Hey guys! This is the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to update... but this is my longest chapter to date, so enjoy it.
This will be the third last chapter. Yup, I'll be ending this story in two more chapters. But don't fret, I already have a sequel planned.
I'm glad you guys liked the duel scene. It was my hardest chapter to write, since I don't like writing duels that much. I'm sorry that I supposedly left so much out of the duels, I haven't watched that episode since forever.
I'm sorry if this chapter seems rushed, but Amane doesn't really do anything interesting in the next ten or so episodes... so I had to just rush through it.
I'm sticking the pairings I'm thinking of in this chapter, but it might or might not turn out that way. Have fun reading.
---Gone and Back Again---
Bakura was gone.
I repeated that through my head in happiness, even though the scream we had heard just moments ago was anything but that. It felt like a great weight had been lifted from my heart and my back. I felt free and happy, happier than I had ever been before, even before I had gotten the Ring. I had truly believed that Bakura was gone forever.
That's why it surprised me when he came back.
The next few hours went by quickly, but I'm able to recall some of the events. The scream turned out to be from Mai, who had lost a duel against Panik, one of the eliminators of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Yugi had kindly stepped up to get back Mai's starchips, and a duel began between the eliminator and the competitor.
During that duel, I couldn't shake out the feeling of restlessness and anxiety that was beginning to form inside me. I began to feel nervous and scared for some unknown reason. I glanced behind my back several times as if something was going to pop out behind me at any moment.
I sighed inaudibly. This nervousness was getting to my head, and I didn't even know the cause of it. I looked up, just in time to see Yugi deal the winning blow to his opponent. I smiled, and then yelled in celebration. He turned to look at us, and then flashed a grin at us, making me blush slightly.
-o-
That night, when Joey, Tea and Tristan were sleeping, Yugi and I were talking.
"Look Yugi," I said, taking out my Millennium Ring. The points on the Ring was headed to the direction of Pegasus' castle, "It's like it's being drawn to something there, much like when it was pointing towards your Millennium Puzzle at school." Yugi nodded in agreement.
"It's probably attracted to other Millennium Items. I had always sensed a strong presence within my Puzzle." Yugi commented, and I nodded in understanding.
We continued talking, only stopping when a helicopter flew above us and landed in a clear area beside us, waking up the sleeping group. As the helicopter engine started to dull, the door opened, and Seto Kaiba appeared before us. He hopped down from the helicopter, his landing softened by the grass. He straightened himself and just merely looked at us with slight interest. Yugi went up to him, handing the CEO his deck, and then held a conversation with him. Snippets of the conversation were heard by me. Like 'I don't need your help.' and I heard someone mention 'naive'.
Joey stepped up to join the heated conversation with Kaiba and Yugi, and soon a duel began between Joey and Kaiba. I only paid a mild attention, my interest heightening when Kaiba threw a disc-like object towards the blonde, catching him off guard for a split second.
"What's this for?!" Joey demanded, looking at the disc in confusion. Kaiba quickly explained what it was used for, and how to use it and soon the duel began. I paid only mild attention to it as the uneasiness came washing over me again and I found myself in a cold sweat.
I quickly turned my eyes back to the duel, finding it somewhat uninteresting. The duel ended quickly, Kaiba being the winner, and I watched as Joey fell on his knees, staring at the ground with a shocked-like look on his face.
Téa headed towards the shaken blonde, but Yugi stepped up first, demanding why Kaiba had to humiliate Joey so badly. Kaiba had briefly supplied us the answer before getting into the topic of Pegasus and how powerful of a duelist he would be.
He explained that a little while ago, Pegasus had invited him to a tournament in New York City as his guest. He had watched Pegasus go up against the champion in the tournament, Bandit Keith. Keith had thought that he was winning, but he mentioned that it seemed like Pegasus was just toying with him. Well, he was. Later, he had made a remark of an average kid beating Keith. He took out a piece of paper, writing down something on it. Then he called out a kid from the audience, giving him the piece of paper and telling him to follow the instructions. It had turned out that Pegasus was right, and the kid beat Keith.
