Yuugiou!
Episode Nine and Three Quarters
I felt bad about leaving a cliffy, so I updated right away. I'm going to work on my game for a day or two after this, so don't expect another update for at least a few days after this.
CHAPTER NINE – HIGH PRIEST AND MIRRORS
Atemu found himself pushed aside by Bakura as the person that looked like Kaiba lunged at him, catching and tearing the tomb robber's school robes with the dagger hidden in the Millennium Rod. Kaiba spun around quickly, and would have neatly sliced open Bakura's arm if he had not ducked away quickly enough, walking away with only a scratch that stung like poison.
Ryou was shouting in Bakura's head, begging him not to hurt Kaiba too bad. Admittedly, Bakura wanted to rip the taller boy a new one just for interrupting him, but he could not exactly do that. Who ever it was that was currently in control of Kaiba's body was a master at using the dagger, easily able to compensate for the odd hilt. It was taking him everything just to dodge the taller boy's precise attacks that he would not have been able to get a counterattack in edgewise even if he wanted to.
Atemu, meanwhile, was wracking his brain, trying to find a way to get Kaiba to stop… but Bakura said it was not really Kaiba. So who was it? Was it really possible that a bit of the dark Malik had stayed behind in the Rod, like the real Malik said? If that were the case, was there even a way to stop him…?
Wait… he had referred to them as pharaoh and tomb robber… Being called pharaoh he could understand, but as far as he knew, the other Malik had not known about Bakura's origins…
"It can't be…" Atemu murmured, before taking a deep breath and standing a bit straighter as he shouted, "Seto, stop it!"
Kaiba screeched to a halt mid-swing, turning back to the pharaoh with a confused look on his face. "But… pharaoh, I—"
That was about as far as he got; Bakura cracked him over the head as hard as he could, knocking him out cold. The taller boy slumped over onto the ground as Atemu approached hesitantly, hoping he would not be jumping back up again any time soon.
"The high priest…" Bakura muttered, before looking over to the pharaoh. "How…?"
He trailed off, frowning, eyes narrowing. Atemu froze, watching as he slipped a hand in his robe pocket for his wand, sliding it out… before whirling around, hurling off the first charm he could think of. If it were directed at anyone else, they probably would have been spouting boils, but the spell just bounced harmlessly away from its intended target.
"Impressive reflexes, Bakura," Professor Dumbledore said calmly. "No doubt you would make a splendid Auror one day."
Bakura made a "tch" sound, slipping his wand back into his robes as he heard Ryou moan.
I can't believe you just attacked the headmaster…
Can it… Bakura grumbled. That's what he gets for sneaking up on me.
Atemu, however, had a stern look on his face, frowning at the headmaster. "Professor, did you know this was going to happen?" he demanded.
Dumbledore's expression of unflappable calm remained. "I did not know; I merely responded to a loud noise."
By hiding over in the corner? Atemu asked privately, but said aloud, "That's not what I meant. Why did you interfere with our lives? Why did you have us come here? Did you know this –" He pointed down to where Kaiba was lying – "was going to happen!"
Dumbledore smiled calmly, only serving to irritate the pharaoh further. "You will understand why you are here soon enough," he replied after a moment, before turning to leave. "I suggest you take Mr. Kaiba to the hospital wing, but I would not recommend parting him from that golden trinket of his."
Bakura and Atemu stared at his back as he left, at a loss for words. They knew the headmaster was a little loopy, but… well, to be that vague, and to more or less brush them off…
Bakura shook his head, glancing at Kaiba before looking up toward Atemu. The pharaoh looked over to him when he realized he was being stared at, slightly uncomfortable. They had been bare centimeters away from… He had to turn away, or Bakura would have seen him turn as red as the tips of his hair.
"Um… anyway… let's go… get Kaiba to Madam Pomfrey…" he muttered.
The tomb robber smirked. "Sure thing."
-.oOOo.-
Malik whistled as he walked down the corridor leading to the Great Hall the next morning, using his sleeve to polish the adorable little Egyptian love charm Hermione had given him for Christmas, before slipping it under his shirt so no one would ask. He jumped down the steps leading into the room, waving to Ron and Harry, noticing that not only Yuugi and Ryou were missing, but Kaiba as well. He flopped onto his seat, grabbing some eggs and toast and jam, raising an eyebrow as he saw Harry was practically floating on air.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I saw my parents last night," Harry said in an excited whisper.
Malik blinked. "But… you said…"
"I know," he said. "But, I went to the library last night; using the cloak. I almost got caught – long story – and ended up in a classroom with an old mirror inside. I could see my parents in the mirror."
