Title: ©Yami mata Hikari no Tenshis
Author: Mitsuko-chan
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh!, any of its characters, or themes. I will not profit from this story except receiving enjoyment of your questions, comments, and input on this story.
Claimer: I do, however, own this story and its plot and any Original Characters that I may use during the duration of the making process of this story.
Chapter 7: Lost Secrets Unveiled
Mai stepped out of Akiva's bedroom, closing the door softly behind her, trying not to disturb Yugi, Akiva, or any of Yugi's friends. Isis, who was inquiring after Yugi's condition, immediately waylaid her.
"How is he?" she asked.
Mai sighed, wondering how much to tell her. Figuring that she would find out anyway, she said, "He's okay for the moment; he's comfortable for now. I've done all I can for him, but I'm going to have to tell you: if we don't find him a professional healer, he might not wake up."
Isis gasped at Mai's blunt statement, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle the noise, as tears formed in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Mai whispered to her, "there's nothing else I can do..."
With that, she sidestepped her peer and started for the living room. Just as she reached the threshold, she was stopped by the scream from behind her. She quickly spun around and, immediately, her jaw dropped open at the sight behind her.
The air in front of Isis was shimmering and swaying like the tossing and turning of the ocean's waves, almost as if a hole were being ripped in the very air itself. Before long, the middle of the ripple began to split and a tear formed. Only seconds later, a figure stepped out of the hole, revealing...
"Shadi-sama!" Isis breathed. "W-what, what are you doing here?! The last time we saw you was the night of the King and queen's death. What's going on?"
"The princes have received and solved their puzzles, now it is time for them to fulfill their destinies," he said in his mystical, baritone voice.
"But Mitsu...he...he was injured, he might not wake up."
Shadi captured her with his piercing stare for a moment before calmly stating, "I have come to heal the young prince and tell the children of their mission. Yugi will not be dying on this day."
Almost as if an immense weight had been lifted from Isis' shoulders, she sagged against the wall with relief, closing her eyes and whispering something none of them could hear, her hand covering her heart before she stood up – the determination and life returning to her eyes.
Shadi nodded once to them then opened the door and stepping in, followed by Mai and Isis.
They all watched as he swept through the room, crossing to the bed in three quick strides. He stood beside the bed for a minute, a look of concentration etched onto his features as if he were trying to find the answer to a complicated question.
Mai thought he might have been trying to discern what was wrong as she watched him open his eyes once more and begin running his hands up and down the length of Yugi's body without actually touching him.
Finally, they came to rest above his chest, directly in front of his heart and begin to pulsate with a glowing, white light.
Mai noted the changes that swept through Yugi's body. The color returned to his pale cheeks and his blue tinged lips began to redden once again, while the purple bags under his eyes disappeared and his breathing steadied from fast, hitching gasps to a more regular pattern.
A sigh from behind Mai sounded like a gunshot in the completely silent room, startling everyone except for Shadi and the small figure on the bed, causing Mai to release the breath she had not realized she had been holding.
Mai looked over at Isis and the little girl named Anzu that was one of Yugi's friends. They were both holding onto each other as if their life depended on it. Anzu was crying for her friend and Isis still had tears in her eyes as she comforted the girl and showered her with placating words.
Everyone looked back up at the bed as they heard a low moan emanating from that direction. Yugi's eyes were slowly opening, showing shinning amethyst orbs to the room's occupants.
"Daijobou desu ka? (Are you alright?)" Shadi asked the child, not in his usual mystical tone, but rather, in a soothing type of voice.
Yugi started to nod, but stopped suddenly, bringing a hand up to his head and clutching the sheets with his other fist.
"How do you feel? Does anything hurt?"
"My head, but everything else is okay."
Shadi helped Yugi to sit up in bed and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. Yugi swung his legs over the side, preparing to stand up, but Shadi put pressure on his shoulder, whispering a quick, "Not yet," before placing his hand gently across Yugi's bare back.
Yugi hissed in pain and Shadi lifted his hand, nodding to the child.
Turning to address the room as a whole, he said, "Yugi will be fine. His head will ache for a while more and there will be a lingering tenderness in his back, but other than that he should be back to normal."
