Chapter Seven: Tourniquet
Bakura arrived just in time to see Yugi slump to the ground, blood oozing from his chest.
"Oh, gods," Bakura whispered, and leaned against the wall, eyes wide with horror. "I'm too late."
The assassins did not see him, and glided away in the opposite direction. Bakura took a step closer to Joey, trying to ignore the sudden stinging on his wrist. Damn Sathaugula...probably it was on too tight...
Sathaugula...
He raised his arm and stared at the glittering gold and crystal of the demonic watch. He could see it, he could remember it - and that meant that he /needed/ it...
He looked down at Yugi. Or maybe...someone /else/ needed it...
Joey was crying now, wracking sobs that tore through his body. Better hurry, then, before the blonde had a complete nervous breakdown. Bakura tapped the watch, and thought very hard about what he wanted.
The thing about Bakura was that he watched movies more than was probably good for him. He'd seen a lot of murder mysteries, and in one, he remembered the talk about cryogenics. That had been the one with the case where the victim had been resurrected, because he had been frozen within minutes of his death, and this enabled the doctors to restart his heart. You had to stop the neurons from firing, or something. As long as the brainwaves were preserved, theoretically, anything was possible.
Well, null time would work just as well as ice for that purpose.
Bakura's fierce concentration on that thought activated Sathaugula. Nothing seemed to change, but to the trained eye, one might see that the bleeding had stopped. Nothing within several inches of Yugi was moving; he was trapped outside of time. A healer could reach him now, and fix it.
Satisfied, Bakura stepped back, then realized that Sathaugula was burning him. He bit his lip in pain.
~It's still working,~ something inside him thought. ~You're an idiot. If you're going to stop time, why not turn it back as well?~
Hmm. Logical.
Well, that was interesting. Apparently, once Sathaugula knew what Bakura wanted, it would take its own path. Indeed, he could see the hands of the watch spinning slowly backwards.
But /why/ had it appeared? He had asked for it to be insurance for his own life, not anyone else's...
"Gods," he whispered.
Coincidence. He hadn't thought of coincidence, because /so/ few things were coincidental in his life.
But this was coincidental. Yugi had died, and Sathaugula had reappeared in time to save him. But it should only be there to save /one/ person...
Bakura spun around, felt something smash into his skull, and sank into darkness.
* * *
Joey crawled forward, on hands and knees. He reached out to touch Yugi's hair, noticing as he did that his hands were splashed with drops of blood.
"Yugi," he whispered. It was a desperate reflex, born of habit. He didn't want to accept this, but still assumed that Yugi was dead. However, he felt that he would.../know/, somehow, if his friend was gone. They were so close, after all. But no - he didn't feel...anything. Just this numbness that went on and on, and the tears that came unbidden.
"You know," he said, his throat constricting, "I always thought that I would follow you to the gates of hell itself. And when we were there..." A choked sob rose, and he barely managed to continue, "When we were there, I figured that I would...ask the gatekeeper to take me instead of you. And if he wouldn't...I would ask to come with you. And if he wouldn't let me...I would wait for you...until the end of time..."
"So sentimental," Yugi whispered.
Joey jerked his hand back and almost screamed as his friend turned his face to him, eyes fluttering open.
"Did it miss?" Yugi asked calmly.
"It must have," Joey replied wildly. Of /course/ it must have, because if it hadn't...
"It did not." Yugi coughed and struggled to sit up. "I felt it go through my chest. Your hands...they're bloody."
Joey trembled with slightly-delayed anguish, and bit his lip hard. He tasted blood, knew that he should be hurting physically, but could only feel the dull ache in his head, finally reaching past the numbness. "Yugi..."
Yugi finally managed to get to his knees, and looked down at himself. "I'm bloody too. But it's not bleeding anymore, and I don't feel anything." He tilted his head and stared hard at Joey. "I must be dying. But I don't feel like I am."
"I could get Yami," Joey cried, and started to get up.
"No! Don't! Stay with me...something's happening..."
Yugi's gaze traveled to a spot slightly to his right, and he reached out to grip Joey's arm. "Or it's.../not/ happening..."
Joey followed his friend's stare and saw what had so captivated him. A fly, suspended in midair, not even a quiver in its wings.
"You're not bleeding," Joey said slowly. "And it's not moving."
"I think," Yugi said, his grip tightening painfully, "that time has...stopped..."
"That makes sense." Joey shook Yugi's hand off. "Oh, wait, no it doesn't. It's like...it's like saying a feather duster made by a Norwegian...would make this begin to make sense! You must be dead and I've gone completely insane! Even if time had stopped, how are you and I still moving?"
Yugi reached out and laid his palm flat against the air, like a mime would during a show. "I'm boxed in. Can't get out. Time isn't moving in here...I'm not breathing," he added. "Did you notice? My heart isn't beating. But I'm alive."
"Impossible..."
"We went back in time five thousand years, Joey. A little thing like this is certainly possible."
**I tried to kill the pain
But only brought more (so much more)
I lay dying and I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?**
When Kaiba finally found the two, they had not moved. Joey had one blood- speckled hand resting on Yugi's shoulder, as if to reassure himself that his friend was not a ghost, while the formerly-dead boy knelt in the box of null-time.
"Oh, my God," Kaiba cried, running forward. "What - how - "
"My sentiments exactly," Joey said. "He was dead, Kaiba. I /know/ that he was. He could not have survived. But..."
"I feel fine," Yugi chirped. "Better than fine, actually. I think I was actually dead. That's great. That means maybe the spell was broken."
"It was," Kaiba said slowly, his head spinning. "I ran into Mai, she was absolutely torn up about it. Someone should tell her that he's all right...alive, at least."
"I'll go," Joey said immediately. "Don't die while I'm gone, Yug'."
As the blonde dashed off, Kaiba crouched beside Yugi and said something Joey didn't quite catch - no doubt asking what exactly had happened.
