Notes: Runihura is miiiine! And I'll state again that Nuru is Des's XD
The strange, dangerous Egyptian sat at the dining room table, drinking from a goblet that obviously contained wine. He drank the beverage down almost in one gulp and then licked his lips, seeming pleased. "It seems those mortal fools are getting more than they bargained for here," he remarked with a self-satisfied smirk, his eyes glinting behind the wild hair and the scar he bore. He really had no part in any of the goings-on tonight, but he found them amusing to watch. His own time to strike was approaching. Yes, it was true that he had sent extra electricity into the Ishtars' fence, but he had been hidden in the shadows. He had really done that only for fun, not entirely to further his own purposes. Though if it did help, he wasn't going to complain.
"I see you've made yourself at home, Runihura. But you were not invited to this series of events."
The Egyptian looked up as the shadow fell across him. Seth stood in front of him, smirking, with Nuru right behind. But Runihura was not surprised at this. Indeed, no. He had been expecting them to find him here.
"Ah, Lord Seth," he grinned, using an exaggerated, mocking tone. "I invite myself wherever I wish." He set the goblet down and leaned back in the expensive chair. "Impressive. Almost like the Pharaoh's throne itself."
Seth leaned his right hand on the table. "You're supposed to be locked in the Eternal Sleep," he said smoothly, not about to be outdone by this old acquaintance. "The Pharaoh froze you in time when he could find no other way to halt your endless destruction." Seth remembered it well. Runihura had been one of the Pharaoh's first and most deadly opponents.
Runihura leered wildly. "Let's just say I was set free. Your brother had a part in it."
Seth frowned. "Why would Khu want you released?" In spite of all that this madman was, a liar had never been one of them. Runihura preferred to speak the complete and honest truth that he could see. It was the best way to rattle opponents.
"Maybe he had some vain hope that I would help him stop you," Runihura replied with a shrug. "But I work with no one . . . including you." Runihura was a firm believer in "to do it right, it must be done by oneself." He didn't have time to deal with idiocy from lackeys or betrayal from partners. Besides, it was much more fun causing destruction all by himself. He didn't want anyone else treading on his territory.
Seth was undaunted. "Then you know why I'm here speaking to you instead of going about my regular plans," he purred. "You could be such an asset to my scheme. And you would be . . . richly rewarded for your part in all of it."
Nuru stayed silent, watching the exchange between the two Egyptians bent on creating havoc and chaos. She had always been quite uneasy about Runihura. Even in ancient times he had seemed indestructible. And now surely his powers had increased. Though she knew it wasn't likely Runihura would ever consent to Seth's offer, it made her nervous that Seth would even try recruiting such an insane, dangerous person.
Runihura frowned, pretending to contemplate. Oh yes, that was a trick that had been often used on him. But he didn't ever give in when it appeared before him. "I believe I'll stick with my own agenda," he said at last, "destroying what I want to destroy and not destroying what I'm told to."
Seth straightened up. He had expected no less. "Very well then. But if you won't help me, you'd best stay out of my way." He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the possible nuisance.
"I will . . . if I desire to." Runihura cackled, vanishing before their eyes. He had disasters to cause.
Nuru narrowed her eyes, staring at the chair where he had sat. "Are you sure that was wise, Lord Seth?" she asked softly. She didn't mean to criticize him; she merely wanted to know his thoughts on his actions. Sometimes Seth did things so strange Nuru wasn't at all sure of the reasons.
"No," Seth smirked. "But so much isn't. Let's not worry about it."
Rishid felt a damp cloth being brushed over his forehead. Gentle, yet shaking, hands left the material alone then and touched the man's shoulders. "Rishid?" He knew it was his brother. Marik was frightened.
Slowly Rishid struggled to open his eyes, but he couldn't make them obey him. He did manage to reach up and grab Marik's hand.
Marik brightened at this. He was sitting beside the couch Rishid had been laid on, baffled and worried. He didn't know what had happened to his brother. Rishid had just seemed to fall down the stairs. Marik had wondered if Rishid had grown dizzy and lost his balance, but later he had decided that it was more likely the spirits' latest disaster.