"Now," he stated, extending his hand toward the door, indicating that they should all leave the room, "we shall discuss what is going on in the world. If you would all follow me, we should take this in the other room and settle in comfortably. This will take some time."
Once they were all seated comfortably in the living area, Shadi began his tale.
"For those of you that do not know, I will begin my story at the beginning. Long ago, there was once a King that commanded a great nation. He had in his possession an item that granted him immense power, so that no other realm or country could contend with this King's might.
"He, as all Kings do, had a royal court, made up of his most trusted followers and friends. His High Priest was his very best friend and had the highest position that was available, short of being royalty.
"Both the King and his High Priest were very well known and had substantial influence over the kingdom, but soon, the King's friend grew jealous of the King's greater position and the power that he held over the High Priest.
"He coveted the item that gave the King his power and conspired to steal the item away from his friend, kill him, and take up his position and use his power and influence to rule the rest of the world as well.
"His plan, of course, took time, thoughtful planning, and preparation. While the High Priest drew up his plans to carry out his machinations, the King and his wife became excited with anticipation of the birth of their twin sons.
"The High Priest knew that with the birth of these boys, if the King perished, they would in turn inherit the kingdom as well as the King's item of power. He added to his plot the deaths of these two princes.
"As time grew closer for the King's sons to be born, the King and his wife began to grow suspicious of the High Priest's activities and they began to suspect his undermining of their authority. They formed a plan to destroy the sacred item their family held to keep it out of the hands of those that sought its power.
"Finally, when the time came for the twins to be born, everyone was excited and prepared, and not all of them were for the same things. The very night the princes were born the High Priest and the army he had gathered against the King invaded killing the King and his wife and the sacred item was destroyed, broken into numerous pieces.
"The death of the two boys, however, never came about, as the palace guards were able to alert their king of the danger before they ever made it in. The King and his wife gave their boys to two of their attending maidservants, sending them off on their own ways to take care of and raise the children to the best of their ability.
"Before they went their separate ways, they came to me, seeking guidance. I gave them some advice as well as two separate parts of the family's sacred item. It was still in pieces, but the princes would one day have the power to put them together again. I told the maidservants to hide the sacred items so the princes would find them when the time was right to put the pieces back together again.
"I was right, after eight years, both of the boys, on the night of their birthday at midnight, found the hiding places and completed the task of putting the Puzzle together. The power that filled these boys with the completion of the Puzzle was felt by all magical beings in the realm.
"The former High Priest and new King or Emperor – Seto – also felt the surge of magic and attacked the village of the nearest prince, killing almost everyone in the town and capturing the youngest prince, torturing him for information about the Puzzle.
"Luckily, Prince Yugi did not have the Puzzle on his person when he was taken and could not give it to Emperor Seto. Now, as you all know, his guardian, one of the maidservants, – Isis Ishtar – found the Puzzle and came to her friend, the maidservant of Prince Yami – Mai Kajako – and told her of what had transpired.
"Then all of you planned a rescue and brought Prince Yugi back."
"That's a great story," Yami stated, his expression confused and accusing, "but what does that have to do with anything?"
Shadi stared at Yami intensely until the young prince quailed under his gaze and lowered his eyes, abashed at his bold statement.
"A long time ago, a prophecy was made about twins that would be born. Once they completed the Puzzle, they would have the power to pass judgment on evil and save the world from darkness. Do you not see it yet?"
When Yami shook his head Shadi continued.
"You Prince Yami and Prince Yugi are the ones that will save the kingdom from Emperor Seto."
Silence greeted Shadi after his statement, and he sighed in exasperation.
"What exactly does the Prophecy say?" asked Jounouchi timidly.
The airy, mystical tone of voice answered, saying,
"There will be two
Though they are two they are one
Though they are one they are two
The light and the dark
When fused together they will calm the chaos
The light is the key while the dark is the sacrifice
The puzzle is the power and the power is the puzzle
The puzzle must be solved for light to infuse with dark
It is written in the PERT EM HRU
The one who solves the puzzle
Shall inherit the Shadow Games
He becomes the guardian of right and passes judgment on evil."
