The Millennium Ritual
Chapter 23: The Spirit of the Orb
Kaiba leaned on the doorframe facing the streets of Egypt, fiddling with the blue lapis lazuli stone Aura gave him days before. He watched as woman and men hustled along with their lives, not knowing of all the destruction and chaos that was soon to come. As he flipped the blue stone in and out through his fingers, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought deeply.
Just a few hours ago, he, Yami, and the others discussed on what to do with Lucian, the shadow monster that took over Aura's body.
"First of all, we should find out how to get Aura's mind out of the Shadow Realm," Joey said, after they dismissed Mr. Motto and Serenity to their rooms. "I think that is our biggest priority of all."
"But what about Lucian? What do we do about him?" Tea asked.
"Tea is right. Even though our friend has been sent to the Shadow Realm, we must not forget what her body is used for right now." Yami stated.
"Meaning that now she's not your ordinary Egyptian school-girl." Tristan said.
"Now, she's a Shadow Monster, growing stronger by the minute." Agreed Kaiba, as they all stared at the small pack Aura used to carry with her. After their encounter with Lucian, Serenity found the pack, and thinking that it belonged to one of them, carried it with her to the Healer's home. Now knowing that Aura was its possessor, they set on the center of the table, not sure of what to do.
All fell silent as they stared at the slightly dirty brown pack. Yami, breaking the silence, asked quietly, "Well, what should we do with it?" It was silent once more.
Tristan was the first to speak. "I think we should look through it. Maybe there'll be something of use in there."
"But don't you think we should respect her privacy? I mean, she never shown her stuff to us before." Tea protested to Tristan.
"It's not like she's here to complain, though." Joey suggested.
"So you're saying that she'll never come back to complain, Joey?" said Tea quietly.
Joey's eyes widened. "No! I'm not saying that, it's just. . ."
And so the argument began. As Joey, Tea, and Tristan were fighting each other, Yami and Kaiba continued to stare at the pack. As if making a silent agreement, Yami and Kaiba both reached over, opened the pack, and spilled its contents to the table. The three others stared in disbelief at Yami and Kaiba and the pack's contents.
Several pieces of dried bread scattered across the table, as a tattered book, a gold locket, a hairbrush, a water bottle, first aid, and other objects with no meaning sat on the wooden table. With Yami taking the journal and Kaiba taking the gold locket, they both searched through Aura's possessions.
Yami stared at the book as he flipped through page after page of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and even though he was an Egyptian himself, Yami could not read its ancient symbols.
When Kaiba opened the locket however, he found a picture of a young Aura holding a small boy, with a tall Egyptian woman in the background. They were all smiling.
"Look at this," Kaiba said, as everyone crowded around him, looking at the picture.
"It's Aura!" exclaimed Tea.
"From a few years ago," said Tristan.
"But who are the other two?" asked Joey, a bit confused.
"The little guy she's holding is her brother, Seth, while the woman behind them is Aura's mom," Kaiba said quickly, snapping the locket shut, "This won't do us any good."
But everyone stared at him in disbelief. "How did you know who they were, Kaiba?" Yami asked suspiciously.
'Darn it.' Kaiba thought angrily, as he stared at their curious faces. "We. . . We met a few years ago. . . Me and Aura. . ." He said slowly.
Knowing that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, they continued to discuss on what to do with Lucian, until they came up with a decision.
They'll have to send Lucian back to the Shadow Realm, with or without Aura's body. As for Aura's mind, they were not sure yet.
Now a few hours later, Kaiba stared out into the sky, thinking about Lucian and Mokuba and Aura and all that happened these past few weeks. Sighing, he turned around and walked back into the house, sitting down on a chair and staring at the stone and the Aura's journal in front of him.
Taking the journal, Kaiba flipped through it, looking for something, anything. But, not being able to decipher the hieroglyphics, he was not able to find anything. He tossed it aside, angry.
'I can't do anything here!' Kaiba thought, squeezing the blue stone in his fist. He did not see the slight glow from it. 'How are we suppose to stop this thing if we don't know anything about it?!' Kaiba stood up, as he once more stared at the lapis lazuli. 'Aura probably knows something about it, since she knew about the Millennium Ritual in the first place.' That was when Kaiba remembered Shanek's words.
