Chapter 5: Evil Shows His Face

The next day, Leona slowly opened her eyes trying to forget what happened last night. She was still concerned with Kaiba's behavior and she also knew that he was keeping something from her. She knew that he could talk to her about anything, but lately he's been distancing himselffrom her. Leona sat up on the bed and looked to the side. She realized that Kaiba wasn't there. This started to worry her even more. (Seto, what's wrong with you? You never used to distance yourself from me before) Leona thought. After what's been happening the passed couple of days, Leona found it very difficult to keep track of her husband's actions and attitude and after last night she started to grow afraid of him rather than concerned.

Leona's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by her bedroom door being flown open. Leona saw Melissa and Terry running up to her excitedly. "Mommy, mommy!!" The children yelled with excitement. Leona was a bit surprised when she saw them so excited. "What is it? What's wrong?" Leona asked in concern. "Nothing's wrong mom, but you've gotta see this." Terry answered happily. "See what?" Leona asked. "C'mon mom we'll show you. Auntie Katrina and Blossom are already downstairs." Melissa told her mother as she and Terry pulled their mother out of bed and pulled her towards the door.

They passed Mokuba who was surprised to see them in such a rush. "What's going on?" Mokuba asked sleepily. Leona let out a small laugh and answered, "I'm not sure I guess I'll find out once I'm downstairs." "C'mon mom." Terry ushered Leona down the stairs. "Ok Terry just slow down." Leona said as they were walking or rather running down the stairs. Once they got downstairs, Leona was very shocked. "Oh my goodness!! What happened here?" Leona exclaimed in shock and surprise. The main floor of the Kaiba mansion is wonderfully decorated with Christmas decorations. There were wreathes and garlands hanging everywhere, tiny and giant holiday Christmas figurines covered the many rooms, and a huge Christmas tree could be seen in the living room which was beautifully decorated with ornaments and lights. It was like being in a winter wonderland.

"How in the world? Where did all this stuff come from?" Leon asked very surprised. Then Leona saw Katrina and Blossom. "Did you two do this?" Leona asked her best friends. They shook their heads. "We're just as surprised as you Leona." Katrina answered. "Even all the Christmas shopping is done and they're wrapped underneath the tree." Blossom added. Leona went inside the living room to see that everything on everyone's shopping list was already done. "I can't believe this everything is done." Leona said still surprised. "This is so cool." Terry said happily. "Yea I can't believe that dad pulled this off all in one night." Melissa said.

Then Leona, Katrina, and Blossom looked at Melissa suspiciously. "Dad? What do you mean by that?" Leona asked. "Oops." Melissa said while she covered her mouth. They weren't supposed to know that." Terry whispered to his sister. Leona looked at the children. "Ok you two where is he?" Leona asked. The children pointed to the kitchen. "I'll be right back." Leona responded and went into the kitchen. She saw Kaiba reading the morning paper like he does every morning. Leona put her arms across her chest and started tapping her foot. Kaiba noticed Leona and smiled at her. He got up from his chair and walked over to her.

"Seto, how on Earth did you manage to—Leona's question was haulted as she felt her husband's lips pressed gently against hers. After the kiss broke,--what was that for?" Leona asked. Kaiba smiled at her and pointed to the ceiling. Leona looked up and saw a mistletoe hanging underneath her. "Oh." Leona said and blushed. "And you know the tradition, whoever is under the mistletoe, they get a kiss." Kaiba replied playfully. "Seto did you put up all these decorations and finish our Christmas shopping?" Leona asked. Kaiba just nodded. "I thought that would make you happy since I've acting like a jerk to you these passed couple of days." Kaiba answered her. Leona smiled. "Aww, Seto no you haven't, you've been acting strange, but you're not a jerk. Besides I'm so proud of you that you managed to put all these decorations without making a fuss like last year." Leona told him as she started to laugh remembering what happened last year.

Then Leona noticed the tired look on her husband's face. It looked like he was drained of so much energy. "Seto did you get any sleep at all last night?" Leona asked concerned. "Leona, I'm fine, don't worry." Kaiba answered a little angry. "Ok." Leona replied a little hurt. Kaiba saw the hurt look on her face. "Leona, I'm sorry I didn't mean to get angry." Kaiba told her while taking out an envelope from his pocket. "Here this is my Christmas gift to you." Kaiba told her as handed her the envelope. Leona took the envelope in her hand and opened it.
She saw several plane tickets. She almost started to jump for joy when she saw where they were going. "New York." Leona managed to say. Kaiba nodded and smiled at her. Leona smiled back and happily threw her arms around her husband. "Seto, thank you so much, but why are there so many tickets?" Leona asked as she let go. "Well there are five tickets for us, two for your friends, and even though I'll regret saying this later, the rest are for Yugi and his friends." Kaiba answered.