Ron seemed excited about the thought, but Malik was not so thrilled. "You might want to be careful, Harry. Sometimes mirrors can reflect things that might not be good for you, no matter how friendly they look."
"I doubt that they would leave something dangerous lying around," Ron said.
Malik raised an amused eyebrow. "How soon we forget about Fluffy."
Ron made a face as Harry shook his head. "Anyway, I'm going to go again tonight. You're welcome to come if you want."
Malik shook his head. "Count me out," he said. If he got in trouble, that would be his own business.
"I'll come!" Ron exclaimed happily, making the Egyptian shake his head.
"Anyway, have you guys seen Yuugi and Ryou?" he asked, shoveling some eggs into his mouth.
"No; and Yuugi didn't come to bed last night," Harry said… before exchanging glances with Ron. They nodded, before Harry asked, "Malik… who's Atemu?"
The Gravekeeper almost choked on his eggs. "Wh-what?" he asked.
"We hear Ryou call Yuugi that every now and again," Ron said. "So, who's Atemu?"
Malik stared for a moment. That was it; he was going to kill those crazy Egyptians… again.
"Probably another nick name I don't know about," he finally said off handedly.
The younger boys did not look terribly convinced, but they did not press further. That was a good thing, though, because Malik was a bit lost in thought. It was only a matter of time before they figured it out for themselves, assuming they had not yet. They either needed the spirits to disappear for a while (something he doubted they would agree with) or find an easy way to tell them. Neither of those options were likable, but what choice did they have…?
-.oOOo.-
Atemu yawned, rubbing his eyes and looking around… before he turned bright red. He and Bakura had carried Kaiba all the way to the hospital wing, something that had taken them the better part of two hours. The businessman may have been rod-like, but he was by no means light. By the time they got there, it would have been way past midnight before they would have been able to get back to their respective common rooms, so Madam Pomfrey allowed them to stay the night.
He had not exactly counted on waking up with Bakura in the same bed cuddling him though.
Not… that he minded… but… He turned redder, making a face; his thoughts had been so jumbled and mixed up lately that half the time he did not know what way was up. It was a feeling he had hardly experienced at all, and did not exactly know how to deal with it.
Atemu rested a hand on Bakura's chest, leaning back against him. He felt… so warm and comfortable though…
A soft moan from across the room made him lift his head again, looking over to a bed across the way, seeing Kaiba grouping around toward where the Millennium Rod was resting on the nightstand. His fingers brushed it, before grabbing it tightly, pulling it toward him and pressing it close to his chest, like a small child hugging a favorite stuffed animal. Atemu frowned at the way he was acting, poking Bakura awake. The tomb robber muttered something, squeezing the pharaoh a bit tighter, before he groggily opened his eyes.
"Whaa…?" he asked. Atemu had to bite his lip; dear gods, he looked cute…
"Uhhm…" he finally stammered out, before finally pointing over to Kaiba.
Bakura blinked at him, raising an eyebrow, before slipping out from around Atemu and creeping over to Kaiba's bed. The pharaoh fidgeted at the lack of warmth, but watched as the tomb robber leaned over Kaiba… only to suddenly have his nose grabbed. Bakura flailed as Kaiba sat up, trying to pry the taller boy's hand off his nose.
Atemu blinked. "Kaiba…?" he asked, half hoping.
He turned to him. "Sorry, pharaoh. I put him to sleep in his mind a while ago. He's too much of a prude… I was never like that, was I?"
Atemu sweatdropped; he did not have to answer that, did he?
"Um… could you let Bakura go, Seto…?" he asked tentatively.
Seto turned a glare to the tomb robber, who was currently beating on his fingers with a fist, before finally letting go of his nose. Bakura fell back until his rear end met another bed, rubbing his poor abused nose. Atemu walked over, looking down to his former high priest, gaze drifting to the Rod for a moment, before coming back to him.
"…how?" he asked, at a loss for other words. Seto was supposed to have lived his life after him – was supposed to be pharaoh after him. He could not understand why he would be here, speaking with them now…
Seto was quiet for a long moment, before he answered. "My own regret," he said softly. "In the end, I couldn't do anything. That everyone died around me… that bothered me until my death." He looked down at the Rod in his other hand, clutching it tightly. "I don't know how it happened… one moment, I was breathing my last… the next I was in everlasting darkness…"
"At least you didn't have anyone whispering in your head," Bakura grumbled, earning him a glare. Atemu put a hand on Bakura's arm, holding up his other toward the high priest. He wanted to at least try to avoid bloodshed.
"Then what happened?" he asked.
"You mean besides three thousand years worth of darkness?" Seto replied sarcastically. "Not much. Well, yeah, there was that psychopath and all that crap that happened during that Duelist City or whatever it was, but other than that, it's been pretty dull in here."
