Update? Oh! Thanks for reminding me. This is the first half of chapter six, which is why I took so long to decide to post it. It kept growing in unexpected directions. Have given up on formatting and am using ramdom OOOOOOs as placeholders.
Enjoy!
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Chapter Six: Of Trains and Tactics, part 1 The Hogwarts Express
Five minutes to twelve Yugi gave up searching for the platform, and simply leant against the wall between numbers three and four, doing his best to ignore the tension radiating from his other half. Yami wasn't pacing. Ancient pharaohs of dignity and power, Yugi decided, apparently didn't. Every now and then he would twitch slightly, while Yugi watched in amusement. The hikari was comparatively relaxed, looking forward to this new adventure, even if his yami had decided it was a trap. He liked traps, they were interesting to get out of. He was even mostly used to his curls, tied back in a mass of red, gold and black.
The warm tickle of magic at his back alerted Yugi in time for him to see the bricks of the wall melt away. Through the archway that had just appeared, a bright red steam engine was pulling up at a station that might have been taken from a storybook. "Well, darkness," he called lightly, "it looks like this is it!"
"Wait, aibou!"
Despite Yami's earlier enthusiasm, he had a Feeling about the coming challenge. Not necessarily a bad feeling as such, but definitely a 'none of us will come out of this unchanged' kind of feeling that left him restlessly uneasy. And I have a suspicion that 'us' doesn't just refer to myself and Yugi, either.
In any case, he stopped not-pacing very abruptly indeed, and hurried after his light.
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A silver haired figure detached itself from the shadows, passing unnoticed as it slipped silently after the game kings. The combined form of thief and hikari blended with the shadows on the platform for a few brief seconds before moving to blend with those on the train.
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There were three compartments, set out with one on each side of the carriage and one at the back. Yugi chose one of the side ones and Yami followed, still refusing to relax.
"Yami. Tell me what's wrong." Yugi's tone didn't leave room for debate.
His darkness sighed. "I could have sworn I felt someone watching us back there." Yami said restlessly. "And I can't place who, but I'm sure I know them."
A light silvery voice answered. "I wouldn't be surprised."
Yugi looked up in delight. "Ryou?"
"You could say that."
Yami snarled. "Tomb robber."
"That too." The silver haired fusion paused. Scorn for one warred with affection for the other, but Yami spared Rakura the inconvenience of having to make up his mind.
"Ryou, if you can hear me don't worry. I'll banish him before he can hurt you." The elder Game King reached for his deck almost automatically, to eliminate the indirect threat to his Hikari. Not that he had time to do anything, considering Rakura reacted first.
There was a crackle of power, and suddenly there were two silver haired boys, the second glaring at Yami in unchecked fury.
"Believe what you wish Pharaoh," he snarled. "But I would never harm my light." The crackling energy followed him, dying as the thief stormed out the door.
"Yami, how could you?" Hurt amethyst eyes glittered up at the Pharaoh, before Yugi darted out of the compartment. "Bakura, wait." Anger echoed down the hikari's side of their bond before it was cut off abruptly as a door slamming.
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Silence. Yami's shock was palpable.
"I do not wish to hate you," Ryou told him flatly. "But I could no more bear to loose my other half, than you could to loose yours."
Crimson eyes went wide as the spirit considered this. Ouch. Not Yugi, I couldn't...
"You will not even think about harming my Yami." That was an order. The Pharaoh had given a few of them in his time, and he knew one when he heard it. "Unless you wish to see me take his place as the dark side of our soul."
"No." Yami said quietly. "I do not wish that." And you could be far scarier than your Yami, little one, if you tried. Why did I not realise that?
"Besides," Ryou continued in a lighter tone, "Kura wouldn't hurt me. He loves me."
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The cheerful red of the train wasn't the same colour as blood. Marik stirred restlessly in his soul room, unable to decide whether this pleased him or annoyed him, as he looked out through his hikari's eyes. He could feel the inherent goodness of whoever had created the train like an itch in the back of his mind. Unthreatening, even to him, as long as he intended no harm to the inhabitants of the castle it guarded.
Hikari was delighted, spinning in circles to catch every detail he could of this new world he was entering.
But then, Malik was determined to be delighted, to put aside the rage and bitterness in his past. His anger had frightened him a little, with its ability to warp his view of reality so far from the truth. The Hikari calmed slightly, still grinning slightly as he boarded the train. He sobered abruptly, however, as snippets of conversation reached him.
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"He throws knives at me and expects me to dodge. He's proud of me, Yami."
Yami nodded. Witholding judgement here.
Malik was ever so slightly disturbed by what he was overhearing. Hopefully his Yami wouldn't pick up any bright ideas...
Marik sneered. "The Pharaoh here too? That figures."
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"Go away." Bakura's fists clenched at his sides and a whisper-thin layer of shadows clung to him like a second skin. He didn't appear to want company.
"Don't worry," Yugi said sweetly. "I won't let him hurt you."
"He didn't - he can't hurt me."
"His mistrust hurt you."
"Don't be stupid. Why should I care what that baka thinks?"
"Because he's your Pharaoh."
"He is no king of mine." The denial came too fast, too vehement to fool Yugi. The hikari looked at him inquiringly. "Oh?"
Bakura was silent for a long time, but it wasn't the defensive silence that some might have expected. "You are so sharp you will cut yourself one of these days, little empath," he said finally. "Be careful when you do, or it could mean your death." The tombraider exuded menace easily and without effort in this mood, but he hadn't meant his words as a threat.
Yugi bowed slightly. "I thank you for the warning, future-seer," he said formally. "I will be."
Bakura smiled.
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Malik and Marik selected the only empty compartment remaining and settled down for the ride. The hikari sprawled out along one of the seats, blond hair tumbling every which way and his Yami watching silently and almost possessively from one corner. Strangely enough, they could hear nothing from the other compartments, as if the sound stopped short in the corridor. Unconcerned with the block on their ability to eavesdrop, Malik's lavender eyes slitted closed, content for now, to wait.
Marik remained standing, a contemplative snarl crossing his face as he wondered at the train's too easy acceptance of his presence, and unspoken warning to do no harm. He could destroy it, he thought, but found he didn't care to.
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Eris, Goddess of Discord, First Lady of the Order of Chaos.
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