Once he had finished, everyone remained silent; all of them were staring at Shadi uncomfortably. Finally one of Yami's friends became brave enough to break the stillness.
"So, uh, what is that supposed to mean?" asked Honda shifting in his seat as Shadi's gaze locked onto him.
"That," Shadi began slowly, "is the enigma that must be solved by the Princes. I must tell you, however, that the secret will not be discovered by waiting here. After his failure to find and claim the power of the Puzzle as his own, Emperor Seto has discovered more ancient items that will give him power. Each item is powerful in its own right, but once combined with others their might is almost unstoppable. If Emperor Seto finds all of these items he could rule the world and nothing would be able to stop him."
"What items are these, Shadi-sama?" inquired Isis sharply, her eyes wide with surprise and fear.
"These are the Millennium Items. Your Puzzle," Shadi indicated the golden pyramids held by Yami and Yugi, "is one of these mystical items – the Millennium Puzzle. It has the power to control the greatest of all Shadow Beasts – the legendary Exodia. Exodia can obliterate whole cities in a matter of minutes. That is the great power that your father, the King, used to conquer other realms and countries."
"Why do you keep referring to it as the Puzzle? There's two of them, not one."
"Like I insinuated before, when it was in the King's possession, it was a single item. When he smashed it into its smaller components, it came to me. I used magic to make an exact copy. After all, as it says in the Prophecy, 'Though they are two they are one.' It is something that you will have to figure out on your own."
Yugi sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly, "This is giving me a headache. Usually, I like puzzles, but this one seems to be a bit much."
The corners of Shadi's mouth seemed to quirk up at this, but it was quickly covered when he sobered and said, "Back to what I was saying before about the Millennium Items, Emperor Seto has discovered some scrolls that describe the locations of these items. Combined with ancient tablet writing that he discovered before your birth and forewarning of the Prophecy, Emperor Seto has been able to narrow down the areas the Millennium Items may be located.
"You must not let him gain possession of these items. If he does, he may become powerful enough to take the puzzle from you. What you have to do is find the locations of the Items for yourselves and take the Items before Emperor Seto can."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Anzu asked in a high, shrill voice, clearly alarmed.
"I will give you this—it has the locations of all the Millennium Items save the Millennium Puzzle, Scale, and Ankh. Those are already in our grasp."
Shadi handed an old, worn-out scroll to Yugi who grasped it gently as the others crowded around behind him to read it. It was filled with riddles! How on earth were they supposed to find the locations of the Millennium Items with this?
"Shadi-sama, how are we supposed to-"
Looking up, Yugi noticed that Shadi had disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as he had come. Internally he groaned, how were they supposed to know what to do? Everything was just so confusing!
To Be Continued...
A/N- I've decided to put review responses down here from now on, so now you know where to look for them...
Note: I'm looking for two people to beta read for me. If anyone knows of someone that is a very good beta reader that would be willing to go over my stories, I would greatly appreciate it if you told me.
Note: Um, if any of you have any good ideas for riddles, please let me know...otherwise this could take a while...
Fushicho Hime: (blushes) Really? Thank you! So you liked them meeting? Me too. It turned out better than I had hoped although not as well as I would have liked. I'm glad you enjoyed it however.
cwthewolf: (smiles) I will!
Subieko: Um...semi-back anyway. I'm hoping to be back for good (at least for a while) now. Yeah, that's why it could be really dangerous in the wrong hands...I'm not really sure how far I want to take that though, but this entire plot is extremely confusing and it's hard trying to keep everything straight. Especially when I have ten other different plots running through my head! (blushes) Yeah, I'm not good at writing fight scenes...that's something I need to work on b/c I have a big one coming up in my other fic!
korieana: Glad to see you again! I'm glad that you liked my writing enough to review both of my stories! Yeah, I know what you mean! We can't let those evil bad guys get their hands on them!
Nicky: Hey!...(reads review)...and you are sooooo weird! And such a dork!...Like me! (smiles).
I'd like to thank Nicky for beta reading this chapter for me!
Ja ne, Mitsuko