Eye Gate Deep 06
"Shimmer and Clocks"
By Elanor Pam
Yay, l I've got Warcraft III too ^____^ But that's off the point. I began this chapter at September 22, 2002. Just keeping track, you know.
September 25, 2002: Had a lil' surgery… nothing big, don't worry ^__^
Disclaimer: Not this again… *moans*
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was 11:43 pm.
Not the best time to walk around, they knew.
But Sugoroku, Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda and Yuugi were walking around anyway. At the dark street, all of them looked like silhouettes between the lampposts, brown autumn leaves showering around them.
Anzu shot a glance at Yuugi's face, finding sad eyes downcast. Still, she kept quiet. They both knew it was the best thing to do.
The school clock ticked loudly in the night's silence, as they stopped in front of the main gate. The street was completely dark, and no light post was on. It seemed there was a blackout.
Whispers could be clearly heard.
"Hey, and if it has an alarm or something? Don't, don't, you son of…"
"Now, stop it, dude, it's okay. Look, it's open. And there's no light, anyway…"
They opened the gate as silently as they could, slipped past it and closed the gate again. Stealthily (or not, in an old man's case), they crossed the main yard towards the building's door. They found nobody, what made Anzu frown.
The building's door was opened, sending a ray of twilight into the hall behind it. 'So far, so good', some of their minds were commenting by then. They crept in, tiptoeing, to hear the sound of wind whispering inside air passages, leaves hitting hard on windows, and a deafening silence… Anzu didn't smile at that apparent victory. It seemed she was the only one to notice there was no sign of life around… but Yuugi had, too.
He gulped, walking even more quietly and carefully, if that was possible. The small but potent engines inside his brain kept on turning and twisting, while he gathered and piled each of the pieces of this little puzzle he had just faced; question by question popped in his mind like little bubbles, while he took note of them for future references, if more weirdness happened…
Suddenly a loud click was heard, and they almost jumped out of their skins when Sugoroku's lantern shot a beam of light on the first set of stairs.
Something reflected the light, shining from one of the steps of the stairs. For a moment, all legs were heavy like lead, and the first one to recover enough to go there and pick the sparkling object was Anzu.
A watch. A very expensive watch. Sparkling new, digital numbers shining, but the screen was cracked. The seconds slipping away, small numbers at the corner of the little screen, increasing more and more… until they reached zero – and the clock reached midnight.
It started beeping loudly, as if it was an alarm bringing them back to reality; they jumped out of a trance, and Anzu dropped the little machine on the floor, as if it had burnt her. Yuugi picked the clock and started fumbling with it desperately, while they looked at all sides, waiting for someone to jump at them, and Sugoroku quickly turned his lantern off.
Yuugi managed to make it stop, and they all sighed with relief.
"Maaaan, I thought we were done for" Jounouchi's voice was shaking, while he wiped some sweat. "Strange that nobody came here to look for the watch."
"Yes, very strange" Anzu wondered.
"I mean" Jounouchi kept on, without really noticing that nobody was paying attention ", this watch is new, apart from the crack, that probably happened when it fell on the floor; of course the owner must be looking for it like crazy! It's very expensive, I saw the price for one of those just the other day!"
"Jounouchi-kun" called Yuugi, lifting his head to look at him. All of them turned at his strange tone, and were surprised to find a big smile. "You're so sharp!"
Honda sputtered, laughing. "Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious!!"
"I'm serious" the smaller one interrupted, to be once more the center of attention. "This is an expensive and new watch, and nobody would let it drop on the floor like that; also, this place looks completely empty, even after all the noise we made. Didn't you notice this is all wrong?"
All the males shot him exasperatingly blank looks, but, as that was Yuugi, he didn't get exasperated. Anzu sighed, looked at the smaller boy meaningfully, and started explaining things.
"When we arrived, the lights were off on the whole street, the gate and the door were opened, and this watch was on the floor, forgotten. But, if there is no one around, how come the door and the gate are opened? And if there's really someone here, shouldn't the lights be on? It's completely dark. If there's any problem with electricity, shouldn't there had been at least three people checking the power box, outside, when we arrived?"
She stopped for a moment, to see if they were understanding. They said nothing, but she knew they were. Yuugi was just smiling, admiring her, and it made her somewhat uncomfortable.
