Thankyou for all your motivation! I am trying to get my ideas down… but I know it's only happening slowly. Very slowly… I'm sorry I'm being such a jerk to you all.
The shadows were chased across the dunes as the brilliant gold of dawn touched the land, and soft breezes carried the first warmth of the day. The sandstorm was finally over, leaving devastation in its wake, but for now all was silent but for the whispers of the wind.
The early sunlight touched the skeletal remains of stone ruins, casting shadows and imparting slight warmth to the icy stones. No signs of wildlife yet graced this area of the desert, not even the distant shape of a bird overhead. Yet, remarkably, something stirred in the shelter of the ruins.
Shadi drew a ragged breath and nearly cried out as pain blossomed in his chest with cruel intensity. Trying to ignore his injuries and the immense fatigue that weighed in his muscles, he half-crawled, half-dragged himself to the wall displaying the ominous glyphs he had examined the night before. Reaching his goal, he collapsed for a moment and gathered his strength.
The desert night even claimed those who were whole and healthy, and he was far from it. Yet he lived, still. Shadi closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cold stone floor, drawing the dusty air in deep breaths. He always lived. For that was his curse and his duty, was it not? To live… until the duty was done. And it was not done yet.
With a shuddering gasp of effort, he cast a hand upwards to touch at a particular symbol on the wall, and then a second symbol, and a third. His arm was shaking now, and a cold sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead, but he managed to place his palm over a large central symbol and hold it there as it began to glow.
Just because he could no longer call upon the power of his millennium items did not mean that no magic was at his disposal. The glow seemed to swirl into the air about him, and with a flash the robed man disappeared.
'Left or right.'
'Left.'
…
'Left or right.'
'Right.'
…
'Left or…'
'Left.'
All in all, the small group's progress through the maze would have been considerably smoother if Yugi had led them through, being the only one with extensive knowledge of the monsters in Yami's – and his – deck. As it was, a surge of bravado led Joey and Tristan to strike out in front of the others at a pace that Yugi, having shorter legs, Bakura, still recovering from injury, and Tea, who lagged behind to lend aid to the other two, could not match. Of course, that was their idea – by going first they would activate any other traps and protect the others. Tea had argued about 'pointless heroism' but could do little to stop them, and Kaiba seemed to not care. However, at each fork in the maze, they were forced to wait for the rest of the group and have Yugi pick their path.
'…'
'Left.'
Despite the inspirational speeches moments ago, hunger and fatigue were starting to take their toll on the travellers. The last of Tea's rations had been used up hours ago, and now the prospect of starvation was pressing at the edges of their thoughts. A dreary silence had settled over them, born of exhaustion.
So much so that, when Joey gave a whoop of triumph at the next fork and began racing ahead with a burst of impossible energy, it took several seconds for the others to realise what was happening.
'It's the way out! It's the way out! Dear God, it's daylight!' he crowed, raising his fists in victory.
Slowly grins of realisation crept onto the faces of the others, and they too found unknown reserves of energy to cheer out loud.
Tea raised her hands to her mouth and tried hard to keep from weeping in joy. They were free! The ordeal was over! Awaiting them past the glow of daylight was water and fresh air and food… and of course Mr Motou and Professor Hawkins, who must be worried about them being down in that crypt so long…
Down?
'Wait!' she cried out frantically. 'How can there be daylight when we're still underground?'
Her words fell on deaf ears. Joey was barely a metre away from the light, and with a final cheer greeted it with open arms.
His hands met stone, and the light died.
A stunned 'What the…' managed to pass his lips before a loud cracking sound and an eruption of ancient dust engulfed them from both sides.
'What's going on?' coughed Tristan.
'I tried to tell you!' Tea choked out over the dust. 'We went down stairs but we never came up!'
'Oh no…' Yugi's voice came drifting through the clouds, although Tea still couldn't actually see him yet. 'I think we… went the wrong way…' he sounded as though he still wasn't quite sure that it could have happened, but the panic in his voice was increasing.
'W-What?' Tea stammered, trying to clear the dust with sweeping motions of her hand, but it only swirled around her and got in her eyes, which were tearing up so she could see even less. That was a figure over there, wasn't it? It was too tall to be Yugi, but maybe it was Tristan… or Bakura…
'Guys? Say something, I can't find you!' she coughed, stumbling in the direction of the shadow. 'Guys?'
She looked up at the figure that still hadn't moved or said anything, and too late heard a little voice inside that said maybe we aren't the only things here anymore and observed that the figure was actually too tall to be any of her friends…
All she managed was a strangled whimper of terror as the glow of two red points of light pierced the dust. Eyes? Her legs finally unfroze and she backed away as quickly as she could, trying to ignore panicky memories of something in the darkness of stone that could see her but not touch her and was quite definitely not human…
Suddenly she backed into something, and gave a yelp as it grabbed her around the shoulders. Just as she was preparing to bring her elbows back sharply a thankfully familiar voice hissed in her ear 'Relax, Tea! It's me!'