Kaiba went on, explaining that Pegasus had predicted Keith's next moves, much to their dismay. Yugi and I both glanced at each other, knowing what exactly Pegasus had used to predict the moves. Kaiba turned away, heading back to his helicopter, and Yugi said that he still didn't understand why he had to humiliate Joey. The CEO ignored Yugi's words, just walking away towards the castle in the middle.
We stand there, just watching the spot where Kaiba had walked away from. An uneasy silence came over us, Téa being the one breaking it, loudly announcing that they might want to get some sleep. We all nodded in agreement and slowly made our way back to our bags, settling down beside them and quickly falling asleep.
-o-
In the morning, we all slowly woke up to the image of the bright sun and the sound of Joey's loud protests. As I looked around, it seemed like he didn't get enough sleep, because he looked quite tired. I opened my mouth to speak, but decided against it, since I didn't want to bother him. Téa found a note from Mai, stating that she would repay Yugi for the starchips he got back for her.
"There shouldn't be many duelists left now, since a lot of them were probably kicked out by the other competitors." I commented, quickly being countered by Tristan, who reassured the others that Joey and Yugi would get into the finals.
"Be careful Joey. The duels we fight now are going to be tougher than ever." Yugi warned Joey, whose eyes reflected a look of weakness. Yugi looked shocked at his companion's reaction, and quickly added that he was confident enough that they'll both get into the finals. We all smiled, and continued talking, except for me. My body was still held in a state of nervousness, and my heart raced quickly. I found myself breathing deeply to try and calm myself down, but my efforts failed.
I looked up in time to see Joey leave the group, saying that he's going for a walk. Yugi tells him to be careful, and Joey responded with his usual cheesy grin before turning back and heading off. The rest of us decide to just sit around and relax for a bit, so we all went off doing our own stuff.
-o-
A couple hours later, and everybody but Joey grouped back together. Téa voiced out her concern about Joey's absence, which we were all wondering about. So we decided to look for him. It didn't take long for Téa to find Joey's wallet, which was lying near the waterfall. We decided to venture into the cave beside the waterfall, where we found coffins containing skeletons in them. I freaked out, screaming meekly and jumping behind Yugi's small body.
"It's all right Amane. They're fake." Yugi said, laughing at my embarrassing reaction. I blushed, moving away from Yugi as Tristan noticed something on the skeletons.
"Gotcha." It said, and I glared at it. We continued on, bringing my fuming self with them.
As we ventured through the cave, I stared down at the ground and noticed that my shoelace was untied. So I bent down to tie it, forgetting that Yugi and the gang was still walking ahead of me, not noting that I had stopped. Right after I had finished tying my shoe, a skeleton dropped on top me and I froze. Slowly, I turned my head to see what was on my back, and was met with the image of a white skeleton skull. I screamed loudly, and began running the way I was facing – straight.
In my blind state of panic, I didn't notice Yugi and the others staring at my running form as I tripped and fell right in front of them. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily as the skeleton was taken off my back. I opened my eyes, smiling meekly at the sympathetic faces of the others, muttering a quiet 'Hi', getting a laugh from them. I got up, brushing the dirt off my skirt before we continued.
After a few minutes, we met a fork in the path. The others stopped, wondering which way to go, while I walked to catch up to them. As I walked, I stepped on something and my foot sunk into it, and I jumped slightly. I looked down, seeing a small plate that jutted out from the ground a little. I looked up, and then around me, trying to figure out what I had just stepped on. A little rumbling sound behind me caught my ear, and I turned around, my eyes widening at the sight of a huge boulder come straight towards me.
I screamed, and started running for my life. Yugi and the others turned around, seeing the huge boulder threatening to squish us flat, and started running too. I guess I wasn't fast enough, because I was suddenly run over by the boulder, turning my vision black.
-o-
Darkness.
Silence.
... Is this how it is when you're dead?
