Chapter Thirteen: Whispers
Mai sat beside the bed and tried not to look at Ryou. It was entirely too depressing.
Ryou had, shortly after Malik had disappeared, sunk deep into a fever. He was mumbling phrases that made no sense, staring at something that only he could see. Every now and then, he would scream and clutch at the watch on his wrist.
"He's dying," Yugi said softly.
Mai glanced over at the boy, who sat against the wall. "He isn't."
"Yes, he is. I thought we could help him, but I...I don't think we can." One tear, and then another, rolled down his cheek. "Mai, I don't want him to die."
She stood up, brushing dust from her skirt. "I'm going to find Bakura. He should be here, if nothing else."
She barely made it into the hallway before she began to sob, leaning against the wall and burying her head in her hands.
----
Mokuba emerged from his hiding place behind a pillar, staring in wide-eyed horror at the carnage Slyphr the Sky-Dragon had wrought.
"Joey?" he whispered.
The stone altar had broken in two. Joey crawled out from behind it, dragging the Scale. There was blood on his leg and smeared all over his clothes. "I'm okay," he said hoarsely. "Most of it isn't mine. He - the dragon - he threw a priest at me." The blond shuddered. "Let's go."
Mokuba stared at him. "You sound like...like /you/ again."
"It's the pain. It blocks out the voice." Joey stood and shook the Scale for emphasis. "It's talking to me, begging to be used. Taking over."
"Then get rid of it!"
"I can't. It...it /bites/ me if I try to put it down. I'll be okay as long as I'm hurt." He thought about that and blinked. "Did that make sense?"
"Some. Let's get out of here."
They made it to an intersection of four corridors before the Scale kicked in. It somehow tugged Joey to the left, despite his protests. Mokuba followed.
"Just drop it," he cried.
"I told you I can't! Ow!"
After two more turnings, they found themselves at a set of stairs leading up into the palace.
A moment of thoughtful silence passed before Mokuba said, "You know, I would have gone straight back there."
----
Catch me as I fall
Say you're here and it's all over now
Speaking to the atmosphere
No one's here and I fall into myself
This truth drives me into madness
I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away
If I will it all away
----
Yami knelt beside Bakura. "What's wrong?"
"It's my fault. I'm killing him. I did it. I didn't even realize. How horrible is that? Oh, gods..." The tomb robber's shoulders shook with suppressed sobs.
"What? What did you do?"
"See this?" Bakura cried, thrusting his arm out to show Yami the gold-and- crystal watch. "Sathaugula. It's mine, I made the deal with the demon. Ryou didn't mean to use it. It's my fault."
"How many times have you used it?"
"Once, I think." Seeing Yami's confused look, Bakura added impatiently, "I forget it when I don't need it, all right?"
"You haven't forgotten it now," Yami said reasonably, then narrowed his eyes. "But then you could save Ryou."
"What, with this? No, I can't. It's - "
The watch was visible.
Oh, /shit/.
"Move," Bakura barked, leaping to his feet and holding the Rod as if it were a weapon. "We're in danger. Well, /I'm/ in danger, you're in danger by association."
"What?"
"Don't be dense, Pharaoh! It only appears to save me!"
Something smashed through the wall in front of them.
It was a huge panda clutching a bamboo stick. It roared and lumbered toward them, swinging the stick.
"Frenzied Panda," Yami said clinically, then gasped. "Shadow Monster!"
Bakura grabbed the pharaoh's arm and dragged him down the hallway. "Brilliant deduction, Holmes."
"What?"
"Shut up and run!"
They rounded a corner and nearly crashed into three men with swords.
Bakura took in the dark cloaks, the weapons, and the look in their eyes when they spotted Yami. He cursed and tried to back up.
One of the rebels laughed and swung his sword around.
They barely got out of the way, and even so the blade caught Yami's arm. He yelped and put his hand over the wound.
"We're gods, you know," Bakura shouted, looking around. Nowhere to run, save back into the path of the Panda, which he could hear stomping closer. "Can't kill a god."
"Let's see about that," the rebel with the sword said.
Bakura swore again and held out the Rod. "Please let this work," he muttered, and concentrated.
It didn't work.
However, the Panda stumbled into view, spotted the small group, and threw its bamboo stick with a trimphant snarl. Bakura dragged Yami to the floor and watched the stick bowl the three rebels over.
The two former spirits got up, stepped over the rebels, and ran.
----
Malik stepped into the pharaoh's bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Mai was gone. He'd been rather afraid that she would be there - she was taller than him, and quite possibly stronger, too.
"Malik," Yugi cried, scrambling to his feet. "Where'd you go?"
"I had something to do," Malik said coolly, striding over to Ryou. "Is it just me, or has he gotten worse?"
"He has," Yugi confirmed. "Mai went to find Bakura. I - I think he's dying, Malik."
"Well, I knew that." Malik reached down and pulled Ryou into a sitting position; the boy stared at him with unseeing eyes. "I think I know how to - how to save him. Help me."
In fact, Malik didn't need Yugi's help to get Ryou on his feet - the boy weighed practically nothing.
The worst part of it all, Malik thought, was the look Yugi gave him, eyes shining with hope, when he said, "You can really help him?"
The second worst part was when they accidentally knocked one of Ryou's knees against the wall and his pale skin turned purple with bruises in only a few minutes, and the scream the boy gave when it happened.