Joey knew one thing - he had no intention of telling Mai that Yugi wasn't dead.
Not right away, at least.
Women were easily seduced when overcome with grief.
Later, Joey would have cause to wonder at this dark and devious plot, so unlike him. As it was, all he knew was that at last, he had the means to recapture Mai's attentions.
* * *
Ryou had been enlisted that day as a message-runner. He had been carrying correspondence back and forth for hours between the head cook and a nobleman. They were apparently carrying on a passionate affair for which the cook could be executed if it was found out; they were planning to run away together in two weeks.
Most slaves were illiterate. Ryou wasn't.
He perused the latest note with some interest as he instinctively navigated the corridors toward the kitchens.
'Dearest - I understand your fears. Were I to book passage for your family, would they accompany us, knowing that beheading awaits them if they remain? I hear Phoenicia is nice this time of year - plenty of need for hard workers. Not me, of course. -N.'
Ryou snickered. /Noblemen/. Even when they were giving up their rights to be with mere servants, they still refused to do a day's labor.
He heard muffled sobs and quickly closed up the letter, trying to look innocent. He immediately recognized Mai, sitting against a wall, crying into her hands.
"Mai," he cried, running toward her. "Are you - "
"Yugi's dead!" she wailed, throwing her arms around his neck. "He's dead, he must be! The spell's off so he's /dead/!"
Ryou's legs gave out, whether from shock or his illness he couldn't tell. He collapsed beside her and hesitantly patted her back while she sobbed into his shoulder.
"S'okay," he whispered. "I'm sure he's not - I mean, how could he be - Yami would know?"
"And have you /seen/ Yami?" she demanded, sounding slightly muffled since she didn't lift her head. "Did Yami /tell/ you that Yugi was fine? /I'm/ the one under a love spell - or not, not anymore - so /I/ would know, and if the spell is off me..."
She continued to weep into Ryou's shoulder, and he attempted valiantly to get into a more comfortable position. "He /can't/ be," Ryou said. "That's just - not possible."
At this point, Joey ran up to them, his hands streaked with blood. "Oh, there you are," he said.
"Joey," Mai wailed. "Yugi's dead..."
The blond made no reply to this, but dropped to his knees beside the two. "The spell is off, then?"
Ryou gratefully handed Mai over to Joey, and stood up. "I have work to do," he said. "Yugi - is he really gone?"
"I'm not sure," Joey said, which was the absolute truth. "We'll go find Yami...shh, Mai, it's all right..."
Ryou didn't stay long enough to find out whether or not Joey got Mai calmed down; he was already late with the letter, which was now crumpled and stained from Mai's tears. He didn't believe that his friend was dead, wouldn't believe it until he saw with his own eyes.
However, the confusion and fear that had settled over his mind caused him to forget that, as a slave, he wasn't supposed to be able to read. As he handed the letter to the cook, he said absently, "I don't think the pharaoh would execute your family if they stayed here..."
The cook stared at him, quickly read the letter, and stared some more. Ryou didn't notice, and as he carried her reply back to the nobleman, he didn't bother to read it.
As he waited for the nobleman to formulate a response, Ryou leaned against the wall. He was /so/ tired, but sleep just wouldn't come. It didn't matter, though. He decided to stop by the throne room and see if Yami was there on his way back to the kitchens.
"Ah," the nobleman said, startling Ryou out of his reverie. "I see by this note that you can read."
"Yessir," the boy replied.
"Well, for obvious reasons, we cannot have witnesses to our departure..."
Ryou blinked. "Oh! You think I'll tell someone! I wouldn't. I don't think what you're doing is wrong..."
The nobleman snapped his fingers, and the two guards who had been standing motionless outside his door entered.
"This slave," the nobleman said patiently, "is guilty of conspiring against the kingdom. You needn't take him to the pharaoh. Just...dispose of him."
Before Ryou could react, the guards grabbed him by the elbows and held him fast. "You want us to throw him in the Nile?" one asked.
The nobleman stared at Ryou thoughtfully. "No," he said. "He can read, he might also be able to swim. He is weak, however. Take him to the catacombs and lock him up."
The guards snickered and dragged Ryou from the room. "I didn't do anything," Ryou said half-heartedly, knowing perfectly well that it wouldn't do any good.
Oh, well. At least they were taking him to the catacombs. His yami could help him there.
**My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation**
Luckily for Yugi, a handmaiden happened upon him and Kaiba a few minutes after Joey left. Seeing the blood that drenched Yugi, she screamed.
"Thank God," Kaiba sighed. "Girl, bring the pharaoh, and the first healer- mage you find."
She turned and fled, calling desperately for a healer.
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked quietly.
"Yeah?" the CEO asked. To avoid meeting the younger boy's eyes, he examined the blood that was smeared on the hem of his robes.
"It was Joey who, um, had the sword."
"I guessed that."
"How? All I told you was - "
"That you were waylaid by two men in navy blue robes," Kaiba interrupted. "I noticed that you didn't mention any details about the stabbing, not to mention that Joey seemed far more heartbroken than I would expect, even from him. Oh, and his sword was not in his scabbard. It's over there, covered in blood."
"Oh." Yugi glanced over at the sword; his blood was rapidly drying on the blade. "Um, Kaiba?"
"Yes?"
"What happens if the healers can't fix this?"
Kaiba retrieved the sword and began a minute examination of it. "I think you can guess."
There was silence for about five minutes.
"Kaiba?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't want to die."
* * *
Yami was busy studying Egyptian law with the help of several priests when a handmaiden ran into the throne room. She was flushed with exertion, and her dark hair hung in disarray. Almost immediately on her heels came Joey and Mai. The latter was still crying, and Joey had to support her. He raised his eyes to the pharaoh. There was fear there, and something else that Yami couldn't identify.
The handmaiden collapsed at the foot of the dais. "A slave," she cried, "in the north corridor, blood everywhere, O Light of the Morning! The High Priest humbly requests your presence!"
