer....the one closest to the Hunter. It didn't take him long to realize it was there, and that resulted in both the Guardian and the Hunter lunging for it.
I could only stare... What a sight. Neither of them were usually the kind of people who would do something like that, but I guess that desperate times call for desperate measures... Like losing your dignity over something like that.
I couldn't see at first which one of the two managed to get the Item first, but it soon became clear when the Guardian took a threatening pose and hissed audibly enough for it to carry to me and Isis.
"Give it to me...! You thief, always meddling in others' business!"
The Hunter merely raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really... I think you have it wrong"
With that, he was gone... Simply gone. So he had some other powers than the ones of the Items, too? We knew so little of the Hunter and his kind... It took me a while to realize I couldn't even feel his presence anymore, only a foreshadowing of doom. He must have hidden himself somehow.
But he would show up... When he was ready... This had to come to an end soon, there was no other choice for any of us.
"Now... If either of you would please kindly explain to me what this was all about..."
I sighed and turned my attention to the dark-skinned woman.
"...It's a long story. Don't ask"
The Guardian started laughing.
---
AN: Oi... This chapter is probably full of mistakes... x__X But anyway... 26 chapters down, about 5 more to go. Please review?
Am currently in a bit of a hurry, so you'll get review responses with the next chapter. Also, if you're interested, I'll be posting a new oneshot next Friday, and any feedback on this or that on would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy the latest chapter... ^^
Slaying the Dreamer, chapter 26: Winning the Future
---Ishtar POV---
Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. Concentrating my senses inward, I tried to find the source of this feeling. Something... feminine. What...?
I couldn't understand this feeling... Where was it coming from? As far as I could remember, I hadn't met any women lately, except...
Except...
Except for Marik's sister.
//Pharaoh... Can you feel it?//
//Indeed I can. Do you recognize the other person?//
//It's the little one's sister. ...we should probably do something about that. Despite what it might appear, they're very close, and she _does_ have one of the Items//
//...how did she come to be in possession of one of them?//
//I have no idea. Thought they were supposed to be in possession of the Hunter...//
We looked at each other. This could get complicated... What to do with the mortals? If we both left they would be defenseless...
"But, we already know where he is... There should be no danger to them while we know that"
"I agree. But do you really want to leave them, even despite that?"
I could see from the corner of my eyes how the attention of all the mortals had turned to me and the Pharaoh. It must seem weird for them... Starting to speak aloud in the middle of a conversation...
"You have a point there. But what must be done, must be done. We should be able to do this"
He glanced at Yugi. Perhaps they were speaking in their minds? No, it didn't seem like it. And he wasn't as stupid as to tell his human what was really going on...
Was he?
"Let's go. Yugi, Jounouchi, you stay here. You too, Ryou. We'll be back as soon as we can"
I could see their confusion, I could sense it... It was so thick it covered the whole room. The only one who wasn't radiating it was...Marik. How very enticing... He just looked on passively, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on. And if it didn't happen, he would be fine with it... At least for now. I smiled.
//You stay here too. Make sure that they don't do anything stupid. Feel free to create chaos, though, would love that//
/You know, that sounds very alluring... Sure you won't be gone for long?/
//In fact I am. Just wait patiently, dear...//
He nodded, scowling a bit at the 'dear' part. He didn't like it? So interesting...
I walked off, followed closely by the Pharaoh. He was scowling, too, didn't like following someone? Well, he had every chance to go first if he wanted to... It's not like I was the one slowing us down.
//You know, we might want to be a bit quicker about this, there's no way to tell what will happen if we wait too long//
He nodded at me, and we took off, towards the source of this disturbance. The Hunter... It had been so long... How would this meeting go? However it went, it would certainly be amusing. I couldn't help grinning again.
---Bakura POV---
Damn that priest... Couldn't he be at least a bit less annoying?!
After I had left his place I had drifted around, feeding on several persons, just taking in the new world. I didn't want to think. It was all so complicated... Why couldn't this be a mere case of kill-and-be-done-with- it?