"Amane..." A voice calmly says, as if to lure me from the dead. I felt myself being shaken by somebody. I stir, and I quickly find myself lying on the ground. I slowly sit up, looking around as the images spin around the vision, finally focusing properly.
"... I'm I... dead?" I asked timidly, receiving a laugh from the others, who shook their heads.
"So... what happened?"
"It turned out that the boulder was just an inflatable ball. It burst when Tristan touched it." Yugi explained, giving me a sympathetic smile. I slowly got up, following the others, who started walking again.
-o-
We soon made it to the arena, and saw Joey dueling a strange looking guy. It turned out that he was called Bones, and the guy behind him, who was giving him the battle strategy, was Bandit Keith, the guy Kaiba was talking about. At first, Yugi had tried to convince Joey to stop dueling, but that would mean he would forfeit the match, and loose the starchips he had betted.
The duel ended a little while after we had arrived. Joey had won the duel, pulling a great comeback in just one move and destroying Bone's monsters, eliminating him from the rest of his lifepoints.
We congratulated Joey as we headed out of the cave, only to find that Bandit Keith and his goons had sealed the entrance with a huge boulder. A real boulder this time.
"What now?" I asked, sighing a little before looking down at the ground.
"We'll have to find a way out." Téa said, her optimistic personality giving everybody the motivation to smile a little. We headed back where the duel arena was, seeing if there was another path somewhere. There was, and we followed it.
Suddenly, my Millennium Ring glowed brightly, its arrows pointing in a certain direction. I looked at Yugi, who suggested that we follow where the Ring guides us. But I wasn't so certain. I decided to take the risk anyways, since there weren't many choices to choose from anyway. So we began following the Ring's path, silently praying that it would lead us out of here and into Pegasus' castle.
As we walked through the caves, Téa starts up a conversation, announcing that the caves had been man-made, and that it was probably by Pegasus. Nobody got a chance to answer though, for we had reached an opening that illuminated bright light. We went through it, and found ourselves in a large room; a dueling arena in the center of it. On the opposite side of the arena were two bald men, grinning at us.
They introduced themselves as Para and Dox, and that we'd have to duel them to get out of the cave. Yugi stepped out to duel them, but they also mentioned that it would be a two on two match.
"Joey, do you want to duel with me?" Yugi asked, looking at him. Joey agreed rather loudly, jumping on top of the dueling station and taking out his deck. Para and Dox quickly explained how the duel would work, and started the duel.
The moves that the duelers did were dead even. At one point, it had look like Joey and Yugi had the upper hand. But when Para and Dox showed their most powerful monster in their deck, Gate Guardian, it had looked like their fate was sealed. But Yugi and Joey worked together, and fused Yugi's Summoned Skull with Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon, creating Black Skull Dragon. The duel looked like it was anybody's game, but Yugi and Joey managed to win.
Now it was time for Yugi to pick which door would lead us out. We all held our breath as Yugi took out a coin, and flipped it. It landed on Dox's sign, meaning that we picked Para's door. But to our dismay, the brothers announced that Dox's door was indeed the right one. Yugi came to our rescue though, saying that whatever we'd pick would be wrong, since the brothers had the power to switch which way the path was.
Shocked that he had figured out their secret, the brothers let us through the door and, hopefully, out of the tunnels.
-o-
A little bit later, our eyes met the wonderful sight of the sun, and we basked in it. Everybody rejoiced, and started heading to Pegasus' castle. I glanced back, noticing that Téa was a little bit behind us, her eyes looking like they were looking through us. She snapped back into reality though, and ran up to catch up with us.
When we reached the stairs, Tristan, Joey and I slowly made our way up them. But then we noticed that Yugi and Téa weren't following us, so the two called out for them, telling them to hurry up.
As we reached the top of the stairs, we were surprised to see Kaiba, just standing there and waiting for something or someone. Yugi greeted him, only getting a stern look in response. Then he opened his mouth, challenging Yugi to a duel. Yugi looked shocked, and was hesitant about agreeing to the match, only to get taunted by Kaiba, who was calling him a coward. Joey glared at Kaiba, announcing that he would duel him, but was held back by me and Tristan, who reminded him about what happened the last time they had dueled.
