Things Unseen; Sequel to the Millennium Ritual
Disclaimer: . . . . Calcium
Chapter 14: Her
Sadiki was silent as Yami and Kaiba were at the front of the jet airplane, Kaiba barking orders into his head set. He wore his violet trench coat, his white one torn into shreds before. At the time they decided to leave their friends and family in Domino; it wouldn't be safe for them to follow. Yami turned around and found Sadiki glaring at the window, but something about the way he was staring helplessly outside made Yami feel pity for him.
"So," Kaiba muttered, putting the plane on auto pilot, "can you fill us in on why my brother went ballistic on me?" Yami glanced at him, silent.
Sadiki frowned, saying, "The Fates were controlling them."
"No doubt about that," Kaiba said, rolling his eyes, "but who are they?"
"Yes," Yami murmured, "and why do they want to kill us?"
Sadiki bit his lip as he replied, "I. . . I don't know who they are. I don't even know why they want to kill you. When they first told me about you two, I thought they wanted you alive. Guess not. But that's not what really worries me. Aura. . . She's like a daughter to them. Why would they want her dead?" At that point Sadiki glared at Kaiba, continuing, "Can't this hunk of junk move any faster?"
"Don't complain. This 'hunk of junk' is the only thing stopping us from falling into the Indian Ocean," Kaiba stated, taking his head set off. "It's the fastest in my fleet; we'll be arriving in less than an hour."
"That's not fast enough," he muttered, "I have to get to her now!"
"But where did you leave her?" Yami asked, raising an eyebrow. "And why did you think that it was such a safe place?" Sadiki stopped his complaints; he stared at Yami with a surprised face.
"You mean. . . You don't know?" Sadiki said slowly, looking hard into his eyes. As Yami didn't reply, Sadiki sighed angrily and swiftly turned away, saying, "Well, I should have known."
Yami glanced at Kaiba, giving him a funny look. Kaiba thought the same thing. This man may know more than he's giving them. When Sadiki stood and left to the bathroom, Kaiba glanced at Yami and said quietly, "He never answered your question."
"I know," Yami sighed, leaning back on his chair, "everything is repeating itself."
Kaiba stroked his chin. "Do you think street rat over there knows more than he's telling us?" he asked.
"It is a possibility," Yami spoke, "that he may have more personal issues to this than he lets on." Kaiba agreed, but in each of their minds, they thought of how similar their situation was to the year before. Yami remembered the first time Aura and himself spoke to each other, in that plane going to Egypt, just as they were going now. She said that all she knew of was already told to him. Sadiki says the same thing. But then again. . .
'She did die last year, didn't she?' Yugi thought, sitting down on the floor of his soul room. 'I mean, how can she be alive again? It's impossible, isn't it?' What a silly question. After all the things he had seen, he should know that there is no such word as impossible. 'Well, there must be a reason, a motive to why she was brought back. Did Aura have unfinished business? Or is it. . . Something else?'
Suddenly Yugi remembered the dream he had before.
Yami was on the ground, his blank eyes staring at him. Yugi turned to see a strange form in the darkness, its colorless eyes filled with uttermost sadness. In its hands were the shattered pieces of the Millennium Orb, a few scattered about the floor. Yugi turned back to see that a misty substance was slowly coming out of Yami and into the strange form, its eyes growing with pain. When Yugi tried to reach Yami, he suddenly disappeared, as Yugi stared at the empty space with horror. Turning around, he saw that the form took in Yami also. Yugi stared at the form with glistening, angry eyes.
"Give him back!!" he screamed, running toward the form. Suddenly another dark form appeared, and in its hands was the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi gasped. "No!! That's mine, you freak! Give it to me!!"
The other form dropped the Millennium Puzzle, shattering into pieces. Yugi screamed as he wavered into the darkness.
Yugi shivered. He didn't want that to happen. Standing up, he stared at a picture frame with no picture. Picking it up, he sighed with a heavy heart and wondered, 'Why does this happen?'
A little voice responded to him. Because it does, it whispered.
Apis Enari grinned as he saw the two figures on his map moving towards Egypt. It was moving inch by inch, but the travel was noticeable. He popped a grape into his mouth, his finger moving down on the scroll upon his lap. It was myths of Egyptian Gods and all their heroic moments, of their triumphs and losses, of their joys and sorrows. It went down to many gods and goddesses, Atum-Ra, Seth, Anubis, Apep. . .