Right now I was nearing Yugi's place. There was no point in avoiding this any longer, was there... I had to do it sometimes, I couldn't stay out of it. I was part of the prophecy after all, as a carrier of an Item and a vampire who had lived for thousands of years... Life wasn't easy sometimes, if you could call this a life.
It wasn't until I had stood across the street from Yugi's house for five minutes when I noticed it. I couldn't feel the Pharaoh's and the Guardian's presence here... Had they gone somewhere else?
Suddenly worried, I went in. I was no trick at all to get in past the locked door... Did they really think something like that could hold anyone? So simple... I walked with silent feet, peeking in the rooms as I went, searching for the others. They had to be somewhere here... The humans, at least, the other two... Well, they couldn't hide their presence from me, so they had to be somewhere else.
It wasn't long until I found the humans, all in one room, one more of them than I had expected to find... But that was all right, probably. As long as that one didn't hurt _my_ human. Which he didn't seem like doing, in fact he was yelling at the dark-skinned one, who was calmly ignoring him.
What a situation I had walked in on... Ryou was looking from farther away as Yugi tried to keep that golden-haired one away from the Guardian's human... What had happened here? I leaned on the doorframe, raising an eyebrow. How entertaining...
But this really wasn't what I had come here for. I wondered how long it would take them to notice I was here. They hadn't, yet, their attention was on the little scene...
"Jounouchi-kun... You really can't blame Marik-kun for what happened! Please, calm down...!"
"Why the heck should I calm down?! _He_ was the one who started it, he should at least apologize!"
Marik kept reading his book, not even batting an eye at the shouting. Ryou desperately tried to keep a suffering smile on his face, and that's when he finally noticed me... His eyes widened a bit at that, but then his smile became genuine, if a bit shy.
"I didn't notice when you arrived..."
"Neither did anyone else, by the looks of it"
The others looked up from their little scene at the sound of my voice. Great to see that I still could have that impact on people, despite everything that had happened lately.
"Now, where are the Pharaoh and that pesky Guardian?"
"Oh... They left in a hurry some time ago. Don't know why, they didn't explain themselves at all"
Left in a hurry and didn't explain? They wouldn't do that...except if it had something to do with...the Hunter... I hadn't really paid attention to my senses lately, had just been going with the events. Now I opened up and searched for a particular disturbance...
Oh yes. There was definitely something there, something very important.
I dashed off so fast it would have looked like I disappeared to the humans. As I went, I called one last thing to Ryou.
//Stay with the others. I'll be right back//
How _dare_ they leave me behind on something as important as this?!
---Yami POV---
It didn't take us long to arrive to the house where the Hunter and that Isis girl were in... Which was a good thing, the Hunter wasn't exactly known for his patience. Despite having to wait for the battle between us for so long, he really wasn't a patient person, most of the time.
I and the Guardian walked in on the scene, my heart pounding with the excitement of the situation. Finally something was happening... Perhaps we could get through this, to make it come to an end... We wouldn't have to worry so much anymore.
The Hunter was walking towards the woman, and she was standing behind a table, warily eyeing the advancing person, but not giving in to the obvious urge to escape. She must have been very brave to do that, or at least very determined.
"You had better leave now, Shadi..."
He turned around. It didn't seem like he was surprised to see us... Then again, he did have the same general abilities we had, he wasn't so very different from us in that aspect. Just in what he did, in the way he sustained himself... But that difference was a part of the reason this was happening wasn't it? That he had been made into one such as he was now... It was all because of the Items, and because of the Items we were in this mess now.
"No, _you_ had better leave. It isn't your business what I do here"
"Oh, but it is... You know, that woman is _my_ human's sister. If she gets hurt, my precious one will hurt as well... That makes it our business. Or at least mine, wouldn't know about the Pharaoh"
I sighed. Did he always have to be so definite about everything... Saying something like that to an enemy... it was just weird.