"He's awake!" the boy exclaimed now, clutching Rishid's hand in both of his and squeezing gently.
"Thank goodness," Ishizu breathed in her soft voice.
Now Rishid forced his eyes open. He smiled tiredly at his siblings, trying to remember what had happened. It seemed as if he'd been angry . . . and chasing someone. . . . But why would he have been angry? That wasn't his nature. Someone must have been doing something abominable. . . .
"Are you alright, Rishid?!" Marik demanded immediately upon seeing the man's eyes open. He remembered running down the stairs to kneel beside him . . . seeing Rishid look up at him clearly for one moment before blacking out . . . and then frantically making sure that his elder brother had, indeed, only blacked out. "You frightened me, my brother," the boy added softly.
Rishid looked up, focusing on the teenager above him whom he considered his entire life. "I am sorry," he replied, reaching out to squeeze Marik's hand. "I didn't want to. But I am alright." Now he was starting to remember what had happened. He had been chasing someone . . . because . . . because he had thought the person might be responsible for what had been happening to them. . . . And for Mokuba's disappearance. . . . Wait—Mokuba was gone?!
Slowly he raised himself up, trying to see what was going on. Marik and Ishizu were with him in the lavishly furnished drawing room, as were most of the others, but it seemed Seto Kaiba was not there. Obviously he had gone off to look for his brother.
"What on earth happened, Rishid?!" Marik exclaimed now. "You just seemed to lose your balance and fall down the stairs!"
Rishid frowned. "No . . ." he said slowly, knowing that that was not what happened. "I was pushed. . . ." He could, in his memories, still feel the cold hand against his back.
Ishizu looked at him calmly. "There was nothing visible behind you, Rishid," she told him. She knew what had happened. All of them truly did, even though they didn't want to believe it. They almost wanted to believe that Rishid had simply lost control of his equilibrium instead of it being that a spirit had shoved him.
A sound behind the group startled them all and they immediately came to attention. What was happening?! It sounded as if the wall was slowly being dislocated. This was such an old house; most likely it would have secret passageways and the sort. But who was going to emerge?
As it turned out, it was the last person any of them were expecting. Cold violet eyes glared out at the group from behind the raven bangs and the staff in his darkly tanned hands was pointed outward at all of them as he forced the panel shut again with his foot. It was Khu. And he looked almost murderous.
"Wow, it's huge!"
Rhea's exclamation of stunned shock echoed all up and down the expansive corridor. Yami Bakura grunted in irritation. Yes, he supposed it was impressive, but even the Ishtar home was much larger than this. Rhea seemed so out of place in this absurd little town, what with her cheerful, bubbly attitude—and the way she kept digging her fingernails into his arm.
"Stop doing that!" he screamed finally.
Rhea blinked and looked. "Oops," was all she said then as she let go of his arm. She turned her attention to the dining room as they passed by it. "Food!" she exclaimed greedily, her golden eyes widening to twice their size. "I wonder if there's milk. . . ."
"We don't have time to stop for sustenance!" Yami Bakura snapped.
Mai frowned, flipping her hair. "It's probably poisoned anyway," she remarked, not knowing she was reiterating Joey's very thoughts from earlier.
Bakura barely paid attention to their banter. He was so very worried about finding the others—Oreo included—that at first he didn't even notice how eerily the table was set. But when he almost tripped over one of the chairs that was out of place, he looked up and noticed. "Oh my," he gasped low, blinking startled brown eyes at the sight. He saw the signs of Runihura having dined here earlier, but of course he didn't know anyone human had been here. Instead he assumed, understandably, that it was another of the supernatural occurrences in this town.
Rhea wandered over, sniffing at the wine. "Ugh! It smells like spoiled milk or something," she frowned, walking around the table to see if there were any stray scraps of food she could eat. Obviously Yami Bakura's warning about the possible poison didn't faze her.
"Is milk all you can think about?!" Yami Bakura thundered.
Rhea gave him a sideways glance. "No," she said at last in a very simple tone. She turned to lean against the wall slightly when it opened, swallowing her up in it. "Whoa!" she cried, her voice echoing through the passageway. A strange yelp followed.
