Hello, it's me again! I decided to update at 4 reviews because they were all so encouraging... thank you so much! A few things to keep in mind in this chapter:
Ryou and Malik are so protective of Yugi because he's the youngest out of them (Malik's the oldest) and they're used to it. They don't want to see him hurt.
While magi are on highs, the sugar, or chocolate, or whatever they're on, is what the magi's magic feeds off of, not the magi's energy as it normally does. So when Mariku was tossing flames around, and Yami had to "clean up" after him, Yami's magic drained a little, while Mariku felt nothing.
You may feel that Ryou, Malik, and Yugi are a little sheltered. Well, they are. Their "parents" wanted to keep them safe, and well, a little blind to the horrors of the world. They are not experienced with death. However, Isis and Shadi believe that no one should be kept in the dark, and expose Bakura, Mariku, and Yami to just about anything.
Oh, and by the way, I forgot to do a disclaimer last time. I do not own Yu- Gi-Oh!, but the plotline of this fanfiction is mine. Please don't steal.
Thank you!
"They're late," Bakura muttered, pacing around the large marble hall. Dark clouds gathered outside the glass ceiling.
"Mm," Mariku agreed from his seat. "And Isis said they were usually on time. We were 5 minutes late; so where are they?"
"They'll come," Isis said quietly. "Sooner or later."
"Something's wrong, though," Yami frowned. "I can feel it."
"Something very wrong," Shadi agreed. "Someone's emotions are fluctuating out of control... who taught them how to focus? They need a review. Maybe two."
All of a sudden, thunder crashed, and rain started to fall with horrible violence. Looking up at the transparent ceiling, Yami shuddered. The rain seemed to come straight down at them, seemingly out of nowhere. As a pyromancer, he had never really liked the rain much. Snow was all right; he could melt it into puddles. But rain always gave him the sensation of being melted by it. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"This isn't natural," Isis murmured, looking up as well. "It came out of nowhere. Magic caused this...."
A miniature earthquake rocked the hall before Bakura grabbed it with his own power. "Nope, definitely not natural. You were right, Shadi. It's emotion fueled."
"And did you realize," Mariku put in suddenly, "that while there is thunder, there is no lightning?"
Turning pale – how was that possible? – Yami reached out with his own magic to find the lightning that had to be there, and found nothing.
"The air's splitting by itself," he gasped. "Th-that's not possible ..." (A/N: Thunder is when lightning splits the air)
But it seemed it was.
15 minutes before the others were to arrive, Yugi, Malik, and Ryou walked into the Marble Hall. They didn't expect to find their "father", Lord Sogoroku (sp?), waiting for them there with a grave expression, cheeks stained with recent tears. As he was an aeromancer, the air sensed his mood and seemed to press down on them heavily as they walked towards him.
"What's wrong?" Malik asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"She," the old man said, voice cracking. "Sh-she..." he stopped, and swallowed hard. They waited for him to regain his composure, the seconds dragging by like hours. He finally looked up once more, and spoke 2 words that made their blood freeze: "Denirah's dying."
It took a while for their brains to process what he had said. Ryou's mind comprehended its meaning first. "Mother..." he whispered, in a voice that had gone dry with horror. "NO!" he cried out, suddenly furious. "She's an aquamancer, her body can heal itself! I can heal her; take me to her! Why are you not doing anything?!"
"You three, hearken to me." There was so much compressed force and power in those words that they did. "I'll transport us over, but on no account are any of you going to try to heal her. No spells," he glanced at Yugi, "or herbs," at Malik, "or pure healing, either!" at Ryou. "Do you know why she's dying? There's a new disease going around, one that affects both mind and body."
"Both mind.. and.... body..." Yugi stuttered. Diseases either drained your magic or made you sick, not both! This wasn't possible!
"She's the chief healer in this area of Spiritheart, so they called on her to heal the first of these patients. As soon as her magic so much as brushed over the patient to see what was wrong, the disease spread to her, draining her magic and shutting down her heart in less than 10 seconds. The person she was trying to heal smiled, got up, and left." Sogoroku's hands turned into fists. "It was all planned. It strikes healers, mostly, but an aeromancer who tried a healing spell, and a geomancer who tried healing herbs are in the same condition."
That said, he gave them no warning before he wrapped his magic around them, and muttered a transportation spell.
They reappeared in the hospital, or rather, the "Healing Center for Magickal Ailments", at their mother's bedside. They must have been here a thousand times, to watch Lady Denirah work, Ryou helping occasionally, and learning.
Denirah managed a weak smile at them. "I'm almost gone," she whispered. "I love you all. Sogoroku, under our bed, the loose floorboard.... My will is there. Tell Yami, Mariku, and Bakura, and Shadi and Isis, that I'm sorry I didn't get to say good-bye, and that I love them. You three, Yugi, Malik, Ryou," her voice caressed each name, "You are more special to me than you will ever know. After I... leave, take my soul, before it disappears, and split it amongst you, so that I'll always be with you. Leave now, for a minute, while I talk to my Lord..."