Leona looked at Kaiba a little a surpised. She touched his forehead and asked, "Seto are you feeling ok?" Kaiba smiled at Leona's sudden action. "I'm fine Leona, I figured why not invite them since they are close friends." Kaiba answered. "That's so sweet of you." Leona said and hugged her husband again. Leona looked at the tickets and thought (Back home. Mom and Dad will sure be glad to see us again. I miss them so much)

For the rest of the day, the servants were working non-stop for tonight's dinner. While everyone was getting ready, Leona had called Yugi to ask him if they wanted come and knowing her friends they happily accepted the invite. "I can't believe Kaiba actually agreed to this dinner." Katrina said. "Yeah, Leona how did you do it? You must have him wrapped around your little finger huh?" Blossom said. Leona started to laugh. "No I don't. I just did what any woman would do to make someone like Seto agree to this dinner." Katrina and Blossom asked, "What did you do?" Leona smiled and answered, "The usual make him feel guilty." "Yea Leona that is a woman's secret weapon." Katrina said while laughing, The friends' laughter was suddenly interrupted by the door bell ringing. Leona answered the door knowing it was her friends. "Trick or treat." Joey said. "Wrong holiday Joey." Mai said as she shook her head. Leona started to laugh and thought (Some things never change.) "It's great we finally get to spend time like this." Yugi said as he and everyone else went inside the mansion. Then everyone was real surprised at how the mansion was wonderfully decorated with Christmas decorations.

"Talk about deckin' the halls." Joey said as he and everyone else saw all the Christmas decorations. "Cool this is like being in Santa's workshop." Aaron said. "How in the world did you manage to do all this?" Tea asked. "Well, actually……Seto did all this on his own." Leona answered. Then she saw the surprised expressions on her friends' faces. "Kaiba did all this on his own? Wow. Say Leona, wanna trade husbands?" Mai asked jokingly. "Hey!" Joey said annoyed. "I don't think so Mai sorry." Leona answered. (It's great that we finally get a chance to spend time like this. It's just been too long. And I hope this will make Seto a little more at ease. He's been cooped up in his office all day.) Leona thought as she looked at Kaiba's office door.

Everyone entered the dining room. "Oh man, look at all this food." Joey said gawking at all the food as the servants brought the food to the table. Mai looked at the excited expression on her husband's face. "Joey don't even think about it." Mai told him. "Aww, c'mon Mai just a little taste." Joey begged. "Fine if you want Kaiba to think that you're not civilized that's fine with me." Mai told him. That stopped Joey from doing anything further. (I hate it when she does that.) Joey thought.

Yugi looked around the room and asked, "Speaking of Kaiba, where is he and how is he feeling?" Leona looked at Yugi. She tried her best to hide any feelings she had about her husband she's been having the passed couple of days, but she couldn't. "Honestly Yugi, he hasn't been acting like himself lately. I feel like I can't even keep track of how's he's feeling anymore. It's like he's a completely different person and that scares me." Leona answered. (Yugi, I sense a dark power near by.) Yami said. (You do? Maybe this dark force has something to do with Kaiba acting so strange.) Yugi wondered. (Whatever this dark force is, it is very familiar to me. Just stay on your guard and make sure Leona doesn't know. I wouldn't want her to worry more.) Yami told his counterpart. (Ok.) Yugi replied.

"Yugi are you ok?" Tea asked. "Huh? Oh yea I'm fine Tea." Yugi answered. Everyone sat on the dining table and Leona realized that Kaiba still hadn't come downstairs. (That's strange, Seto should have been here by now.) Leona thought. Leona got up from her chair and said, "I'll be right back. I'm just going to see what is keeping Seto." As Leona got up Terry protested, "No mom you stay. You've been working really hard all day for this dinner. I'll go see what's taking dad so long." Leona looked at Terry and smiled. "Ok." Leona agreed.
With that Terry jumped out of his seat and ran upstairs. Terry knocked on the door. "Dad, c'mon we're all waiting for you downstairs." Terry said.

When Terry didn't hear a response, he turned door knob and opened the door. "Dad?" Terry asked as he walked inside Kaiba's office. He walked over to the desk and saw tons of paper scattered all over the desk. "Dad, where are you?" Terry asked. Suddenly the door slammed and Terry jumped in fear. "What are you doing here!!?" Kaiba asked angrily. "We're all waiting for you downstairs. I came to get you." Terry answered nervously. "I thought I made it very clear that NO ONE is ALLOWED in here without MY PERMISSION!!." Kaiba yelled as he walked up to Terry. "But dad…..we …..were wondering—Terry's response was cut short. "So you come in here when I told you not to!" Kaiba yelled. His eyes showing no compassion or kindness. "I think it's time I taught you a lesson in trespassing…." Kaiba told his son as Terry stared at his adoptive father scared.