"A slave?" Yami asked, his eyes going instantly to Joey and Mai.
"Yugi," Joey mouthed.
"I need a healer," Yami barked, jumping off of the dais and running over to his friends. "What's happened?" he asked, somewhat quieter.
"Yugi was stabbed," Joey whispered. "Mai felt the love spell leave."
"Where's the north corridor?"
"I can find it," Mokuba said, joining them. "I can also do a healing, if Seto will let me."
"Let's go, then."
Yami and Mokuba dashed from the room. As soon as the priests figured out what had just happened, several of them followed.
Joey sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around Mai, who didn't seem to realize that it was him holding her. "It's too late," she murmured.
Joey said nothing.
He hadn't held her like this since that day they'd gone to see "The Taming of the Shrew." That had been the day before she broke up with him.
~I was happy with Tea,~ he thought idly. ~Then we came here, and now I don't want anyone but the one person I know I can't have...~
Though, judging from how desperately she was hugging him, maybe all was not yet lost...
**Do you remember me
Lost for so long?
Will you be on the other side
Or will you forget me?
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?**
It was a matter of minutes before Yami and Mokuba located Kaiba and Yugi. Yami immediately fell to his knees at his hikari's side.
"Who did this to you?" the pharaoh demanded. "You shall be avenged..."
"It looks worse than it is," Yugi said. "At least, I certainly hope so."
Mokuba also knelt beside Yugi, and reached out to touch his shoulder. "No heartbeat, not breathing," he said. "But it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Seto, can I fix this?"
"If you can," Kaiba replied. "I don't know how much time we have left."
Mokuba bit his lip and pointed at the gaping wound in Yugi's chest. "Heal," he said firmly, then swiftly recalled the magic when it leapt from his control. "No, not like that..."
"Well, why not?" Yami asked, fixing Mokuba with one of his You-are-/so/- going-down looks, usually seen in the dueling arena.
"It feels like it wants to start his heart," Mokuba explained. "But I have to fix the damage first, or it won't do any good. Time seems to have stopped...but for how long? I can't do this. I don't know how."
"Try," Yami said. Though the Look remained on his face, his voice had taken on an imploring tone.
"If I do it wrong, it means death for Yugi," Mokuba said.
"And if you don't do it at all, something might go wrong before another healer gets here!"
"It's your choice," Kaiba said softly.
Mokuba raised his blue-grey eyes to his brother's. Usually everything was up to Seto. Usually Mokuba was just there to run things behind the scenes. Suddenly thrust to the front lines, he wasn't sure how to proceed.
On the one hand, death for Yugi because Mokuba made a mistake.
On the other, death because he didn't even try.
Someone had once said something very relevant to the situation, Mokuba was sure of that. Success is not about being the best, but doing your best. Something like that.
He pointed again. "Heal," he whispered, and concentrated every effort on /not/ starting Yugi's heart.
Blue-white lightning, which he now noticed was rather similar to the Blue Eyes White Dragon's attack, lanced from his finger and into the wound. Yugi screamed and shut his eyes, reaching out blindly for his yami.
~Please let this work,~ Mokuba prayed. ~Please...~
* * *
The handmaiden who had stumbled upon the near-tragedy was called Khepri, and she was a rebel.
She had no idea of the love spell, of course, being rather a junior member of the rebellion, and not too bright. However, even she had noticed how very much Yugi looked like the pharaoh, and she had noted Mai's resemblance to Shizu.
Khepri joined a small cluster of handmaidens on a pile of cushions near the dais. Though they had been lounging around before, after the excitement they had leapt up, and were now chattering quite loudly.
"Oh, Khepri!" one of them cried. "Is it true? Someone's been murdered?"
"The High Priest is taking interest?" another asked.
The third handmaiden spoke up. "And the pharaoh too, mustn't forget the pharaoh - "
"What makes you think it was murder?" Khepri asked in what she thought was an innocent tone of voice. It wasn't.
"What else could it be?" the previously silent maiden queried.
Khepri was tempted to let them in on the conspiracy, but had a vague feeling that Shizu wouldn't like that. Better to subtly convince them that this was the pharaoh's doing.
"Er," she began. "Well, it's not murder when the pharaoh orders an execution."
Mai and Joey were sitting not far away; both looked up, startled. Khepri didn't notice, and went on, "The slave displeased the pharaoh - "
"All hail God-King Teremun, the Jewel of the Nile," the handmaidens chorused, looking around furtively.
"So he was killed. By..." Khepri looked around; details added to the impact of a story, she knew that, at least. "By /that/ guard!"
She pointed at Joey, who tried to look innocent. However, the damage was already done.
Mai pulled away from him and rubbed at her eyes. "Plucking snitch," she muttered, or something very like it. "Of course it wasn't you."
Joey hesitated a moment too long before saying, "No way."
Mai lifted her eyes, red from crying, to his. "What happened? I know you saw him. And you - were you /cuddling/ me?"
"No," he said hopefully. "I was /comforting/ you."
"Joey Wheeler," she yelled, though not too loudly, so not to attract /too/ much attention. "What part of 'we are over' do you not understand?"
"The 'over' bit..."
"Well, we're through, we're /not/ getting back together, and if you don't tell me what happened RIGHT NOW I will hit you so hard that you'll be halfway to China before the pain reaches your brain!"
"Nice threat," one of the handmaidens whispered.
"You go, girl!" another cheered.
Khepri was silent.
**My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
Return to me salvation**
The second thing Bakura was aware of was that as soon as he became cognizant of his surroundings, Sathaugula disappeared, though for some reason it left the memories of its use behind. The first thing was a throbbing pain in the back of his skull.
He resisted the urge to groan and laid still, listening. He could hear voices, close but far away at the same time, and whoever they were, he wasn't ready to let them know he was awake.