Kaiba appeared slightly amused and shocked when he realized that Joey had ten star chips, but snidely said that he understood the heart of the cards. Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed, and accepted the duel. Everybody made their way up to the roof to watch the duel.
The beginning of the duel was kind of dull, the moves being matched with the other's moves. Téa cheered for Yugi, and all of us were sure he was going to win. But Yugi didn't look so sure, and I mentally wondered why.
It looked like the duel's winner would be sealed when Kaiba played the crush trap card, allowing Yugi to only play monsters with less than 1500 attack points. And when Kaiba fused all three of his Blue Eyes White Dragons together, creating the ultimate beast, it looked like Yugi was going to lose for sure. But the look on his face was one of confidence, and we all kept cheering Yugi on as he made his comeback.
Yugi had played his Kuriboh card, despite getting laughed at by Kaiba. When he was attacked, he played the Multiply card, and his one Kuriboh formed into hundreds of the little fuzz balls. The attack had wiped out some of his army, but more kept appearing. Yugi drew his card, playing Mammoth Graveyard on the field and fusing it with Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon with the Living Arrow magic card, resulting in Kaiba's monster decaying every turn.
When it seemed like Yugi was going to win the duel, Kaiba decided to make things unfair and stepped onto the ledge of the building, telling Yugi that if he attacks, the shockwaves of the aftermath would send him falling to his death. Yugi looked shocked at Kaiba's decision, and struggled whether to attack or not. It seemed like Yugi was going to take the risk and ordered to attack, getting a gasp of surprise from Téa.
The next couple seconds passed by so slowly. Téa had started running towards Yugi, shouting for him to not stop the attack. It looked like Yugi had just realized someone, staring wide-eyed at Téa, tears glistening at the corners of his eyes as he told the Celtic Guardian to stop. He did, sword still raised before one of the heads of Kaiba's dragon opened its mouth, launching its attack and destroying the Celtic Guardian and the rest of Yugi's lifepoints.
Yugi didn't seem to notice, only collapsing on the ground, making us run towards him in panic. When we reach him, we see the tears falling down his cheeks, landing on the ground making wet spots like stains on a shirt. Yugi started sputtering about something about almost losing control of his yami; something that shocked me to the core.
"What is he talking about?" Tristan asked, looking at me, Téa and Joey one at a time. I quickly explained to him about the spirits of the Millennium Items, mentally remembering my own as I talked, and when I finished, Yugi vowed never to duel again. Everyone was speechless and what Yugi had just said, until Kaiba spoke up and called Yugi weak. Téa, mad at the insults, countered that Kaiba had lost his heart. But he didn't seem affected by Téa's insult as he collected his ten starchips, straightening himself before heading towards Pegasus' castle.
I looked up at Kaiba's retreating back, giving him a glare that Bakura would've been proud of. Then I turned sad eyes toward Yugi, who was getting offered some starchips from Joey, but ignored him, lost in his own world. Joey was getting frustrated, and then stuffed the starchips back into his glove. We decided to take Yugi back to the castle gates, hoping there was someway to get Yugi back to the dueling self he was.
When we got there, we set Yugi down, who still had tears staining his eyes and cheeks. Joey looked down at Yugi, unreadable emotion displayed on his face. Then I noticed something behind Joey and pointing to it, making the others look to the direction I was pointing at.
It was Mai, coming towards us, a smug look on her face as she walked. When she reached us, she looked down at the crying Yugi, and asked us what happened. Téa gave a brief summary of what had happened half an hour ago and Mai looked shocked to learn that Yugi had lost a duel.
Mai offered some sympathy and six of her starchips, holding it out in her palm. Joey gawked at it, asking Mai if she was crazy to give Yugi over half of her earned starchips. Mai grinned at Joey, and held up her dueling glowed, the wristband twinkling with the starchips decorated around it in the sun. She happily announced that the starchips she was giving Yugi were spares and held them out, waiting for the midget to take them.
