Chapter Fourteen: A Curse Retold

I had a different dream this time. Not the one with the missing puzzle piece, but one where I was back in the dark of my mansion's basement, back to the night it all happened. And just when I was going to learn the truth of the matter, just when I heard someone scream, I lost it all and was back with the zombies of Duel Monsters surrounding me as I sought uselessly for that damned puzzle piece. I hate puzzles. I'm not Yugi Moto. I'd rather do something else with my time. Why does it upset me so much?

The hour that Ryo Bakura faced alone in Kaiba's office was one built of nightmares.

And, truthfully, the same hour for Kaiba could only be categorized as "pointless headaches" at the best.

Why they both were determined and lasted the entire hour meant that some stubborn and decisive streak lay hidden somewhere in Bakura. Kaiba had his on the very surface for all to see, but Bakura's was buried deep so that it took quite a bit to bare it to the world.

But once something deemed necessary entered his mind, not even the caustic CEO could intimidate him.

"I did all of this for the project already. Care to look over it?" Kaiba asked so dryly that Bakura's ears were in danger of withering away in the drought.

"Yes, thank you." A pale hand reached out to snap it out the businessman's grasp before fixing the collection before him and scanning the pages.

Taken aback, Seto paused and waited before realizing that Bakura was actually reading it over word by word. Not skimming. Never would the sarcastic teen have expected Bakura to grow a backbone.

"Satisfied?" he asked as Bakura finally reached the end of the packet.

"Yes, I suppose it will do."

Suppose? That didn't please Seto in the slightest, and he glowered over at his partner. "Any ways to fix it up?"

Across the way, Bakura seemed to be enjoying the dangerous new game. His voice had turned slightly raspier and an excited glint reflected in his amused dark eyes. "None that you would deem worthwhile."

"Are you throwing my knowledge into disdain?" The words flickered across the table at a quick speed, sizzling in intensity like an expensive steak on a preheated grill.

Lips curling into a sneer where Kaiba seemed to be the most entertaining thing at this moment in all time, Bakura leaned back in his chair and reveled in the feeling of power and control. He knew his partner was growing angrier as the time went by. As the silence continued, it changed to hold hidden assassins ready to cut out the tongue of the next daring to speak.

"You could say that," he finally drawled, looking more at the desk before him and letting a finger copy a design of the wood. So at ease, so comfortable, Kaiba could have throttled Bakura just for that.

"Then please do enlighten me as to where I could suffer through improvement."

Grin widening like a predator about to pounce, Bakura uncrossed his legs lazily and grabbed the packet of papers.

"I don't know if you can solve the main problem. The entire tone seems to be such a haughty manner I think the teacher will dislike reading it." Not bothering to look up to see what his words were doing, Bakura studied one hand's nails. Quietly, he continued, "And I think the knowledge isn't as much from research as from a pompous attitude demanding that people listen to him and the lies he spews."

"That's it," Kaiba said, knuckles white from where they grasped the chair. He stood just as Bakura's laughter echoed through the room. In a second later, as the near-albino's shirt was tightly gripped in a fist, the boy's eyes had their wild, nervous look back.

"Wh-what? What's going on? Kaiba!"

Narrowing his eyes but leaving his grip, Kaiba searched Bakura's face, finding the utter confusion and fear to be so authentic it made no sense. In a rage, he released the young man and stalked back behind his desk.

"You can finish the project yourself," he said lowly, back to his classmate, his tightly clenched hands the only part of apprehension visible on the CEO.

"But…what happened?" Bakura was looking around the room like he hadn't been sitting in it the past fifteen minutes.

"You got what you wanted!" Calming himself and turning cold and bitter to keep the other emotions free from his voice, Kaiba cast only an eye back at Bakura. "So don't rub it in my face. Do what you want with the project, but if we get anything less than perfect, I know whose fault it'll be."

And so, for the next forty-five minutes, Bakura sat confused in the office. He struggled to finish the little bit of the assignment to the satisfaction of his partner who refused to do it himself or explain what he meant when he mentioned how it ought to live up to Bakura's expectations now that Bakura himself had written it.