----
Don't turn away
Don't give in to the pain
Don't try to hide
Though they're screaming your name
Don't close your eyes
God knows what lies behind them
Don't turn out the light
Never sleep, never die
----
Mai had no idea where she was going, and was thoroughly lost when she ran into Kaiba in the hallway near the kitchens. He was testing the stones on the wall. The Millennium Puzzle was on the floor beside him.
"How do you get into the catacombs, again?" he asked when he caught sight of her.
"I forget." She scrutinized the wall, looking for hairline cracks that would show the existence of a doorway. "No luck, then?"
"No."
"Have you seen Bakura?"
"No." The CEO kicked the wall in frustration. "If he /is/ down there, I'll kill him."
Mai bent to pick up the Puzzle. "What's this doing here?"
"I found it. It wants Yugi."
"I'll go give it to him," she offered.
Kaiba waved a hand at her. "Go ahead. It sort of creeps me out."
Mai stared at him. Other than love for his brother, that was the only sort of human emotion she had ever witnessed him having. "Yeah? Why?"
"It talks."
"Have you had too much sun?" she asked suspiciously.
"I think so, actually." He moved along, pushing at the wall. "Secret doorways. How idiotic."
Mai shook her head, grinning, and headed back in the direction she'd come from.
She heard Kaiba's shout of surprise and turned in time to see two dark- robed figures pulling him along. They saw her just as she saw them, and one of them yelled, "It's her!"
She did the only thing possible: she fled.
----
Joey and Mokuba emerged from the catacombs into a world of chaos.
Kaiba had succeeded in escaping his captors, and crashed into them. They all tumbled to the floor; the Scale skittered away, hit the wall, and lay there.
Several more dark-robed rebels ran up from the other direction. Before any of the three could get to their feet, there were half a dozen swords pointed at them.
"You will stand slowly," one of the rebels said. "You will not use magic against us."
Kaiba raised his hand, but before he could even think about a spell, one of the rebels behind him smashed the hilt of his sword down on the CEO's head. Mokuba shrieked in horror; Joey groaned.
"Stand up," the rebel said again.
The two rebels who had originally grabbed Kaiba hauled the unconscious young man up, though they had to sheath their swords to do so. Joey and Mokuba stood; the blond's eyes went to the Scale, which one of the rebels was nudging with his foot.
"There was a girl," one of the men holding Kaiba grunted. "The one we're looking for. She went that way." He nodded in the general direction Mai had gone.
"What do you want?" Mokuba asked, his voice shaking. "Because we - "
"Oh, it's not us," a rebel chuckled. "It's someone else. Grab the kid, Amir."
Before Mokuba could protest, there was a strong arm gripping his. "Don't make trouble, boy, and maybe you'll live through this."
The rebel investigating the Scale picked it up and examined it closely. "It's gold," he reported.
"We'll hawk it when this is over," the one holding Mokuba said.
Joey was so fixated on the Scale that he had no chance when one of the rebels sheathed his sword and grabbed the blond's arm, twisting it behind his back. Joey gasped in pain.
"We'll use them as bait for the girl," the man said, and laughed coldly. "Let's go."
None of them noticed the way the Scale glowed in the rebel's hand.
----
I'm frightened by what I see
But somehow I know that there's much more to come
Immobilized by my fear
And soon to be blinded by tears
I can stop the pain if I will it all away
If I will it all away
----
Bakura barely caught Yami when the pharaoh collapsed.
"I think," Yami said softly, "that his sword had poison on it."
"No," Bakura said. "They aren't smart enough for that." Poison was more Shizu's thing.
Shizu. Of course.
"Get up," he snapped. "We have to go. Now. It's not safe here."
"I can't feel my legs," Yami said, and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall. "Is that...bad?"
"Very bad. Very, very bad. Open your eyes, Pharaoh. Come on. Don't do this to me, not now, please."
Yami raised his head. His fingers were clenched around the Millennium Eye. "I can see inside your head. You're afraid of...Mai?"
"No! Not her! You stupid - don't - give me that, you idiot." He pried the Eye out of the pharaoh's unresisting fingers. The Key and the Necklace had been shoved through Yami's belt for safekeeping. "Do any of these stupid Items heal?"
"No." The pharaoh's voice was little more than a whisper now.
Sathaugula was burning. Bakura wrenched at the stupid thing - get it off, get it /off/, it hurt - and paused, suddenly getting it.
It had saved Yugi's life...
But that had been a fluke. It was only there for Bakura. He was in danger just now too, then.
"Stupid," he hissed. "Just...do it, would you?"
"What?" Yami murmured.
The hands of the watch began to spin backwards.
----
Shizu was already waiting on the cliff when Malik and Yugi arrived, by now carrying Ryou between them. The white-haired boy faded in and out of consciousness.
"Two?" Shizu asked mildly. "Nicely done, Ishtar. Grab the slave."
One of the rebels clustered around her stepped forward and seized hold of Yugi's arm. Malik was suddenly forced to support Ryou by himself, and it was surprisingly easy.
Too easy.
Shizu scrutinized the dying boy, ignoring Yugi's cries. "He certainly does look like Akil," she remarked, "but the hair is...different. Less wild. And Akil doesn't have that." She pointed at the watch. "What is that?"
"It's what's killing him, I think," Malik said, and eased Ryou onto the sand, where the boy sat, rocking back and forth and mumbling under his breath, staring into space.
Shizu smiled at Malik, then pointed at the palace. "Any idea what that is?"
He turned, and gaped at the dragon on the roof.
After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "It would appear to be a, um, dragon..."