They obeyed her, mute with love, sorrow, and admiration. To not want her soul to go to eternal happiness... to want it to stay with them... it was truly the greatest sacrifice anyone could have ever made.
Moments later, they were recalled to her. "A few seconds left... don't forget, tell Shadi and your cousins.... I love you three, and Sogoroku, you four are the lights and loves of my life..." and then she was gone. Her soul, a glowing sphere of bright purple for her, floated out of her chest. Ryou grabbed at it, and it willingly split itself into thirds, and dissolved inside each person.
"Oh Ra, she's gone..." Malik whispered, full and total realization smacking him in the face. He sank to the floor. "No, no, no...."
All of his earlier meditation and control lessons going out the window, Ryou's magic leapt free of its barriers and wreaked havoc in the atmosphere, brewing a storm. Yugi, letting loose a howl of anguish, set his magic free as well, the air splitting with the magnitude of his sorrow and ire. A wind whipped Ryou's storm into a monstrosity.
And it began to rain when Ryou began to cry, tears making tracks down a too pale face.
"Why?" the wind shrieked, echoed by the thunder.
"Nonononono," the rain chanted, a continuous mantra.
The earth rolled and bucked has Malik's emotions finally escaped, roaring, a constant roar, no words, just a roar of pure torment.
And Sogoroku Motou saw. And watched. Heartache ruled the room.
When someone else latched onto Malik's earthquake, he growled in fury, knocking the interloper away. However, they were all beginning to come out of their respective blind rages. After 3 loud, earth-shaking crashes of thunder, each on each other's heels, Yugi collapsed in a heap on the floor. Ryou followed, the rain dissolving to a mist, and Malik reigned in his earthquake somewhat regretfully. The 3 huddled together, trying to find comfort. Sogoroku bent over his dead wife, kissed her a last time, and sat down in a chair beside the bed, eyes closing in weariness and grief.
After what seemed like an eternity, the 3 on the floor broke apart. Yugi whimpered at the loss of warmth. Ryou opened his arms, and Yugi collapsed against him, burying his head in the crook of his neck. Malik's arms folded around both of them, Ryou's head tilting to rest on his shoulder with a grateful sigh. Again, they clung together, like survivors of a shipwreck, not daring to move, not wanting ever to leave the reassurance that the other 2 brought.
At last, Sogoroku broke the silence. "I'll be going back home now," he said, his voice a mere rasp from his tears. "You 3 go back to Elemenia. We'll meet in the Marble Hall next week. I'll have her..." his voice caught, but he plowed on determinedly, "her will."
"All right," Yugi nodded. They all pretended they hadn't heard his voice tremble. "I-I'll put a preserving spell on her b-body..." He bit his quivering lower lip.
"You go on home, Dad," Malik said, voice only a little hoarse. He had somehow managed to get himself back under control.
"We'll go talk to Uncle Shadi, and Isis, you go and rest, we'll be fine,"
Ryou assured him.
After studying each of their faces intently, he nodded, and slowly disappeared.
"We've got to get up," Ryou murmured regretfully.
"5 more minutes, please," Yugi begged.
Malik tried to grin. "Th-that's what you used to say when Mom tried to get you up when you were around 7... she'd always laugh..."
Ryou's mouth twitched. "What do you mean, when Yugi was 7? He tried that on me yesterday!"
Yugi grumbled unintelligibly.
They got up, Yugi casting preservation spell with his eyes closed, not bearing to look. He turned to see the door that Malik held open, and then Ryou's outstretched hand, and felt better. They were all in this nightmare together.
"Yeah, Isis," Mariku yawned. "'They'll come, sooner or later.' How about much, much later?"
"Be quiet," Bakura demanded crossly. "We still have to figure out who caused that storm, and the earthquake."
"I can't believe you couldn't hold it, though," Yami mused.
"It wasn't possible," Isis frowned at him. "The sheer sorrow in the earthquake was bad enough, but the fury of the magi when Bakura tried to halt the earthquake made it worse."
"Don't bait each other right now," Shadi added absently.
They lapsed into silence once more. Mariku started a few moments later. "Someone's coming," he said.
"And how did you know, sir?" Yami inquired, his voice too, too polite.
Mariku rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Someone lit a fire, idiot, and if you would track the flame, it's coming in this direction." His brow furrowed. "What's wrong with your magic? It's not as alert as it should be."
Yami growled. "While somebody was high, I had to gather up all your flames, put them out, all at about 0.2 seconds each so that Bakura's precious wood wouldn't burn! It was so much fun."
"Heh... heh.... heh..."
"Hmph."