The first voice was a petulant female, a voice he knew. He didn't remember her name, but she was a priestess of Set. He had a vague idea that someone he knew had been in love with her once, but he couldn't remember much of anything except the pain in his head.
"I don't see why we can't just chop off his head," she whined.
Another voice replied, harsh and grating. Priest of Osiris, Bakura thought idly. "He is royalty. You cannot simply /behead/ royalty. That is why his life was saved once before."
"Well, now he's a murderer more than once over! A tomb robber! By all the laws of Egypt, he deserves death!"
"Then at least the pharaoh - "
"Long live the God-King Teremun, the Never-Dying One," the priestess said quickly.
"Oh, stop it. The pharaoh should decide the manner of his death."
"He should suffer the Hom-Dai," a new voice said. This one Bakura could not place, but he didn't like it - devoid of all emotion.
Not to mention that the Hom-Dai was really awful. Scarab beetles were interesting enough, but not when they ate you alive.
Oh, and the mummification-while-still-alive-and-able-to-feel-pain thing.
Contemplating this, Bakura found that it was no longer quite as fascinating as it had been in the movies.
"He's not /that/ bad," the priest of Osiris reprimanded. "I say we throw him to the crocodiles."
"It's drought season," the priestess noted. "They've all swum upriver."
"Damn. He hasn't learned to swim in the past three years, has he?"
The unknown voice laughed cruelly. "Bad enough to live as an outlaw. No prince would submit to the dangers of nature. He will not have learned."
Bakura opened his eyes and glanced over at the speakers. He had correctly pinpointed the priest and priestess - he recognized them now - but he still had no idea who the third was, though he wore the robe of a priest. "Head hurts," he said experimentally. Yes, he could still talk.
"Set protect us," the priestess cried. "He awakens."
"No kidding," Bakura snapped. Maybe now was the time to play the "brother of a god" card. "I demand in the name of Ra that you take me to my brother at once."
"And have you kill him?" the priest of Osiris scoffed. "You will not be seeing the God-King Teremun. The fallen must not enter the presence of the gods."
"Damn," Bakura said. "I pity you, though. Drowning may be a horrible death, but at least it's better than what fate has in store for you. You, priestess, will be hunted down by the...the...the Frenzied Panda of Set. And the priest of Osiris shall be crushed by the heels of the Tormentor." He was just making things up now, but rather enjoying himself.
"And I?" the other priest asked, smirking. "I see you know me not. I am the Elite Priest of Ra, second only to my cousin, Seto."
"Oh." Bakura thought about that. "So it was your uncle I killed, then? Wow, you must hate me. But never fear - your death will be quite painless. The Destiny Board of Doom will destroy you. No worries, though - it doesn't hurt."
"Speak not of things you don't understand," the Elite Priest warned. "I know of what you speak - the Shadow Creatures. And I can tell you that they will not harm me. I control them, as does my cousin - and your brother. The darkness will consume you."
Bakura smiled, and tried to ignore the stabbing pains in his head. "Why, dear priest, don't you know? The darkness cannot consume me...for I /am/ the darkness..."
**My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation**
Several of the guards in the throne room worked for the rebellion, and almost immediately saw the danger that Khepri did not.
They followed the five handmaidens when the girls made off for their dormitory. It was Khepri who noticed their presence; she stopped the other girls, bemused.
It was the work of a few minutes. There were seven guards, four targets, and when it was over, nothing remained but four lifeless bodies and a rarely-used hallway splashed with blood.
"Why?" Khepri whispered. "My friends..."
"You can't spread lies about the pharaoh," one of the guards told her harshly. "They are too easily proved wrong. The truth is our weapon. If their story had gotten out, who knows what might have happened?"
"Gossip is dangerous," another guard informed the surviving handmaiden. "Have you learned nothing? We must take up our posts. Find some rebels to get rid of the evidence."
They returned to the throne room, leaving Khepri to mourn for her four lost friends.
* * *
After several agonizing seconds, Yugi coughed and took a hitching breath.
"Hurts," he gasped.
Mokuba dropped his hand and closed his eyes. He had a headache now, and felt like he was about to faint - something he'd only done once before, and didn't want to do again. "It worked, then?"
"He's still lost a lot of blood," Kaiba observed.
"He needs rest," Yami said. He gently lifted his hikari, who didn't protest. "Whose room is nearest?"
"Ours," Kaiba said. "That's all right, he can use my bed. I mean, until I need to use it."
Yami gazed at Kaiba, who stared right back. "You know," the pharaoh finally remarked, "you're not so bad after all, are you?"
"I'll have you know that I am a cold and heartless millionaire," Kaiba said.
Yami smiled knowingly. "Sure. Now, then. Lead the way."
Mokuba shuffled along behind them, purple lights playing in front of his eyes. No one had mentioned that healing hurt the healer. He felt drained, and cold...
"I'm not going to faint," he whispered, and almost immediately did.
**My wounds cry for the grave
My soul cries for deliverance
Will I be denied Christ?
Tourniquet
My suicide
Return to me salvation
Return to me salvation**
~~
A/N: See? It all worked out. 'Kura saved Yugi...but at what cost to himself? And /what/ is going on with Joey? And, and, and...well. The plot thickens, eh? More murder...more people /plotting/ murder...ooh. Exciting.
The Hom-Dai is shamelessly stolen from "The Mummy." Remember when Bakura watched that in "Let Go"? Hooray for backstory continuity!
Oh, and in case the thing with Bakura was confusing: some priests snuck up behind him and hit him over the head, then dragged him off to a room somewhere to discuss what to do with him. Joey did not notice because, well, he had other things to think about.
Next Chapter: My Immortal. Poem summary, because y'all liked the last one. The conspiracy deepens, the sky's growing dark / The spell and its consequences have left a mark / The Shadow Game's problems are masking the signs / Of friendships now broken and love left behind / Bakura's in danger and Ryou is too / Yami and Malik don't know what to do / Demons on the prowl give Rana a fright / Egypt's quite different after midnight.