"Of course, they can have some kind of problem that prevents them from coming downstairs," she kept on "But, still, they'd obviously try to call the repairing service, or at least turn the emergency lights on. Why haven't they done that until now? And also all the questions Jounouchi made about the clock apply. After hearing the alarm, the owner should have come here to retrieve it. But he didn't come, and we can only arrive to a conclusion…" her voice trailed, and she looked at her companions again.
"Something happened," Yuugi completed it for her. "And we're not going to like it."
"Oh, God…" Jounouchi put his hand on his eyes, and walked a few steps away, coming back again as if overcoming an impulse. "Ri-ight, wha, what do we do now?" his voice quivered noticeably.
"Go back home?" Sugoroku's whisper sounded heart-breakingly hopeful.
Yuugi didn't need to lift his head much to look into his grandfather's eyes, but still, when he did it, Sugoroku's heart squeezed. In the dim light, he had looked just like his mother when she was little… he missed those times.
"If you all want to, you can go back…" he whispered, smiling sweetly.
A silent cheer spread through the group.
"…but I'm staying here."
The cheer got out of tune and died, as they looked at him incredulously.
"You – here – alone??" Honda muttered, his eyes seeming to shine in the dark, so wide they were.
"NO WAY!!!" whispered Jounouchi, angrily, making an effort not to shout. "Last time you stepped on that tile you passed out, remember?"
"Yuugi, you are the one that shouldn't be here, do you think I would leave you here?!?" asked Sugoroku, angrily.
Anzu breathed, trembling. She was at a loss of words.
'Always, you're like this always…'
"I can't help," said Yuugi, smiling. "On that place appeared a ghost that scared Jounouchi-kun very much…"
"Who said he scared me??!" bellowed the blond boy, his knees shaking.
"You told me that, just a week ago" the boy smiled at him. "You said that you're afraid of weird things that reminded you of ghosts, like silhouettes, leaning over your friends…"
'Always remembering… always so kind…'
"And," his eyes were shining in the dim light, and he had an expression disturbingly like a person would have when talking about the greatest treasure of a lifetime "Jounouchi-kun is my friend; one of these three friends I could have never expected having, nor deserved having…"
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS CRAP YOU'RE SAYING!!" Jounouchi had to be held by Honda, but his voice was heavy and hoarse; it wasn't really a surprise when he wiped a tear from his eye, pulling his arm away from Honda fiercely.
Yuugi noticed it; he blinked once, and smiled again. It was amazing how many feelings he could express in a single smile…
'Always so caring and compassionate…'
"I can't let these ghosts make my friends worry about me, you know…"
Anzu wiped her eyes, as she had been doing for the last minute, and leaned down to his face. "But it's so late, don't you think? It's past midnight, we should go sleep. Tomorrow we have school…"
"It's not midnight yet" said him, showing her his own clock. It said 23:54.44.
"But" Honda stammered, and gulped the knot in his throat, "that clock is new. It can't be already malfunctioning… unless it was because it fell and…"
"Maybe" Yuugi shrugged. "Or it was set up to be ten minutes beyond. I usually do that with my alarm clock. Helps me get up on time…" he smiled sheepishly.
"Why would someone do that with a wrist-watch?" asked Jounouchi, suddenly. "If it was an alarm clock, it'd be understandable, but a wrist-watch? And set it to play on midnight of all hours?"
Their chat was brusquely cut short.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
They jumped, startled. The shout seemed to have come from upstairs…
They looked at each other for a second – just a second –, wide eyed, and no words were needed.
They all ran up the set of stairs, panting; there was nobody on the first floor. Kicking each other's heels, they scrambled to the next staircase, finding nothing at the second floor either.
Yuugi blinked. Was it just him or could some kind of humming be heard?
They started running up to the third floor, while Yuugi asked himself just what the heck was happening – but, whatever they were imagining, definitely wasn't that…
About ten people were fallen on the floor along the corridor, out cold. Haruno, her long black hair disheveled, a ribbon fallen on a shoulder, long skirt slightly torn, held an arm in front of her scared face, protectively. The headmaster was standing in the middle of the corridor, his face showing surprise and annoyance. In front of him, and with her back turned to the amateur detectives, was Suzuki-sensei.
She was pointing a gun to the headmaster's face.
"You, that just arrived, stay where you are!" she shouted, without turning to them. "I'm sure none of you want a bullet in the face." they heard her chuckle. "I'm sorry I can't turn to greet you like a polite person should, but I can't let this son of a bitch slip past me, you know. He isn't very trustworthy."