~*~Flashback~*~
You're too late Pharaoh!!!" He screamed, as Kaiba and Yami backed away from him, "The countdown to the World's Destruction has begun!!!"
~*~
Kaiba tightened his fists in anger. 'World destruction. If I was back in Domino, I would have never believed in that crap. But now, after the Ritual, I don't know.' He glanced at the journal. 'This is all your fault Aura. We wouldn't be in this situation if it hadn't been for you! Why did you bring us here if you knew this was gonna happen?!' Staring at the stone in disgust, he tossed it to the table, as it landed on the journal's cover. Kaiba sat down once more, hands rustling his hair in anguish.
That was when a sharp screech filled the air, as Kaiba stood up and stared at the book in horror.
The table was cracking as the journal shook and shivered under the lapis lazuli, which was glowing as bright as the sun. Suddenly, as if the table could not take anymore of it, the table crumbled into pieces as a faint figure started to appear above the book and stone. Kaiba, backed into the wall, covered his eyes toward the light.
"What's going on?!" Yami yelled, as he, the Healer, Tea, Tristan, and Joey ran into the room. Their eyes suddenly saw the book and the stone's strange reaction. Kaiba walked forward, trying to touch it.
"Seto don't!" warned the Healer.
Kaiba, who did not hear her, touched it. As the two objects reacted, it suddenly blew, throwing everyone against the walls, and destroying the Healer's home.
________________________________________________________________________
All laid a shambles as Yami slowly stood up, tossing a board of wood off of him. Then after he was done, he looked around.
Bits and pieces of the Healer's home laid scattered everywhere, as a crowd huddled around the mess, speaking in rapid Egyptian. Yami, not listening to the peoples' antics, checked to see if Yugi was harmed.
'Yugi, are you alright?' He asked his hikari through mind link.
'Just a little shaken up, but other than that, I'm fine.' He replied. Sighing, Yami now focused his attention to his friends.
Like daises, he saw Tristan, Joey, Tea, Serenity, and Mr. Motto slowly standing, who were quite shaken by the blast.
"Are you alright?!" He yelled, as he ran to his group of friends. The Egyptians talked faster.
"Yeah, we're fine, how about you?" asked Serenity, as she stared at the now destroyed house. Yami nodded in response.
"Luckily no one was hurt by the blast," Joey said, shaking his head, "But man, look at what it done."
Tea was looking this way and that, eyes darting. "What's going on Tea?" said Tristan questioningly.
"What happened to the Healer?!" she exclaimed. Everyone's eyes widened in horror.
"That's right! And what happened to Mokuba and Kaiba?!" Yami said, as sirens were heard.
Suddenly an Egyptian man spoke loudly in Egyptian, pointing to a certain area. All heads turned to where he pointed.
Mokuba was on the ground, eyes tightly shut, as blood was everywhere around him. The Healer, safe and sound, was at Mokuba's side, picking him up into her arms and running to Yami and the others.
"We must get him to a hospital quickly!" She alarmed them, "I don't have the herbs to heal him! And if his blood keeps on flowing, at this rate he will die!"
"No!" Serenity cried, as everyone felt a wave of terror and sadness. "What are we going to do?!"
Suddenly an Egyptian ambulance appeared out of nowhere, and out of the vehicle appeared five medical specialists, running toward the Healer and Mokuba. One of the doctors talked to the Healer in Egyptian, as the Healer slowly gave Mokuba to him. The doctor nodded, as they took out a stretcher and laid Mokuba on it. Then they rolled Mokuba into the ambulance, and drove away, as several other ambulances and cars pulled up to help them.
In all this excitement, Yami and his friends were silent, for if they tried to help, they might be in the way. After the Healer was done being questioned by the police, she turned to them and said, "Mokuba is going to be just fine. He is being taken to the nearest hospital right now. Thank Ra for our sudden change of luck."
Everyone all sighed a big sigh of relief. Finally, after all this time, Mokuba was finally going to get some medical help. That was when Yami finally realized something.