Atemu and Bakura exchanged looks; they wished things had been "pretty dull" for them too. The high priest raised an eyebrow, suspicious.
"You're not gonna try and put me away, are you?" he asked.
"Of course not," Atemu replied. "But, well… you're gonna have to wake Kaiba up."
Something scary happened then: Seto gave them an adorable – and almost pathetic – pleading look. The two of them leaned as far away from him as they could, freaked out.
"But… but… but…!" the high priest began, his lower lip trembling. "You know how my outer self is… he'll… he'll…"
Seto sniffed loudly, making the other two spirits sweatdrop. Atemu held up his hands, embarrassed as all hell. Was this really his former high priest? This was just… scary…
"Look… no one knows about us here aside from Professor Dumbledore, and I'd prefer to keep it that way," he said. "I don't exactly know how Wizards take to possessed students… and you've already caused enough damage with 'Kaiba's sudden change of heart'."
Seto pouted. "Well… I suppose…" He brightened barely a second later. "I'll wake him up tonight, so I'll have from then to the end of break to threaten and lecture him until he starts being friendlier!"
Atemu and Bakura exchanged freaked out looks. This… was going to be fun…
-.oOOo.-
Harry had been walking over toward Gryffindor tower when he caught sight of Yuugi in the hallways, walking with a sense of purpose toward the library, Ryou not that far behind him. He bit his lip… before running into his room really quick to get his invisibility cloak, throwing it over himself before dashing to catch up with them. This was probably the only chance he would ever get to find out what his friends really were up to, and he was not about to pass it up.
He caught up to the two of them just outside the library, creeping just close enough to hear them.
"I'm worried about Kaiba," Yuugi was saying. "He's not going to be happy tomorrow."
"I'm more worried about your priest," Ryou replied, stopping as Yuugi turned around to face him. "Face it, that guy makes Akunadin look right in the head. Three thousand years trapped made him just a little loopy."
"The fact that he's been released has made him extremely hyper as well," Yuugi replied. "I'm… not sure how to handle that. I'm used to Seto acting a lot like Kaiba does. It's… weird."
Ryou smirked. "I'm sure he'll be back to his usual self once he's calmed down a bit."
"Yeah…" Yuugi replied, looking up to him for a long moment… before he blushed, turning away. "A-anyway…" he muttered, pushing his way into the library. Or… trying to at least; Ryou grabbed his arm, pulling him back a bit, drawing a blush out of the shorter boy. "Bakura, c'mon; you said you wanted to go look through things in the library."
Ryou smirked again. "What? You still owe me one for that weed, Atemu…"
Yuugi turned even redder. "L-l-l-later!" he stammered, slipping out of Ryou's grasp and into the library.
Harry stared at Ryou's back as he chuckled darkly, following Yuugi. What were they talking about…? Priest… and using Kaiba's names like they were referring to two different people? Not only that, but there was that name again, "Atemu"… After a moment, he followed them inside, catching them talking softly to Madam Pince, the librarian. She was giving them both a suspicious look that made them fidget, but after a moment she led them off to the back of the room, Harry following as close as he dared.
Madam Pince pointed them to a section of books, and the two boys bowed, thanking her before she left, before starting to look through the books. They each picked one before settling at a nearby table to read, and Harry took that opportunity to look at the section they were in. The book titles he saw brought a frown to his face: My Spirit and Me: A Comprehensive Guide for the Possessed, The Man from the Ghost, and The Spirit Realm: Understanding Ghosts, Poltergeists, and Other Otherworldly Phenomena.
Were… they really possessed?
The two boys were quiet for a long moment, flipping through their respective books. Yuugi was the one to finally break the silence, sighing softly, before asking:
"Do you really think we're going to find a way to separate from our other halves in these?"
Harry's eyes widened, and he felt his blood run cold for a moment.
"Dunno," Ryou replied. "It would be nice. Though I'm sure Ryou appreciates the bodyguard, I think he'd like it better if he could hang out with his friends while I'm going around beating the shit out of bratty Slytherins."
Yuugi shook his head in amusement. "It's a wonder Malfoy hasn't taken a hit out on you yet."
"Oh, he's tried," Ryou said with a cocky smirk, "casually" slipping an arm around Yuugi that made the smaller boy jump. "No one can lay a hand on this handsome hunk of man flesh unless I let them."
Yuugi groaned, muttering something that sounded like, "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."
Ryou sniggered briefly, before his tone became serious again. "Hey, I wanna be able to sneak around and do good ole' tomb robber-y things without someone moaning and complaining in my head. And I'd like to be somewhere else while Ryou's spending hours on end on homework."
