Chapter 1
If there is one thing in this world that each and every one of us desires, it is nothing but love. Love dares you to do things. Love teaches you to conquer your demons. Love makes you feel complete and whole, safe and protected in the arms of the other. A feeling that allows you to reach a certain emotion too hard for words to understand. Many men seek it and failed to do so.
Yet, there are men who tried hard to deny it. Tried every will and strength to deny it. To deny the feeling of warmth and happiness. To deny everything that it symbolizes and live alone. Yet these men are not people devoid of friends and loved ones. They love, yes, but they do not love the way lovers love. They do not cuddle to the other like lovebirds would. They do not play with each other like courting grey wolves would.
And who could blame them? Love is an overused word. Used for over centuries and yet no one, in man's long history, had ever defined its true meaning. It is like a long and dark inevitable path that one must cross one thing or the other.
Everyone has experienced that truth: that love, like a running brook, is disregarded, taken for granted; but when the brook freezes over, then people begin to remember how it was when it ran, and they want it to run again.
You live as long as she is with you, you die as she left you and you're alive when you're together.
Men do not know how to live and yet when a woman taught them how, it is such a misfortune that the woman prefers to live alone.
Yet it is such a peculiar game that gods play. How can it be that those who are looking for love are those who more or less couldn't fall for it? And those who evade it are those who fall?
Is love something you don't have to search for? Or is it something you have to find like some lost marble? Do you really have to fall to find love?
Aeaeae
"For god's sake! We have been through this Anubis! The decision is final!" An angry cold voice rang inside the dark cold room. The owner of the voice was seated in one of the 10 wooden backed chairs all arranged in perfect circle, their face hardly recognizable from the lack of light. The one called Anubis growled and said.
"Cecrops," He said. "All I want is his safety, it is just normal for someone like me-his friend and companion to..." His sentence was cut short by an interruption coming from the man seated next to him.
"Anubis, you speak as if you are his only friend. Need I remind you that as long as we are a member of this Clique we are a family and we are friends? When one is in need it is only natural for us to extend a helping hand on the other and vice versa."
A soft clapping can be heard from the circle. "Very well said Apollo. Telling the protocol of our Clique could never be done any better than the great grandson of the author of our protocol. Yet, please forgive me for I do not know what significance of it in this situation."
"You mock him, Aeolus dear friend. Sweet Apollo was just trying to correct Anubis' fault." A gentle voice said within the shadows. "Ahhh, here we are again in a rather favorite subject of our dear Anubis. And yet it seems like yesterday since we've talked about this. And like yesterday, the result will still be the same Anubis even how much you protest against it."
"Yes, what you speak is true old Ra, but we can't let Darkness face Draco alone!"
"Do you doubt Darkness' ability Anubis? And you have just said that you are his friend." Agni who had been listening closely for a while now chose to speak up.
"I do, but we can't change the fact that Draco is dangerous."
Apollo laughed. "Dangerous in what means Anubis? Do you view his piles of money as dangerous? Why tell me, can a pile of money hurt you?"
"No! But look at what money can do! He can hire men to protect him!"
Cecrops smirked. "Hire men! Please Anubis, are you that dense? Can't you see that Draco's ego is far too big for his own good? He had to eat a chunk of his own pride to hire a man to guard him and his brother."
"Yes, but you must remember that he has a little brother, Draco can be overprotective over him!"
"Yes but you must…" Aeolus' sentence was cut off by Anubis.
"Still, he loves his…."
"Love is not a good excuse on this Anubis!" old Ra interjected.
"You are wrong Ra! Perhaps years without a lover had certainly taken away your sanity."
"I will not let you disrespect my father Anubis!" Agni shouted immediately. "You have no right! To call my father like that! Ask for his forgiveness!"
"NO, I will not!"
"Anubis!" Apollo scolded, "Certainly no one in this Clique knew things better than old Ra here, be humble and…"
"NO! I will not say sorry to that old and filthy rug!" Anubis said stubbornly.
"Anubis!" One of the men shouted.
By this time, Agni was on his feet and was starting to go towards Anubis' place. Anubis in turn stood erect and tall and glared at him, his chest out and was huffing like a mad man.
Automatically, other members sprung to their feet and tried to stop the two.
Little by little the calmness of the room was stained by the member's constant shouting. And none of them seems to be aware of the presence of three persons watching the conversations from the shadows. That is until one of them chose to speak up.
"Enough!" A man's voice commanded. It was calm, calculated and held a sense of authority.
Immediately as if someone stuck by lightning the group started to shut up and proceed to their proper seat. They knew that voice too well and it haunts them in their sleep, even if they are part of the same group, one cannot deny the fact that these 3 men are the most powerful in all of them.
When the eerie silence was back again, the voice turned to Anubis. "Anubis, what you did was not understandable. Ra is one of the oldest and the wisest of all of us. You must respect him as a child would respect his older sibling."
He addressed Agni next, "Agni there seems to be no better devotion than you had for your father. But you must understand that men say foolish things when their emotions come in the way just as Anubis had done."
