Disclaimer: Put simply, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or its characters. I do own all of my original characters...duh.

MidnightBallad's Notes: I thought all you guys – I know there's only three of 'ya, but I don't care – had abandoned the story cause of the slow appearance of reviews...pfft. I plan to re-write the previous chapter some time soon, but as for now, enjoy this one! Serious foreshadowing in this chapter!

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Chapter VIII:

You Snooze, You Lose

Back in Domino, a storm had set in, and now rain lashed furiously against the windows of Yugi's bedroom. At the previous moment, he was packing a bag full of very random items, mostly food, for he and Tory now had a clean two-day ticket out of Domino; apparently, Yugi and Tory were both staying at Joey's house for two days to finish off an assignment. Of course, Joey would have to cover up for them, but at least Yugi and Tory would be able to get out easier and keep moving on with Marik.

Yugi then realised that his Millennium Puzzle was glowing. He began to fiddle with it, trying to figure out what was going on, but it was useless. Sighing, he quite his fiddling and went back to packing his bag.

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'Pharaoh! Pharaoh!'

Pharaoh Atemu turned around, seeing his friend Mana running toward him, her face flushed and hot. She stopped only centimetres from him, bending over double and crying through pants, 'Someone's raided her tomb!'

'Do not lie to me Mana...are you telling the truth?'

'Yes, my Pharaoh! The door has been dug up a-and the coffin...'

Atemu froze, his heart beating in his throat. 'Have you any idea who has done this, Mana?'

Mana shook her head, and tears leaked from her eyes. 'Gods, Pharaoh. What do we do?'

Atemu did not know what to do. He just closed his eyes and sat down in the middle of the floor, whispering over and over, 'He stole the Crest of Evergiving...he stole the crest –'

'Pharaoh?' Mana interrupted timidly. 'What are you talking about?'

'He raided her tomb, opened the coffin, and took the Crest of Evergiving from around her neck. He will curse it. I made a mistake...'

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Tory awoke with a very loud scream, clutching the Essence Tauk in her fist. Her body trembled, the rain outside made the window shake, all affecting the images that ran through Tory's head.

'No...what just happened?' Tory whispered to herself. She had closed her eyes for a second, just to nap before she met Yami at the park, and then she had slipped into a dream.

Maybe it wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare.

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Seto made his way up the pine staircase and into Kontan Oshitaka's living room, staring around at the terrible décor and trying to find the old man in amongst the mess.

'What?' Kontan asked, narrowing his human eye at the CEO. 'Who are you?'

Seto smirked a little. 'Seto Kaiba, from Domino. Head of the Kaiba Corp company.'

Kontan mouthed an 'ah, I thought so', before he leant back in his chair, puffing a ring of smoke from his pipe. 'What business do you want with me, Mister Kaiba?'

Seto said, 'That eye you have there, Kontan; it's very interesting.'

Kontan's human eye grew to a mere slit. 'Oh, really?'

'I am willing to pay for the surgery to have it removed, if you will. That eye is of value to me, and I understand that you hate to bear its power?' Seto said with a dark look on his face. 'Well, sir?'

Kontan took a bit to figure out what was happening. 'You! You're like those crazy kids that just came in here! I won't stand for this, I'm calling the police!'

'Do as you will,' a female voice called from the door. 'If you listen to my boss, perhaps you'll be okay after all this.' The girl bent down, yanking the phone cord from the wall. Kontan got out of his chair, drawing a knife that appeared to be hidden underneath his shirt.

'You'll have to kill me to get what you want!' And then Kontan threw the knife. Unfortunately, his eyesight was not as it used to be, and the knife struck the wall too far right of the girl.

'Be careful, Jemu,' Seto said to his young assistant. 'This man's out of his mind.'

'I am not!' Kontan yelled, hands wringing by his side.

Jemu laughed, though her voice was shaky after she'd almost been hit by a flying knife. 'That's the thing about old people: when they get old, they also become stubborn.'

Kontan cracked, ran straight for her. But Seto was faster, bringing out something from his pocket very fast, which stabbed Kontan deep in the stomach. The old man groaned, before dropping stone cold to the floor. Seto wrenched the syringe from the man's gut and just threw it away. He knelt down beside Kontan, rolling the man onto his back. His human eye was closed, but the Essence Eye winked up at him.

'You're just going to take it out?' Jemu asked hesitantly. '...Rip it out?'

Seto tapped the Essence Eye with a fingernail. 'If Bakura could do it, I don't see any reason why I can't.'

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Still hiding outside, Marik saw Seto's assistant run from Kontan's house, punching a number into her mobile phone. Marik could see her face was stricken with panic, but before he heard her speak to whoever was on the other end of the phone, she slipped back into the limo.

Just then, Marik heard a scream that would not disgrace one of those computer-made ones from horror movies. Turning to the doorway into Kontan's apartment, he saw Seto Kaiba striding out onto the footpath, clutching a tiny black box in his hand.