"What happened to Kaiba?" he asked. Then someone about 10 yards away yelled something to the Healer, motioning for everyone to come. Confused, they all followed, and they were not prepared to see what happened next.
Kaiba was on the ground with a pained face, eyes blank, with his left pointer finger laid atop of the lapis lazuli, which was on top of the tattered journal. That blank face seen so many times, they realized what was the true cause of the blue stone Aura gave them all those days ago.
The lapis lazuli stone was a weapon.
______________________________________________________________________
Kaiba opened his eyes. He could see that he was standing, but what he saw in his surroundings were not familiar.
There were columns and columns of marble everywhere, and in between each of them stood a door, each marked with a different symbol. He was in a long hallway, and at the very end of it, was a tablet.
'Where am I?' Thought Kaiba, as he walked forward toward the end of the hall. His head suddenly felt heaver than it was suppose to be. 'What. . .?' He held up his hands and placed it on his head. Instead of it landing on his head though, his hands felt soft velvety fabric. That was when he had enough sense to see what he was wearing.
'I wish I had a mirror.' He thought to himself. Suddenly, as if the hall was following his command, a mirror appeared in front of him out of thin air. Kaiba nearly jumped out of his skin. 'What is this?!' Deciding to figure it out later, he turned to the mirror to stare at his reflection.
He gasped in surprise as he saw that his normal trench coat attire changed to an entirely new one. He was wearing an Egyptian hat, complete with Egyptian royal robes, one that only a High Priest can wear.
He was surprised that he knew that much about Egyptian clothing. Kaiba never really had an interest in Egypt anyway. But what he was more worried about was how it actually came on him. Reaching forward to touch it, the mirror vanished into thin air, as quick as it appeared.
Deciding that once again he can figure it out later, Kaiba turned to his right, where a door with a picture of a cat was shown. Walking up to the door, he opened it.
On the other side of the door, there were miles and miles of sand everywhere. Wondering how he got out of the Healer's home, he stepped forward, but that only caused him to go forward at an exceedingly high speed, as Kaiba's new cape flapped wildly behind him. It seemed to go on for ages, and just when Kaiba thought he was going to throw up, it stopped, as Kaiba fell to the ground face down.
Swatting away invisible dust, he looked around. He was in an old Egyptian temple, with a large statue of Isis in the center of the room. Kaiba walked up to it, awed by its tall structure. He stayed there for a while, staring at the statue, until he felt something bump into his foot. He looked down, to see that it was a hard leather ball, old and dusty.
The sound of happy giggles filled the air, as Kaiba saw a small girl ran up and picked up the ball, laughing and staring up at him.
"Hallo!" the little girl said, laughing and waving at him, "Do you want to play with me?" She held out the ball, smiling widely.
Kaiba couldn't say anything, because he was too busy rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
This little girl looked EXACTLY like Aura at the age of 7. He remembered because they met before long ago, and she showed Kaiba a picture of her at the age of 7. He remembered her exact words to him, as she smiled sadly.
"This picture was taken before my mom and my little brother were murdered."
Aura looked up at him, her face curious. "Hallo? Mr.? Do you want to play?!" She tugged on Kaiba's robes.
"Aura," Kaiba said in disbelief.
"You know me?!" She asked, surprised.
"Uh. . . Not yet." He said, forcing a smile. 'This is gonna be harder than I thought.'
"I don't get it," Aura pouted, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. It was hard for Kaiba to believe that this was Aura as a child. The Aura he knew was tough as rock, and almost never puts on a smile or any kind of emotion.
"My name is Seto, how about that? See? Now you know me!" Kaiba said, smiling once more. He was astonished at his kindness toward the little girl.
Her pout disappearing, she said, "Seto?! That sounds familiar! Like. . . A cookie!"
"Cookie?" he asked, confused.
She nodded, saying, "Yup! Yup!" Suddenly a ring was heard in the distance, and then Young Aura said, "Auww. . . I have to go home now!" She turned and ran off, yelling to Kaiba, "Bye-bye, Cookie Seto!!"