Slyphr the Sky-Dragon chose that moment to spread his wings and take flight. He circled the palace several times, and then dove and crashed through one of the walls.
The roar of falling masonry reached them even on the banks of the Nile.
Malik's eyes went to the horizon. There were dark clouds rushing in, fast, too fast.
"I'm getting the feeling," he said, as calmly as he could manage, "that we're all going to die."
"You traitor," Yugi cried. "I knew it. Bakura was wrong to trust you."
Malik tried to ignore the slave, and found that he couldn't.
----
Don't turn away
Don't give in to the pain
Don't try to hide
Though they're screaming your name
Don't close your eyes
God knows what lies behind them
Don't turn out the light
Never sleep, never die
----
Mai had barricaded herself in an armory with a thick wooden door, and had locked it. It was rather a primitive lock, not a lock at all, just a log laid across, but it worked.
The best part for the rebels, aside from the fact that she was now effectively locked /in/ as well, was that the door was riddled with holes. Someone had used it for target practice in the past, the rebel leader guessed. That would make it easier for them to smash it open when someone returned with an axe.
"Handmaiden," he yelled. "We've got your friends out here, handmaiden. Come out and we'll spare them. We don't want to hurt anyone."
"Don't!" the blond yelled. "They're lying!" The leader pulled his arm sharply up, and grinned at the crack of breaking bone, and at the scream from the blond.
"Come out to us, handmaiden, and we will not hurt them further."
There was no sound from within.
"She won't come out," the small boy said in that infuriatingly mild way of his. "She's smarter than that."
There was a crash of falling metal inside.
"Don't try to arm yourself," the leader called, amused. "There are far more of us."
One of the rebels moved forward and put his eye to one of the holes. "It's dark in there," he reported. "I can't - "
His scream was loud and agonized, and he stumbled back with an arrow protruding from his eye. He collapsed, shaking.
It took a few minutes to recover, and then someone said, "She shot an arrow. Through a door."
"Want more?" the girl shouted. "I've got plenty of arrows. Just give me an excuse and I'll use them. Let my friends go and go away."
The leader pushed the blond away. He wouldn't get far, not with that broken arm. "Handmaiden," he snarled. "You cannot win. Just come out - "
The arrow grazed his arm.
"I can't aim well just now," she said, "but you'd do well to stay out of the way."
The rebel who had been sent to get an axe returned then, gazing dispassionately at the fallen rebel, who was now gurgling hopelessly. "Got it, sir."
"Stay out of the way of the holes if you can," the leader said. "Just get it open."
----
Ryou moaned and blinked.
He seemed to be outside. On the sand. How had he gotten there? He couldn't remember.
His leg hurt. He looked down, saw the dark bruise, and vaguely remembered acquiring it.
Someone was shouting.
"He would have betrayed me first!"
"He's been trying to save you, Malik! I guess some people are just irredeemable!"
"You lie! He already betrayed us all - went back to that brother of his and - "
"/Brother/?"
Malik. Yugi. The names floated to the top of Ryou's head.
He realized, suddenly, that he was cold. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, teeth chattering. Was Egypt supposed to be cold? He couldn't remember. Cold.
A new voice, one he vaguely recognized, said, "Where are they? How hard is it to find six people?"
"Bakura will fight," Malik pointed out. "You know he will, Shizu."
"I know. He'll suffer for it."
Ryou could feel himself sinking back into the darkness, could feel the icy burn of Sathaugula on his wrist. I am dying, he thought. Why am I not afraid of that?
Just before he lost consciousness again, he thought, Because I still believe that Yami will save me. Of course.
----
Fallen angels at my feet
Whispered voices at my ear
Death before my eyes
Lying next to me I fear
She beckons me, shall I give in?
Upon my end, shall I begin?
Forsaking all I've fallen for, I rise to meet the end
----
Bakura groaned and dragged himself out from under the rocks.
Something - he remembered a glimpse of teeth and blood-red scales - had broken through the wall. He felt a stinging in his head and raised his hand to touch it. It came away covered in blood.
He got to his feet, and realized that he was shaking. He rested a hand on the wall for balance, and saw a glint of gold on the floor. The Eye. He picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of his robes.
There was something else...
The Rod. Yes.
He looked around, slightly dizzy, and finally spotted it near the opening in the wall. He shuffled over and bent to grab it.
Something clicked on the floor. Talons?
Bakura turned his head and saw Slyphr crouching nearby, watching him. It seemed smaller than usual. But of course the Monsters could alter their size, to fit into the different dueling arenas.
Wait. That made no sense.
Bakura grabbed the Rod, and when the dragon didn't make any move, he relaxed.
There was something else he should be remembering. What?
He heard a soft moan and saw something move near Slyphr's foot. No, under the dragon's foot.
"Tomb robber," the pharaoh said, in a horribly calm voice, "there appears to be a dragon on top of me."
"That's because there is," Bakura said, staring at the Shadow Monster. "Don't move."
"I can't. Its claw is on my throat." There was a gasp from Yami as the dragon shifted its weight.
Bakura was thinking much more clearly now. He had not wasted one of his uses of Sathaugula - one of the reasons his hikari was dying, dammit - to save the pharaoh, only to have the idiot die anyway. "I've got a plan," he said, and wished he did.
----
The axe smashed through the door and knocked the log down. Mai held the longbow steady, an arrow nocked and ready, and thanked whatever god was listening that she had gotten so good at archery at summer camp when she was twelve.
There was no one visible.
They were all hiding, then, out of sight, waiting for her to step into the open. She wasn't stupid. She knew that.