Deep in the back of his mind, he heard a faint, hoarse laughter.

H-ha ha ha ha!

"Awright…so Yuge wins again. I'm gettin' sick a'dis."

Joey certainly wasn't the only one who was getting tired of the young teen winning every game set before him. The others might have put up a good fight, but Yugi was always the final victor. And…it was sickening.

Téa covered a yawn as Yugi cheered like a little kid, asking if anyone wanted to play again. No one answered.

"Okay, how about checkers?"

"No offense, Yuge," Joey said, head slumped toward his knees, "but I'm gettin' tired of all dis. I want t' see de surprise in de basement!"

Smiling, Mokuba turned toward him. "I bet you'll like it. But we can't go without Bakura!"

The others made a small protest as they waited for the other friend to appear at this opportune time. But the doorway remained empty. Eerily empty. Had not the mansion been so well-kept, Joey would have felt like he was in a horror film. Everything had gone quiet and still, rogue creaks and groans reminding him of a torture chamber he had once seen in a movie.

Mostly to clear his mind of such haunting thoughts, Wheeler turned to the others, lying on his stomach. "So, whaddywe do now?"

Glancing down at the glinting amulet lying on his chest, the vice-president smirked, a worthy facial expression to be considered a Kaiba.

"I've got something here that might interest you. Look at this!" He removed the dragon charm, cord and all, handing it out to his curious audience. Yugi was highly fascinated, even though he already knew about it. Joey was also intrigued, thinking it would make some good collateral. Téa wrinkled her nose and didn't touch it, while Tristan just wondered what was so special about it.

But all of them got hypnotized staring at its eyes.

"I got it at that shop you told me about, Yugi. And the man there told me quite a story about it…I'll be sharing it with you all later. Soon, I hope." Mokuba glanced at the doorway, wondering how his brother could have that much of a project left to do.

Seeing all his friends fingering up the dragon necklace made the boy slightly apprehensive, but he ignored it as well as he could. What would they actually do to it? It wouldn't make sense for them to want to do anything to damage it or steal it. No, not even Joey Wheeler would.

They were all friends, after all.

Bakura finally found his way back to the party room, plainly relieved that his ordeal was finally over. He would have been content to lie down and pass out right then, but Mokuba and the others were so excited to see him, jumping up and determined to get to something important in the basement that he couldn't. And he wouldn't wipe off the expressions on their faces just for his own selfish whims.

Kaiba was watching from another place down the hall, checking to see how the guests were doing. No one saw him as they walked, laughing and chatting, down the stairs behind his younger brother. The servants who were important to the haunted house setup downstairs were already missing and had been for some time.

"I hope you do me proud, kiddo," Kaiba said before turning to go back to his room to start some experimentation on a type of computer that would follow eye movements. If he could do that with a computer, the genius was certain he could change it over to work in his game of Duel Monsters, as well. Having a completely silent game where one had only to look at trigger words and targets to attack and activate cards would change the game once more.

The herd of monkeys descended the stairs, at first clattering and full of jaunty attitudes. As they continued down into the darkness, however, people slowly grew quieter and less inclined to break out with a joke. Joey, feeling a trail of cobweb on his face (placed there for the purpose of the mood, not because some worker had been slacking on the job; no one would dare that in Kaiba's house), shouted and flailed at its sticky closeness.

"Get it off me! Get it off me!"

He plunged right into Téa, who was startled, but she dryly pulled the webs from his face and righted him. "Frightened of a little spider web, Joey? You're worse than I am!"

"I wasn't scared uva li'l web!" he said disdainfully, straightening and dusting himself off. "I was frightened dat some ghost had crossed me!"

Tristan shook his head. "There aren't any ghosts here, man. Except maybe Bakura, considering how white he is."

Smiling weakly, Bakura didn't respond to the tease, too preoccupied with listening hard for the Spirit of the Millennium Ring he was certain was going to show soon.