'Ah,' Apis thought, his finger stopping at a name, 'There you are. . .' He smirked, now eating a red apple. 'My dear Sekhmet. . .'
A foot step attracted Apis's attention, making him look up from his reading and say, "Ah, Bakura, back so soon?"
Bakura the tomb robber frowned and tossed the blood stained dagger across the table, saying, "The only obstacle was the Fate killing the girl. And the old man, but he wasn't hard to kill off." But something in his voice told Apis that Bakura had guilt.
"Of course," Apis grinned, secretly placing his scroll away. "Well, did you put the mask on her?"
Bakura nodded, murmuring, "Yes, but I still don't see the meaning for it. Why does she need it on?"
Apis gave him the kind of look people give when they have a secret they won't share. "No questions. You remember the deal, do you not?" He turned away, walking towards the large window. Pressing a button the blackened window suddenly turned clear, over looking a large room filled with duelists who lost in previous duels of the Osiris Tournament.
"I remember," Bakura said angrily, "but I won't become your puppet."
Apis turned, and the look he gave to Bakura made shivers crawl down his spine, as if the very dead were prickling their fingers all over his back. "Do not forget fool," Apis said dangerously, turning back to the window, "I gave you life, and I can take it away."
Bakura was silent.
Staring at the moving figurines on the map, Apis ordered to Bakura, "You and the other meet the Pharaoh and Priest at the village. They shall be arriving soon."
"Shall I bring. . . her?" Bakura asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"Yes," Apis murmured, "she's the only way we can get the Pharaoh. Besides, she's on our side now." Bakura glared at him, but bowed a stiff bow and walked away, closing the door behind him.
Taking out a cell phone, he dialed a number and said, "Netiri, lets show our guests a good time, shall we?" He flipped it off, giving a devious smile towards the unsuspected duelists eating at their tables. "Fools."
'Ugh, where am I?' A thought, her eyes opening slowly. But she couldn't see anything, there was darkness everywhere. 'I don't remember this. . .'
She touched her face and felt a hard, cold mouth mask on her face, her fingers making clinking sounds against it. 'Oh god, what is this?!'
Suddenly A felt her body go down, turning this way and that like a scared mouse. She felt faint; it was so hot. Leaning back, A found her back stopped on a curved wall. What in the world? She closed her eyes, thinking that it was a dream. 'Yeah, that's right, a dream. I'm gonna wake up in my bed with Chike and Chuma rubbing me awake, Zuka asking me to help him with a hack, Badru ordering me to swing the blade harder, Adio giving me a swig of his ale, and Sadiki watching the sunset with me. . .'
Her body jerked to a stop, quickly sitting up and looking around. There were many people in the chamber, all staring at her with mouths full of food. 'Why are they staring?' She touched her clothes, feeling and seeing a ceremonial Egyptian garment around her body. She was high above the ground, and yet something was keeping her from falling. 'What's going on?'
A chant. She heard a chant. It was slow and ear splitting, but much to her amazement, it didn't faze her at all. Feeling sleepy, waves of lightness absorbed into her. A eyes closed. Her body shivered as she thought, 'Sadiki. . . Help me. . .' The mask on her face suddenly fell, and as she breathed in for the first time, her eyes opened with a blazing color of red.
Release the Destroyer!!
A low moan filled the air as the screams of the duelists followed it, a stream of lights flying towards one direction. Apis smiled and sipped his tea, thinking it was too plain. He turned around and added more sugar cubes as the madness continued on, and as suddenly as it started, it stopped, no screams heard.
A moaned, her eyes opening slowly. But before she saw the duelists' still bodies, lying on the ground, her right eye, her only sight to the world, began to darken. It continued darkening, little by little. . .
Until she could see no more.
The jet plane landed on the soft desert sand as Sadiki quickly jumped out, running out towards the hot land. Yami and Kaiba followed, but wondered why he was running so quickly to nowhere. There was no human habitation in sight, just miles and miles of sand dunes. They must be in the Great Sand Sea.