"So, we're all going to New York with you guys, that's great." Yugi said, "I know." Leona replied. "What's even better our concert is gonna be there on New Year's Eve we'd love to have all our friends at our biggest concert." Katrina said. "Yea it'll be great. Let's just hope nothing happens like it didlast time." Blossom said reminding Leona what happened two months ago. She saw the sad expression on Leona's face. "Nice going sis." Katrina told her sister. "Leona, I'm sorry I didn't mean to remind you." Leona shook her head. "No its ok Blossom. Besides I've let that—Leona didn't finish her sentence because she and everyone else saw Terry running across the hall.

Leona got up and went to see what was bothering her adoptive son. She saw Terry sitting on the floor with his head against his knees. "Terry? What's wrong?" Leona asked gently. Terry looked up at his mother and tried to hold his tears back, but couldn't. "sniff Dad hates me. sniff He didn't have to yell at me and hit me!" Terry yelled. Leona was shocked at what Terry had said. (Seto would never do that.) Leona thought. Leona kneeled down and hugged Terry. "Shh…..it's ok, don't cry. I'll talk to him." Leona said comforting him.

"Is everything ok?" Yugi asked as he and everyone else walked over to her and Terry. Then everyone saw how scared Terry looked. "Hey Terry are you ok?" Aiko asked as she, Aaron, and Melissa sat down beside him. "Dad hates me." Terry answered his friend. "No sweetie, your father doesn't hate you." Leona told him. "Then why did he have to yell at me mom!?" Terry asked and started to cry again. Leona looked at Kaiba's office that could be seen from the stairs. She started to walk to the stairs. (Yugi, it's not safe for Leona to go upstairs by herself.) Yami said. (Why not?) Yugi asked. (Because that familiar power I've been sensing is coming from the pyramid of light.) Yami answered.

Yugi froze in shock and surprise. (The pyramid of light? But that's impossible!) Yugi exclaimed. (Some how that power has returned and that means so has Anubis.) Yami said. "Hey Yuge, you ok?" Joey asked. Yugi snapped back to reality, but was still in shock as to what Yami had told him. "Do you guys remember Anubis?" Yugi asked his friends. "You mean that freak who trapped us in the millennium puzzle and made Kaiba into his puppet, don't remind me." Joey answered. "Well, he's back." Yugi said. "WHAT!!?" Joey asked in surprise. "You mean we didn't defeat him?" Tea asked worriedly. "I'm not sure about that Tea, but Yami is telling me that he's back and so is the pyramid of light." Yugi explained.

Mai, Katrina, Blossom, and the children were very lost and confused. "Could someone explain to us what's going on here?" Katrina asked. "Yea who is Anubis?" Blossom asked. "We'll explain later, right now Leona and Kaiba could be in real danger." Yugi told them. "That's a good enough explanation for me." Mai said as they quickly went upstairs. (There's no way Seto would hurt Terry, not after what he's been through with his step-father.) Leona thought as she touched the door knob. "Leona! Don't open the door!" Yugi yelled. Leona turned around and saw her friends. "What's going on?" Leona asked.

The millennium puzzle started to glow. "Leona there is an ancient evil power within that room. His name is Anubis, Egyptian lord of the dead. He holds the power of the pyramid of light." Yami explained. The moment Leona heard what Yami had told her she tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open. "Come on you stupid door open!" Leona yelled in frustration. Then she looked down and saw that there was a black thick ooze seeping through the door way. "What is that?" Leona asked. "No, we could be too late, Anubis must be surfacing," Yami said. "I didn't need to hear that Yami. We have to get this door open and help Seto." Leona told everyone.

"Alright! That's it! It's time for some action!" Joey yelled. "What are you gonna do dad?" Aaron asked. "This!" Joey answered as she charged at the, but the door mysteriously opened. Everyone walked inside and saw the same black ooze on the floor. "Um…..ya' know I could use some help over here." Joey said lying face first on the floor. Mai and Aaron helped Joey up while everyone else was looking around. "Everything is a wreck." Mokuba said as he saw everything in his brother's office in ruins. "SETO!? Where are you!?" Leona called out, but received no answer.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared in the room. Everyone covered their eyes since the light was so intense. A sinister and malicious laugh could be heard. Everyone opened their eyes. "Anubis!" Yami yelled as he saw their enemy that was supposed to be defeated so many years ago. "No, Seto!!" Leona yelled as she saw him unconscious behind Anubis. "We meet again pharaoh and this time I will have my revenge!!" Anubis yelled as the pyramid of light started to glow brightly.