'Why in the world did she say I was like a cookie?' Kaiba thought, with an annoyed expression on his face. Suddenly he remembered why.
~*~ Flashback ~*~ Kaiba Mansion 6 Years Ago
"If there is one thing to describe Seto, what would it be?" Mokuba asked Aura, as they sat on the couch in front of the TV, as Kaiba was busy studying on a table. Kaiba laid his eyes on Aura to see her answer.
Aura, chin on her hands, thought carefully.
"Uh, let's see. . . Smart. . . Quiet. . . Strict. . ." Aura pointed out one by one. Mokuba laughed at her answer.
"No, not like that Aura! I mean like a thing! Compare him with a thing!"
She was silent as a servant put down milk and cookies for Mokuba. Mokuba quickly dived to it, gobbling it up and tossing one to Kaiba.
"Here's a cookie Seto," said Mokuba happily.
"Cookie," repeated Aura. Mokuba looked at her strangely.
"Sorry, there no more, but I can get some!" said Mokuba apologetically.
"No, not that," She said, laying her arm down to Mokuba, "I mean that's what I think Seto is like. He's like a cookie." Kaiba almost fell down when he heard what she said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, SHIELDS?!" Kaiba yelled, using her father's last name in replacement for Aura's.
"What I mean is that you're like a cookie." said Aura calmly.
"Why you say that?" questioned Kaiba.
"A cookie, if left untreated, turns hard, and it is hard to get back to its nice, gooeyness. And if left like that, it can never go back to being soft." Aura answered. Kaiba was silent.
"But," She said, continuing, "A cookie is still a cookie. So if you bite hard enough into it, you'll be able to taste its sweet chocolate chips and cookie dough, which never changes, no matter how tough or hard it is."
~*~
He remembered that. That was one of the very few reasons why he still talked to her. Because she gave an actual compliment to him, and besides, if you think about it, Kaiba is like a cookie.
As he thought of this, Kaiba realized how much he owed to Aura. Maybe he should give her his thanks someday. But not in the near future.
Suddenly he felt a hand grab his cape, and throw him out of that room, and back into the hallway. He was thrown against the wall, as he fell and crumbled to the ground. He heard a sharp swish, and soon after he felt a searing pain on his back.
When he heard another swish, he quickly rolled to the side, as Kaiba heard a loud thunk near his foot.
"Who are you?!" A female voice said, as Kaiba stood kicked the woman in the stomach. The kick sent her flying across the hall, and straight into an opposing column.
Teeth grinding, the woman stood, staff in hand, charging to Kaiba. Taking a staff to his right, he ran to the woman, ready to strike.
The two staffs met in the air, as they each put all their strength into taking down the other.
"Who are you?!" Kaiba yelled to the woman.
"How dare you ask me, when you are the one who is trespassing!" Said the woman, who threw Kaiba to the wall once more. Running up to him, she held the staff against his neck, which made Kaiba choke for air.
"Are you a Shadow Monster, trying to portray my pupil, Set?" She accused, tightening her grip on the staff. "ANSWER ME!"
"M-My n-name is S-s-Seto Kaiba!" Kaiba said, taking his legs and kicking her across the hall once more. That was when he noticed that the woman was also wearing an Egyptian attire, robes only meant for royalty. Her face was covered with a hood.
Taking his own staff and pressing it against her own neck, he said, "Let's find out who you really are, shall we?!" He lifted the hood.
What he saw made him gasp. "Aura?!"
'Wait, this isn't Aura.' He thought to himself. This woman was way too tall for her, but the hairstyles are the same. The only problem was that this woman's hair was longer, and she didn't have the small golden bang on her forehead like Aura did. And her eyes. This woman's eyes have a more grey hue to it than the green.
"What are you?!" Kaiba yelled.
The woman pushed forward, causing Kaiba to fall backward and releasing his hold on the woman.
"I am Maeve, High Priestess of Egypt, sister of the Pharaoh, and Aura's Yami!"
To Be Continued. . .
Ok, got to hurry, cause my sister is strangling me right now. CALL THE POLICE!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, please review. Oh, and about Aura's dad, further info on him will appear in later chapters. For now, don't worry bout him.