All of them were wide-eyed. Haruno looked to the headmaster, to the teacher, and to the group, and back to the teacher.
Nobody noticed the little smile on her lips.
"Su-Su-Suzuki-sensei…" Jounouchi tried to say anything. "Why… why… why are you pointing a gun at the Principal's face?"
For a moment, she said nothing. Then, she slowly turned to them, wide-eyed.
"K-Katsuya-kun?" she blinked, incredulous. "Yuugi-kun, too, and Hiro…"
She was pulled roughly, her gun taken from her hand; the headmaster pointed it at her face, holding her by the neck. He laughed, in a way no student, regardless of how much he or she hated him, would ever be able to imagine.
"So, if it isn't the pair of party-poopers, Hiroto Honda and Katsuya Jounouchi," he said dryly, regarding the wide-eyed group with contempt. "My plan was working wonderfully, but then you had the damned idea of taping my spy when he was being… overprotective, I can say. I didn't really think he was the one who was beating students up; my only way out was to send him to the bars, using your tapes as proof."
He stepped back, still gripping the teacher, that seemed to be suffocating. "Today was an important day… I have been waiting for it for the last twenty years – but then you two come and spoil everything again, good riddance. And brought reinforcements, to top it off… well, I have reinforcements too, don't I, Miss Takasugi?"
The woman in question blinked some times, looked at the disbelieving faces of the newly arrived group and laughed sheepishly, showing the tip of her tongue as if she was a child caught playing a prank.
"Y, you…" Yuugi walked a step, his eyes showing hurt. "But, but…"
"Well, that's true…" she looked to the side, shyly, as if there wasn't a woman being choked just there. "He hired me to take care of the gate, since it was work for someone with brains and not brawn…" she smiled, disconcertingly like Yuugi's innocent smile. "Also, I'll be the translator, you know. He'll need one…"
Suzuki managed to lessen the grip in her neck. "Everybody… RUN AWAY!! THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THIS LAST M--"
Yuugi's digital watch bipped midnight.
"Wha—" the headmaster opened his mouth, but it was too late.
The tile shot a light to the ceiling, and an eye could be clearly seen on the beam. Each of the tiles started shining, quickly, until the whole third floor was engulfed by golden light, and all the present people seemed to be swallowed by it…
~~*~~*~~
A brown-haired woman woke up suddenly. She was in a plane cabin, the sky outside spattered with blinking stars.
A man by her side woke up too, at the same time. He looked at his companion, a questioning look.
"A strange dream…" she muttered, apologetically. "It seemed very real."
An air stewardess approached them. "Should I bring you something?" she asked her.
"No, thanks" the woman dismissed her with a wave of her hand.
The man looked at her seriously, as if no words were needed. She nodded, and he nodded also. He kissed her forehead, and the two went back to sleep.
~~*~~*~~
It's not everyday that you get to be standing on shining tiles. So, the general reaction of the small crowd was understandable…
All of them jumped some 80 centimeters high.
"What…!!" Sugoroku held Yuugi, that had lost equilibrium with the surprise. The boy's backpack opened, spilling a bunch of objects around… including an open box with a lot of golden pieces scattering around…
"My puzzle!!" he shouted, bending down to pick them up. The other teens bowed down to help him, putting his objects inside his bag, while Yuugi held the puzzle box where they dropped the pieces. While they were at that, Sugoroku looked at the nearby battle.
Suzuki-sensei had managed to kick the Headmaster's leg, making him fall on the floor, face-first. Haruno only looked, eyes wide and scared. Suzuki reached out for the gun – only to have it kicked by the principal. They scrambled to get to it, the principal stepping on Suzuki's leg – she took out her shoe – he jumped to the gun – she tossed it against the gun, that slid towards the busy teens…
"Careful, you!!" She shouted, but it was too late…
Someone grabbed Haruno's arm.
Sugoroku pulled her to face him, with surprising strength for a man of his age. She pulled her arm free from his grip and backed to the wall, her eyes hazy and wide, mouth open. She was definitely scared of the old man. Not the sweet innocent fear of before; this time, it was serious fear.
She was sweating a little, her incredibly smooth face showing no paleness, though. Still, her red-brown eyes showed what her face wouldn't – panic. In them, it could be almost read "Why him of all people, why him of all people…"
He looked into her eyes, pitilessly, red-brown into red-brown.