She held the arrow in place with one hand and grabbed a staff off the rack with the other. She walked slowly forward, alert to any sounds, and carefully stuck the staff out into the hallway.
A sword slammed down on top of it and knocked it out of her hand.
She swung the bow up again. "Don't even think - "
Someone pushed Joey into view. He was cradling one arm in the other, and his brown eyes were wet with tears of pain.
"Mai," he pleaded. "Just...come out. Please. They - "
"They'll kill us," she snapped, though she lowered the bow. No need for accidents, after all.
"I don't...it's better to...oh, Mai, please. They took my Scale. I /need/ it, Mai."
"Your what?"
She took a hesitant step forward, the arrow pointing at the floor, and peered into the corridor. None of the rebels were close enough to grab her, but there was no hope of running away, and she saw at a glance that she couldn't kill them all.
She dropped the bow and stepped forward.
Two men stepped forward and caught her arms, leering. "Off to see the pharaoh," one of them said, then looked over her head at the other. "Pharaoh...ess? Pharaohess?"
"Pharaoh. I think. Queen? I don't..."
"Shut up," someone snapped.
Mai saw Mokuba, dwarfed by a burly man, and saw the two dragging Kaiba. No one had to hang on to Joey, not with his broken arm. He couldn't get out of the crowd, anyway.
Pharaohess? What were they talking about?
She realized, belatedly, that she had left the Millennium Puzzle in the armory. She twisted to look back, and noticed that someone was carrying it. Good. She had a feeling that it was important.
----
Don't turn away
Don't give in to the pain
Don't try to hide
Though they're screaming your name
Don't close your eyes
God knows what lies behind them
Don't turn out the light
Never sleep, never die
----
Yami winced as the talon nicked his skin.
He couldn't remember how he had gotten into this position, just a sense of fading away and the sudden heavy weight of Slyphr.
He felt the weight lessen. It took him a moment to realize what Slyphr was doing - putting its weight on its back legs, preparing to leap...
"Bakura, move!" he yelled, too late.
Slyphr sprang, his tail lashing out and pulling another wall down. Yami curled up and covered his head, wincing as rocks hit his arms.
He heard Bakura shout, and then...nothing.
Something clattered on the floor. Yami opened his eyes and saw the Millennium Rod rolling toward him.
"No," he whispered, and grabbed hold of it.
Slyphr was gone. So was Bakura. The broken walls and the Rod were all that remained to show that they had been there at all.
Yami staggered to his feet and ran to stare out. He was on the second floor of the palace, he realized, or the third - high up, anyway.
He couldn't see a dragon flying away.
He did see the drops of blood on the ground, leading out.
He ran for the nearest staircase. He had to get outside, had to find Bakura and Slyphr and /do/ something -
Yami wasn't paying attention. It was easy, so easy for the rebels to grab him when he ran past.
----
Don't turn away
Don't try to hide
Don't close your eyes
Don't turn out the light
Don't turn away
Don't try to hide
Don't close your eyes
Don't turn out the light
----
Malik stared out at the Nile, the sudden wind rustling his blond hair. It was getting darker out by the minute, it seemed.
He couldn't trust Shizu, but he couldn't trust Bakura, and so he couldn't trust anyone but himself.
He was /so/ dead.
He heard the voices and the yelling but didn't turn around. He heard Shizu laugh and congratulate someone - four in one go! - but he didn't turn around.
There didn't seem to be any point.
Time passed, how much he wasn't sure. He heard Ryou start to cough, heard the captives yelling about needing a healer, needing to get help. He wondered when Shizu would start telling them her evil plans.
Malik heard the shouts of disbelief from the captives, and Shizu's yell of triumph, when the pharaoh, no longer high-and-mighty, was brought in front of her. He heard someone hit the young man, and Shizu asked, "Where is your godliness now?"
"Ra will punish you," the pharaoh said hoarsely.
Malik watched the golden dragon lope toward the Nile and spring across it, wings spreading to catch the last of the real light before a cloud covered the sun. He heard people murmuring, and ignored them, walking toward it.
The dragon gazed down its beak at him, an imperious look in its eyes.
It was beautiful. It was perfect.
Malik raised a trembling hand toward it.
"Mine," he whispered. "My god."
He heard a scuffle behind him, and then the pharaoh was beside him, in front of him, between him and the dragon. "Don't do this. Don't do this. He /trusted/ you, Malik. Be worthy of him. Don't do this."
Malik didn't take his eyes off the dragon.
"It will kill you, and worse. It will take your soul. It will drive you mad. Please. Don't."
Malik shook his head, for the benefit of the rebels he knew were behind him. "I could have you killed," he said softly. "A word from me, and you die, pharaoh."
The pharaoh stared at him with searching eyes, and then held out something that gleamed gold. "This is yours," he said. "You must make the right decision."
Malik took hold of it. The pharaoh stepped aside, and was grabbed by the rebels, who hauled him away. Doubtless they were terrified of the dragon.
It bent its head to stare closely at him with glittering eyes.
Malik raised the Millennium Rod above his head, and laughed and laughed and laughed.
--------------
A/N: Two chapters in one week! I am awesome!
Sorry. I'm calm now.
Next Chapter: My Last Breath. The last chapter. Here's what you need to know: There will be angst. There will be a ridiculous amount of angst. And, by Ra, there will be an end to the madness! Only not really, 'cause it's only the end of the second story in the trilogy...
Anyway, angst. Bring your tissue box. That is all.
