to mom-mi-oh - yw, and thanx again for another review! you put thought into it, and i'm greatful that you point out exactly what you like. it's good encouragement as a writer.
also to Cettie-girl - ty for stopping by to read once again. i'm super glad you think it's worth the wait, and i hope it stays that way.
and finally - Will aka Ryou Bakura - What an honor to have one of my main chacters stop by to comment and enjoy! lol... much thanx also for the email! though i noticed what you wrote after chapter 2 and had to blush since there was more violence coming up. and as far as mind shuffle, hadn't thought about that. i haven't really been using specific types of millenium magic for the attacks and such, but i will consider that later on... thanx again and enjoy!
Part 1 (Chapter 19) – Choices of the Heart
"Strange," Kali murmured, resting in the shadows. A thin veil separated her realm from that of the mortals, lovers of the light. Through that curtain of magic, she saw what could have passed for a mirror image. Kira, the being she inhabited, lay in a healing sleep in that place mortals called a hospital.
That whole world was strange to her - a mystery she didn't care to solve. There is comfort in shadows, Kali reminded herself. This realm of darkness and illusions was her home. It was a place with no bounds, and that suited Kali just fine. She didn't like the confines of the material world or the responsibility to another being aside from herself. Kali was her own spirit, but fate had decreed otherwise.
She drew the shadows closer around her, searching for comfort, but it eluded her. Kali frowned; it was as though the darkness no longer trusted her so completely. As much of it as she gathered, just as much seemed to slip from her hold, swirling away in anxiousness.
The shadows had proven to be deceitful and possibly treacherous. Bakura had earned her trust, and the Pharaoh, the one called Yami, had stolen it away. They were both great spirits of the Shadow Realms, but they contradicted each other in all they said and did. One hated mortals with a vengeance, the other befriended and helped the very one he shared his being with. And through all of the conflict, nothing had been able to show Kali what was so very important about these people of the light to begin with. They did share a separate world, after all.
All I know, Kali whispered to herself, Is that I belong to the shadow. I am a spirit of the darkness, and I will follow where Fate itself leads me.
"Kali."
The dark spirit jumped to her feet and quickly slammed the magical window shut. "Yugi. Yami. I didn't hear you come up."
Yugi smiled. He had managed to steal a quick peak through the window before Kali had closed it. "Thanks to you, Kira's gonna be all right."
Kali frowned, though her cheeks betrayed a slight blush, "I still don't know why I helped you at all back then."
Yami stepped in, "You followed where your heart led, and it brought you closer to your light. Just as was meant to be."
"We'll see about that, Pharaoh," Kali growled.
"Shouldn't we be going?" Yugi asked before an argument started.
"Going?" Kali looked at him in surprise.
"Yes," Yami nodded. "It's time that Bakura and I speak again face to face. There are still issues that must be settled. I would suggest that you join us."
Kali looked a little reluctant. "All right. I'll come, though not for your sake or anyone's. Bakura and I also must speak, for your earlier words have placed doubt in my heart as well."
"Good." Yugi nodded. "You know we're not trying to force you to take our side. We just want you to think for yourself."
"I'll remember that."
"Bakura!" Yami's voice echoed through the empty realms, "I command you to show yourself!"
There was silence at first, then the dim lighting began to shift about, forming strange, climbing patterns in the air. A place that Yugi had seen before began to materialize. A garden. Kali also drew in a breath of recognition at the sight of it. Yami simply stood and watched.
Moments later, a gate in the surrounding wall swung open. From beneath the misty foliage a white-haired Egyptian walked with confidence. "I suppose I should be honored that the great Pharaoh himself has come to visit my humble home," Bakura smirked as he approached. "And I see you even brought your slave boy with you. How thoughtful."
Yami clenched a fist, "Yugi is a dear friend and slave to no one, least of all to me."
Bakura gave a half-laugh. "A rather foolish decision on your part, but to each his own, I suppose. Through your weak heart, you lose the potential for power that has brought me to rival even your own greatness."
"What do you want, Bakura?" Yami demanded.
Bakura shrugged, "Your millennium puzzle would be nice, for starters. Other than that? Simply to assure you that I will soon be master of the shadow realms. The spirits of mortals will help me accomplish that, and I say to you, Pharaoh, that it will be a personal pleasure to see you humbled before me."
"It'll never happen, Bakura," Yami warned. "The people of today are too strong of heart to be overcome by any spirit, no matter how powerful he thinks he is."
"Oh really?" Bakura scowled for the first time. "Tell me again after you've seen my power!" Bakura stretched a hand out towards the other, spike-haired spirit, and let loose with a blast of tightly woven shadows. Yami took the blast squarely against his chest and was thrown backwards, landing crumpled on the dark ground.
Yugi rushed to his side, "Yami!"
"I'm all right, hikari," Yami forced a smile, then winced in pain. "It's not that bad."
"Kali," Bakura acknowledged the other spirit for the first time.
"Bakura," Kali avoided his gaze.
"I see you're with those fools now."
"I'm with no one," Kali said firmly.
"Yet you saved the girl you were bonded to. I know they put that in your head. Otherwise she would have been dead by now. Tell me, how is it that I lost your trust?"
