VM: after ten years… we won't apologize anymore coz you already know why.

Ruriko: Of course they don't know why yet! (slaps VM on the back of the head)

VM: they don't need to know…. Too many to mention.

Ruriko: You HAVE to explain!

VM: Well… A. Busy, we're graduating high school soon, B. Ruriko ran out of 'inspiration –coughlovetroublecough- (avoids a slap on the head), C. I've been addicted to other series.

Ruriko: Not what I'd say, but…. I guess that sums it up. Uh, who's tonight's guest?

VM: who's the sadistic half? It's our raw-meat-loving Bakura!

Bakura (appearing in the center of the room): Damn straight! Though I don't see why I have to Ra-Damn be here!

VM: Aw, don't you want to be our guest muse?

Bakura: Hell, no! I was blackmailed into being here!

Ruriko: (cackling evilly) I knew those pictures of you at that party would come in handy someday!

VM: (restraining Bakura) I'm gonna tell Ryou – oh wait he's still dead

(VM and Ruriko run away from the sadistic yami and hide in a janitor's closet with Ruriko's laptop)

Ruriko: You shouldn't have said that! (knocks VM on the head with mop)

VM: I couldn't resist! he owes me bigtime anyway, its his fault for stealing my sanity? Because if him, im listening to the Black Eye Peas 'my humps'!

Ruriko: (sweatdrop) I'm gonna ignore that. Uh, on with the story…. Before Bakura finds us!

Renaissance
by Ruriko L. Minamino and Virtual Maiden
Chapter 6: The Fool

Just outside the Belvedere Palace in Austria, four people were running as fast as their legs could take them up the aged stone staircase to get away from the evil entity that is better known as the media. They bolted into the huge entrance hall, they're cheeks flushed red, gasping for breath.

"Seto! C'mon close the god-damned door!" Tristan yelped as he pulled Ryuuji a glaring inside.

"Hey! Why the hell did you pulled me in here!" Ryuuji said sulkily.

"Hel-LO in case you didn't notice, we were about to be eaten alive by those cameras!" Tristan said while pointing shakily at the doors..

While behind a column, Seto was barking out orders on his cell phone. "I don't care what it takes. Just get those reporters out of our hair!"

Joey, on the other hand, was trying to regain his breath as he slumped beside the door. After a few moments, he finally spoke up. "What the hell brought tha' on!" he gasped out.

Ryuuji stalked over to him and slapped him hard on the head. "YEOW!" Joey glared at the raven-haired air force commander.

"Don't you ever read the news!"

"Why would I! Did anyone impose a new rule I should know about?" Joey blinked his eyes in confusion while tapping his index finger on the side of his face pretending to think.

Seto grumbled in response, clicking his tongue in disapproval. "He wouldn't even look at the paper until I shoved it in his face," Seto snorted "And he doesn't really read anything but the comics" he added teasingly, smirking slightly.

"I know the feeling," Ryuuji suddenly piped up, raising an eyebrow at Tristan's direction.

The brunet blushed sheepishly.

Joey pouted then sniffled "Why'd y'all just hafta pick on me?"

Ignoring the comment, the other three turned back at the problem at hand, mainly the door that was about to collapse. Thinking quickly, they hurried down the hall and up the grand staircase with some members of their collective personal guards trailing behind them.

"Well isn't anyone going to explain what's going on?" Joey asked, blinking his eyes at his companions.

Seto, Ryuuji and Tristan looked at each other and sighed. Joey really was clueless.

It all began a few days ago. Apparently the yamis had been talking about something when a servant had overheard them discussing something about bringing their hikari's to life, but the servant had heard wrong, he thought they'd said 'light' and somehow the story leaked into the media. Now four days later, having received no comment from the Eternal Triumvirate, the media resorted to plaguing the four companions. The worst part was they really didn't know what was going on in the yamis' minds. (Did anyone really know what they were thinking?)

At the end of the hall were they were now walking through, there was a big set of mahogany doors. They barged right on in.

The Eternal Triumvirate was sitting at the conference table. Their expressions were priceless; they looked like children being caught stealing a cookie from a cookie jar. Actually, Marik really was holding a cookie jar in one hand. Yami blinked and a blissful smile appeared on his face.

"We weren't expecting you, please do sit down," Yami said, gesturing toward the empty seats at the table.

Bakura and Marik just smiled serenely and mimicked Yami's gesture.

'My God! Is the world about the end!' Tristan thought, rubbing at his eyes furiously, while Joey and Ryuuji stood frozen in place.