Mai sat beside the bed and tried not to look at Ryou. It was entirely too depressing.
Ryou had, shortly after Malik had disappeared, sunk deep into a fever. He was mumbling phrases that made no sense, staring at something that only he could see. Every now and then, he would scream and clutch at the watch on his wrist.
"He's dying," Yugi said softly.
Mai glanced over at the boy, who sat against the wall. "He isn't."
"Yes, he is. I thought we could help him, but I...I don't think we can." One tear, and then another, rolled down his cheek. "Mai, I don't want him to die."
She stood up, brushing dust from her skirt. "I'm going to find Bakura. He should be here, if nothing else."
She barely made it into the hallway before she began to sob, leaning against the wall and burying her head in her hands.
----
Mokuba emerged from his hiding place behind a pillar, staring in wide-eyed horror at the carnage Slyphr the Sky-Dragon had wrought.
"Joey?" he whispered.
The stone altar had broken in two. Joey crawled out from behind it, dragging the Scale. There was blood on his leg and smeared all over his clothes. "I'm okay," he said hoarsely. "Most of it isn't mine. He - the dragon - he threw a priest at me." The blond shuddered. "Let's go."
Mokuba stared at him. "You sound like...like /you/ again."
"It's the pain. It blocks out the voice." Joey stood and shook the Scale for emphasis. "It's talking to me, begging to be used. Taking over."
"Then get rid of it!"
"I can't. It...it /bites/ me if I try to put it down. I'll be okay as long as I'm hurt." He thought about that and blinked. "Did that make sense?"
"Some. Let's get out of here."
They made it to an intersection of four corridors before the Scale kicked in. It somehow tugged Joey to the left, despite his protests. Mokuba followed.
"Just drop it," he cried.
"I told you I can't! Ow!"
After two more turnings, they found themselves at a set of stairs leading up into the palace.
A moment of thoughtful silence passed before Mokuba said, "You know, I would have gone straight back there."
----
Catch me as I fall
Say you're here and it's all over now
Speaking to the atmosphere
No one's here and I fall into myself
This truth drives me into madness
I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away
If I will it all away
----
Yami knelt beside Bakura. "What's wrong?"
"It's my fault. I'm killing him. I did it. I didn't even realize. How horrible is that? Oh, gods..." The tomb robber's shoulders shook with suppressed sobs.
"What? What did you do?"
"See this?" Bakura cried, thrusting his arm out to show Yami the gold-and- crystal watch. "Sathaugula. It's mine, I made the deal with the demon. Ryou didn't mean to use it. It's my fault."
"How many times have you used it?"
"Once, I think." Seeing Yami's confused look, Bakura added impatiently, "I forget it when I don't need it, all right?"
"You haven't forgotten it now," Yami said reasonably, then narrowed his eyes. "But then you could save Ryou."
"What, with this? No, I can't. It's - "
The watch was visible.
Oh, /shit/.
"Move," Bakura barked, leaping to his feet and holding the Rod as if it were a weapon. "We're in danger. Well, /I'm/ in danger, you're in danger by association."
"What?"
"Don't be dense, Pharaoh! It only appears to save me!"
Something smashed through the wall in front of them.
It was a huge panda clutching a bamboo stick. It roared and lumbered toward them, swinging the stick.
"Frenzied Panda," Yami said clinically, then gasped. "Shadow Monster!"
Bakura grabbed the pharaoh's arm and dragged him down the hallway. "Brilliant deduction, Holmes."
"What?"
"Shut up and run!"
They rounded a corner and nearly crashed into three men with swords.
Bakura took in the dark cloaks, the weapons, and the look in their eyes when they spotted Yami. He cursed and tried to back up.
One of the rebels laughed and swung his sword around.
They barely got out of the way, and even so the blade caught Yami's arm. He yelped and put his hand over the wound.
"We're gods, you know," Bakura shouted, looking around. Nowhere to run, save back into the path of the Panda, which he could hear stomping closer. "Can't kill a god."
"Let's see about that," the rebel with the sword said.
Bakura swore again and held out the Rod. "Please let this work," he muttered, and concentrated.
It didn't work.
However, the Panda stumbled into view, spotted the small group, and threw its bamboo stick with a trimphant snarl. Bakura dragged Yami to the floor and watched the stick bowl the three rebels over.
The two former spirits got up, stepped over the rebels, and ran.
----
Malik stepped into the pharaoh's bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Mai was gone. He'd been rather afraid that she would be there - she was taller than him, and quite possibly stronger, too.
"Malik," Yugi cried, scrambling to his feet. "Where'd you go?"
"I had something to do," Malik said coolly, striding over to Ryou. "Is it just me, or has he gotten worse?"
"He has," Yugi confirmed. "Mai went to find Bakura. I - I think he's dying, Malik."
"Well, I knew that." Malik reached down and pulled Ryou into a sitting position; the boy stared at him with unseeing eyes. "I think I know how to - how to save him. Help me."
In fact, Malik didn't need Yugi's help to get Ryou on his feet - the boy weighed practically nothing.
The worst part of it all, Malik thought, was the look Yugi gave him, eyes shining with hope, when he said, "You can really help him?"
The second worst part was when they accidentally knocked one of Ryou's knees against the wall and his pale skin turned purple with bruises in only a few minutes, and the scream the boy gave when it happened.