Chapter 23: The Spirit of the Orb
Kaiba leaned on the doorframe facing the streets of Egypt, fiddling with the blue lapis lazuli stone Aura gave him days before. He watched as woman and men hustled along with their lives, not knowing of all the destruction and chaos that was soon to come. As he flipped the blue stone in and out through his fingers, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought deeply.
Just a few hours ago, he, Yami, and the others discussed on what to do with Lucian, the shadow monster that took over Aura's body.
"First of all, we should find out how to get Aura's mind out of the Shadow Realm," Joey said, after they dismissed Mr. Motto and Serenity to their rooms. "I think that is our biggest priority of all."
"But what about Lucian? What do we do about him?" Tea asked.
"Tea is right. Even though our friend has been sent to the Shadow Realm, we must not forget what her body is used for right now." Yami stated.
"Meaning that now she's not your ordinary Egyptian school-girl." Tristan said.
"Now, she's a Shadow Monster, growing stronger by the minute." Agreed Kaiba, as they all stared at the small pack Aura used to carry with her. After their encounter with Lucian, Serenity found the pack, and thinking that it belonged to one of them, carried it with her to the Healer's home. Now knowing that Aura was its possessor, they set on the center of the table, not sure of what to do.
All fell silent as they stared at the slightly dirty brown pack. Yami, breaking the silence, asked quietly, "Well, what should we do with it?" It was silent once more.
Tristan was the first to speak. "I think we should look through it. Maybe there'll be something of use in there."
"But don't you think we should respect her privacy? I mean, she never shown her stuff to us before." Tea protested to Tristan.
"It's not like she's here to complain, though." Joey suggested.
"So you're saying that she'll never come back to complain, Joey?" said Tea quietly.
Joey's eyes widened. "No! I'm not saying that, it's just. . ."
And so the argument began. As Joey, Tea, and Tristan were fighting each other, Yami and Kaiba continued to stare at the pack. As if making a silent agreement, Yami and Kaiba both reached over, opened the pack, and spilled its contents to the table. The three others stared in disbelief at Yami and Kaiba and the pack's contents.
Several pieces of dried bread scattered across the table, as a tattered book, a gold locket, a hairbrush, a water bottle, first aid, and other objects with no meaning sat on the wooden table. With Yami taking the journal and Kaiba taking the gold locket, they both searched through Aura's possessions.
Yami stared at the book as he flipped through page after page of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and even though he was an Egyptian himself, Yami could not read its ancient symbols.
When Kaiba opened the locket however, he found a picture of a young Aura holding a small boy, with a tall Egyptian woman in the background. They were all smiling.
"Look at this," Kaiba said, as everyone crowded around him, looking at the picture.
"It's Aura!" exclaimed Tea.
"From a few years ago," said Tristan.
"But who are the other two?" asked Joey, a bit confused.
"The little guy she's holding is her brother, Seth, while the woman behind them is Aura's mom," Kaiba said quickly, snapping the locket shut, "This won't do us any good."
But everyone stared at him in disbelief. "How did you know who they were, Kaiba?" Yami asked suspiciously.
'Darn it.' Kaiba thought angrily, as he stared at their curious faces. "We. . . We met a few years ago. . . Me and Aura. . ." He said slowly.
Knowing that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, they continued to discuss on what to do with Lucian, until they came up with a decision.
They'll have to send Lucian back to the Shadow Realm, with or without Aura's body. As for Aura's mind, they were not sure yet.
Now a few hours later, Kaiba stared out into the sky, thinking about Lucian and Mokuba and Aura and all that happened these past few weeks. Sighing, he turned around and walked back into the house, sitting down on a chair and staring at the stone and the Aura's journal in front of him.
Taking the journal, Kaiba flipped through it, looking for something, anything. But, not being able to decipher the hieroglyphics, he was not able to find anything. He tossed it aside, angry.
'I can't do anything here!' Kaiba thought, squeezing the blue stone in his fist. He did not see the slight glow from it. 'How are we suppose to stop this thing if we don't know anything about it?!' Kaiba stood up, as he once more stared at the lapis lazuli. 'Aura probably knows something about it, since she knew about the Millennium Ritual in the first place.' That was when Kaiba remembered Shanek's words.