"Ghosts?" Mokuba asked slowly, turning around with a grin. "You may find that this mansion does have its ghosts…we'll see if we continue into the basement. I have that tale of the dragon necklace to tell you and something to show you as well."

Joey looked apt to clamber back on up the stairs now that he heard ghosts were a real possibility, but with Tristan and Téa on the other side of him blocking his way, he couldn't push past without them making some comment. So he gulped and followed Yugi down to the ominous depths.

Mokuba finally found a light that flickered two or three times before changing to a brighter color and staying lit. The little master of the Kaiba mansion smiled at how well the servants had prepared the place for their visit.

The light cascaded down to the ground covered with what appeared to be age-old dust and grime, webs and pieces of webs flitting in some cool, underground breeze. The dank, musty scent rose to their nostrils to remind them of catacombs, and a faint trace of fresh earth made them think of newly-dug graves. Shadows were waving all over because the one bulb Mokuba had lit was still swinging like a pendulum or axe ready to slice into them unawares. A scurry from somewhere unseen had Joey whiter than Bakura and whimpering under his breath. Mokuba smiled. All was perfect.

"This kind of reminds me of that place on Pegasus's island where you dueled Bones, Joey," Tristan said, scratching his head as he looked around.

Such words were not the ones to tell the near-panicked teen.

"Gah!" He jumped away from where a servant had just appeared from an inky black doorway, silent on his feet like a well-oiled hinge.

The servant smothered a self-satisfied smile as he bowed to Mokuba. "All awaits in the room, Master Mokuba."

"Thanks!"

The boy was far too cheery to make the gang feel any more at ease. Joey was literally clutching Tristan, and Bakura was completely preoccupied and nervous. Téa didn't appear as calm as she would have liked, but Yugi was grinning and bouncing after Mokuba as they headed off into the tarry blackness.

It was liked walking at the depths of the ocean where not a thread of sunlight ever reached with its trembling warm fingers. All was utterly encased in an unbreakable shell of utter raven shadows. Before light existed…the gang was certain this obscurity covered everything, and uneasy thoughts danced through their minds about whether this would be what they saw when they closed their eyes for the final time.

How Mokuba managed to find his way without a single trip or stumble made the others guess that he had been practicing. But he was a good leader and managed to herd the others into a large—also black—room without anyone getting lost or muttering more than two curses from stubbed feet, most of which were from treading and trampling into one another.

"We're here," he said softly, taking a moment before plucking a match from his pocket and lighting a disfigured candle from the other. "Oops…looks like it was too warm from being next to my leg," he said upon lighting the blue waxen lump.

"So, what's de big deal? Why're ya bringin' us down here, Mokuba?" Joey had, by then, released Tristan, but the tenseness in his arms indicated how quickly he'd return to the position if there were a need.

"I wanted to tell you a story…"

Yugi sat down cross-legged on the ground, and the others gradually followed his lead. The candle, slowly dripping wax like a crying statue, became what would have been the fire had they truly been camping. The darkness around them was silent, though, no singing crickets or buzzing of the other insects that hid in the tall grasses. All attention was riveted upon Mokuba, the diamond so honored and mesmerized by onlookers.

"This amulet is not just a simple dragon design with some special crystal for its eyes." The eyes spoken of flashed in orange annoyance as if disgusted with the very thought that its eyes were mere crystal. "It has a dark tale behind it. And I wanted to share that story with you tonight…"

The listeners slowly, unconsciously leaned slightly forward as the words caressed them and sunk through their ears into their souls. Soft, like cloud ice cream, the words drifted and entered into their beings so as to be trusted, believed, deemed important.

Telling the tale, Mokuba was surprised at all that was happening, almost like the words were being drawn out of him by the simple charm in his hand, sitting so warmly and innocently. Once, he thought it had writhed or wriggled, but upon glancing down at it, the dragon was still.

Softly, with careful enunciations and varied rhythms, the tale of Azerjan, his daughter Desarqiz, and the Stone of Tallyba left its sanctuary of the boy's memory and became present, potent in the air about them.