"Tell me what do you have to do with all this," his voice was menacing.
She trembled. He looked at her intently…
His eyes widened. "You… you are…"
A hand grabbed the gun, pointing it to the headmaster's face.
"Not so fast, uncle" Honda smiled smugly.
The golden light around them faded.
All eyes widened.
~~*~~*~~
Someone smiled. Long, flowing wavy hair flied as it flew; it was sure that some other person was following everything as well.
It frowned.
'If only he would stop grieving… but I guess he will be happier soon enough, at least if he doesn't get happy today. A lot of surprises are in store for the underground world…'
It smiled again, naughtily as a child preparing a prank.
~~*~~*~~
On the wall, visible to everybody, was an enormous carved eye.
"Wha… what?" the headmaster gaped, forgetting the gun.
"The eye of Horus…" marveled Sugoroku, while Haruno, by his side, smiled in wonder, looking at it as if her dream had come true.
Yuugi looked at the carved wall, holding his breath.
That eye – drawn in his notebook, long, long ago…
That eye – in his grandfather's books…
That eye – in some long forgotten dreams…
That eye – burnt on the face of the leader of that gang…
What he felt wasn't fear, panic or terror; he felt like he was naked, his very core open to the world, as if that eye could look inside his soul…
"Look, Yuugi!" Jounouchi's voice snapped him back to reality. "It's just like the eye in this piece!"
They all turned to see him pick the piece from the floor. It was the last piece – all of the others were inside the box between Yuugi's hands.
The floor disappeared under them, as if a trap door had been opened.
~~*~~*~~
Anzu blinked, baffled.
In one moment, she was at school; a second later, in a completely dark corridor. What was it that was so strange in corridors?? Why should they all be so creepy? She could barely see the walls in the dim light that came from wherever.
"Y… Yuugi…?" she didn't dare raising her voice. "Are you okay?
Only echoes answered her. She grew even more nervous.
"Yuugi, are you there? Yuugi? Yuugi! Yuugi, where are you? YUUGI!!! JOUNOUCHI!! HONDA!! MUTOU-SAN!!"
She turned to all sides, desperately, shouting, all carefulness forgotten. Seeing nothing but stonewalls, she started running down the corridor, away from the weak light. Tripping at unseen cracks on the floor, she reached out to her side, feeling the wall brush at her fingers. Her desperate footsteps echoed, sounding like drums, and she could feel cracks rush past her fingers on the wall…
Suddenly she heard a sickening thud, and felt herself being thrown back. She tried getting up, but her head hut so much she was seeing stars.
After some minutes sprawled on the floor, she came to a conclusion. She had hit a wall headfirst.
Then, she slipped into nothingness.
~~*~~*~~
Jounouchi looked around wildly. He was… somewhere with stone walls, the floor shone faintly around him, he could see something creepy some meters ahead and feel the wind blow behind him.
His knees suddenly turned into jelly, bonking against the floor.
He had no idea how long he had been standing, frozen.
Cold fingers started to grip and tear inside his mind, the darkness swirling and drowning him…
He tried to be rational, to think…
'Gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gi…'
Bad time to get a malfunctioning brain.
Unconsciously, his hands gripped his hair, his eyes widening in terror…
He tried to get a grip on himself, crawling on the floor to a wall and leaning against it. His entire body quivered, his jaw was shaking, and he felt himself drown more and more in the cold…
"C-cold" he whispered, as a small plead for help.
Tears escaped from his eyes, while he pulled his blond hair…
He was in panic. Sheer, irrational panic.
"C-cold…"
Something fell from his hand, bouncing on the floor, shimmering lightly. He looked towards the light, desperate to see something…
Yuugi's puzzle piece.
And, at least for Jounouchi's troubled mind, the eye seemed to look understandingly at him.
He picked it between his hands, letting some odd relief wash over him.
~~*~~*~~
Honda blinked as he saw a flickering light, not very far from where he was.
He had seen himself in the middle of a corridor, some faint light coming from the floor under his feet (just like all the others); he should have panicked or something, but, after all he had seen until then, he decided not to think too hard about it, and rather think of a way to find everybody.
For lack of a better idea, he took a shoe, spun it around and started walking towards the direction it had pointed to. Now, he could finally see light… he started running.