~*~Flashback~*~
You're too late Pharaoh!!!" He screamed, as Kaiba and Yami backed away from him, "The countdown to the World's Destruction has begun!!!"
~*~
Kaiba tightened his fists in anger. 'World destruction. If I was back in Domino, I would have never believed in that crap. But now, after the Ritual, I don't know.' He glanced at the journal. 'This is all your fault Aura. We wouldn't be in this situation if it hadn't been for you! Why did you bring us here if you knew this was gonna happen?!' Staring at the stone in disgust, he tossed it to the table, as it landed on the journal's cover. Kaiba sat down once more, hands rustling his hair in anguish.
That was when a sharp screech filled the air, as Kaiba stood up and stared at the book in horror.
The table was cracking as the journal shook and shivered under the lapis lazuli, which was glowing as bright as the sun. Suddenly, as if the table could not take anymore of it, the table crumbled into pieces as a faint figure started to appear above the book and stone. Kaiba, backed into the wall, covered his eyes toward the light.
"What's going on?!" Yami yelled, as he, the Healer, Tea, Tristan, and Joey ran into the room. Their eyes suddenly saw the book and the stone's strange reaction. Kaiba walked forward, trying to touch it.
"Seto don't!" warned the Healer.
Kaiba, who did not hear her, touched it. As the two objects reacted, it suddenly blew, throwing everyone against the walls, and destroying the Healer's home.
________________________________________________________________________
All laid a shambles as Yami slowly stood up, tossing a board of wood off of him. Then after he was done, he looked around.
Bits and pieces of the Healer's home laid scattered everywhere, as a crowd huddled around the mess, speaking in rapid Egyptian. Yami, not listening to the peoples' antics, checked to see if Yugi was harmed.
'Yugi, are you alright?' He asked his hikari through mind link.
'Just a little shaken up, but other than that, I'm fine.' He replied. Sighing, Yami now focused his attention to his friends.
Like daises, he saw Tristan, Joey, Tea, Serenity, and Mr. Motto slowly standing, who were quite shaken by the blast.
"Are you alright?!" He yelled, as he ran to his group of friends. The Egyptians talked faster.
"Yeah, we're fine, how about you?" asked Serenity, as she stared at the now destroyed house. Yami nodded in response.
"Luckily no one was hurt by the blast," Joey said, shaking his head, "But man, look at what it done."
Tea was looking this way and that, eyes darting. "What's going on Tea?" said Tristan questioningly.
"What happened to the Healer?!" she exclaimed. Everyone's eyes widened in horror.
"That's right! And what happened to Mokuba and Kaiba?!" Yami said, as sirens were heard.
Suddenly an Egyptian man spoke loudly in Egyptian, pointing to a certain area. All heads turned to where he pointed.
Mokuba was on the ground, eyes tightly shut, as blood was everywhere around him. The Healer, safe and sound, was at Mokuba's side, picking him up into her arms and running to Yami and the others.
"We must get him to a hospital quickly!" She alarmed them, "I don't have the herbs to heal him! And if his blood keeps on flowing, at this rate he will die!"
"No!" Serenity cried, as everyone felt a wave of terror and sadness. "What are we going to do?!"
Suddenly an Egyptian ambulance appeared out of nowhere, and out of the vehicle appeared five medical specialists, running toward the Healer and Mokuba. One of the doctors talked to the Healer in Egyptian, as the Healer slowly gave Mokuba to him. The doctor nodded, as they took out a stretcher and laid Mokuba on it. Then they rolled Mokuba into the ambulance, and drove away, as several other ambulances and cars pulled up to help them.
In all this excitement, Yami and his friends were silent, for if they tried to help, they might be in the way. After the Healer was done being questioned by the police, she turned to them and said, "Mokuba is going to be just fine. He is being taken to the nearest hospital right now. Thank Ra for our sudden change of luck."
Everyone all sighed a big sigh of relief. Finally, after all this time, Mokuba was finally going to get some medical help. That was when Yami finally realized something.
