Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own imagination. Sue me, and you pay…dearly.

~***~

The Ritual

Burning with the cold blue fire of

hell,

gradually drawing nearer to its destination;

the blazing,

gleaming,

silver tip sinks into the

warm

dark bed it is seeking;

a mountain explodes,

and ear-splitting

shrieks

that cause the hair on the back of the neck to rise,

that cause the birds to soar high into the sky, their wings flapping wildly—

ear-splitting shrieks rip through the

still,

dark,

blazing air,

cut through the

flickering

light—

the tip sinks deeper, rejoicing in the

soft

dark cushions that it has been granted;

and the shrieks rise to the heavens,

the waterfalls burst and flow wildly over the smooth rocks,

splashing in every which way, careless where its

precious droplets land. The

nails

are scraped down the cushion,

ripping

through its softness, opening the way to

red

waterfalls that immediately

sizzle and

blacken.

The girl kneels before her bed, praying to the

heavens and to the

gods she has been trained to worship.

Her hands are clasped;

her eyes are squeezed shut, as the

shrieks

of pain carry through the

dark,

candlelit

tunnels. She bows her head, her mind running at an

unmeasurable speed.

I pray for you,

brother,

I pray for you. Please survive.

~***~

I apologize! I know it has taken me what seems like centuries to update, but when I said I was suffering from writer's block (if any of you bothered to read my Bio, I mentioned it there), I was telling the truth. But now the muses and I are free to celebrate and rejoice, for my writer's block is slowly uplifting! *cheers* Perhaps things shall get better from here…but I cannot guarantee that I shall update weekly as I had hoped. However, inspirations from reviewers wishing for me to write about something in particular would help a great deal…

In case people are not sure what "the ritual" is, and you have not seen the original, that is why: the dub cut out this particular scene, due to the fact that poor Malik was having a knife driven into his back. I was told that they went straight from the scene in which Malik was being dragged away (and crying out for his servant, Rishid—Odion in the dub), to when he was lying in bed with his back bandaged, and Rishid walked in with his face bandaged. They cut out every single scene that involved knives—Mr. Ishtahl (may that bastard rot in hell) carving his son's back, and Rishid holding a knife up to his face (and obviously deciding to carve his face). I think they even cut out Isis praying for her brother.

Misura: Don't feel guilty about enjoying the four episodes in which Otogi had Jounouchi dress up as a dog. The boy kind of deserved it, if you ask me, for being so cocky. (The overconfident always fall, don't they? Except for the pharaoh, that is…) And I'm glad you think that song parody was…droolicious.

witl: You're going to have to forgive me for yelling like this, but I want to make this point loud and clear: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO HOMOSEXUALITY WHATSOEVER IN THE ORIGINAL YU-GI-OH! ABSOLUTELY NONE! AND IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE, I'VE SEEN MORE YU-GI-OH! THAT HAS BEEN RELEASED HERE IN THE UNITED STATES! I WOULD THINK I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! As for Seth…well, the High Priest is nameless. He is hardly mentioned at all, except that we know that Seto is his reincarnation. AND WHY THE HELL WOULD THE PHARAOH BE IN LOVE WITH THE PERSON WHO BETRAYED HIM?! I don't mean to sound mean, but I'm rather frustrated with these wrong images people are getting…and I'm merely trying to correct them. So don't take offense; I'm not mad at you. You just happen to be the person who cut the strings (if you know what I mean). Oh, and the pharaoh is not evil. He's just Yugi's other self. (Yami no Malik is evil. No, he's SATAN! Yami no Bakura is evil.) And I'm glad you liked this.

Yami'sGirl4Ever: Maybe I would correct this: the pharaoh is not exactly nameless, as much as we don't know his name (and neither does he). Isis called him the nameless pharaoh, because his name was erased from ancient records. As for why…we have no idea, at least not yet. And maybe next time I write a song parody, I'll make sure it's appropriate for your sisters to sing along to. ^_~

Thanks everyone for reviewing, and, again, sorry to keep everyone waiting so long. But my ideas for hilarious poems and song parodies are slowly winding down. Which means that updates will be slower, because I'm busy and the poems aren't coming to me as quickly as they used to. So please, bear with me, and I beg of you to stretch your patience. It's all worth it, isn't it? (I hope it is…)