Bakura arrived just in time to see Yugi slump to the ground, blood oozing from his chest.
"Oh, gods," Bakura whispered, and leaned against the wall, eyes wide with horror. "I'm too late."
The assassins did not see him, and glided away in the opposite direction. Bakura took a step closer to Joey, trying to ignore the sudden stinging on his wrist. Damn Sathaugula...probably it was on too tight...
Sathaugula...
He raised his arm and stared at the glittering gold and crystal of the demonic watch. He could see it, he could remember it - and that meant that he /needed/ it...
He looked down at Yugi. Or maybe...someone /else/ needed it...
Joey was crying now, wracking sobs that tore through his body. Better hurry, then, before the blonde had a complete nervous breakdown. Bakura tapped the watch, and thought very hard about what he wanted.
The thing about Bakura was that he watched movies more than was probably good for him. He'd seen a lot of murder mysteries, and in one, he remembered the talk about cryogenics. That had been the one with the case where the victim had been resurrected, because he had been frozen within minutes of his death, and this enabled the doctors to restart his heart. You had to stop the neurons from firing, or something. As long as the brainwaves were preserved, theoretically, anything was possible.
Well, null time would work just as well as ice for that purpose.
Bakura's fierce concentration on that thought activated Sathaugula. Nothing seemed to change, but to the trained eye, one might see that the bleeding had stopped. Nothing within several inches of Yugi was moving; he was trapped outside of time. A healer could reach him now, and fix it.
Satisfied, Bakura stepped back, then realized that Sathaugula was burning him. He bit his lip in pain.
~It's still working,~ something inside him thought. ~You're an idiot. If you're going to stop time, why not turn it back as well?~
Hmm. Logical.
Well, that was interesting. Apparently, once Sathaugula knew what Bakura wanted, it would take its own path. Indeed, he could see the hands of the watch spinning slowly backwards.
But /why/ had it appeared? He had asked for it to be insurance for his own life, not anyone else's...
"Gods," he whispered.
Coincidence. He hadn't thought of coincidence, because /so/ few things were coincidental in his life.
But this was coincidental. Yugi had died, and Sathaugula had reappeared in time to save him. But it should only be there to save /one/ person...
Bakura spun around, felt something smash into his skull, and sank into darkness.
* * *
Joey crawled forward, on hands and knees. He reached out to touch Yugi's hair, noticing as he did that his hands were splashed with drops of blood.
"Yugi," he whispered. It was a desperate reflex, born of habit. He didn't want to accept this, but still assumed that Yugi was dead. However, he felt that he would.../know/, somehow, if his friend was gone. They were so close, after all. But no - he didn't feel...anything. Just this numbness that went on and on, and the tears that came unbidden.
"You know," he said, his throat constricting, "I always thought that I would follow you to the gates of hell itself. And when we were there..." A choked sob rose, and he barely managed to continue, "When we were there, I figured that I would...ask the gatekeeper to take me instead of you. And if he wouldn't...I would ask to come with you. And if he wouldn't let me...I would wait for you...until the end of time..."
"So sentimental," Yugi whispered.
Joey jerked his hand back and almost screamed as his friend turned his face to him, eyes fluttering open.
"Did it miss?" Yugi asked calmly.
"It must have," Joey replied wildly. Of /course/ it must have, because if it hadn't...
"It did not." Yugi coughed and struggled to sit up. "I felt it go through my chest. Your hands...they're bloody."
Joey trembled with slightly-delayed anguish, and bit his lip hard. He tasted blood, knew that he should be hurting physically, but could only feel the dull ache in his head, finally reaching past the numbness. "Yugi..."
Yugi finally managed to get to his knees, and looked down at himself. "I'm bloody too. But it's not bleeding anymore, and I don't feel anything." He tilted his head and stared hard at Joey. "I must be dying. But I don't feel like I am."
"I could get Yami," Joey cried, and started to get up.
"No! Don't! Stay with me...something's happening..."
Yugi's gaze traveled to a spot slightly to his right, and he reached out to grip Joey's arm. "Or it's.../not/ happening..."
Joey followed his friend's stare and saw what had so captivated him. A fly, suspended in midair, not even a quiver in its wings.
"You're not bleeding," Joey said slowly. "And it's not moving."
"I think," Yugi said, his grip tightening painfully, "that time has...stopped..."
"That makes sense." Joey shook Yugi's hand off. "Oh, wait, no it doesn't. It's like...it's like saying a feather duster made by a Norwegian...would make this begin to make sense! You must be dead and I've gone completely insane! Even if time had stopped, how are you and I still moving?"
Yugi reached out and laid his palm flat against the air, like a mime would during a show. "I'm boxed in. Can't get out. Time isn't moving in here...I'm not breathing," he added. "Did you notice? My heart isn't beating. But I'm alive."
"Impossible..."
"We went back in time five thousand years, Joey. A little thing like this is certainly possible."
**I tried to kill the pain
But only brought more (so much more)
I lay dying and I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?**
When Kaiba finally found the two, they had not moved. Joey had one blood- speckled hand resting on Yugi's shoulder, as if to reassure himself that his friend was not a ghost, while the formerly-dead boy knelt in the box of null-time.
"Oh, my God," Kaiba cried, running forward. "What - how - "
"My sentiments exactly," Joey said. "He was dead, Kaiba. I /know/ that he was. He could not have survived. But..."
"I feel fine," Yugi chirped. "Better than fine, actually. I think I was actually dead. That's great. That means maybe the spell was broken."
"It was," Kaiba said slowly, his head spinning. "I ran into Mai, she was absolutely torn up about it. Someone should tell her that he's all right...alive, at least."
"I'll go," Joey said immediately. "Don't die while I'm gone, Yug'."
As the blonde dashed off, Kaiba crouched beside Yugi and said something Joey didn't quite catch - no doubt asking what exactly had happened.