Seto moved towards the chairs, seemingly breaking the spell. "Well, you three seems to be in a good mood this morning. Care to explain?" Seto asked, quickly blending in with the strangely harmonious mood in the room, but his soldierly companions were still speechless.

Marik looked at them and smiled softly. "We've made the best decision in all of the five millennia of our existence."

Ryuuji laughed aloud. "This is too weird, who are you and what have you done with the real yamis?"

Bakura just tilted his head to the side, and a gentle smile graced his feature. "Whatever do you mean?"

Wordlessly, Joey leaned over Yami until they were nose to nose; the Pharaoh was still smiling benignly. He pulled back immediately and tugged as Seto's sleeve then whispered. "Quick call 911! Call the police! Call anyone!"

"Joey, please sit down already," Bakura said politely.

"I'll have some refreshments brought up," Yami said getting up and walking to the door. Even Seto's rationality was challenged when he saw Yami talking companionably with a servant about having tea brought up.

When Yami returned to the table, silence reigned. After about ten minutes of this phenomenon, Seto cleared his throat again to speak.

"As interesting as it is, I don't think that I – that we – can wait any longer," he said seriously, looking at each of the yami's in turn. "What's going on?"

Yami smiled again and looked at the window. "As you know, the three of us," he gestured at Bakura, Marik, and himself, "paid a visit to Domino City a few days ago. We had a chance to look back on the past three years and realized the one horrible mistake we made."

'They've made only one!' Tristan thought, holding back an amused smile. 'I lost count after the first two months.'

"Which was?" Seto pressed, leaning forward in his seat just a bit.

"Our hikaris, of course," Marik said, his tone triumphant, though, the reason for the tone was unfathomable. "We killed them, but we were wrong, and now we're going to set things right."

Seto raised an eyebrow. Tristan happened to be looking at him so intently that he noticed the way his body had tensed up in anticipation of a possible disaster. "And what have you decided to do?"

Yami sighed and frowned lightly. "You don't think we're serious, do you?"

Seto shook his head slowly. "I'll be honest with you: I find it quite hard to believe. What brought on this change of heart?"

Bakura stood up and slammed his fists on the table. The lights flickered on and off. "You just don't get it – all of you!" he thundered, glaring at the four bewildered mortals. "You can't even begin to comprehend what we feel. You can't know the pain we've suffered these past years! We've done our bests to forget, to build fantasies to cover up our suffering, to put an end to our grief. The loss of our hikaris has been more than we can bear!" His body actually shook as he spoke. "The loss of my Ryou has been the only real thing driving me on. You can't know the pain of losing the one person you love with all your heart – losing that person at your own hands! Ryou is my other half! Can't you see what we've done – what I've done? CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"If Ryou was so important to ya, then why'd ya kill him?" Joey yelled suddenly, his face red with rage. Bakura was unable to answer and so he wheeled to look at Marik. "Why did ya kill Malik if ya cared for him so much?" He turned his burning gaze to Yami. "Why did ya kill Yugi if ya loved 'im? Why? Why? God damn it! Answer me!"

"Habibi…" Marik moaned, gripping the table so tight that he broke off a chunk of the hard wood. He stood, towering over Joey, his entire body shaking with barely repressed emotion. "You don't know – you can never know the temptation – the seduction – of the Shadow Powers. We have existed since before the very idea of your being came into the minds of the gods! And yet, we were unable to resist the lure. I loved Malik with all my heart – Horus be my witness! When I plunged that knife into his heart, I might as well have plunged it into mine! Many nights I have tortured myself over the thought my crime. You know nothing of what I feel – what Yami and Bakura feel for their lights! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ACCUSE US!"

Yami gripped Marik's shoulder tightly to calm him as he, too, got to his feet. "We are immortal, Joey Wheeler. For us, time can only go on and on. We can never change. The earth shall continue to change, but never shall we. We have no final judgment that awaits us. We are judgment unto ourselves. No mortal man can harm us. No demons can truly plague us. And no solace we can ever find for what we've done. If that is not enough reason for us – for me to bring my hikari back, for me to yearn for Yugi's touch once more – for Marik and Bakura to feel that same way – then I charge you to tell me what else is there. We are but goalless, incomplete souls walking this earth without them. If you do not will that they be returned to us, what would you have us do then? TELL US!"

Tristan took a sharp intake of breath. Before him stood three beings for whom he felt the deepest of awe. These were not Yami, Bakura, and Marik, three devilish ancient Spirits. These were not the King of Games, the Thief, and the Assassin. These were not the Pharaoh, the Emperor, and the Czar. No. Before him stood the Eternal Triumvirate, bathed in the light of the sun, everything they stood for – the infinite pain, suffering, and love – in their full glory.