----
Don't turn away
Don't give in to the pain
Don't try to hide
Though they're screaming your name
Don't close your eyes
God knows what lies behind them
Don't turn out the light
Never sleep, never die
----
Mai had no idea where she was going, and was thoroughly lost when she ran into Kaiba in the hallway near the kitchens. He was testing the stones on the wall. The Millennium Puzzle was on the floor beside him.
"How do you get into the catacombs, again?" he asked when he caught sight of her.
"I forget." She scrutinized the wall, looking for hairline cracks that would show the existence of a doorway. "No luck, then?"
"No."
"Have you seen Bakura?"
"No." The CEO kicked the wall in frustration. "If he /is/ down there, I'll kill him."
Mai bent to pick up the Puzzle. "What's this doing here?"
"I found it. It wants Yugi."
"I'll go give it to him," she offered.
Kaiba waved a hand at her. "Go ahead. It sort of creeps me out."
Mai stared at him. Other than love for his brother, that was the only sort of human emotion she had ever witnessed him having. "Yeah? Why?"
"It talks."
"Have you had too much sun?" she asked suspiciously.
"I think so, actually." He moved along, pushing at the wall. "Secret doorways. How idiotic."
Mai shook her head, grinning, and headed back in the direction she'd come from.
She heard Kaiba's shout of surprise and turned in time to see two dark- robed figures pulling him along. They saw her just as she saw them, and one of them yelled, "It's her!"
She did the only thing possible: she fled.
----
Joey and Mokuba emerged from the catacombs into a world of chaos.
Kaiba had succeeded in escaping his captors, and crashed into them. They all tumbled to the floor; the Scale skittered away, hit the wall, and lay there.
Several more dark-robed rebels ran up from the other direction. Before any of the three could get to their feet, there were half a dozen swords pointed at them.
"You will stand slowly," one of the rebels said. "You will not use magic against us."
Kaiba raised his hand, but before he could even think about a spell, one of the rebels behind him smashed the hilt of his sword down on the CEO's head. Mokuba shrieked in horror; Joey groaned.
"Stand up," the rebel said again.
The two rebels who had originally grabbed Kaiba hauled the unconscious young man up, though they had to sheath their swords to do so. Joey and Mokuba stood; the blond's eyes went to the Scale, which one of the rebels was nudging with his foot.
"There was a girl," one of the men holding Kaiba grunted. "The one we're looking for. She went that way." He nodded in the general direction Mai had gone.
"What do you want?" Mokuba asked, his voice shaking. "Because we - "
"Oh, it's not us," a rebel chuckled. "It's someone else. Grab the kid, Amir."
Before Mokuba could protest, there was a strong arm gripping his. "Don't make trouble, boy, and maybe you'll live through this."
The rebel investigating the Scale picked it up and examined it closely. "It's gold," he reported.
"We'll hawk it when this is over," the one holding Mokuba said.
Joey was so fixated on the Scale that he had no chance when one of the rebels sheathed his sword and grabbed the blond's arm, twisting it behind his back. Joey gasped in pain.
"We'll use them as bait for the girl," the man said, and laughed coldly. "Let's go."
None of them noticed the way the Scale glowed in the rebel's hand.
----
I'm frightened by what I see
But somehow I know that there's much more to come
Immobilized by my fear
And soon to be blinded by tears
I can stop the pain if I will it all away
If I will it all away
----
Bakura barely caught Yami when the pharaoh collapsed.
"I think," Yami said softly, "that his sword had poison on it."
"No," Bakura said. "They aren't smart enough for that." Poison was more Shizu's thing.
Shizu. Of course.
"Get up," he snapped. "We have to go. Now. It's not safe here."
"I can't feel my legs," Yami said, and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall. "Is that...bad?"
"Very bad. Very, very bad. Open your eyes, Pharaoh. Come on. Don't do this to me, not now, please."
Yami raised his head. His fingers were clenched around the Millennium Eye. "I can see inside your head. You're afraid of...Mai?"
"No! Not her! You stupid - don't - give me that, you idiot." He pried the Eye out of the pharaoh's unresisting fingers. The Key and the Necklace had been shoved through Yami's belt for safekeeping. "Do any of these stupid Items heal?"
"No." The pharaoh's voice was little more than a whisper now.
Sathaugula was burning. Bakura wrenched at the stupid thing - get it off, get it /off/, it hurt - and paused, suddenly getting it.
It had saved Yugi's life...
But that had been a fluke. It was only there for Bakura. He was in danger just now too, then.
"Stupid," he hissed. "Just...do it, would you?"
"What?" Yami murmured.
The hands of the watch began to spin backwards.
----
Shizu was already waiting on the cliff when Malik and Yugi arrived, by now carrying Ryou between them. The white-haired boy faded in and out of consciousness.
"Two?" Shizu asked mildly. "Nicely done, Ishtar. Grab the slave."
One of the rebels clustered around her stepped forward and seized hold of Yugi's arm. Malik was suddenly forced to support Ryou by himself, and it was surprisingly easy.
Too easy.
Shizu scrutinized the dying boy, ignoring Yugi's cries. "He certainly does look like Akil," she remarked, "but the hair is...different. Less wild. And Akil doesn't have that." She pointed at the watch. "What is that?"
"It's what's killing him, I think," Malik said, and eased Ryou onto the sand, where the boy sat, rocking back and forth and mumbling under his breath, staring into space.
Shizu smiled at Malik, then pointed at the palace. "Any idea what that is?"
He turned, and gaped at the dragon on the roof.
After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "It would appear to be a, um, dragon..."