Marik cussed and waved his Millennium Rod. It shimmered in the light before becoming dull once again. He watched the limo with 'KC' on its bonnet pull away, and several moments later he heard the unmistakable whirring of sirens in the distance. The girl must have called an ambulance.

The medics were there in no time, dragging Kontan Oshitaka from his home and into the back of the ambulance on a stretcher. Marik caught a glimpse of Kontan's face – one side of it was fine, eye screwed up in pain, yet the other was stranger: it was dark, as if rubbed in coal; bruised also. Marik swallowed deeply. Seto had ripped out Kontan's Essence Eye.

So, Marik thought. That's it. Seto has the Eye and the Scales. And all we have is the Tauk. Shaking his head, he said aloud, 'This isn't our race.'

'Marik!' came Yami's strong, angry voice. 'What did you do?'

Marik climbed up from his crouched position, sighing. 'Nothing. Kaiba did it.'

Yami and Tory had appeared from nowhere due to the power of the Millennium Rod, Yami carrying a shoulder bag full of stuff. Tory turned her eyes to the ambulance, its flashing red lights making her eyes change from green to brown and back again.

'Oh, good grief...' she muttered in a false English accent. 'What just happened?'

Marik was also watching the ambulance. 'Seto went in. The girl went in, then came out a minute later. And then Seto came out. And then Kontan came out, and I'll also point out now that he was missing an eye.'

Yami gave Marik a long stare. 'Are you sure?'

'Positive. I heard Kontan screaming.'

Yami lowered his head, gritting his teeth. 'We were too late again.'

'I can't believe this,' Tory said in a low voice. 'Seto's got two Essence items now –'

'And we only have one!' Marik cried, throwing his arms in the air and seating himself on a box. He then noticed Tory giving him a rather peculiar look.

'What?' Marik asked, as if worried.

Tory reached into the pocket of the jeans she wore, pulling out a very long, blue-grey shard. 'Actually, we have two items also.'

Yami's eyes opened wide. 'Is that...?'

'Yep,' Tory said, gazing upon the shard. 'The very last piece of the Essence Rod. And it still counts.'

Marik was also staring at the shard. 'Where'd you get that?'

'I've had it for ages. Ever since my...brother had a breakdown and Yami sent him to the Shadow Realm. I always thought that if the Essence Rod were destroyed, the rest of the items would go with it – seeing as there's still one piece left of it...'

Marik jumped to his feet. 'Well, let's get rid of the shard now, and get this over and done with.'

But Tory didn't let go of the shard. She just stared at it, wondering.

'Tory?' Yami asked, breaking her thoughts. The girl snapped up, pocketing the shard.

'I had a dream this morning.' Tory said quickly.

Yami raised an inquisitive eyebrow. 'About what?'

'About me...Akunriou –' Tory said, but Marik cut her off.

'Akunriou the Evergiver?'

Tory and Yami turned to Marik. 'What?' They asked in perfect unison.

Yami asked alone, 'How did you know that?'

Marik flicked some rainwater from his Millennium Rod (A/N: Major plot point here!). 'When I became a tomb keeper, there was something about a girl named Akunriou written in the scriptures, something that my father said was a lie. The scriptures said that a cursed girl fought against the magic of the Shadow Realm...the Essence Items...but was felled by the priests of her lover, the Pharaoh. On the night that she died, the Pharaoh presented her with the Tauk you wear now Tory. The scriptures said that the King of Thieves broke into her tomb after her death, stole the Crest that Akunriou wore and cursed it, forcing its powers to intertwine with that of the Essence Rod.' He gave Tory a strange look, one she'd never seen before. 'I knew that Akunriou was you, Tory. That's how I found out about the Essence Items. And that's the truth.'

'So...you knew all along?' Yami said slowly. 'You knew that Tory's necklace was an Essence Item and how it was created?'

'In a word, yes.' Marik said quietly. 'And I know how to get to the other Essence Items.'

Yami turned his head to one side, much like a confused dog. 'How?'

'Bakura cursed Tory's necklace like the Essence Rod. He cursed the other items as well. To put it easily, Bakura made six out of seven of the Essence Items.'

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MidnightBallad: Bet you didn't see that one coming, cause I made it up as I went along. True story...please review, so I'm not confused about whether to continue this story or not.

I'm going to answer/comment on reviews here and now :)

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Sylvia Viridian: Quite a strange pair, Seto and Jemu. They aren't supposed to be paired intentionally, but if that's what you want...anyway, thanks for the feedback on character stuffs.

AuroranWings: Hehe, thanks. I read your Kingdom Hearts stuff the other day, but I didn't review cause the site was down. I luv em, they're great, I'm a huge KH fan :D

T-Bone: Oops ::sweatdrop:: I guess I have. And I did it with this chapter too. Sorry, I'll try not to gather back the cliffies!