Joey knew one thing - he had no intention of telling Mai that Yugi wasn't dead.
Not right away, at least.
Women were easily seduced when overcome with grief.
Later, Joey would have cause to wonder at this dark and devious plot, so unlike him. As it was, all he knew was that at last, he had the means to recapture Mai's attentions.
* * *
Ryou had been enlisted that day as a message-runner. He had been carrying correspondence back and forth for hours between the head cook and a nobleman. They were apparently carrying on a passionate affair for which the cook could be executed if it was found out; they were planning to run away together in two weeks.
Most slaves were illiterate. Ryou wasn't.
He perused the latest note with some interest as he instinctively navigated the corridors toward the kitchens.
'Dearest - I understand your fears. Were I to book passage for your family, would they accompany us, knowing that beheading awaits them if they remain? I hear Phoenicia is nice this time of year - plenty of need for hard workers. Not me, of course. -N.'
Ryou snickered. /Noblemen/. Even when they were giving up their rights to be with mere servants, they still refused to do a day's labor.
He heard muffled sobs and quickly closed up the letter, trying to look innocent. He immediately recognized Mai, sitting against a wall, crying into her hands.
"Mai," he cried, running toward her. "Are you - "
"Yugi's dead!" she wailed, throwing her arms around his neck. "He's dead, he must be! The spell's off so he's /dead/!"
Ryou's legs gave out, whether from shock or his illness he couldn't tell. He collapsed beside her and hesitantly patted her back while she sobbed into his shoulder.
"S'okay," he whispered. "I'm sure he's not - I mean, how could he be - Yami would know?"
"And have you /seen/ Yami?" she demanded, sounding slightly muffled since she didn't lift her head. "Did Yami /tell/ you that Yugi was fine? /I'm/ the one under a love spell - or not, not anymore - so /I/ would know, and if the spell is off me..."
She continued to weep into Ryou's shoulder, and he attempted valiantly to get into a more comfortable position. "He /can't/ be," Ryou said. "That's just - not possible."
At this point, Joey ran up to them, his hands streaked with blood. "Oh, there you are," he said.
"Joey," Mai wailed. "Yugi's dead..."
The blond made no reply to this, but dropped to his knees beside the two. "The spell is off, then?"
Ryou gratefully handed Mai over to Joey, and stood up. "I have work to do," he said. "Yugi - is he really gone?"
"I'm not sure," Joey said, which was the absolute truth. "We'll go find Yami...shh, Mai, it's all right..."
Ryou didn't stay long enough to find out whether or not Joey got Mai calmed down; he was already late with the letter, which was now crumpled and stained from Mai's tears. He didn't believe that his friend was dead, wouldn't believe it until he saw with his own eyes.
However, the confusion and fear that had settled over his mind caused him to forget that, as a slave, he wasn't supposed to be able to read. As he handed the letter to the cook, he said absently, "I don't think the pharaoh would execute your family if they stayed here..."
The cook stared at him, quickly read the letter, and stared some more. Ryou didn't notice, and as he carried her reply back to the nobleman, he didn't bother to read it.
As he waited for the nobleman to formulate a response, Ryou leaned against the wall. He was /so/ tired, but sleep just wouldn't come. It didn't matter, though. He decided to stop by the throne room and see if Yami was there on his way back to the kitchens.
"Ah," the nobleman said, startling Ryou out of his reverie. "I see by this note that you can read."
"Yessir," the boy replied.
"Well, for obvious reasons, we cannot have witnesses to our departure..."
Ryou blinked. "Oh! You think I'll tell someone! I wouldn't. I don't think what you're doing is wrong..."
The nobleman snapped his fingers, and the two guards who had been standing motionless outside his door entered.
"This slave," the nobleman said patiently, "is guilty of conspiring against the kingdom. You needn't take him to the pharaoh. Just...dispose of him."
Before Ryou could react, the guards grabbed him by the elbows and held him fast. "You want us to throw him in the Nile?" one asked.
The nobleman stared at Ryou thoughtfully. "No," he said. "He can read, he might also be able to swim. He is weak, however. Take him to the catacombs and lock him up."
The guards snickered and dragged Ryou from the room. "I didn't do anything," Ryou said half-heartedly, knowing perfectly well that it wouldn't do any good.
Oh, well. At least they were taking him to the catacombs. His yami could help him there.
**My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation**
Luckily for Yugi, a handmaiden happened upon him and Kaiba a few minutes after Joey left. Seeing the blood that drenched Yugi, she screamed.
"Thank God," Kaiba sighed. "Girl, bring the pharaoh, and the first healer- mage you find."
She turned and fled, calling desperately for a healer.
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked quietly.
"Yeah?" the CEO asked. To avoid meeting the younger boy's eyes, he examined the blood that was smeared on the hem of his robes.
"It was Joey who, um, had the sword."
"I guessed that."
"How? All I told you was - "
"That you were waylaid by two men in navy blue robes," Kaiba interrupted. "I noticed that you didn't mention any details about the stabbing, not to mention that Joey seemed far more heartbroken than I would expect, even from him. Oh, and his sword was not in his scabbard. It's over there, covered in blood."
"Oh." Yugi glanced over at the sword; his blood was rapidly drying on the blade. "Um, Kaiba?"
"Yes?"
"What happens if the healers can't fix this?"
Kaiba retrieved the sword and began a minute examination of it. "I think you can guess."
There was silence for about five minutes.
"Kaiba?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't want to die."
* * *
Yami was busy studying Egyptian law with the help of several priests when a handmaiden ran into the throne room. She was flushed with exertion, and her dark hair hung in disarray. Almost immediately on her heels came Joey and Mai. The latter was still crying, and Joey had to support her. He raised his eyes to the pharaoh. There was fear there, and something else that Yami couldn't identify.
The handmaiden collapsed at the foot of the dais. "A slave," she cried, "in the north corridor, blood everywhere, O Light of the Morning! The High Priest humbly requests your presence!"