Sadiki continued running, Kaiba and Yami hot on his tail. But neither of the men knew when to stop, or when they'll reach their destination. The Egyptian ran with such impatient steps that it made Kaiba realize how determined he was to protect Aura. Yami knew this also, and wondered what the reason for this determination was.
Suddenly Sadiki stopped, his stance deathly still. As Yami and Kaiba stood by him, they realized why, gasping in horror.
The Nubian village that once was filled with busy and happy people now was surrounded with collapsed bodies, the air still. Sadiki gulped down his fears and broke into a run, the sand kicking behind him. Yami couldn't understand; what happened?
Kaiba bent down to a Nubian and flipped him over, the sight making his eyebrows raise. "Yugi," he said. Yami turned around and bent down beside him, gaping at what he saw. The man's face was twisted in agony and fear. Kaiba checked his pulse. "He's. . . He's not dead."
"But," Yami said, looking around, "these people. . . What happened to them?" Kaiba didn't answer. As Yami turned, he found Sadiki bent over to another man, praying. Kaiba and Yami stood and walked over to him, to find him sitting before an elderly man, a puddle of blood surrounding him. This man, unlike the others, was dead. Kaiba stared at him with no emotions.
Sadiki looked up with sad eyes, saying quietly, "This man was a friend of mine. . . He. . . He shouldn't have died. . ." Sadiki turned away, his body shaking.
Yami bent down and stared at the necklace around the man's neck, seeing the strange symbol on it. He tilted his head, something in the back of his mind suddenly twitching. It looked so familiar. . . Yami reached out to touch it.
Suddenly the man's hand shot up and grabbed Yami's wrist as Sadiki and Kaiba both looked up in surprise. "Elder!" Sadiki cried out.
"P-Pharaoh. . ." he whispered with a trembling hand, "He took her. . . He took her. . ."
"What?" Yami asked, leaning closer.
The Elder coughed, spitting out drops of blood. With weary eyes he continued, "She's in. . . She's in. . ."
"Elder, what are you saying?" Sadiki asked, his hands curling into fists.
"She's in. . . The Heart of a Pearl. . ." he gasped out, sighing and lain down once more. "The Heart. . . of a Pearl. . ." Then, with a slow smile, the Elder died, his grip on Yami's wrist disappearing, until his hand fell to the sand. Yami stared at his hand, then at that familiar symbol. He took the necklace around his neck, and Sadiki made no complaint. Kaiba stared at the body slowly.
"The Heart of a Pearl?" Kaiba murmured. "What is that?" Sadiki didn't have time to answer; the breeze increased and whirled the sand into the air, impossible for anyone to see. Suddenly an arrow swished passed him, a mere inch away from his face. Yami jumped up and got in a ready stance.
His face filled with anger, Sadiki yelled out, "Who's there?!"
The sand settled. And slowly, three other figures appeared in the disappearing sand. As it finally became clear, what Kaiba saw made his eyes widen in surprise. There, beside the two shadowed figures, was a mirror image of himself, wearing all dark clothing. But Kaiba didn't understand; if he was here, why was he there?
But that wasn't all. On the other side of the shadowed figure, Bakura appeared, smirking, his clothes dark also. Yami gasped. 'But he was supposed to be dead!!'
"Who in the world are they?!" Kaiba yelled out, suddenly angry. Sadiki was silent for a moment.
"The people of the past," Sadiki murmured. But how were they back to life once more? Yami stared at him in shock, clutching the necklace tight. Sadiki glared at the last person; somehow he still couldn't see him.
Set turned toward the person and said, "Your aim has not changed, Maeve."
The dust settled, and in its place was Maeve, the Priestess. Sadiki and Kaiba gasped in surprise as Yami stood up, not believing it himself. A bow was in her hand, an arrow ready to launch. Her eyes sparkled with a blazing fury, her dark clothing rustling with the wind.
"S-Sister?" Yami said, walking forward. She shot out an arrow towards him as he jumped away in time, staring at her with surprise. Taking out another arrow, she launched it towards Sadiki as he flew away, the arrow piercing the Millennium Orb to the ground. Sadiki stared at it, then back at Maeve with bewildered eyes. Kaiba continued to stare at the three with disbelief. This can't be happening. . .
"Don't move," she said, ready to launch the next arrow. "Don't touch the Orb."
To Be Continued. . .
Err. . . Tell me what you think.