Suddenly, the light went off, as if someone had hurriedly put it off. And, to make things stranger, he saw another light – weaker – start shining, much farther down the tunnel.
Swearing a bit, he started running towards it.
~~*~~*~~
Sugoroku looked around, marveled. He pointed the very useful flashlight at another point in the wall, seeing another crack. The walls were completely made of stone, naked stone, shining brown under the light; here and there, there were torches blackened, as if they had burned down, or a small crack, as if the place had barely felt the very common earthquakes that annoyed Domino (and the whole Japan) now and then.
So, there was an underground passage, with an opening at the school… interesting. And she knew it too. That little rascal…
Now that he knew about it, he thought he could understand some things. Frowning, he started to piece each of the clues, and, as an image formed into his head, his eyes widened and widened…
So, it certainly had something to do with, with…
…with that true rascal. No, it couldn't… it couldn't be true… he had left her forever…
But still, it had to do with the Underground, he was sure of it. And the Underground was somewhat related to him, wasn't it? Although it wouldn't necessarily involve him…
Suddenly, the beam of light stopped on an Egyptian Eye, carved on the wall, in front of him, that turned into a corner. The flashlight dropped on the floor.
"Horus' eye… sure!!" Sugoroku breathed out, eyes completely wide. Of course! Why didn't he notice it earlier?
'So it's about… so she plans on… or maybe she knows something I don't… then…'
Trembling, he picked the flashlight back, quickening his pace.
'Where's Yuugi in all this? He's directly related to everything… although he has no idea of it.' He bit his lip, worried. 'He's holding the Puzzle… if only he had solved it, I'd be much less worried! But that's not in his control, even if he has the capacity to solve much harder puzzles… since that Puzzle requires something else, besides capacity. It requires…'
~~*~~*~~
"…our souls…"
Haruno looked at the notepad she held, and back at the hieroglyphs on the tablet.
It sure was hard to find anything worth looking inside those damned tunnels, since there were only some eyes here and there, and it started to get annoying. But suddenly she ran into a tablet fallen on the floor. It was a bit cracked, but in good conditions, and now she was just translating what she could make out with the faint little fire she had managed to flare a torch with.
It seemed to have been hung on the wall, but probably some earthquake had dropped it. Although some pieces were scattered, the most important part – the writing itself – was in a single piece, intact.
"Hm-hm, hm-hm…" she muttered to herself, as she kept on taking notes. That tablet was, to put it mildly, interesting.
Very, very interesting.
On the Time before Time, when magic was raw and free, a soul was torn and sealed as a sacrifice… sacrifice that sealed magic under the wings of a powerful will; now, one need to have at least a speck of that great will, if this one wants to touch the surface of this ocean there is inside each of us.
In this tablet is engraved the prophecy that was made by The One back then: "The universe is Infinite because it's one and not two; someday, all souls shall be infinite. That is going to be when magic shall be open to all the hearts that wish to reach it."
And with sad words all things blew apart, leaving only a wasteland of sadness and death and tears for the fallen ones – oh, fallen ones! Letting yourselves be drowned and choked by your own nightmares of power, you have destroyed more than you'd ever dare to… and the torn sacrifices, of pain sacrifices, lay on the red-spilled sand cloaked in gold; when will be the wound in those souls healed? Time shall come when the tears won't have to fall, though, till then, they are destined to quench the thirsty throat of justice… oh, sacrifices! Even if needed, never shall them be fair!
Us that are doomed to stay behind… we shall be waiting for our souls to become infinite, and wish that no more sacrifices shall be needed. Because that was the sad end of the Time before Time, and since then only the darkness of ignorance has reigned… even between us, the Memory Keepers.
She sighed as she read over her work. Sad words, sad tablet. She had no idea when was the "Time before time", though; it seemed to have a religious connotation, but she'd better not be so sure. It also talked about magic… raw and free, uh. Those should have been fun times. But someone sacrificed him or herself to seal that magic, and to be able to use it, a person needed to spend a little more calories… well, probably it was needed at the time.
She read it again, and blinked.
'It looks like some paragraphs are missing…' she looked at the tablet again. 'But the tablet doesn't look damaged, it's complete…'
She thought for a moment, and started to copy the symbols of the stone in another sheet of her pad. She had the feeling that tablet was just the piece of a greater puzzle… and, if she couldn't carry it with her, she should at least carry a copy of it to compare.
