hey again! didn't take too long in updating this time...then again, i had somewhat more interesting material to work with for this chapter... (including another brief cameo with a favorite character... )

also the end of unmei's little adventure...not that most of it was all that important to the plot - more of a nice, random little side story that i came up with...but there is a little more significance to what happens at the end of this chapter... (bah...i like being overly mysterious way too much...don't kill your brains over it or anything - it'll all come into play soon enough)

really, i think this chapter is where things are finally going to pick up. i'm still throwing ideas around for how to work the main "conflict" - if you will - for this part...but hopefully i won't take too long about it.

spring break starts in a week...i'll either get lots of writing done or none at all... i'm hoping for the first, but i suppose i shall see...

and on a side note, i now have a large selection of music to listen to when working on this story - finally got all 6 of the Yu-Gi-Oh OSTs that i could find...good stuff, let me tell ya...

also, before i forget - thanks to Sumiko - ha! you didn't have to bug me this time! grins and i'm glad you enjoy the unmei stuff...it does kinda strike me as your sort of stuff...
and to Cettie - well...you should see how the Tea and Yugi conversation ends up in this chapter...still trying to decide what to have happen later on, but i guess i'll just have to see what comes... oh, and ryou wasn't seeing anything specific at the end of last chapter - just sensing if anything that sorta forboding that says something's "not quite right". as i hint at a little in this chapter, it's not so much any particular "demon" or anything that's causing trouble - but just the fact that a sort of imbalance in the shadow realms is causing some things to happen that maybe shouldn't... (at least, that's the plot right now...always subject to change...eheheh... -;) oh, and take your time with Clips...and you'll have to let me know how much you have whenever you finish...i haven't worked on that in a while, but i keep forgetting to make note of how much i've sent you...

Part 3 (Chapter 5) – Something Destiny Desires

Something rippled through the Shadow Realms. It wasn't much of something – just a small pulse of energy, barely detectable, and certainly not anything visible. Only the strongest wanderers of this world would have even picked up on it. Which meant that one particular dark spirit had a growing frown on his face…

Keeping still, Malik tried stretching out with his mind, reaching across the dark misty chill that flowed in all directions around him, but even after long minutes passed, he felt nothing out of the ordinary. He sighed and stood, stretching a bit. There was something just a little…off…about the whole place, but it was something even Malik couldn't understand. It was as if the balance of shadows and life was just a small bit askew. But even that had only been a passing feeling.

Malik shook his head, clearing his mind and began to turn it to other thoughts when a second ripple, similar to the first, but larger and much closer washed over him. Malik stared at the source of the strange sensation, then remembered to cover his surprise as a solitary figure gradually took on form in the nearby shadows.

Stepping forward, Bakura gave a very brief nod in greeting. Malik, sensing an increase in Bakura's own dark power since the last visit, returned the greeting. He slowly turned a forced smirk into a real one as he spoke. "Well, friend, it's been a while… I see you've had a successful time in your endeavors."

Not quite meeting Malik's eyes, Bakura gave another slight nod.

Malik lost some of his smugness, "Then what do you need from me?"

"He's still here."

"Beg pardon?" Malik let slip from his guard.

"Still here," Bakura wrinkled up his expression. "In my mind…somehow." He finally looked up at Malik, his eyes dark. "I thought he was supposed to be gone for good. But I can still hear him speaking."

"Ah…" Malik nodded and relaxed, finally understanding what Bakura had come for. "Well," he guessed, "I've never know anyone to succeed at what you have accomplished, but it stands to reason that some of your host might remain. After all, you didn't actually destroy his life…just channeled it into a different form, so to speak."

"If you want," Malik added with a nonchalant wave of his hand, "I could take him off you. You might lose a small fraction of your power," Malik leaned close, "But no more annoying voice…"

Bakura froze as he looked into Malik's eyes. Give Ryou up? That was just what he had wanted from the beginning – to be completely free of his host, once and for all. He had his power, and now the chance to finish the deal. If only…

Malik's laughter broke Bakura's thoughts. "Ha ha ha…" Malik straightened up again. "I can see the answer in your face. Don't worry, I was only joking." Bakura's eyes narrowed, and he started to reply, but Malik cut him off. "Don't bother yourself with it. Whatever's left of your former host should be gone in a matter of days."

"Gone?" Bakura cursed himself the moment the word left his lips. He hadn't meant for that hint of desperation to creep in his voice – he hadn't meant to say anything at all!

Malik raised an eyebrow. "Hmm… worried?"

"What do you mean?" Bakura ignored the question.

Malik shrugged. "Whatever you've been hearing is in your head only. A remnant, if you will, of the life you stole. Just a piece of the spirit left lingering and confused. But it can't survive for very long as it is. Just think of it as a brief after-effect of the whole process…speaking of which, I was actually surprised that you succeeded to such a level.

"Congratulations, Bakura," Malik smiled, not kindly, "You are stronger. But what are you going to do now? You've been fairly quiet since."