Kali looked up, startled at the soft tone in Bakura's voice. He sounded almost, almost sad. "Bakura?"
"I took you in, taught you where to find great power, and even helped you to fight against our enemy, that murderer of shadows. Yet when the time comes to do your duty, you play the coward and leave me to face the fight alone. I thought that I could depend on you, but I see now that I was wrong."
"No..." Kali whispered.
"No?" Bakura looked at her curiously. "You don't believe me? Tell me then, where does your commitment lie?"
"With...with..." Kali stammered, unnerved.
"I would forgive you," Bakura assured her. "If only you committed yourself once again to my care. Past events would be forgotten." Bakura saw the uncertainty building on Kali's face, and continued in his persuasive tone.
"You belong with your kind, with other spirits of darkness. We support each other. It is the only way you can truly live. Mortals care nothing for our kind. They fear and hate us, driving us from our world. We must show them in whom the true power lies. Will you let me help you?" Bakura held out a hand, reaching for Kali.
Kali lifted her own hand, hovering it above Bakura's. Her fingers trembled anxiety. Was he right? Was this where she belonged?
"Kali!" The voice broke into her thoughts, clearing her dazed mind. Kali withdrew her hand. Yugi was helping Yami to stand again. "Beware Bakura's words. He speaks of loyalty and forgiveness, yet who do you know that he respects? He speaks of the evils of the mortal world, yet what evils have you seen there?
"None," Kali whispered, remembering.
"You're letting him question your beliefs!" Bakura shouted. "You must make a choice and decide in whom you are going to place your trust."
Yami nodded. "You can't live in the middle forever. It is a choice, and though we struggle to convince you of our own ways, in the end, the decision lies with you and you alone."
"So will you betray the shadows for the mortal world?" Bakura asked.
"Or seek power at the cost of many lives, perhaps even your own," Yami added.
"What will it be?"
Kali backed away nervously, "I can't decide...I won't."
"You must," soothed Bakura. "The choice is clear."
"And you cannot make it for her," Yami gave a sharp glance at the other dark spirit.
"Kali." She looked down to see Yugi standing right in front of her. "Whatever you do decide," he smiled at her, "remember that I'll always be here for you. I may not be a spirit like the rest of you, but I do what I can for both our worlds. I love them both. There is a stronger power in the heart. A power that cannot be defeated. That is what you can trust."
Kali stared at the small boy for a long moment, her features unreadable. Then slowly, a small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "Thank you, Yugi."
He nodded. "What are friends for?"
Kali caught her breath as Yugi turned to go back to Yami. "Friends..."
Slowly, she brought her eyes up to level with the two opposing spirits, and spoke with seriousness. "I find it amazing that the two of you fight over me as though I were the one who could make all the difference in this world. You, Bakura, offer me power. I ache for the control you let me have, the dark strength that flowed through me when you helped me tap into that shadow magic. Yet I also wonder what it is you aren't telling me of your plans and how I will be a part of that future you want.
"And Yami, you helped me find my heart and thought your efforts, I saw the pain I was bringing to a mortal girl. I saw what the power I loved could do, and I saw how it could be used to help and not always hurt. I saw the strength of heart and what you call friendship at work between you and Yugi, and I honor that. However, I don't know if you have been right in letting yourself dwell so much on the fates of such short-lived beings. To befriend one might leave me vulnerable in a way I'd like to avoid.
"Yugi. You have meant the most to me these times. Though you are one of the mortal beings I am to despise; you carry a wisdom and strength with you beyond your years. I saw the love you had for your friends and your will to give your life to save another. That is a power of the heart that I have not seen among any of the shadow spirits. You have also earned the protection and closeness of Yami in your magical relationship. Though your kind may be short-lived and fragile, I see that they also have the strongest of spirits, a thing I respect of them."
Kali bowed her head. "My choice is this. To free myself of either side. Bakura, I desire your power, but I cannot live where I might be deceived. Perhaps I will find power of my own. Yami, I respect your own decisions, but I cannot so easily make them my own. Yours may be the way of your light, but I am still a dark spirit. My decision remains with neither of you. I will instead dwell on the words of a young, mortal boy. Yugi, I cannot yet return to you my friendship, but I will no longer torment your kind. I will go to Kira, to my light, the one I have broken, and ask for her forgiveness. What Fate has in store for me after that, I will find in my heart."
And with those words, Kali was gone, vanished into the darkness. Yugi breathed a soft sigh of relief. "It's over."
"That's where you're wrong," Bakura hissed. Yugi looked up. The evil spirit was seething, his fist clenched tightly in a glow of blue fire. Yami quickly drew Yugi behind him.
"It's just beginning, Pharaoh," Bakura spoke in a low, dangerous tone. "I may have lost the girl, but I still hold the one you want. His life force will continue to bring me power."
"Ryou!" Yugi could not hold back the cry.
"Yes, Ryou," Bakura shot a mocking look at the little boy. "He will be good for something, and when I am done with him, you will be next, little Yugi. You and all those friends of yours, that girl in particular. And by then, you, Yami, will not be able to stop me. I will see you suffer yet, Pharaoh. The game starts now, and it's one even you can't win."