But he didn't, and pretty soon Mai got mad, changing her mind about giving Yugi her extra starchips. She started insulting him; much like Kaiba did, but promptly stopped when Téa challenged her to a duel. I looked at her like she was crazy.
"Are you sure, Téa? If you don't want to, I can-" I started, reaching for my deck inside my pocket. But was cut off when Téa interrupted.
"I'm sure. I'm going to win this duel and get those starchips for Yugi." Téa announced, turning around to smile at me. But something in those eyes said something else; like she was challenging me to something. I gave a small glare at her, my hand letting go of my deck and having it drop in my pocket.
"Well then," I said, trying to keep my calm composure, "If you want to, that's fine with me."
I walked away from her, muttering something under my breath like 'showoff', 'flirt', 'Yugi' and 'I'll show her...'. After taking a couple steps, I turned around, watching as she jumped onto her platform, secretly hoping she would fall. But she didn't, and I had to give a sad sigh, but resumed watching the duel.
It started out one-sided. Mai was easily out maneuvering Téa by a long shot, and it was clear who would win. But as the duel got deeper, Téa was being smarter about her moves, protecting her only monster on the field, Shining Friendship, with a trap card she had placed. She powered up her weaker monster with magic cards, getting somewhat discouraged when Mai activated De-Spell and took away her power up.
The nervousness feeling was returning. I was beginning to zone out of the duel, and that feeling couldn't help but return. I clutched my stomach, mentally wondering what was wrong as I returned my mind to the duel.
It was then that Yugi decided to get back to reality, and we were all happy. He concentrated on the duel, already catching about what was happening so far. In the end, Téa had won with an impressive combo, and she rejoiced as her platform went back on the ground, starchips in hand. She hands them to Yugi, who thanks her and gives her a smile, making me look away in anger.
Everybody begins to return back to Pegasus' castle, and I casually put my hands in my pockets. I felt four small objects, cool to the touch, and took them out. Four starchips lay in my hand and I felt myself redden. I had forgotten about the starchips I had won earlier in the competition. I gave a little sigh and stuck them back into my pocket, deciding to forget about them altogether. So I looked up, smiling a little, and running to catch up to the others.
-o-
When we got there, Joey, Yugi and Mai stuck their ten starchips into the slot and opened the door, walking inside. Tristan, Téa and I slowly followed them, but were stopped by the guard, who couldn't allow us in because we didn't even have dueling gloves, much less the ten starchips required. I fingered the starchips in my pocket, mentally wondering what to do, when Mai came to our rescue. She flirted with the guard, allowing us to sneak through when his attention came off us and onto her. We closed the door behind us, locking the guard out, who started banging against the metal door.
We slowly walk through the long halls, admiring how fancy and professional the castle looked. We reached a room with a dueling arena, where we were surprised to see Kaiba on one side of it. Bandit Keith is on the ledge where we are, looking down at Kaiba and waiting for someone.
Pegasus walked on the floor to the platform on his side of the arena, taking out his deck and putting it in the appropriate place. He taunted Kaiba, whose stony appearance didn't change a bit at all. Pegasus said something an audience watching and waved his hand towards us, directing Kaiba's attention to the ledge. He seemed surprised that Yugi was there, and when I glanced at Pegasus, he seemed pleased about something.
Kaiba challenged white haired man to a duel with his new dueling technology; the one he had used to duel Joey with. Pegasus whined about not knowing how to use it, but agreed to it; but only if he had let Mokuba duel in his place. Kaiba seemed shocked, but in the end, agreed to duel using the arena.
The duel started, and Kaiba ignored Yugi's warnings about the Millennium Eye. It was dead even, but it was clear that Pegasus was just toying with his opponent. Kaiba was shocked when Pegasus began reading all of his moves. So he came up with a strategy, discarding all the cards in his hand and drawing a card, playing the Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode.