Slyphr the Sky-Dragon chose that moment to spread his wings and take flight. He circled the palace several times, and then dove and crashed through one of the walls.
The roar of falling masonry reached them even on the banks of the Nile.
Malik's eyes went to the horizon. There were dark clouds rushing in, fast, too fast.
"I'm getting the feeling," he said, as calmly as he could manage, "that we're all going to die."
"You traitor," Yugi cried. "I knew it. Bakura was wrong to trust you."
Malik tried to ignore the slave, and found that he couldn't.
----
Don't turn away
Don't give in to the pain
Don't try to hide
Though they're screaming your name
Don't close your eyes
God knows what lies behind them
Don't turn out the light
Never sleep, never die
----
Mai had barricaded herself in an armory with a thick wooden door, and had locked it. It was rather a primitive lock, not a lock at all, just a log laid across, but it worked.
The best part for the rebels, aside from the fact that she was now effectively locked /in/ as well, was that the door was riddled with holes. Someone had used it for target practice in the past, the rebel leader guessed. That would make it easier for them to smash it open when someone returned with an axe.
"Handmaiden," he yelled. "We've got your friends out here, handmaiden. Come out and we'll spare them. We don't want to hurt anyone."
"Don't!" the blond yelled. "They're lying!" The leader pulled his arm sharply up, and grinned at the crack of breaking bone, and at the scream from the blond.
"Come out to us, handmaiden, and we will not hurt them further."
There was no sound from within.
"She won't come out," the small boy said in that infuriatingly mild way of his. "She's smarter than that."
There was a crash of falling metal inside.
"Don't try to arm yourself," the leader called, amused. "There are far more of us."
One of the rebels moved forward and put his eye to one of the holes. "It's dark in there," he reported. "I can't - "
His scream was loud and agonized, and he stumbled back with an arrow protruding from his eye. He collapsed, shaking.
It took a few minutes to recover, and then someone said, "She shot an arrow. Through a door."
"Want more?" the girl shouted. "I've got plenty of arrows. Just give me an excuse and I'll use them. Let my friends go and go away."
The leader pushed the blond away. He wouldn't get far, not with that broken arm. "Handmaiden," he snarled. "You cannot win. Just come out - "
The arrow grazed his arm.
"I can't aim well just now," she said, "but you'd do well to stay out of the way."
The rebel who had been sent to get an axe returned then, gazing dispassionately at the fallen rebel, who was now gurgling hopelessly. "Got it, sir."
"Stay out of the way of the holes if you can," the leader said. "Just get it open."
----
Ryou moaned and blinked.
He seemed to be outside. On the sand. How had he gotten there? He couldn't remember.
His leg hurt. He looked down, saw the dark bruise, and vaguely remembered acquiring it.
Someone was shouting.
"He would have betrayed me first!"
"He's been trying to save you, Malik! I guess some people are just irredeemable!"
"You lie! He already betrayed us all - went back to that brother of his and - "
"/Brother/?"
Malik. Yugi. The names floated to the top of Ryou's head.
He realized, suddenly, that he was cold. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, teeth chattering. Was Egypt supposed to be cold? He couldn't remember. Cold.
A new voice, one he vaguely recognized, said, "Where are they? How hard is it to find six people?"
"Bakura will fight," Malik pointed out. "You know he will, Shizu."
"I know. He'll suffer for it."
Ryou could feel himself sinking back into the darkness, could feel the icy burn of Sathaugula on his wrist. I am dying, he thought. Why am I not afraid of that?
Just before he lost consciousness again, he thought, Because I still believe that Yami will save me. Of course.
----
Fallen angels at my feet
Whispered voices at my ear
Death before my eyes
Lying next to me I fear
She beckons me, shall I give in?
Upon my end, shall I begin?
Forsaking all I've fallen for, I rise to meet the end
----
Bakura groaned and dragged himself out from under the rocks.
Something - he remembered a glimpse of teeth and blood-red scales - had broken through the wall. He felt a stinging in his head and raised his hand to touch it. It came away covered in blood.
He got to his feet, and realized that he was shaking. He rested a hand on the wall for balance, and saw a glint of gold on the floor. The Eye. He picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of his robes.
There was something else...
The Rod. Yes.
He looked around, slightly dizzy, and finally spotted it near the opening in the wall. He shuffled over and bent to grab it.
Something clicked on the floor. Talons?
Bakura turned his head and saw Slyphr crouching nearby, watching him. It seemed smaller than usual. But of course the Monsters could alter their size, to fit into the different dueling arenas.
Wait. That made no sense.
Bakura grabbed the Rod, and when the dragon didn't make any move, he relaxed.
There was something else he should be remembering. What?
He heard a soft moan and saw something move near Slyphr's foot. No, under the dragon's foot.
"Tomb robber," the pharaoh said, in a horribly calm voice, "there appears to be a dragon on top of me."
"That's because there is," Bakura said, staring at the Shadow Monster. "Don't move."
"I can't. Its claw is on my throat." There was a gasp from Yami as the dragon shifted its weight.
Bakura was thinking much more clearly now. He had not wasted one of his uses of Sathaugula - one of the reasons his hikari was dying, dammit - to save the pharaoh, only to have the idiot die anyway. "I've got a plan," he said, and wished he did.
----
The axe smashed through the door and knocked the log down. Mai held the longbow steady, an arrow nocked and ready, and thanked whatever god was listening that she had gotten so good at archery at summer camp when she was twelve.
There was no one visible.
They were all hiding, then, out of sight, waiting for her to step into the open. She wasn't stupid. She knew that.