"Yami, maybe she's hurt!" Bakura exclaimed, running over to the panel. Before anyone could stop him, he had fallen through as well.
"Two down," Mai frowned.
Yami Bakura looked at her murderously. He would have to go after them. Bakura could, indeed, be getting hurt, and Rhea as well. Something drew him to the strange girl, but he didn't know why. Without a word he stormed inside the panel, Mai following closely.
Seto walked down the hall coldly, looking into each room for his brother. The spacious pantry was empty, the only sign of life being the butter churn standing in front of the table. But Seto walked in anyway, checking in every cupboard and nook. The missing child was nowhere to be found.
Memories of every horrible thing that had happened since they had arrived swarmed through Seto's mind. Duke had been hanged. Marik's heart had stopped. Rishid had fallen down the stairs. What chance was there that Mokuba had escaped a treacherous fate? Practically no chance at all. Seto could only hope that he would find the boy when he was still alive.
And what of their enemies? There were so many. It seemed like there were several conflicting plots all twisted up together. Khu and Seth, the corrupt police officers (and possibly Gabrielle), Del Vinci (who still hadn't reared his wicked self on this case), the spirits of this town. . . . And there was Runihura as well, if Seto only knew it. It was all so confusing. . . .
Seto left the pantry and wandered up the creaking staircase, arriving in a fancy sitting room. "Mokuba?" he called softly, not wanting to alert anyone who shouldn't know of his presence. There was no reply. But Seto wanted to search the room carefully. Something was pulling, beckoning to him. He was certain Mokuba was in here.
At first glance this room also looked empty, but then Seto noticed a bit of blood splattered across the floor and one of the walls. He paled, following the trail to an upright cabinet in the corner. Mokuba would be in there. But would he be alive?
Of course he would be, Seto decided firmly. He threw the cabinet door opened and drew a deep breath, seeing his brother's body laying inside. Mokuba was curled in a ball, completely still, a bit of blood trickling from his forehead. Was he breathing? Seto swallowed hard. He couldn't tell.
Gently he reached out, gathering the small form into his arms. Mokuba couldn't be dead. Seto had promised to protect him! Only a couple of weeks ago Mokuba had almost froze to death because of Del Vinci. If Marik hadn't kept the boy warm with his own jacket and body—acts that almost had killed him—Mokuba wouldn't have survived. Seto wanted to get Del Vinci locked away for life. And yet he knew doing so wouldn't keep Mokuba safe from everything bad.
All the time Seto's thoughts ran amuck, he was trying to discover if Mokuba was alive. His heart nearly stopped when he couldn't find breath. "Mokuba, no," he whispered, feeling himself going numb. "You can't leave me. You're the only bright light in my dark tunnel of existence." He held the child closer, his eyes widening slightly as he now felt the chest rising and falling slowly. Then he smiled a bit. Mokuba wouldn't leave him.
A small hand reached up, grabbing at Seto's trenchcoat. "Big brother. . . ."
Seto laid a hand over Mokuba's. "I'm here, kid," he said softly. "I'm here."
Joey frowned at Khu as he stepped forward with the staff head out defensively. "Man, why are you always turnin' up where we are?!" he demanded. "It's like you're stalkin' us or something!"
Khu snarled. "I want to stop Seth. You want to stop Seth. Therefore we're going to meet up where Seth is." He stood up straighter, again leaning on his staff.
Tristan glared, also moving forward to stand nose to nose with Khu. "Oh yeah? Well maybe now we want some answers. Like, what happened to all the people in this town? Why is Seth hanging out here? And why do my friends keep almost dying?!" He had had just about enough of all of this. First Duke, then Marik, now Rishid and Mokuba. . . . Plus, he had no clue where Bakura or Mai was. They could be hurt too, for all he'd know. He could only be immensely thankful that Serenity wasn't here, as Joey was.