The doors crashed open. "I'm sorry, Malik! Really, I am! But what else could I use? And since it was... ah, broken off already, I didn't think that –"
"No, you didn't think! It was still alive, and I could have regrown it, but noo, Ryou! Grab it and use it as a torch. Noo, don't listen to Malik."
Three boys came into view. They all looked a bit paler than was normal, and the arguing two didn't seem to be putting any heart into it; it seemed to be more of something to do than anything else.
The spiky haired third boy, the silent one, bonked both of them on the heads, though he had to stand on tiptoe to manage this feat. "Would you both shut up and stop faking your arguments?" he demanded. "Please? I know you're trying to make me feel better, but I'm tired and I have a headache, and you're making it worse!"
The two shut up immediately.
"So where are they?" the white-haired one asked, looking around.
"I bet they left," the blonde muttered. "I'm going back to Elemenia to sleep, and you two can..." Two death glares made his mouth snap shut.
Bakura wondered idly why they couldn't see them. They only had a slight invisibility spell on to discourage magi bandits; if these three were half as powerful as Isis had said they were to be, they should be able to see them, no problem.
Isis shed her cloaking spell and got up, concern written on her face. "Malik? What's wrong?"
"Isis!" A flicker of some emotion passed over Malik's face, and he looked ruefully at his companions. "And I was the one asking that about half an hour ago..." his voice started to shake halfway through the sentence. A tear made it's way down his cheek, following the tracks of many before it, they saw. "And I thought I was all cried out... Yugi? Yugi, don't cry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything... don't cry, don't cry, please don't..."
"Not your fault..." Amethyst eyes blinked tears away. "I'm-m fine... I thought I was cried out, too..."
"Malik?! Yugi?! What's wrong, what happened?!" Worry made Isis' voice turn sharp. She turned to the white-haired boy. "Ryou?"
He had been staring at the floor. Now he looked up, eyes swimming in tears that threatened to fall. "She's gone," he whispered.
"Gone?" Shadi got up as well, and walked over to Isis and Ryou. "Who's gone? What? Did someone die in the storm?"
At this, Ryou seemed to turn even paler. "Died... in the storm... Oh Ra, people could have died in the storm... no, no, NO! Why is this happening?!" He fell hard to the floor on his knees.
Isis knelt beside him. "Who's gone, Ryou?"
He choked out the word. "Mom..."
Shadi's hands fisted. "You lie," you growled. "Tell me you like, Ryou, please..."
Silence was his answer.
"No," Shadi gasped, for once losing all his mystical appearance. "This... no... never... can't..."
Yugi wailed, a heart-breaking sound. "Why did she have to die?!"
"Sh, Yugi, don't cry, we'll make it through this... don't... cry... why... look, they rhyme..." Malik said the first thing that came to mind, not caring if it made sense or not.
"I should have been there! I could have helped!" Ryou cried. "I could have been there instead, I could have tried to heal the person, I could have died instead of her, why her?"
"NO." A hand gripped his chin, and forced him to look up into a face that looked uncannily like his own. "Don't start to blame yourself. Cry, blame other people, but not yourself. Later, you'll realize how sorry your blame sounds." Startled, Ryou obeyed unconsciously. But tears still dripped down his face in floods.
Bakura couldn't watch them suffer anymore. He couldn't. So Aunt Denirah had died... and these three were not accustomed to death. "Don't stop crying. It helps."
Bakura released Ryou's chin, and was about to get up and leave when a small, timid voice stopped him. "P-please don't leave... I don't want you to go, would you stay?" Brown eyes looked up, so full of hope that Bakura's heart ached. "I'll be good, I promise...."
Bakura folded Ryou into a hug, letting the younger boy snuggle into his chest, head pillowed against his shoulder without a word.
Yami and Mariku watched, fascinated. It was quite obvious to them that someone had taken the real Bakura captive, and replaced him with this person.
"Um, wait," Mariku said suddenly.
Yami looked sideways at him, annoyed. "What?"
Mariku jerked his head at Malik and Yugi. "I get the blonde, you get Spikey."
Yugi had fallen asleep in Yami's lap; Malik sat between Mariku's legs, his back against Mariku's chest; and Ryou still clung tightly to Bakura, while Shadi held a trembling Isis.
"So," Mariku asked quietly. "Do you know who caused that storm? They must have been pretty powerful magi to whip that up..."
"Er, actually," Malik flushed. "That, ah, in fact..."
"That was us," Ryou admitted, his voice muffled, his face being buried in Bakura's shoulder.
"What?!" Yami yelped, before looking down sheepishly at the sleeping Yugi. "But... the thunder..."
"That was Yugi," Malik said. "He's an aeromancer. We never told you, did we? I'm a geomancer, and Ryou there's an aquamancer."
"We did have an interesting meeting, didn't we?" Bakura asked wryly.
"Bakura, Mariku, and Yami."
"Ryou, Malik, and Yugi."
"Nice to meet you."
I hoped you liked it! Please review. I love you all!