"What happened to Kaiba?" he asked. Then someone about 10 yards away yelled something to the Healer, motioning for everyone to come. Confused, they all followed, and they were not prepared to see what happened next.
Kaiba was on the ground with a pained face, eyes blank, with his left pointer finger laid atop of the lapis lazuli, which was on top of the tattered journal. That blank face seen so many times, they realized what was the true cause of the blue stone Aura gave them all those days ago.
The lapis lazuli stone was a weapon.
______________________________________________________________________
Kaiba opened his eyes. He could see that he was standing, but what he saw in his surroundings were not familiar.
There were columns and columns of marble everywhere, and in between each of them stood a door, each marked with a different symbol. He was in a long hallway, and at the very end of it, was a tablet.
'Where am I?' Thought Kaiba, as he walked forward toward the end of the hall. His head suddenly felt heaver than it was suppose to be. 'What. . .?' He held up his hands and placed it on his head. Instead of it landing on his head though, his hands felt soft velvety fabric. That was when he had enough sense to see what he was wearing.
'I wish I had a mirror.' He thought to himself. Suddenly, as if the hall was following his command, a mirror appeared in front of him out of thin air. Kaiba nearly jumped out of his skin. 'What is this?!' Deciding to figure it out later, he turned to the mirror to stare at his reflection.
He gasped in surprise as he saw that his normal trench coat attire changed to an entirely new one. He was wearing an Egyptian hat, complete with Egyptian royal robes, one that only a High Priest can wear.
He was surprised that he knew that much about Egyptian clothing. Kaiba never really had an interest in Egypt anyway. But what he was more worried about was how it actually came on him. Reaching forward to touch it, the mirror vanished into thin air, as quick as it appeared.
Deciding that once again he can figure it out later, Kaiba turned to his right, where a door with a picture of a cat was shown. Walking up to the door, he opened it.
On the other side of the door, there were miles and miles of sand everywhere. Wondering how he got out of the Healer's home, he stepped forward, but that only caused him to go forward at an exceedingly high speed, as Kaiba's new cape flapped wildly behind him. It seemed to go on for ages, and just when Kaiba thought he was going to throw up, it stopped, as Kaiba fell to the ground face down.
Swatting away invisible dust, he looked around. He was in an old Egyptian temple, with a large statue of Isis in the center of the room. Kaiba walked up to it, awed by its tall structure. He stayed there for a while, staring at the statue, until he felt something bump into his foot. He looked down, to see that it was a hard leather ball, old and dusty.
The sound of happy giggles filled the air, as Kaiba saw a small girl ran up and picked up the ball, laughing and staring up at him.
"Hallo!" the little girl said, laughing and waving at him, "Do you want to play with me?" She held out the ball, smiling widely.
Kaiba couldn't say anything, because he was too busy rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
This little girl looked EXACTLY like Aura at the age of 7. He remembered because they met before long ago, and she showed Kaiba a picture of her at the age of 7. He remembered her exact words to him, as she smiled sadly.
"This picture was taken before my mom and my little brother were murdered."
Aura looked up at him, her face curious. "Hallo? Mr.? Do you want to play?!" She tugged on Kaiba's robes.
"Aura," Kaiba said in disbelief.
"You know me?!" She asked, surprised.
"Uh. . . Not yet." He said, forcing a smile. 'This is gonna be harder than I thought.'
"I don't get it," Aura pouted, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. It was hard for Kaiba to believe that this was Aura as a child. The Aura he knew was tough as rock, and almost never puts on a smile or any kind of emotion.
"My name is Seto, how about that? See? Now you know me!" Kaiba said, smiling once more. He was astonished at his kindness toward the little girl.
Her pout disappearing, she said, "Seto?! That sounds familiar! Like. . . A cookie!"
"Cookie?" he asked, confused.
She nodded, saying, "Yup! Yup!" Suddenly a ring was heard in the distance, and then Young Aura said, "Auww. . . I have to go home now!" She turned and ran off, yelling to Kaiba, "Bye-bye, Cookie Seto!!"