Tristan would never forget this sight for as long as he lived.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A week later, Joey was standing at the Game Ring of Rome – formerly known as the Roman Coliseum, before Yami decided that he hated the name and had it changed.

There was a duel going on in the arena and Joey was staring at the competitors. His thoughts were elsewhere.

He was Joey Wheeler, one of the seven Naval Commanders of the Eternal Land (the name the yamis always called the world by), favored by all three members of the Eternal Triumvirate, powerful, rich, bearing on his uniformed chest more honors than he could count. Yet, somehow, his nineteen-year-old self couldn't find himself equal to everything he had achieved.

Three years ago, he'd just been an average high school student in Domino City, Japan.

He sighed and his thoughts wandered still farther back, to that fateful day when his whole world had so irrevocably changed…

-0-

Joey was strolling around with Tristan late in the night after a trip from the arcade, the two of them happily bashing Kaiba and Otogi along the way (the blond was only pretending, since he really had the world's biggest crush on the CEO), when they saw the most peculiar sight. Isis was running down the streets, heading right at them.

"Hey Isis slow down, what's the rush?" Tristan called out while trying to keep a straight face, how often did you see the eldest of the Ishtar's running down the streets without even an inch of decorum. When she got closer, Joey grabbed at her arm playfully but she snatched it back and tried to get away from them.

"Let me pass, I have to get home!"

"Jeez Isis, I don't think Malik and his yami had time to destroy the house," Joey drawled. "They've probably been busy screwin' each other senseless."

Isis just looked at him gravely and tried to push pass them. "You wouldn't understand."

Joey and Tristan looked at each other, she was really freaking them out.

"What's gotten into you?" Joey asked her accusingly.

"You don't understand! If I don't go home now there might just be no more Malik," Isis' eyes were glistening with unshed tears and her voice was half hysterical.

Joey grabbed hold of her again. "Would ya stop for jus' a sec?"

"Tell us what's going on, we might be able to help."

"Just follow me and see," she said grimly. "But I pray to the god's that I'm wrong." She whispered into the air but Joey caught her words and his fear and trepidation increased.

Minutes later, Isis was shakily unlocking the front door of her house while Joey and Tristan hovered nervously behind her. Beckoning them to follow, she ascended the stairs. She padded down the hallway until she came to a door practically covered in posters and warning signs full of colorful swear words. She paused and Joey noticed that her hand was trembling. A moment later, she seemed to steel herself and pushed the door open.

"Holy shit!" Tristan and Joey exclaimed as Isis collapsed in the doorway. The blood drained from their faces when they dashed into the room.

Lying on his side by the foot of the bed, completely naked, was Malik. His platinum blond hair half-covered his face and his arms and legs hung limply at odd angles. The pillows and bed sheets were half off the bed, covering only his toes. There was a gruesome wound in the center of his chest, and the skin around it was covered in the dried blood. Joey cautiously entered the room and knelt by his friend's body, praying that he was only wounded and unconscious. The naked boy's body was still slightly warm when Joey laid a hand on his wrist. There was no pulse. Malik's lips were still reddish, and his penis hadn't stiffened quite yet. Joey felt like he wanted to puke. From behind him, it sounded like Tristan had beaten him to the idea. The blond duelist held a hand to his mouth as he stepped away. All signs pointed to it. There was no denying it. Malik Ishtar had been dead for at least two hours.

"No… My brother…" Isis choked out, trying her best to rouse herself off the floor. She seemed to be in her own world, trying to shut out the harsh reality of the situation.

"Who did this?" Joey's voice was weak as he coughed out the question.

"One of the yamis, that's who."

The three who discovered the scene of the crime turned to face the speaker. Ryuuji Otogi stood in the doorway, his face pale and grim.

"Otogi!" Tristan snarled and strode over to the door. "You! What are you doing here and what are you talking about?"

"You three left the front door wide open and I came in," the dice master snapped. "I need to speak to Isis, but my suspicion was just confirmed."

"What do you mean, Ryuuji?" Joey asked as he assisted Isis to her feet.

"I just came from the Bakura residence," Ryuuji replied, his voice sounding dead. "Ryou's dead. The police are there right now, investigating. One of the neighbors saw the Tomb Robber run out of the house. He was holding a bloody knife."