'Bakura…thank God…' she gasped, momentary relief washing over her. 'There's something… over there, and… oh, no…'
The dust was finally settling, revealing the red-eyed monster.
It was immense. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, if a human were crafted out of muscle and horn and malice. The red eyes glared from under a Neanderthal brow, and large, elongated fangs glistened terribly in its maw of a mouth. And it was absolutely, terrifyingly solid.
For a moment, nobody dared breathe.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Tea saw someone move. Ever so slowly, Kaiba was bending down to pick up a chunk of the tablet that had shattered. She had almost forgotten he was there… and when he spoke, his voice was tense and low.
'On the count of three, everyone run for it.'
The creature seemed to shift its gaze over to him with a ripple of muscles, but it still did not move. Tea frowned in confusion. Why? Why hasn't it attacked yet?
Just then she noticed something behind it. Joey was still at the wall, trapped between solid stone and the giant muscle-bound monster that took up nearly the entire path. He caught her eye and make emphatic hand signals telling her to look the other way. Don't let it know I'm here!
With as little movement as possible, she managed to look back at Kaiba. He knew Joey was back there, didn't he?
'One…'
Maybe he didn't. 'Kaiba!' she whispered urgently.
'Two…'
Behind her, she heard Tristan hiss 'Don't worry, Joey knows what he's doing!'
The monster opened its mouth and inhaled the dusty air deeply. The mass of teeth shone disgustingly, and it looked like it could attack at any second. Tea made a quick mental prayer. Please, please let Kaiba have a good plan…and may this monster be really dumb…
'Three!'
The rock flew fast and accurately into the maw of the monster, and several loud cracks and crunches indicated the damage it had done to those terrible teeth. The creature let out a howl of pain and brought its paws up to its ruined mouth. Dark blood dripped down with fragments of tooth as it gave another scream of rage and lumbered forward.
This was the instant Joey had been waiting for. He sprinted at the hulking form, and when it had been preoccupied with its injury had thrown himself backward at the last second. He slid between the trunk-like legs of the creature like a runner sliding into home base, and was up and dashing a second later.
Aware that something had gotten by it, the monster swung its head about with deep howls that were punctuated with harsh choking noises as it inhaled blood. It lashed out in all directions with powerful forearms, chasing after whatever had eluded it.
The others had turned and run as soon as they saw Kaiba's throw hit, but monster was surprisingly fast now that it was angered and they were losing ground.
'I think you just made it mad!' panted Bakura as Kaiba and Joey drew level.
Kaiba scowled. 'Turn here!' he shouted as the fork they'd missed before in the excitement of freedom came up.
As a group they rounded the corner, and were suddenly brought up short. A dead end blocked their escape.
'No!' cried Joey, and probably would have used further expletives proclaiming their situation as hopeless if a hand had not clapped over his mouth. Ignoring the panicky, incredulous and in Joey's case, furious, looks he received Kaiba placed a finger against his lips and motioned towards the corridor they had just left.
Grunts and growls became louder as they listened, and in a terrifying instant the dark form of the creature appeared at the corner. Yet as they stared, petrified, it shook its head about and made choking noises. There was a tinkle as a fragment of tooth, coated in dark blood, hit the floor, but the monster didn't advance. Amazingly, it was just metres away. They could even smell its terrible, sweaty odour, but it didn't seem to know that they were there.
Slowly, Kaiba palmed a fragment of stone he had slipped into his pocket. When the monster's head turned momentarily he flung it out into the alternate pathway with a sharp clatter. Instantly the creature roared and tore down in the direction of the stone.
Moments passed, and the growls faded somewhat. Still no one spoke, but Yugi turned to look at the dead end of the passageway. He hadn't been wrong, this was the right way. The stone blocking their way wasn't a monster tablet, though. It looked like the same sort of stone as the entrance in Arthur's chamber, black and flawlessly smooth.
His hands found the golden weight at his chest. The millennium puzzle had opened that door, hadn't it? Maybe it would work on this stone too… if it was even a door. It couldn't hurt to try, right? He bit his lip in apprehension. Considering where they were, it probably could. However, they were pretty much out of options.
He pressed the puzzle to the wall, and once again the imprint of a golden eye was left on the stone. It flared briefly, and vanished. Suddenly, the whole stone slab shuddered and fell into the floor with a tremendous thud.
When he looked back everyone was staring.
Suddenly self-conscious, he gave a small embarrassed cough. 'I… think I, uh, found a way out.'
Before anyone could comment, a tormented howl echoed through the maze.
