(running from reviewers with torches and pitchforks)
Look! I updated! Go read--don't chase me!
Disclaimer Dude, if you please?
Disclaimer Dude: YuGiOh is the copyrighted property of Kazuki Takahashi, not Miriku Hernandez.
Chapter 4
Final Completion
Luckily, Kania and Soria had their first class with Tecuo. They saw him sitting at the back of the room, bangs shading his eyes. It appeared he was still very upset.
Kania moved to the desk next to him. "Tecuo?"
Tecuo looked up at them. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he seemed to have been crying. "What?"
"Are…will you be okay?"
Tecuo studied their anxious faces for a moment, and a faint smile crossed his face. "I think so. It's just…my dad's a touchy subject."
Soria nodded. "We understand."
"We won't bother you about it again," Kania added softly.
From the look of relief on Tecuo's face, Kania knew that it was the best thing she could have said at that point in time—and so did Soria.
OooO
I love my friends, Tecuo thought happily, taking his normal spot at the back of the cafeteria. They had cheered him up immensely, just by being there. Between Soria's dirty jokes and Kania's dryly sarcastic comments, they'd had him laughing his head off before the end of first period.
All in all, he was feeling much better.
He sighed, looking around. Too bad they don't have this period with me. That way, they'd be in my lunch group. Oh well.
His thoughts turned towards the box in his backpack, and the ornate thee-dimensional puzzle it contained.
Now's as good a time as any, I suppose.
Once again, he felt that strange urge to complete it. The thing entranced him, but he wasn't sure why. Almost automatically, he pulled the box out of his backpack and opened it.
The pieces simply lay there, glimmering. But in that glimmer was challenge; and Tecuo never turned down a challenge.
With unusual single-mindedness, he began to work the complexities of his new-found toy, intent only on the angular pieces of gold sifting through his palms like sand.
And, unknown to all, the presence watched and waited.
Click.
Tecuo grinned as two of the pieces slid effortlessly together. He hadn't been twisting them the right way—that was his problem. Confident, he began to search the contents of the box for similar pieces.
One or two more pieces fell into place before his lunch wave ended. Muttering a few choice curses under his breath, he stuffed the box—with the connected pieces inside it—into his backpack and darted off after his classmates. He could work on it more after he finished his homework.
The presence seemed to radiate satisfaction. The time was drawing closer.
OooO
Kania, Soria, and Tecuo filtered out of the school and down towards the road. "See you guys tomorrow!" Tecuo called.
Suddenly, Soria's cell phone went off.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hi Mom!"
"Yeah, she's right here. Why?"
"All right! Bye!"
Kania raised an eyebrow. "What was that all about?"
"It was my mom. She can't come and pick me up right now, and wanted me to ask your parents to give me a ride home."
"But why can't your dad pick you up?"
Soria sighed. "Dad never gets home until about dinner time."
"Oh."
Hearing a loud car horn, they looked around. Mrs. Bakura waved at them from the passenger window of a sky blue Ferrari.
"Are you girls coming or not?"
The two of them raced down to the car.
"Hiya, Dad!" Kania chirruped, slipping in. "Hiya, Mom!"
Mr. Bakura smiled at her from the driver seat. "Hello, Kania. Soria, come on in. Mai already told us what was happening."
"Thanks a lot, Mr. Bakura!" Soria slid in next to Kania.
"No problem. A friend in need is a friend indeed."
"You sound like Mom," Kania said accusingly.
Mr. Bakura grinned. "That's because I've know her since we were your age."
"How was your day, girls?" Mrs. Bakura asked, cutting off the sharp retort she knew was coming.
"Fine," they replied instantly.
Soria looked out the window. "Well…almost fine."
Kania nodded. "Yeah…I'd forgotten about that…"
Mr. Bakura raised an eyebrow. "About what?"
"It was something I did on accident," Soria explained. "It upset him—badly."
"What did you do?"
Soria remained silent.
"She brought up the subject of his missing father," Kania continued for her. "Who's been missing for about ten years."
Mr. and Mrs. Bakura exchanged glances.
"Why don't you tell us about what happened?" Mrs. Bakura suggested.
And the two of them did just that.
OooO
Click…
Click…
Tecuo grinned. His puzzle was coming together faster and faster.
He looked at the time. Eleven fifty-five—he should have been asleep long ago. But that strange compulsion told him that tonight was the night.
He fished another piece out of the box, and studied the half-finished trinket in his hand. From what he could see now, it was going to look like an inverted pyramid, with a clasp at the top to wear it around your neck.
That's odd…why would you wear a puzzle?
Tecuo shrugged it off, and began trying to slide the piece in with its fellows. The light of his desk lamp made the gold shimmer with an almost ethereal glow.
The presence, radiating a sense of satisfaction that increased with every passing second, drew closer to watch.
Click…
Click…
Click…
Tecuo held his breath as he picked up the last piece. It has a few jags on each side, and the same eye that was on the box on it.
The presence nearly squirmed with anticipation. This was what he had been taken from the afterlife to witness. And as soon as this petty task of watching was over, he could return. It was nearly time.
With bated breath, Tecuo set that final piece into its spot. And his alarm hit midnight.
The presence let out a silent howl of triumph.
Tecuo felt a strange sense of fulfillment. He suddenly felt a burning desire to put his newly-completed puzzle on. He fished in his desk, and pulled out a rope. Tying it around the clasp, he slipped it around his neck.
There was a moment when it seemed that Tecuo was looking out of another's eyes; thinking with another's mind. There was a moment of pure clarity, when he saw everything as it was meant to be. There was a moment of sound; a tranquil, liquid note.
And then it was gone.
The presence retreated into the night, satisfied. He could go home now; his task was complete.
The pharaoh—had returned.
OooO
O.O Review, please! I'm already working on chapter five, so don't worry!