"It's not my fault you kids were dumb enough to follow me out here," Khu grunted. "And you should know the history of this place, since you actually live here it. Me, I don't really know and I don't really care. I'm really only here to get Seth. Kapeesh?" He lunged out with his staff, shoving Tristan aside. He really blamed himself for Seth's odd behavior. After all, he hadn't been able to save him from Vivalene's machine gun. And then when he had used the healing talisman on his brother, Seth had started acting stranger in the mind than he ever had before, though his body had indeed healed. Khu had to be the one to stop Seth. Anyone else, like this group of ragtag friends of the Pharaoh, was just dispensable. And like Runihura. Cursed fool. How could Khu ever have attempted to release him, thinking that would help?! Of course, he hadn't been alone in his efforts. But he didn't know the one who had been working with him to free that chaotic madman.
"Oh yeah," Tristan growled, grabbing the orb on the end of the staff, "I 'kapeesh.'" His tone was dark and cold, as it often was when he was about to lose his temper. Tristan and Joey were very much alike in the way that they often were hot-headed. Usually, though, only one would get angry at a time and the other would try to calm his friend down.
Now Yugi came forward, laying a hand on Tristan's shoulder. "I understand," he said quietly to Khu. "We won't stand in your way of trying to find Seth. All we want to know is, What are his purposes here? He's been attacking us and we want to bring him to justice."
Khu growled, moving away from Yugi. "That's the point. He doesn't know what he wants. He's gone mad."
Joey scratched his head. "Eh, no offense, but isn't that normal for that guy?" This earned him a swift elbow in the ribs from Téa.
Khu's lips parted in what may have been either a wry smile or a nasty sneer. It was hard to tell. "Unfortunately, perhaps so. But it wasn't really his fault." For before the problems with the healing talisman, he and Seth had been locked in the Shadow Realm. Seth had seemed quite well at first, but slowly his condition had deteriorated and he had started to plot for world domination. It wasn't until much later that Khu learned that the scars from having their own father controlling Seth with the Rod were still with his younger brother. After all those centuries spent in the darkness and confusion of the Shadow Realm, Seth's sanity had finally started to crack. Their father Akunadin's ghost remained with them and sadly, always might.
"Well, whatever," Joey grunted, not convinced.
"But I don't have time to waste talking with you mortals," Khu hissed. "Seth could be up to anything. As I said, he doesn't quite know what he's doing. And if he's not careful, he could bring to pass the world's destruction!" If Seth destroyed the world, he'd probably take himself and Khu along with it. And Khu wasn't particularly anxious to disappear permanently.
Yami Yugi stared at Khu, the third eye glowing on his forehead. "I see," he said quietly. "You're not out to save the world from Seth's madness . . . you're out to save Seth from Seth's madness." It was strange for him to comprehend at first. Everything he had known about Khu recently had made him think that the man didn't have a heart, let alone to care about a brother. But perhaps he was wrong. Khu had tried to save Seth after Vivalene had shot him with her machine gun. The only talisman Khu had bothered to take was the Healer.
Khu's eyes flashed. "What I do and why is my own business," he snapped. "It's none of your concern why I want to stop Seth." And then there was the problem of Runihura. Khu was putting the insane Egyptian on the back burner of his priorities for now, while he dealt with Seth, but he certain hadn't forgotten about him. Once Seth was under control, Khu would figure out how to return Runihura to the Eternal Sleep. He couldn't know that such a thing was beyond his ability to control.
Seth, meanwhile, had found the master bedroom and was reclining on the soft mattress as he pondered over what his next step should be. Of course he didn't think he was insane. He was looking for a power greater than the Millennium Items, one that he had often been told of as a child. Perhaps it was only legend, only fantasy. But he was determined to believe otherwise. And he would use any means possible to obtain what he wanted.
"You know, Nuru," he said smoothly, "there's so many irritations in this house. Maybe we should just burn it to the ground. The Millennium Items would withstand the heat. Then we could retrieve them as a bonus." His eyes glinted dangerously.
Nuru stared at him. "Burn the house down, Lord Seth?!" she cried, aghast.
"Of course," Seth grinned. "Surely you don't have any objections. It's not like we haven't done things like that before. Every fool in here will die, including the hikaris of the Pharaoh and Bakaré!"
He never knew he was being watched.