But even that wasn't enough, and in the end, Kaiba had lost. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see Pegasus lock the loser's soul into a card. I didn't want to see it; I didn't want to see his soulless body, because it reminded me of Bakura. The nervousness came back, stronger than ever, and I began to quiver. I was still quivering when we headed to the banquet, but not many people seemed to notice.
During my state of fear, Pegasus' tournament co-ordinater told them about the two cards that will allow them to enter the finals. He also had the matches all paired up, and let us eat a bit before retiring into our rooms. I slowly got up, making my way to my room slowly.
-o-
The uneasiness was growing bigger with every passing second now. I headed slowly to my room, only sticking my head in as if something was going to be waiting there for me. I slowly let out the breath I'd been holding. No one was there. I entered the room, gently sitting on the bed as I closed my eyes. My body moved back, landing on the soft mattress as I immediately felt relaxed.
Amane...
My eyes snapped open, my heart pounding hard against my chest. Did I just imagine that? Or did I really hear his voice?
I'm back.
Silence.
He emerged in his ghost-like form, smirking at me as fear began to stab me inside. I inched back, into the wall, gazing fearfully at him as he headed toward me. He leaned towards me, his face hovering only centimeters away from mine. He grinned at me, before leaning more to whisper in my ear.
"Miss me?"
He raised a hand, running a finger against my pale skin, sending shivers down my spine. He had seemed to forgotten what had happened only a couple days ago, but I was wrong. Suddenly the finger was replaced by cold metal, and I felt the blood drain from my face.
"This is what you get for disobeying my orders." He said angrily.
Knock, knock, knock.
Bakura disappeared instantly, the knife falling onto the bed, leaving me unharmed. In a blind panic, I took the knife and hid it under the sheets, hoping that whoever was at the door wouldn't notice.
"Amane? Open up." A muffled voice came from the door.
"I'm coming!" I replied back, turning around to make sure the knife was hidden safely. Then I headed towards the door and opened it, lightly surprised when I saw Téa and Tristan at the door. I cocked my head, sending them a mental message asking why they were here.
"We think Pegasus was cheating in that duel with Kaiba." Téa said, Tristan nodding along with her.
"I see..." I replied, my heart thumping in nervousness against my chest, "And what are you doing here?"
"Well," Tristan started, "We were wondering if you wanted to come with us to see how he cheated."
I sighed, knowing that if I stayed here, Bakura would come after me. But a part of me wanted to just stay here and rest from the busy day. I nodded my head, showing them I was going to go with them, and they smiled at me. A small smile appeared on my face, disappearing as soon as it appeared, and I followed the pair through the dark corridors of the castle.
Soon, we found ourselves in the large room with the dueling arena. I closed my eyes briefly, not wanting to look down that empty space in the middle of the room that seemed to go down to the core of the earth. When I opened them, I tried to not look in that space of nothingness as we inspected the room of clues that Pegasus was cheating.
It seemed like a lucky chance that there was a stream of light coming from the ceiling, but then I realized that it wasn't any ordinary light. I looked up, noticing that the source of the light came from a hole in the wall, and that the light was just the moonlight. I opened my mouth to speak, but apparently the others had already noticed the fact. Tristan jumped up onto the side of the dueling arena that Kaiba was in, and held up an imaginary card. To our amazement, the 'card' that Tristan was holding up was being illuminated by the moon's stream of light.
Tristan jumped off, and somehow climbed up to the hole, peering through it.
"There seems to be some sort of tower lined up with the whole." He called out, leaping down from the wall.
"Then maybe one of Pegasus' goons was spying at Kaiba's cards through a telescope in the tower!" Téa exclaimed, her voice echoing within the room.
"Well then, let's go to that tower!" Tristan announced, punching the air with his fist. I nodded and followed them out of the room.