The voice let the words sunk for a while when he continued. "After Draco had taken control of his adoptive father's company, he had been a treat for the underground ground world when he decided to change the company; from a company that produces military weapons to something that produces games."
"The sudden change was unexpected," Ra said. "And since the company was a major weapon supplier to the underground's big bosses and terrorists, it had suffered a great deal. Because of the change just as Osiris had said."
"And in line with that, a client came to us." Apollo said quietly.
"Yes, indeed." Anubis calmly said.
"Anubis," the voice said. "Darkness is the most sufficient for the job. He had ties at the place, not to mention that he had known Draco."
"Yes and that is the reason why I do not want him for the job!"
"Do you doubt my abilities Anubis?" Darkness said. His voice was smooth, soft and velvety.
"Darkness, you know what I mean." Anubis said almost pleadingly.
"Indeed I have," Darkness rose from his seat, he placed himself inside the circle. He looked around him. "Draco and I had known each other for quite some time now. We were rivals back then, as you may all know." He glanced meaningfully to the only member of the Clique that hadn't spoken yet. "Years of rivalry had led to an incident and situation that compelled me to leave the country and I came here." He glanced around him. "If my friends back there could see me when you found me, they would never believe it's me. I've lost my fire and me confidence; I'm merely a shadow of my former self. And then I met you, slowly you've returned me to my former."
"And with certain addition!" Apollo cut in with certain humour on his voice.
"Yes," Darkness said. "With certain addition indeed. With you I've learned to look life in a different light from what my aibu had done, and with that I thank you all." He looked sincerely at Anubis. "Anubis, old friend I thank you for your words but you must understand. This is my last test Anubis, a test to my loyalty to the Clique and to all it symbolizes."
A certain silence enveloped the room. Nothing could be heard except for the constant flickering of the fire and the shadows dancing around it.
But still Anubis cannot be reasoned. He looked at the certain individual who had the power to alter all their minds in just a word. In just a single word, Darkness could be spared. "Isis, do you have anything to say?"
Ra visibly flinched, Goddamn! He looked at the woman addressed; Isis had not yet spoken a word since the conversation had started. And they all know that Isis disapproved it more than any one else. Though she hadn't spoke it loud, they had all felt it. Her indifference and coldness towards the subject was enough evidence.
He and Osiris had talked about this and Osiris had said that he would talk to her. Had the talk with Osiris changed her perspective? He looked at Osiris who had been watching him for a moment now.
The woman mentioned sat near Osiris, their hands slightly touching, she looked at Osiris and then at Darkness who is intently looking at her. She opened her mouth, and then closed it. She took a deep breath, she returned Darkness' look and said. "You had my blessing dear Darkness." Her voice was like silk, soft and sensual.
Darkness bowed his right hand on his heart. "Thank you."
Aeaeae
Your assignment will be simple Darkness.
Even until now, he could still conjure up Osiris; his voice serious against the background of the dark room. And even in the dark, he could easily imagine his face, expressionless and his eyes cold as he gave him a last minute briefing yet all the while giving him reassurances every time he looks at him. And he believed him, believed him because he trusts him. Trust him more than he trusts his aibu.
You must earn Draco's trust again.
If there is someone in the Clique who had his full trust, it is no other than Osiris and Isis. Isis, he thought. Isis is his salvation and his light during his years in England. She and Osiris are the ones who saved him that night on the train station. He was young back then, and 'egoistic'. That is as Osiris said. With out any second thought, he and Isis had taken him, nursed him back to health and little by little earned his trust.
After a while he decided to work for them as a bodyguard. On the course of a year, Osiris had trusted him enough to let him know about the secret and had entered him in the circle. The Clique is a like a modern day mafia, with twice its power and less bloodshed. Osiris had entered him there, he worked as a small Don in a distant island and little by little he had rise in the ranks and had entered the Inner Circle.
No matter the cost.
His rise to power was not costless. It had come with blood, lies, manipulation and deception to people who he once considered innocent and pure-people like his 'friends'. He kills with out emotion, simple and clean, just like what the client like. He had lied to get out of sticky situations. He had manipulated far too many men for his fingers to count. Yet, unlike before, there was nothing inside him, no guilt as he shed the blood of an innocent child. There was no pain in his eyes as he put the blame on the child's father. And most of all, there was no compunction as he manipulated everyone he could think of just to get to where he stands now. To say that it was costless just because 2 of the 'gods' favoured him, was a lie. It was all a lie.
Darkness, when you return to Domino this is what your status will be. Listen carefully.
He is not himself any more. Sometimes, he looks at himself in the mirror and sees a shadow of his former self. His eyes lost its life and no emotion ever dared to dance across it again for fear of being shunned at. He shunned his emotions like some sort of disease with no cure whatsoever. A part of him had died the moment he set foot on the plane that took him to England. That part of him had died and will not be born again, but that is not the matter! What matters is that, he is not himself anymore. Yami is dead! He is dead! The god Anubis had already led him to Osiris! Dead! Dead! Dead! And it doesn't matter how many times you recite the prayers in the Book of Dead, because he will not come back! Never! Never!