Her limited knowledge allowed her to make some hypothesis about the meaning of that story on the tablet, but, still, she decided not to think too hard about it.
Also, the Memory Keepers; she knew those kind. Although she liked to think of herself as a memory keeper, since she researched history and all, they were very different from her, and she didn't like them that much.
He wasn't a Memory Keeper in the sense those words were given, but, in a way, he kept a lot of important memories; principally memories from the Underground. Gosh, thinking about him made her blood boil!…
'Damned sonuvabitch, bastard, runaway… you took the most precious thing we had… and, to make things worse, you left something that we wouldn't be able to live without… crap, although I should feel grateful for you, I only hate you. Do you have any idea of what you did? I doubt so. You ran away too quickly. I don't think you'd even care. Bastard.'
She finished copying the tablet, and put the notepad under her shirt, held against her skin by the skirt. Picking the torch from the wall, she turned sharply, long dark skirt flowing around her.
That was when she saw something running towards her.
Unimpressed, she lifted a hand, ready to strike using whatever came in her mind, should *it* try anything weird against her.
Her eyes went wide. Quickly, she put off the fire, drowning into darkness.
Another light suddenly appeared, far behind her. She shrunk against the wall, faintly seeing a person run past her, reaching out for the faraway shimmer.
'That's not a torch or flashlight…' she thought, narrowing her eyes.
~~*~~*~~
Yuugi blinked and looked around, baffled, still holding the box between his hands. He was… in something that looked like a square room with a heavy-looking door just in front of him. It was difficult to be sure, since the place was dark and could only be faintly seen by the twilight that seemed to come from the floor.
His insides twitched a little; he had remembered another time, when he had stood like an idiot in a dark alley, with that same box between his hands. The difference was that, then, he was too weak to move. Now, he was too afraid to move.
He gulped, and stepped forward slowly. As nothing jumped to pounce on him, he eased a bit (just a bit), sitting on the floor, stiffly. Shakily, he put the box on the floor. Then, the question of the century hit him with all its might:
'What… WHAT DO I DO NOW?!?!?!?!?!?'
Panting in panic, he looked around. No windows, no signs, no nothing, no nada. Only the door. Trembling, he got up and walked to the door, almost like a hurrying non-oiled weak-battery robot. He pushed it; it was just like pushing the Everest Mountain.
Yuugi felt himself slowly slide to the floor, shaking. Probably the door should be pulled, but there was nothing to pull it with; he could only hope someone would push the door from the outside. Holding on to that pseudo-hope, he crawled back to the center of the room, where the light was coming from, and sat beside the box with the puzzle.
At least he was feeling more waken up than he had the whole day, and he doubted he'd be passing out again anytime soon. On the other side, he could still feel that strange humming in the air – yes, feel; it was no sound. Some kind of vibration that was scaring him, making his hairs stand, his heartbeat fast with adrenaline… he'd better find something to do while he waited, or he'd get crazy.
He reached to the box by his side, without really looking at what he was doing, and felt two of the pieces touch his hand; he picked them from the box, snapping them together absent-mindedly.
He almost dropped them when they started to shimmer.
~*~*~*~*~*~
October 14, 2002: Nyeheheh… evil cliff! This chapter was particularly hard, not just because I have to study (since I haven't, at least not like I should), but because I tripped on some little blocks along the way and it was hard to find a way around them. Anyway, I managed, here we are with chappie 6.
I'm happy today because I downloaded Bright Eyes, from Blind Guardian. Waaah!! ^___^ And in this chapter we find a lotta things to think about, eh? FINALLY we arrived at the main thing. Yeah, since I wrote TGLoA I've had the intention of making the third floor an entrance to a tunnel. And here enters the name I decided for my Alternate Yuugi-verse: Underground!! It rocks, isn't it? And the title makes sense now, doesn't it? Eye Gate Deep is because of the tile, that had an eye, and was a gate to a deep place… I know, it's corny and sucks anyway. But I can't really change it at this stage of the game, so… you guys are stuck with it until the end of your poor lives. Now, I hope you all will read and review. Since this one was a nasty chapter, I want to see if it was worth the struggle. You'll probably looooooove next chapter, since it's when Yuugi starts to show schizophrenic tendencies… ^___^ Ja!
Oh, in a foot note, in this Yuugi-verse, Grandpa's eyes aren't violet like Yuugi's. They're red-brown. It'll be important later on… ^____^