At this, Isis seemed to snap out of it. "It wasn't the Tomb Robber who did this. It was the Assassin who killed my brother." The raven-haired woman closed her eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears. "I didn't believe he really would do it, but it appears that my imperfect judgment cost my brother his life."

"Care to explain?" Ryuuji asked, walking up to the bed and grabbing the pristine white sheets. He gingerly draped the fabric over the hikari's body.

"I should have anticipated this," Isis continued as if no one had spoken. "That day when my brother's dark half walked into the museum with the Thief and the Pharaoh, I should not have brought them to that room. No. I should never have decided to open the new wing."

"Isis, please!" Joey practically begged. He had a sickening suspicion about what the former Seeress meant. "What's goin' on here! Malik's been murdered and Ryou's dead too. Ya gotta tell us what's happening!"

"It is too… complicated to explain," the Ishtar female said in her soft, mystic's voice. "I will tell you only this for now: your best friend will suffer the same fate – if he has not been slain already."

- 0 -

Joey balled his hands into fists and dug his nails deep into the skin. He didn't want to remember what had happened next just then. The blond sighed and turned his eyes away from the game.

If the yamis were really going to resurrect their lights, then Joey knew that for certain, he would support them all the way.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

Seto Kaiba hadn't been to the offices of the Kaiba Corporation in ages. He just finished 'visiting' some of his old managers and supervisors, something he'd been neglecting for three months now. He'd been busy tending to world affairs (and the personal problems of the yamis). He was now in his original headquarters in Domino City, Japan. With only a day to go before the resurrection of the hikaris, he decided that he should get some work done. He was excited, in his own way, that he would be seeing his old friends again, but business had to be taken care of first.

'Mokuba hasn't been doing anything. If he weren't my brother I'd be very disappointed in him right now.' Seto shook his head and smiled slightly as he opened his laptop on his desk. 'But what can be expected; he's only 15.'

Seto then sat down and started to work. It was only five hours later that he realized how similar his situation looked to the way things had been on that fateful day…

- 0 -

Seto had spent the entire night working at his office in the main the Kaiba Corps building. He was tired, but he wanted to get all the paperwork done before his incompetent excuses for subordinates laid more documents on his desk. His fountain pen had just run out of ink and he was just reaching for a new one in his drawer when the door suddenly burst open. Seto's eyes snapped in the direction of the sound.

Just in the doorway were three figures he wouldn't normally have expected to see. Yami no Yugi stood in between Yami Bakura and Yami Marik. That in itself would have been shocking enough, but there was more. Their eyes – those sharp, angular eyes usually full of cunning and deceit – were clouded, grim, icy.

"To what do I owe the visit?" the CEO said at length. "You three do realize it's the before dawn, do you not? Have you forgotten the way home?"

None of the Spirits spoke. They merely stood in the doorway, looking right back at him. Seto was becoming unnerved and it was a struggle to keep up his cool façade. Looking at them closely, he realized there were flecks of blood on their tightly fisted hands and that Bakura held a cloth wrapped bundle in one hand, one that was stained while red matter that looked suspiciously like fast-drying blood. Their eyes looked strangely bloodshot, as if they'd been crying.

At length, Yami spoke.

"We need to use the new dueling hall at Kaiba Land," the wine-eyed Spirit intoned in a hollow voice. "At high noon."

Seto knit his fingers together and rested his head on them, his elbows propped up on the desk. "And why would I let you use it?"

Bakura stepped forward and his eyes seemed to darken. "Because we want you to."

"It is our will," Marik deadpanned. "And you will follow if you wish to live."

Before Seto could reply, before he could even move out of his seat, he was encased in light and when he was able to see again, he was standing on the roof of the building.

"Call for one of your helicopters." Bakura said coldly.

Seto suppressed a shudder and did just that.

Moments later, he was sitting in front of the three yamis in his helicopter which was headed for Kaiba Land. They spoke but little and Seto did not know what to make of it. Fifteen minutes later, he was leading the three Spirits through the dimly lit hallways of the dueling center, towards the new hall. Upon they're arrival, he again attempted to initiate conversation.

"Why do you need this hall?" Seto inquired, raising an eyebrow as the three yamis walked to the center of the arena.

"The skylight," Yami said shortly. The former Pharaoh waved a hand, as if to dismiss Seto from his sight.

The CEO thought it best to do as he was told – for now. He had a nagging feeling that the three Spirits weren't as they usually were. He silently left the hall and locked himself up in the small office just a floor above the dueling hall. He flipped on a television set and looked at the live feed from the surveillance camera where the yamis were. All he had to do now was keep busy until noon.