Tell them your name, there is no need to hide your true identity, and they are bound to know it one way or the other. Visit you 'friends'-a growl from Anubis- and tell them that you came from England and from there you met the CEO, you became friends and he trusted you enough to let you handle all the proceedings of his zaibatsu while he is away. Tell them this exactly, and the others you decide what to tell them.
Now, before the CEO had decided to take a vacation, he and Draco's company had opened a deal. The deal goes as this, the electrical branch of the zaibatsu will provide the necessary tools and men needed for the new project. The project will be a new and improved Duel Disk. Meetings will be constant; you and Draco will see each other almost daily. Get Draco's trust.
And what then? He asked.
Osiris smiled. That Darkness is when you will contact us. From then we will tell you what you will do. And remember Darkness, briefed us weekly of your status. A week without one, and we will immediately send troops to retrieve you, wherever you are.
Wherever you are. Osiris voice still rings in his head as he remembered the last sentence. He knew the hidden message on those words, every one who knew about his past knows about it. That place. It was the best place for Yami. For Yami, it was safe and protected. It was warm and yet not scorching as Egypt, warm, just warm. It was safe as long he is there, safe from the harm and pain and from darkness.
But Yami learned that there is no safe place. Everyone is prone to suffering and pain. Just as everyone is prone to happiness and joy. Darkness, no one can escape from darkness.
Why escape darkness when you can just embrace it and use it as your ally? Darkness is puzzling. It holds secrets yet to be discovered. And in its mysteriousness, it held an allure no mortal can deny.
Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.
Yami is dead and Darkness is born.
Aeaeae
Yami run a hand on his untameable tri-colored lock of hair. He sighed as he looked around and noticed the luxury of the private plane. Trust his friend to be luxurious until the end! The plane contains a king size bed with red silk coverings and a pair of soft red chairs. Red, the color of blood. Yami's favourite color.
Yami called for the stewardess and asked her to fill him a glass of red wine. After a while she returned. Yami flashed a smile on her as she disappeared behind the curtain. He took a sip. Ahhh, nothing tastes better than a good wine after a hard day. Yami reached at the table for his reading glasses and Tolstoy's War and Peace. He read the book, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings until it is time for landing.
Arriving at a private airport, he was surprised by the reporters waiting as he exited the plane. He shook his head in disgust. There were a lot of big fish to fry. For the past 5 years since he left Domino, he made sure not to make any contact to them.
"There he is!" someone shouted, and the next thing he knew, he was surrounded by flashing lights and reporters.
"Yami! Yami Motou! Back in Japan! We're so exited out here!" A brazen young reporter said as she wound her arm on his while the other held a microphone in front of his face.
Always, always, always be good to the press Yami. They can be your ally in your darkest times. Osiris had taught him that. So he forced a casual smile to his face. "Do I know you?" He asked at the woman.
The girl with deep blue eyes had the grace to blush. "No, um, we've never met. I'm Vickie Max from Entertainment TV, a new cable channel that focuses on popular entertainment.
His smile deepened. "Well, nice to meet you Vickie," He said. "I love Scotland and I love England, and I haven't seen Japan for 5 years and it's good to be home!"
She smiled at him gratefully and he smiled charmingly back, earning a blush from her.
Smiling inwardly, he lowered his head as he walked towards the back parking lot.
They stayed with him.
Reporters were scrambling with their tape recorders and notepads; cameramen men were aiming at him, trying to get a good picture.
"Mr. Motou!" A man dressed in black business suit called his name. "Is it true that you're going to handle the Mishima zaibatsu while Mishima Junta is away?"
Yami had to smile at that. News really travels fast. "Yes, I do," He said smiling.
"How did you meet?" Someone else called. The woman with dyed hair and pierced nose?
"We met in England while he stays there during one of his business travels." He said smiling as he walked.
"Are you afraid to meet Mr. Kaiba again?"
He laughed at that and the reporters stick to him tighter. "Why should I?"
"Rumors said that he's the reason why you left Japan in the first place." Vickie said her bright eyes grave.
"So they say." He said, inwardly hoping to see even a single of his bodyguards to help him I here.
"What are your feelings now that you're back?" once of the camera men asked.
Yami was silent for a moment. "I'm happy because I'm back and," He paused for a while. "Naturally I'm nervous because I have to handle a zaibatsu and I don't know if I can match Junta-san's talent in handling a zaibatsu as big as the Mishima," He said simply while thanking the gods as he finally spotted one of his guards. The guard quickly called on his walkie-talkie and single-handedly fend off the reporters as Yami walked towards the garage.
Yami continued to walk away seemingly oblivious to the call of the reporters. As he reached the parking lot, he entered the black limousine waiting for him. Inside he reached out to pour him a drink while touching the bridge of his nose. Damn, his head aches so much! He exhaled and drank his bourbon feeling the warm feeling on his stomach. Good, very good!
He closed his eyes and signalled the driver to go. From now on, Yami Motou is dead, only darkness remains.