She held the arrow in place with one hand and grabbed a staff off the rack with the other. She walked slowly forward, alert to any sounds, and carefully stuck the staff out into the hallway.
A sword slammed down on top of it and knocked it out of her hand.
She swung the bow up again. "Don't even think - "
Someone pushed Joey into view. He was cradling one arm in the other, and his brown eyes were wet with tears of pain.
"Mai," he pleaded. "Just...come out. Please. They - "
"They'll kill us," she snapped, though she lowered the bow. No need for accidents, after all.
"I don't...it's better to...oh, Mai, please. They took my Scale. I /need/ it, Mai."
"Your what?"
She took a hesitant step forward, the arrow pointing at the floor, and peered into the corridor. None of the rebels were close enough to grab her, but there was no hope of running away, and she saw at a glance that she couldn't kill them all.
She dropped the bow and stepped forward.
Two men stepped forward and caught her arms, leering. "Off to see the pharaoh," one of them said, then looked over her head at the other. "Pharaoh...ess? Pharaohess?"
"Pharaoh. I think. Queen? I don't..."
"Shut up," someone snapped.
Mai saw Mokuba, dwarfed by a burly man, and saw the two dragging Kaiba. No one had to hang on to Joey, not with his broken arm. He couldn't get out of the crowd, anyway.
Pharaohess? What were they talking about?
She realized, belatedly, that she had left the Millennium Puzzle in the armory. She twisted to look back, and noticed that someone was carrying it. Good. She had a feeling that it was important.
----
Don't turn away
Don't give in to the pain
Don't try to hide
Though they're screaming your name
Don't close your eyes
God knows what lies behind them
Don't turn out the light
Never sleep, never die
----
Yami winced as the talon nicked his skin.
He couldn't remember how he had gotten into this position, just a sense of fading away and the sudden heavy weight of Slyphr.
He felt the weight lessen. It took him a moment to realize what Slyphr was doing - putting its weight on its back legs, preparing to leap...
"Bakura, move!" he yelled, too late.
Slyphr sprang, his tail lashing out and pulling another wall down. Yami curled up and covered his head, wincing as rocks hit his arms.
He heard Bakura shout, and then...nothing.
Something clattered on the floor. Yami opened his eyes and saw the Millennium Rod rolling toward him.
"No," he whispered, and grabbed hold of it.
Slyphr was gone. So was Bakura. The broken walls and the Rod were all that remained to show that they had been there at all.
Yami staggered to his feet and ran to stare out. He was on the second floor of the palace, he realized, or the third - high up, anyway.
He couldn't see a dragon flying away.
He did see the drops of blood on the ground, leading out.
He ran for the nearest staircase. He had to get outside, had to find Bakura and Slyphr and /do/ something -
Yami wasn't paying attention. It was easy, so easy for the rebels to grab him when he ran past.
----
Don't turn away
Don't try to hide
Don't close your eyes
Don't turn out the light
Don't turn away
Don't try to hide
Don't close your eyes
Don't turn out the light
----
Malik stared out at the Nile, the sudden wind rustling his blond hair. It was getting darker out by the minute, it seemed.
He couldn't trust Shizu, but he couldn't trust Bakura, and so he couldn't trust anyone but himself.
He was /so/ dead.
He heard the voices and the yelling but didn't turn around. He heard Shizu laugh and congratulate someone - four in one go! - but he didn't turn around.
There didn't seem to be any point.
Time passed, how much he wasn't sure. He heard Ryou start to cough, heard the captives yelling about needing a healer, needing to get help. He wondered when Shizu would start telling them her evil plans.
Malik heard the shouts of disbelief from the captives, and Shizu's yell of triumph, when the pharaoh, no longer high-and-mighty, was brought in front of her. He heard someone hit the young man, and Shizu asked, "Where is your godliness now?"
"Ra will punish you," the pharaoh said hoarsely.
Malik watched the golden dragon lope toward the Nile and spring across it, wings spreading to catch the last of the real light before a cloud covered the sun. He heard people murmuring, and ignored them, walking toward it.
The dragon gazed down its beak at him, an imperious look in its eyes.
It was beautiful. It was perfect.
Malik raised a trembling hand toward it.
"Mine," he whispered. "My god."
He heard a scuffle behind him, and then the pharaoh was beside him, in front of him, between him and the dragon. "Don't do this. Don't do this. He /trusted/ you, Malik. Be worthy of him. Don't do this."
Malik didn't take his eyes off the dragon.
"It will kill you, and worse. It will take your soul. It will drive you mad. Please. Don't."
Malik shook his head, for the benefit of the rebels he knew were behind him. "I could have you killed," he said softly. "A word from me, and you die, pharaoh."
The pharaoh stared at him with searching eyes, and then held out something that gleamed gold. "This is yours," he said. "You must make the right decision."
Malik took hold of it. The pharaoh stepped aside, and was grabbed by the rebels, who hauled him away. Doubtless they were terrified of the dragon.
It bent its head to stare closely at him with glittering eyes.
Malik raised the Millennium Rod above his head, and laughed and laughed and laughed.
--------------
A/N: Two chapters in one week! I am awesome!
Sorry. I'm calm now.
Next Chapter: My Last Breath. The last chapter. Here's what you need to know: There will be angst. There will be a ridiculous amount of angst. And, by Ra, there will be an end to the madness! Only not really, 'cause it's only the end of the second story in the trilogy...
Anyway, angst. Bring your tissue box. That is all.