"What is the meaning of this?"
It seemed that the woman's calm exterior was cracking a bit, an edge of hysteria was coming through. Which was understandable, it wasn't every day you got into a situation like this... Two vampires and the Hunter coming to you... But then again, she didn't know, did she? She could only see three men in this room with her, and perhaps feel that something wasn't quite right... But there was no way she would actually know what we were.
"Oh, stay calm, my little human's sister. We'll take care of this, couldn't allow my precious one to get hurt... And I told you to be careful, you know, you should have listened to me"
It didn't seem like she was much soothed by what the Guardian said to her. If they had met before as seemed to be the case, it was probably justified. He didn't exactly seem like the most trustworthy person with that mad gleam in his eyes...
"Oh, with the ancient artifact? How is it that it's so important...? We haven't been able to ascertain its meaning, although I and my colleagues have been on this case for a year already"
...how very charming. I could have done without a remainder of being so ancient these days.
Shadi was looking impassively at the woman, if I knew him at all he had just received a piece of information that changed something in the way he looked at things.
"Are you claiming you know nothing? Fool... You must know _something_, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to hide its presence from me! Please give up and turn it over. You have no claim on it"
Isis turned her emotionless gaze to the Hunter.
"I cannot give it to you, it's the property of the museum"
Something unreadable flickered over the Hunter's face, gone as soon as it appeared. This was getting old... There was no way this thing could be solved by talking alone.
I took a deep breath and concentrated. It had been so long since I last had done this... I reached into the Puzzle, searching for the power I knew lay dormant within it. It didn't take me long to find it, hidden at the very core of the maze that would make the weak minds get lost, leaving the empty bodies of the would-be power-users behind.
I could faintly see the Guardian turning to look at me, a very startled expression on his face, and then I released that power, aiming for the Hunter standing so very close to us...
The light was bright, it hurt my eyes, and I could feel my skin prickling under the unexpected source of magical energy, so very like the sun that I hadn't seen since those days in Egypt.
And then it was gone... When I could see, I expected the Hunter to be gone, or at least dead. What I saw surprised me greatly.
He was still standing there, unhurt, holding out the Scales. Staring at me with those cold blue eyes of his.
"I told you, didn't I... That we would gain power, but that I would be the strongest one of us when we met again. You have no way to win against me"
I could only stare at him. What had he done to the energy I had blasted him with? That same amount of energy had killed his predecessor...
"You stupid little pharaoh, don't just stand there, move!!"
The Guardian grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the woman.
"The Tauk... Where is it?"
She looked at him, obviously not wanting to say anything. He sighed and took a firmer grip of the Rod. The drawers suddenly flew open, the items in them slamming against their sides from the force of it.
And there it was... The elegant form of the Tauk, laying just there, in the top drawer....the one closest to the Hunter. It didn't take him long to realize it was there, and that resulted in both the Guardian and the Hunter lunging for it.
I could only stare... What a sight. Neither of them were usually the kind of people who would do something like that, but I guess that desperate times call for desperate measures... Like losing your dignity over something like that.
I couldn't see at first which one of the two managed to get the Item first, but it soon became clear when the Guardian took a threatening pose and hissed audibly enough for it to carry to me and Isis.
"Give it to me...! You thief, always meddling in others' business!"
The Hunter merely raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really... I think you have it wrong"
With that, he was gone... Simply gone. So he had some other powers than the ones of the Items, too? We knew so little of the Hunter and his kind... It took me a while to realize I couldn't even feel his presence anymore, only a foreshadowing of doom. He must have hidden himself somehow.
But he would show up... When he was ready... This had to come to an end soon, there was no other choice for any of us.
"Now... If either of you would please kindly explain to me what this was all about..."
I sighed and turned my attention to the dark-skinned woman.
"...It's a long story. Don't ask"
The Guardian started laughing.
---
AN: Oi... This chapter is probably full of mistakes... x__X But anyway... 26 chapters down, about 5 more to go. Please review?