"A slave?" Yami asked, his eyes going instantly to Joey and Mai.
"Yugi," Joey mouthed.
"I need a healer," Yami barked, jumping off of the dais and running over to his friends. "What's happened?" he asked, somewhat quieter.
"Yugi was stabbed," Joey whispered. "Mai felt the love spell leave."
"Where's the north corridor?"
"I can find it," Mokuba said, joining them. "I can also do a healing, if Seto will let me."
"Let's go, then."
Yami and Mokuba dashed from the room. As soon as the priests figured out what had just happened, several of them followed.
Joey sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around Mai, who didn't seem to realize that it was him holding her. "It's too late," she murmured.
Joey said nothing.
He hadn't held her like this since that day they'd gone to see "The Taming of the Shrew." That had been the day before she broke up with him.
~I was happy with Tea,~ he thought idly. ~Then we came here, and now I don't want anyone but the one person I know I can't have...~
Though, judging from how desperately she was hugging him, maybe all was not yet lost...
**Do you remember me
Lost for so long?
Will you be on the other side
Or will you forget me?
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?**
It was a matter of minutes before Yami and Mokuba located Kaiba and Yugi. Yami immediately fell to his knees at his hikari's side.
"Who did this to you?" the pharaoh demanded. "You shall be avenged..."
"It looks worse than it is," Yugi said. "At least, I certainly hope so."
Mokuba also knelt beside Yugi, and reached out to touch his shoulder. "No heartbeat, not breathing," he said. "But it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Seto, can I fix this?"
"If you can," Kaiba replied. "I don't know how much time we have left."
Mokuba bit his lip and pointed at the gaping wound in Yugi's chest. "Heal," he said firmly, then swiftly recalled the magic when it leapt from his control. "No, not like that..."
"Well, why not?" Yami asked, fixing Mokuba with one of his You-are-/so/- going-down looks, usually seen in the dueling arena.
"It feels like it wants to start his heart," Mokuba explained. "But I have to fix the damage first, or it won't do any good. Time seems to have stopped...but for how long? I can't do this. I don't know how."
"Try," Yami said. Though the Look remained on his face, his voice had taken on an imploring tone.
"If I do it wrong, it means death for Yugi," Mokuba said.
"And if you don't do it at all, something might go wrong before another healer gets here!"
"It's your choice," Kaiba said softly.
Mokuba raised his blue-grey eyes to his brother's. Usually everything was up to Seto. Usually Mokuba was just there to run things behind the scenes. Suddenly thrust to the front lines, he wasn't sure how to proceed.
On the one hand, death for Yugi because Mokuba made a mistake.
On the other, death because he didn't even try.
Someone had once said something very relevant to the situation, Mokuba was sure of that. Success is not about being the best, but doing your best. Something like that.
He pointed again. "Heal," he whispered, and concentrated every effort on /not/ starting Yugi's heart.
Blue-white lightning, which he now noticed was rather similar to the Blue Eyes White Dragon's attack, lanced from his finger and into the wound. Yugi screamed and shut his eyes, reaching out blindly for his yami.
~Please let this work,~ Mokuba prayed. ~Please...~
* * *
The handmaiden who had stumbled upon the near-tragedy was called Khepri, and she was a rebel.
She had no idea of the love spell, of course, being rather a junior member of the rebellion, and not too bright. However, even she had noticed how very much Yugi looked like the pharaoh, and she had noted Mai's resemblance to Shizu.
Khepri joined a small cluster of handmaidens on a pile of cushions near the dais. Though they had been lounging around before, after the excitement they had leapt up, and were now chattering quite loudly.
"Oh, Khepri!" one of them cried. "Is it true? Someone's been murdered?"
"The High Priest is taking interest?" another asked.
The third handmaiden spoke up. "And the pharaoh too, mustn't forget the pharaoh - "
"What makes you think it was murder?" Khepri asked in what she thought was an innocent tone of voice. It wasn't.
"What else could it be?" the previously silent maiden queried.
Khepri was tempted to let them in on the conspiracy, but had a vague feeling that Shizu wouldn't like that. Better to subtly convince them that this was the pharaoh's doing.
"Er," she began. "Well, it's not murder when the pharaoh orders an execution."
Mai and Joey were sitting not far away; both looked up, startled. Khepri didn't notice, and went on, "The slave displeased the pharaoh - "
"All hail God-King Teremun, the Jewel of the Nile," the handmaidens chorused, looking around furtively.
"So he was killed. By..." Khepri looked around; details added to the impact of a story, she knew that, at least. "By /that/ guard!"
She pointed at Joey, who tried to look innocent. However, the damage was already done.
Mai pulled away from him and rubbed at her eyes. "Plucking snitch," she muttered, or something very like it. "Of course it wasn't you."
Joey hesitated a moment too long before saying, "No way."
Mai lifted her eyes, red from crying, to his. "What happened? I know you saw him. And you - were you /cuddling/ me?"
"No," he said hopefully. "I was /comforting/ you."
"Joey Wheeler," she yelled, though not too loudly, so not to attract /too/ much attention. "What part of 'we are over' do you not understand?"
"The 'over' bit..."
"Well, we're through, we're /not/ getting back together, and if you don't tell me what happened RIGHT NOW I will hit you so hard that you'll be halfway to China before the pain reaches your brain!"
"Nice threat," one of the handmaidens whispered.
"You go, girl!" another cheered.
Khepri was silent.
**My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
Return to me salvation**
The second thing Bakura was aware of was that as soon as he became cognizant of his surroundings, Sathaugula disappeared, though for some reason it left the memories of its use behind. The first thing was a throbbing pain in the back of his skull.
He resisted the urge to groan and laid still, listening. He could hear voices, close but far away at the same time, and whoever they were, he wasn't ready to let them know he was awake.
The first voice was a petulant female, a voice he knew. He didn't remember her name, but she was a priestess of Set. He had a vague idea that someone he knew had been in love with her once, but he couldn't remember much of anything except the pain in his head.