-o-
We wandered around the dark hall. Tristan was leading the way, peering around every corner for any guards. Téa was in the middle, not really doing anything but keeping quiet and looking around, scared yet determined. I was at the end, occasionally glancing behind me incase someone was following us. Tristan cracked a joke about how the guards were around every corner as he swiftly knocked out one of them; our tenth of the night.
"Being on the inside is just way too tough..." Téa whispered as she looked out a window. I looked outside it too, and an idea came rushing into my head. I motioned for the two of them to gather around, and I quickly told them my plan. They both smiled and agreed to it, and we quickly set to work.
-o-
"Why am I at the front?!" Téa complained loudly, receiving a 'shush' from me and a glare from Tristan.
"Can you quiet down?" Tristan whispered, annoyance dripping in his tone, "You're up front because you might fall."
"I would never- AH!" Téa scoffed, which quickly turned into a scream as her grip on the rope slipped, causing her to fall on top of Tristan. I giggled as the brown haired girl glared at Tristan, who had a 'Told you so' look on his face. She got back up onto the rope, and we continued climbing.
As we neared the window, we saw that it was open, and we crawled through it. The room was dark, and together, we looked for the light switch. I turned around, automatically noticing the large painting on the wall, cast with shadows. I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly, the lights turned on; casting light onto the darkness, and making us shield our eyes from the sudden light. When our eyes were adjusted to the light, we looked back at the painting, our faces displaying a look of awe. We were quickly mesmerized by the beauty of the painting; which was a portrait of a young woman, clothed with beautiful shades of red.
"I haven't seen her before... have you?" Téa asked, looked at the two of us. I shook my head, while Tristan murmured a 'no'. She mentioned something about seeing her in the dining room too, so she must've been important to Pegasus. We began talking about what her identity could've been, when suddenly the sound of Pegasus' voice breaks through the quiet noise. My heart leapt to my throat as I turned around, seeing Pegasus, who was scolding us like children. Tristan said that we had known about Pegasus' cheating ways, but he denied it and his Millennium Eye glowed, making me see black.
-o-
I slowly slid my eyes open, automatically noticing that we weren't in the tower. I blinked, chasing away the blurriness before I took a good look around the room. Hieroglyphics covered almost every inch of the wall, and in the room ahead, there seemed to be something going on. Téa whispered to us about the picture we had seen for the third time that day, but it didn't help much. As we watched the people perform their ritual, I heard Bakura say something about a shadow game.
One of the guys had seemed to have lost, and a bright light engulfed him before he slumped onto the ground. The winner took off his hood, revealing himself as Pegasus, who turned to look at the three of us.
He explained to us about the shadow games, and that every soul he sends to the Shadow Realm, his eye gets stronger. He announced that he would now seal us three into the Shadow Realm, and that he'll receive more benefits than sending a normal person to the Shadows. I realized that he was talking about the Millennium Ring, and he confirmed it before he got his Eye ready to send us to the Shadow Realm.
My Millennium Ring glowed with a powerful bright light, and I turned around to glance at Téa and Tristan, who seemed shocked at what was happening right now. I closed my eyes, secretly wishing that they wouldn't be harmed, even if it was just Téa, and then my mind went numb.
-o-
I grinned maliciously, happy to be back into the physical world. I looked up at Pegasus, who seemed momentarily shocked at my appearance.
"You'll never get your hands on all the Millennium Items," I said, sneering at him, "For I will be the holder of all of them."
My Millennium Ring glowed as I willed it to erase the memories of Téa and Tristan, making it appear that the entire night was just a dream. I closed my eyes as it sent us back into our rooms, giving the girl control of her body.
-o-
I opened my eyes slowly. Where was I?
I found it strange that I was back into my room, and sat up in my bed. I looked down at the Ring, holding it gently between my fingers. A small, crystal-like tear formed in the corners of my eyes as I closed them, the tears sliding down my cheek and onto the bed sheets.
He really was back.
And there wasn't anything I could do about it.
---ooo---
Like it? I hope you guys do. I hope to have the next chapter up by next week. Until then, have fun read this one. And reviews, please!
Oh, go read the new stories I put up.