Time seemed to fly and soon Seto was ordering brunch, still inside the small office. He was in the middle of checking some accounting files when his eyes wandered over to the television screen. His eyes widened and he raced out of the room. Back to the hall, the young businessman went, glancing at the clock on the wall. The moon had appeared in front of the sun and had almost completely covered it. Whatever the yamis were planning, they were about to put it into action, if the state of the flooring was anything to go by.

The air sizzled with ancient magic. Symbols were drawn on the ground, in something that looked suspiciously like human blood. The spirits walked backwards until they were at the edges of the arena, forming a triangle within the circle of inscriptions. Energy crackled around their bodies.

Seto stepped closer and noticed that the lines were composed of hieroglyphics, writing filled with so much energy that it burned his eyes to look. Seto did not understand the chants but the yamis' uttered three names that were the key to his complete understanding of what had come to pass.

Seto knew then why the yamis had come to him that day, why their hands were flecked with blood, why their eyes were bloodshot with their tears: their hikaris were dead; Yugi Motou, Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar were dead.

Seto, his face pale, watched as the three yamis took small bottles filled with red liquid from within their clothing. Bakura unwrapped his cloth-covered package and Seto caught sight of three bloody gold-hilted daggers, two of which flew through the air to Yami and Marik's hands. With these, they pierce the flesh of their chests, the flesh over their hearts. Yami cried out in the thick Arabic tongue and light flashed in Seto's mind. He could now understand every word.

"Receive our sacrifice, my brethren, my parents,
Ye gods of the great and glorious land!
Take from us this offering,
This blood, in exchange for the one Great Gift.
The powers, the coils of everlastingness,
Give them unto us, who have severed our ties,
Give them to us, who have committed the act.
Bind us evermore to this earth in blood.
Receive from us this part of our souls!"

Yami's chant ended just as the moon and sun aligned completely. The ground shook and the sky turned pitch black. Then, everything was wrapped in bright white light.

When Seto finally could see again, the symbols on the ground were gone. The moon was moving out of alignment with the sun. And the three yamis were standing, blood-free and calm in the center of the room. They were unchanged, save for their eyes. Crimson, mahogany, and plum mixed ominously with thick black swirls. Their mouths were twisted into terrible smiles.

Seto could not help but sense the evil that was to come.

-0-

That had been three years ago, alright. What the yamis had planned had been terrible to contemplate. Seto was thankful, though, that it had not been as bad as it had at first seemed. Even to this day, he thanked the departed spirits of Yugi, Ryou, and Malik for 'domesticating' the yamis.

They were, by nature, three young men born in one of the most ancient kingdoms of the world. They had been raised in a sort of barbaric elegance and their cruel tastes had been refined knife-sharp. But then, they had become spirits sealed away for five millennia, and most of what they had known had been swept from their memories. When they had come under the care of the three young hikaris, their ways became… modern.

'They did try – and succeed – to take over the world,' Seto mused, leaning back in his chair and gazing out at the quiet evening sky. 'But they're a far cry from the threat they would have been if they were the same as they were in the past.'

Games. Clubbing. Casinos. Drinking. Sex. That was all the yamis seemed to care about. What they were now, what they had become, really, was a trio of rebellious teenagers. As evil and troublesome as that made Seto's life, it was a small price to pay for the lack of true chaos.

Now, it looked like Yami, Bakura, and Marik were actually growing up. Or maybe it was just more proof that true love actually existed. Seto knew it was sappy of him to think like that, but all he needed was to look into Joey's smiling honey eyes to remember.

Seto's cellular phone buzzed and lighted up: Joey's name flashed on screen. 'Trying to check up on me, pup?' Seto thought with a chuckle, reaching out for his phone.

The digital clock on the desk beeped midnight.

'Less than twenty-four hours from now… Yugi, Ryou, and Malik will finally return.'

TBC…

VM: Sorry again, for the nth time, but we will continue this story no matter what!

Ruriko: Here's what's up in the next chapter…

Chapter 7: The Hierophant
Join us as we take a trip deep into the Shadow Realm to see, after three long years, the bodies of our dearly-departed hikaris. Enter Keith and Tea… and here comes trouble!

VM: I will do my best to bug RM till she starts wit d next chapter.

Ruriko: But it's your turn to start, remember? (teary puppy-dog eyes)

VM: not working. U used that on me too many times. Readers, we gotta go now. RM, run, I can hear Bakura's footsteps in the hallway!

(Footsteps stop. Door starts to open.)

VM & Ruriko: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!