"I don't see why we can't just chop off his head," she whined.
Another voice replied, harsh and grating. Priest of Osiris, Bakura thought idly. "He is royalty. You cannot simply /behead/ royalty. That is why his life was saved once before."
"Well, now he's a murderer more than once over! A tomb robber! By all the laws of Egypt, he deserves death!"
"Then at least the pharaoh - "
"Long live the God-King Teremun, the Never-Dying One," the priestess said quickly.
"Oh, stop it. The pharaoh should decide the manner of his death."
"He should suffer the Hom-Dai," a new voice said. This one Bakura could not place, but he didn't like it - devoid of all emotion.
Not to mention that the Hom-Dai was really awful. Scarab beetles were interesting enough, but not when they ate you alive.
Oh, and the mummification-while-still-alive-and-able-to-feel-pain thing.
Contemplating this, Bakura found that it was no longer quite as fascinating as it had been in the movies.
"He's not /that/ bad," the priest of Osiris reprimanded. "I say we throw him to the crocodiles."
"It's drought season," the priestess noted. "They've all swum upriver."
"Damn. He hasn't learned to swim in the past three years, has he?"
The unknown voice laughed cruelly. "Bad enough to live as an outlaw. No prince would submit to the dangers of nature. He will not have learned."
Bakura opened his eyes and glanced over at the speakers. He had correctly pinpointed the priest and priestess - he recognized them now - but he still had no idea who the third was, though he wore the robe of a priest. "Head hurts," he said experimentally. Yes, he could still talk.
"Set protect us," the priestess cried. "He awakens."
"No kidding," Bakura snapped. Maybe now was the time to play the "brother of a god" card. "I demand in the name of Ra that you take me to my brother at once."
"And have you kill him?" the priest of Osiris scoffed. "You will not be seeing the God-King Teremun. The fallen must not enter the presence of the gods."
"Damn," Bakura said. "I pity you, though. Drowning may be a horrible death, but at least it's better than what fate has in store for you. You, priestess, will be hunted down by the...the...the Frenzied Panda of Set. And the priest of Osiris shall be crushed by the heels of the Tormentor." He was just making things up now, but rather enjoying himself.
"And I?" the other priest asked, smirking. "I see you know me not. I am the Elite Priest of Ra, second only to my cousin, Seto."
"Oh." Bakura thought about that. "So it was your uncle I killed, then? Wow, you must hate me. But never fear - your death will be quite painless. The Destiny Board of Doom will destroy you. No worries, though - it doesn't hurt."
"Speak not of things you don't understand," the Elite Priest warned. "I know of what you speak - the Shadow Creatures. And I can tell you that they will not harm me. I control them, as does my cousin - and your brother. The darkness will consume you."
Bakura smiled, and tried to ignore the stabbing pains in his head. "Why, dear priest, don't you know? The darkness cannot consume me...for I /am/ the darkness..."
**My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation**
Several of the guards in the throne room worked for the rebellion, and almost immediately saw the danger that Khepri did not.
They followed the five handmaidens when the girls made off for their dormitory. It was Khepri who noticed their presence; she stopped the other girls, bemused.
It was the work of a few minutes. There were seven guards, four targets, and when it was over, nothing remained but four lifeless bodies and a rarely-used hallway splashed with blood.
"Why?" Khepri whispered. "My friends..."
"You can't spread lies about the pharaoh," one of the guards told her harshly. "They are too easily proved wrong. The truth is our weapon. If their story had gotten out, who knows what might have happened?"
"Gossip is dangerous," another guard informed the surviving handmaiden. "Have you learned nothing? We must take up our posts. Find some rebels to get rid of the evidence."
They returned to the throne room, leaving Khepri to mourn for her four lost friends.
* * *
After several agonizing seconds, Yugi coughed and took a hitching breath.
"Hurts," he gasped.
Mokuba dropped his hand and closed his eyes. He had a headache now, and felt like he was about to faint - something he'd only done once before, and didn't want to do again. "It worked, then?"
"He's still lost a lot of blood," Kaiba observed.
"He needs rest," Yami said. He gently lifted his hikari, who didn't protest. "Whose room is nearest?"
"Ours," Kaiba said. "That's all right, he can use my bed. I mean, until I need to use it."
Yami gazed at Kaiba, who stared right back. "You know," the pharaoh finally remarked, "you're not so bad after all, are you?"
"I'll have you know that I am a cold and heartless millionaire," Kaiba said.
Yami smiled knowingly. "Sure. Now, then. Lead the way."
Mokuba shuffled along behind them, purple lights playing in front of his eyes. No one had mentioned that healing hurt the healer. He felt drained, and cold...
"I'm not going to faint," he whispered, and almost immediately did.
**My wounds cry for the grave
My soul cries for deliverance
Will I be denied Christ?
Tourniquet
My suicide
Return to me salvation
Return to me salvation**
~~
A/N: See? It all worked out. 'Kura saved Yugi...but at what cost to himself? And /what/ is going on with Joey? And, and, and...well. The plot thickens, eh? More murder...more people /plotting/ murder...ooh. Exciting.
The Hom-Dai is shamelessly stolen from "The Mummy." Remember when Bakura watched that in "Let Go"? Hooray for backstory continuity!
Oh, and in case the thing with Bakura was confusing: some priests snuck up behind him and hit him over the head, then dragged him off to a room somewhere to discuss what to do with him. Joey did not notice because, well, he had other things to think about.
Next Chapter: My Immortal. Poem summary, because y'all liked the last one. The conspiracy deepens, the sky's growing dark / The spell and its consequences have left a mark / The Shadow Game's problems are masking the signs / Of friendships now broken and love left behind / Bakura's in danger and Ryou is too / Yami and Malik don't know what to do / Demons on the prowl give Rana a fright / Egypt's quite different after midnight.