"None of your business," Bakura hissed and turned to leave. He hesitated after a few steps though, and spoke in a softer voice. "Ryou…then where does he go?"

Malik bit his lip. "Even when he was alive, you never used his real name." Bakura was silent, and finally Malik spoke again, "I never cared to find out where such spirits went in their defeat. You and I were lucky – bound to the fate of the Items…" He said the last bit so softly that Bakura had to strain to hear him, "Death has many faces."

Bakura gave the briefest of nods and walked off into the darkness. Malik watched him go, and had to blink as the departing spirit vanished. For just a moment, Malik had seen a second figure walking next to Bakura, impossible as it was. In that moment, he had also felt another tickling of that strange sensation, unnatural to the realms. "I wonder…" Malik whispered. "You might actually manage to change your fate - just as you once swore. But will it be as you imagined?"

"I don't know," Yugi leaned back into the couch and sighed, "I'm so confused anymore…" He looked back up at Tea. "I've learned some things though…" He took a deep breath. "This might sound weird…but I've met destiny."

"M-met?" Tea stammered, surprised.

Yugi nodded. "It's hard to explain…but, she told me, that the future is still to be written. She doesn't know what's going to happen to any of us in the end."

"She?"

Yugi shrugged, "It's just that…while it may not have been destiny for them to…die, it may not be possible for them to come back…somehow."

"But…" Tea was trying to wrap her mind around what he was saying. "Then it's not necessarily fated for them to stay…dead, as you say, either."

"But I don't know how…" Yugi gazed at her with a pained expression. "They're dead, Tea. Dead." He winced. "I never knew that word to be anything but final. If there is a way to save them…I don't even know where to begin."

Tea thought for a moment, then finally managed to smile. "I still don't get all of it…but maybe if you think about it this way…" she pointed to the Millennium Puzzle. "How long did you spend getting every one of those pieces in place?"

Yugi lifted the item around his neck. "Um…eight years, I think…"

Tea nodded. "You had more patience with that than anybody else I know might have had. And you were rewarded for all your hard work."

"It's funny…" Yugi commented. "Even though my other self has become such a big part of my life…I wonder if, in the end, it was really the right thing to do – finishing the puzzle, I mean. It seems like this has only brought more pain to all my friends."

"No," Tea shook her head. "You didn't will any of these things to happen. Whatever choices other people make, you can only continue to do what's right. You finished that puzzle when no one else could because somewhere deep inside of you is the strength to bear whatever troubles follow its power."

"I don't know how," Yugi objected.

"But I believe that you'll find the way." Tea smiled and then stood up, placing her empty glass on the table. She handed him the package that she had brought in with her. "Seto asked me to return this to you. Maybe it will help you remember."

She slipped back into her shoes and Yugi handed Tea her things. "Thanks," she took them gratefully. "I have to go…" Yugi held the door open as she headed outside. "But," Tea turned back before walking away, "Just think – you have the strength to go on somewhere deep inside you. You may have forgotten…but it's still there. You just need to find it."

Yugi was clutching the package in his hands and nodded, still nearly speechless. "I will," he murmured as he watched her go.

After a rather timeless trek across the desert, Unmei finally reached the first cluster of pyramids that she had seen along the horizon. Glancing around a few times, she finally picked one and walked over to its base. Stretching out one hand, she placed it on one of the stones and moved it aside with surprising ease. She climbed up and entered the passageway that led to the interior. The cloud of voices that had accompanied her that far drew back at the entrance. They were the future, but buried deep in the darkness was the past. The two could not mix.

Unmei continued on through the deep black, feeling her way through the stone tunnel. At one point she crossed a small stream of water – memory trickling out from somewhere deep within the walls. The stone above her too was old and crumbled into pebbles and dirt if she grabbed at it too quickly. But the path was a straight one and soon, destiny found herself in a large room, dimly lit by torches and incense, seemingly forgotten by even time itself.

Silence hung heavy in here, and across the room, opposite of Unmei, a young figure had been strung up against the wall, arms chained in an outstretched position. With growing confidence, destiny strode across the room, her soft leather boots against the stone as the only sound in the room. "Hello there," Unmei grinned up at the figure, not expecting a response. The person, by all appearances, had been dead for some time.

The girl-child looked over to the table beneath the chained figure. Two small, sealed jars were resting on it. Unmei took them carefully into her arms, then hid them away beneath a cloak. "For later…" she murmured, then pulled herself into a standing position on top of the table, placing her at equal height with the hanging person. "I'm sorry." Unmei reached out to gently lift the figure's chin from its chest and revealed the face of a girl some years older than Unmei looked. She was cold and still to the touch.

"You must be tired," Unmei spoke again, softly. "But I can't let you rest yet." Destiny reached up and brushed away some of the brown strands of hair that hung in the other girl's closed eyes. "You see," Unmei broke into a grin that was not altogether kind, "You still have something of mine."