In The Shadow of The Prophecy

Disclaimer - I don't own the Yu-Gi-Oh! or the song lyrics below, however Carmen, the millennium circlet, the spirit of the circlet, Nicholas, his wife, Vincent and the no-good backstabbing Jason.

Chapter nine - Pay Back Time! The Spirit of the Millennium Circlet resurrected

I cannot find a way to describe it

Its there inside all I do is hide

I wish that it would just go away

what would you do, you do, if you knew

All the pain I thought I knew

All the thoughts lead back to you

Back to what was never said

Back and forth inside my head

I can't handle this confusion

I'm unable, come and take me away

-Avril Lavigne

Last time -

With their hopes rekindled, the trio split up, Joey went to find Yugi and Carmen along with Jason went to find the Seraph grandparents.

WHOOOSHHH !

Flames rushed up from the floor in a wall, the girl's footing falter in her surprise and fell, rolling back down to the foot of the stairs. She stood, a little worse for ware, feeling the heat of the flames on her face and looked back at Jason. He was holding a remote control and she was confused.

-CCC-

Joey came to the end of the young man's direction and just as Jason told him, there was the door. # Dis is it # he told himself and threw it open. " 'Ay Yug', you in 'ere ".

The room was on the small side and virtually empty except for one of those funny French loveseats and a folding chair. There, on the settee, lying almost motionless apart from the labored rise and fall of his chest. He crossed the room with urgency" Yug', you okay pal ". No, his friend was unconscious and Joey located the affliction ; a gunshot wound in his arm above his elbow. It was completely exposed to the element and still bleeding steadily, a greenish-yellow hue tint the edge of the abrasion. # I gotta stop da bleedin # the blond pulled off his green jacket # Hold on pal #

-CCC-

What the hell... thought Carmen, her eyes relaying to her brain and trying to comprehend what had just happened. " Whats going on Jason ".

" Carmen, do you know why the Seraphs are after you " asked the russet haired young man.

The girl squintched her eyebrows up with irritated perplexment " I thought we covered that already, they're after me cause Vince left his inheritance to me " she replied.

" That's not it, you see, Vince never had to leave behind a will, his inheritance automatically reverted to you " said Jason. What she blinked" Confused? Vince and I were great pals before I whacked him, don't you think its funny that both of your families died in a fire" he snickered, sounding incredibly pleased with himself" The poor guy, his only surviving sibling couldn't recordnize him " /p

" What are you talking about ? Your not making any sense " she said incredulously" what sibling ".

" You Carmen-chan " he replied as if she'd asked if the sky was blue" of course, he never told you, he didn't want you to feel guilty about your amnesia ". The more he talked, the more she felt he was mocking her.

She wasn't wired to handle situations like this (Well, maybe she was, but that wiring must have shorted out years ago)" You mean Vincent ... my friend, was really...my brother " she said, pausing at times because her mind wasn't quite able to except what was auditory senses were relaying. Her stomach turned in a strange way" And you... no... ".

Jason donned the gray stocking cap, Carmen eyes widened" recordnize this " he smirked, pulling a revolver out of his pocket and training it on her. His cousin was sent mentally reeling from the revelation and her body shut down inwardly as if someone had flip a big switch inside her head, frozen with shock. " Nightie-night cous' " he smiled coldly as he let the bullet fly. /p

Carmen winced, clutching her side, fortunately the wound was shallow. Realizing he'd missed, Jason shifted the gun while she was still shell-shocked and fired another round, aiming for her head.

The teen's body flew from the force, hitting the ground with a sickening thud and remained in a motionless heap on the bottom of the stairs.

Flashback

Vincent smiled at her from his side of the table they were dueling on, after wiping out the rest of her lifepoints, " I win again ".

" What in the good gods, you beat me, " he said in disbelief, then smiled broadly with pride.

Vincent's hands rested gently on her slight shoulder, he gasped and wheezed for air" Carmen, you have to ...get away ... run, " he choked.

" But Vince ..." she began to protest. he gave her a rough shove, knocking her on her back as footsteps clambered down the muddy alley towards them. She scooted out of view a peeked out cautiously as the raven-haired teen confronted the team of thug, led by the man in the gray stocking cap. She turned back pulling her knees and covering her head with her arm, trying to make herself as small as possible. A gunshot rang out Please let it not be Vince, please god, let him be okay she prayed silently.

Cautiously, when all was silent, she emerged from her hiding place. The bad men were gone and the dark-haired teen's form rested upright with his head against the side of the building. " Vince " she beckoned cagily with her tiny voice. When he didn't respond, she crept forward incase he was playing a trick on her, waiting till she came close enough and scaring the life out of her. " Vince " she shook him and still nothing. His face had darkening bruises, a split lip and a bloody nose ; the pale haired girl was just about fed up with this. Why was he not moving" Cut it out, this isn't funny " she scolded indignantly, shaking him harder. The rapid flutter of panic in her stomach rose with every moment he failed to rouse.

End flashback

I feel like I am all alone

All by myself I need to get around this

My words are cold

I don't want them to hurt you

If I show you I don't think you'd understand

Cause noone understands (understands)

All the pain I thought I knew

All the thoughts lead back to you

Back to what was never said

Back and forth inside my head

I can't handle this confusion

I'm unable, come and take me away

Embers of anger seethed and swelled her chest, making her blood come to a boil Damn them, damn ALL of them! I hate them! I wish they were all dead! They-they . Tears of frustration formed at the edges of her eyes.

Du-koom .

A small shaft of light refracted off of the golden diadem on her brow and the item began to glow dimly. Something pushed her back gently, like a water current into oblivion. Am I dying the emptiness drew closer lulling her into its depths with the promise of amnesty. NO! I don't want to die she protested, fighting back against the 'current', trying to regain control. It was almost as if another presence had decided to take control of her body, all of a sudden, she felt the other presence grab her by the shoulder and hurled her into the darkness.

SHOOOOOOOOM

" What's wrong with the security cameras " complained the red-haired woman as their monitor pictures blipped in and out.

" Something's interfering with the signal " replied Nicholas agitatedly adjusting his glasses with his finger. He hit the intercom, patching though to security and told them to fix the problem.

-CCC-

" I-i-im-impossib-ble " stammered the green-eyed young man terrifiedly.

The girl he shot was slowly rising up from the floor to her full height, her icy goldenrod irises captured him in their subjugating gaze. He had to doubletake, she suddenly seemed... bigger, her hair wilder and strange cosmetic swishes that seemed to have materialized out of thin air. She strided casually forward and closed the distance between them" Its time we begin the game, don't you agree de gozaru ," she smirked.

To Be Continued ...