'Let's go! Now!' yelled Kaiba, and the group rushed through the newly-created opening. A quick glance revealed that they were, indeed, finally beyond the outer walls of the maze, and a few metres away a large entrance was set into the stone of the chamber. At least twice as wide as the passageways they had travelled before, it was door-less and showed the beginning of a stairway leading upwards.
Not pausing for breath, they took the steps at a run until they couldn't go on.
Kaiba motioned for them all to be silent, and when the panting breaths had quietened he gave a brisk nod.
'It's not following. It probably can't leave the maze.'
With a sigh of relief and exhaustion they slumped against the walls of the stairway.
'Okay, what the heck happened there?' asked Joey angrily. 'Why didn't it attack us?'
He directed this at Kaiba, automatically suspecting that he knew everything and was only withholding the information to annoy everyone in general and Joey in particular.
Kaiba gave a smug smile, managing to look as proud and dignified as ever despite having just run up a flight of stairs.
'It's blind, isn't it?' came Bakura's quiet exclamation. 'It didn't move until it heard us! And all that panting… it was tasting the air, like snakes do.'
Tea looked at him in amazement. 'Tasting the air?'
'Yes, smelling us out. But after Kaiba broke its mouth it couldn't taste anything but blood!'
Joey shook his head and grimaced. 'I dunno about all this smelling with your mouth stuff, but we're out of the damn maze so I'm not gonna worry about it.'
Kaiba scowled. 'Of course not. Do you ever think twice, or even once, about anything? You could have gotten us all killed just then!'
Joey flushed with anger, but his eyes showed that the core of it was at himself for being tricked. Having a debt to Kaiba for getting them out of there was not sitting well.
'Hey, give him a break, dude! Most of us were running into that same trap, he just got there first!' Tristan argued.
Kaiba shrugged icily. 'Whatever.'
He turned to continue up the stairs, the movement making his somewhat dusty jacket flair in the dead air.
'Hey, Kaiba?' Tea asked tentatively.
He stopped.
'Thanks.'
There was a moment of silence, but Kaiba continued up the stairs as if he hadn't heard. Tea smiled. 'Okay guys!' she rallied. 'Each stair we climb gets us one step closer to freedom!'
'And rescuing Yami!' added Yugi.
'And FOOD!' chorused Tristan and Joey.
As one tired, worn and hungry group, they climbed up into the shadows.
That took me about a week to write, but its done! I have just realised that I have over one hundred reviews! (Although considering how long this is taking me to write, it's not very surprising).
Most of them are telling me to update, but I am going to try and reply to some of them. Just to prove I'm still alive, and so on.
Game Lover: Thanks! I'm trying! Very trying, I'm sure. Ha ha… okay, perhaps I shall stay away from humor. Thankyou for reviewing!
Anime Lover: You do not know how much of a service you do me with your constant prods to update. This chapter would certainly not be up right now, that's for sure. During the any number of times that I find myself doubting this story and my abilities as a writer, your reviews remind me that at least one person thinks I should continue. Thankyou so much! …What consequences? Do I want to know? (gulp)
Yugismpuzzle: My number 1 reviewer! You and Anime Lover make a good team! Between you, my lazy ass has little hope! Especially, your reviews renew my tenuous faith in my writing (although I don't know about a movie… but I do like money!). I am very sorry that I make you rant at me, but without you I probably would have abandoned this story. Thankyou for your faith!
!!!!!: Interesting name, are you easily excited? To tell you the truth, I have been avoiding the issue of Marik and Yami Marik, because when I started this story I didn't know much about either character. I have been picturing Marik as he was before the evil in him emerged as a separate consciousness… more ambitious than outright evil. This story is already out of continuity anyway, so unless I think up a good reason that is the way he will remain. Think AU. As for Yami Bakura… well, you'll see. Just because he's eager to exact revenge on Yami doesn't mean that he doesn't have his own schemes brewing…
Jadeyuy: Sorry for making you cry! I know, I'm a jerk, but here is a new chapter (finally)! I should be scared? Oh dear…
Kristine: You make me blush! All I can say is that the good guys will be okay, so don't worry.
Kage Onny: Right to the point, aren't you! Well, I have, so I hope you like it.
The-fallen-yuckbutt: Another interesting name. There is probably a funny story behind it, yes? I was hanging my head in shame for making everyone wait for so damn long, but then Uni started and I did the same thing! I will get my act together soon, hopefully.
Blue September: Thanks! After all the gore in this chapter I don't know about 'beautiful work' but I'm glad you enjoy my story so far!
Fox-Demon-Makki: Yup, I live! Don't worry about spoilers; I know what happens in the manga. I really liked the ending, it was so sweet! Atemu is a better name than Yami, I think, but for the context of this story I have to write Yami. Oh well. Thankyou for reviewing!
Anime-Blade: Sorry for pissing you off! Does this chapter make amends?
Shandrial: Thanks! I'll try and hurry up a bit on the next chapter!