'Why in the world did she say I was like a cookie?' Kaiba thought, with an annoyed expression on his face. Suddenly he remembered why.
~*~ Flashback ~*~ Kaiba Mansion 6 Years Ago
"If there is one thing to describe Seto, what would it be?" Mokuba asked Aura, as they sat on the couch in front of the TV, as Kaiba was busy studying on a table. Kaiba laid his eyes on Aura to see her answer.
Aura, chin on her hands, thought carefully.
"Uh, let's see. . . Smart. . . Quiet. . . Strict. . ." Aura pointed out one by one. Mokuba laughed at her answer.
"No, not like that Aura! I mean like a thing! Compare him with a thing!"
She was silent as a servant put down milk and cookies for Mokuba. Mokuba quickly dived to it, gobbling it up and tossing one to Kaiba.
"Here's a cookie Seto," said Mokuba happily.
"Cookie," repeated Aura. Mokuba looked at her strangely.
"Sorry, there no more, but I can get some!" said Mokuba apologetically.
"No, not that," She said, laying her arm down to Mokuba, "I mean that's what I think Seto is like. He's like a cookie." Kaiba almost fell down when he heard what she said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, SHIELDS?!" Kaiba yelled, using her father's last name in replacement for Aura's.
"What I mean is that you're like a cookie." said Aura calmly.
"Why you say that?" questioned Kaiba.
"A cookie, if left untreated, turns hard, and it is hard to get back to its nice, gooeyness. And if left like that, it can never go back to being soft." Aura answered. Kaiba was silent.
"But," She said, continuing, "A cookie is still a cookie. So if you bite hard enough into it, you'll be able to taste its sweet chocolate chips and cookie dough, which never changes, no matter how tough or hard it is."
~*~
He remembered that. That was one of the very few reasons why he still talked to her. Because she gave an actual compliment to him, and besides, if you think about it, Kaiba is like a cookie.
As he thought of this, Kaiba realized how much he owed to Aura. Maybe he should give her his thanks someday. But not in the near future.
Suddenly he felt a hand grab his cape, and throw him out of that room, and back into the hallway. He was thrown against the wall, as he fell and crumbled to the ground. He heard a sharp swish, and soon after he felt a searing pain on his back.
When he heard another swish, he quickly rolled to the side, as Kaiba heard a loud thunk near his foot.
"Who are you?!" A female voice said, as Kaiba stood kicked the woman in the stomach. The kick sent her flying across the hall, and straight into an opposing column.
Teeth grinding, the woman stood, staff in hand, charging to Kaiba. Taking a staff to his right, he ran to the woman, ready to strike.
The two staffs met in the air, as they each put all their strength into taking down the other.
"Who are you?!" Kaiba yelled to the woman.
"How dare you ask me, when you are the one who is trespassing!" Said the woman, who threw Kaiba to the wall once more. Running up to him, she held the staff against his neck, which made Kaiba choke for air.
"Are you a Shadow Monster, trying to portray my pupil, Set?" She accused, tightening her grip on the staff. "ANSWER ME!"
"M-My n-name is S-s-Seto Kaiba!" Kaiba said, taking his legs and kicking her across the hall once more. That was when he noticed that the woman was also wearing an Egyptian attire, robes only meant for royalty. Her face was covered with a hood.
Taking his own staff and pressing it against her own neck, he said, "Let's find out who you really are, shall we?!" He lifted the hood.
What he saw made him gasp. "Aura?!"
'Wait, this isn't Aura.' He thought to himself. This woman was way too tall for her, but the hairstyles are the same. The only problem was that this woman's hair was longer, and she didn't have the small golden bang on her forehead like Aura did. And her eyes. This woman's eyes have a more grey hue to it than the green.
"What are you?!" Kaiba yelled.
The woman pushed forward, causing Kaiba to fall backward and releasing his hold on the woman.
"I am Maeve, High Priestess of Egypt, sister of the Pharaoh, and Aura's Yami!"
To Be Continued. . .
Ok, got to hurry, cause my sister is strangling me right now. CALL THE POLICE!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, please review. Oh, and about Aura's dad, further info on him will appear in later chapters. For now, don't worry bout him.