"And do what?" Yuugi asked, chuckling in amusement.
Ryou glanced over at him, watching him as he was a bit too preoccupied with his book. As the white haired boy's hand crept lower, Harry's eyes got wider, until…
"EEK!" Yuugi shrieked, nearly jumping a foot in the air. Ryou put a hand over his mouth, smothering back a laugh as the smaller boy whirled on him, glaring. "Bakura…!" he hissed.
"Oh, c'mon, your worship," Ryou replied. "If I wasn't around to torture you, who would?"
The hand came back up to Yuugi's shoulder, though it pulled him closer this time, away from the book. He let out an "urk", trying to push away from Ryou, but the white haired boy would not let him get away with that so easily. He reached up with his other hand, holding and stroking Yuugi's face, and it was not long before his face turned bright red in a blush.
"C'mon… can't leave you all alone and let you get depressed…" Ryou murmured softly, getting closer as Yuugi's eyes widened.
Harry made a face. They… they were not going to…! Not in the library! That was the kind of things that old couples did! Gross!
He turned, fully intending to make a quick retreat… only to practically collide with a book display he had not seen. Yuugi and Ryou jumped apart, Ryou's eyes instantly fixing on the spot where Harry was now frozen solid.
"Who the hell is there?" he demanded.
Harry bit his lip hard, afraid that Ryou could hear him breathe. This was bad… he did not want to get caught… he did not know what kind of trouble he would be in! These two… these people were totally different from the real Ryou and Yuugi…
Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound from behind him, followed by a snarled curse from Ryou. Harry hazard a glance, only to see that Peeves had whooshed by with a sack of flour… that ended up on the already white enough boy's head. Ryou stalked after the poltergeist, uttering promises of killing it again, and Harry took that moment to make a very quick escape.
-.oOOo.-
Harry had been quick to tell Ron of his escapade in the library that night, thoughts of the mirror in which he had seen his parents momentarily forgotten. Ron looked a bit surprised, but admitted he was not totally shocked; after all, they had more or less expected this.
"I'm guessing their real names are Atemu and Bakura then?" Ron asked.
"At least the spirits," Harry agreed. "And from what they were saying, it sounds like the same thing is happening to Seto Kaiba now too."
"That Ravenclaw prude?" he asked, blinking. "Well, that would explain he sudden change of attitude…"
Ron trailed off, looking up as the portrait hole opened and Malik walked in, munching on a left over tart from supper. Harry leaned close, whispering quickly as the Egyptian approached.
"I bet he knows all about them too."
Ron nodded quickly, looking up as Malik stopped behind Harry's couch, stuffing the rest of the tart in his mouth before asking, "Wuzzup?"
"Not much," Harry replied, leaning back against the couch. "Hey, Malik? How long have you and Yuugi and Ryou known each other?"
Malik blinked in surprise at the question, but shrugged. "Not all that long. We met over this past summer during Battle City."
"Really?" Ron asked, pretending to know what he was talking about. "How did that go?"
Malik chuckled. "Well, it wasn't exactly one of my better moments."
Harry leaned back, exchanging a sly smile with Ron. "I bet Atemu really wiped the floor with everyone participating, didn't he?"
The Egyptian waved a dismissive hand. "More or less; he didn't have some of the easier fights. But, then again, he never—"
Malik cut himself off, wondering why Harry and Ron were looking so triumphant… before he nearly beat himself over the head. Shit! Hoodwinked by an eleven year old! He pointed a finger at the two of them, hoping what he had to say would sink in.
"No listen, both of you," he said. "Don't go galvanizing about the school, saying you've got friends who are possessed. Atemu and Bakura are harmless… well, Atemu is anyway, Bakura is… well, you've seen how he is."
"What about Kaiba?" Ron asked.
"What about him?" Malik replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I heard Yu—Atemu and Bakura talking about a Seto and a Kaiba like they were two different people," Harry provided.
Malik's eyes widened momentarily. The high priest…? No way… how…?
"I don't know about that, but I'm sure I'll find out," he said. "Look; you guys treat Yuugi and Atemu and Bakura and Ryou like you've been, okay? This will really upset them both, especially if their friends take it the wrong way or anything."
Harry and Ron exchanged glances again. Well… it would be hard to just ignore it now that they knew… but… Well, Yuugi and Ryou were still the same people that they knew (though they were getting the impression that they did not know Ryou very well at all), so… maybe it would not be too hard.
"Can we tell Hermione?" Ron asked as the portrait hole opened again, admitting Yuugi. "She was the one that told us about Atemu in the first place."
Yuugi stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening, as Malik put a hand over his face. Just lovely…