The Mystery of the Opened Portal

After two days of being busy, both at school as well as at work, Devi barely had any time to really think over the passed events, especially since she missed a business meeting the day she went to the library. Through the chaos, she couldn't even participate in the celebrations of the birthday of Yami and Yugi. After the weekend, though, schedules were updated, projects were completed, and apology letters were sent. And so, on Monday, Devi sat in the Kaiba library, staring out the window as she wondered why she and Seto slipped into Crayste a couple of days ago.

Something had to break the barrier… she pondered. Someone from this realm had to have something powerful enough to tear through the barrier… Earlier that night, Devi had already ruled out the idea that someone from Crayste was the perpetrator. After all, the field outside of the marketplace was too…random, but the inside of a secret room in a library was not as random. Who has that kind of power? No Mornedraian has had that kind of power since the creation of the millennium items… Of course, the millennium dagger! But why would Tori or Saka ever do that? She decided that that question should be saved for another time. Now, all she had to do was get Tori to close the portal immediately, before anything got out of it, especially a peirnet.

Practically consumed by fear of the impending disaster, Devi unintentionally teleported into Tori and Saka's room. A strange dizziness tired her out even more than the fact that it was one o'clock in the morning.

Ughh, it must be because of that teleportation… Devi thought, disgusted more than ever by her weaknesses.

After recuperating, Devi realized that neither Tori nor Saka were in their room. She ran through the apartment, hoping to find someone awake for an explanation.

After a quick scan of the Game Shop, Devi noticed a dim light in the hallway. Following it silently, she found that it originated from the bottom of someone's bedroom—Yugi and Yami's. Devi tapped on the door, and at the sound of a weak "come in," she entered the room, finding that Yugi had been sitting at his computer, attempting to finish an essay as he was half-asleep. He was surprised to see Devi in his home, and especially that she wanted to see him instead of Yami.

Expecting that his room was decorated with Duel Monsters posters, newspaper clippings of some of his feats, or even any obsession over the game he championed in, Devi was surprised to find that the walls were bare. The light from the lamp tinted the white paint yellow, and in the corner, there was a figure under the blanket. The red, yellow, and black hairs peeking out from the covers made it obvious that it was Yami resting, though Yugi was not as lucky.

Perceiving his bewildered expression, Devi hastily explained that she needed to visit Tori and Saka, but couldn't find them anywhere.

"Oh, they said that they had something 'personal' to do…" Yugi said, obviously hurt that they did not include him. Then he added more to himself than to Devi, "I guess I deserve it since I left Tori during my Duel Monsters tournaments. Hm…maybe they're competing in a tournament!"

"When did they leave?" Devi interrupted.

After a glance at the calendar, he immediately answered, "Four days."

"Four days! Did they ever contact you?"

"Not really, if you mean by telephone. But Yami did feel something three days ago. I don't know, but he's been pretty down since then. I don't think even he knows what's wrong."

"Do you have any idea where they might be?" Devi interrogated further.

"Definitely not. We've tried everywhere: hotels, school, friends, but we haven't been able to find them. We've already alerted the authorities, but they haven't gotten anything, either."

"When did you start searching?"

"The day when Yami felt that something was wrong. Do you need them for anything?"

"Oh, something like that. She has something that I need in order to…lock a door." Devi felt it best to not worry the young boy more than was necessary.

"A key?"

"Yes, a key."

"Well, I'll call you once I find them, but I seriously think that there's something wrong."

So do I, Yugi. Devi agreed silently.

"Thanks for giving me so much of your time, especially when you have a project to finish."

"No problem," Yugi said cheerfully and with a sweet smile.

Devi then left the apartment (the human way) and finally surrendered to her mortal need for rest as she headed towards the Kaiba mansion to sleep.

--

"Aria, we have to go to the library today," Devi asserted to her aibou the moment she saw her at breakfast.

"Why?" Aria looked at her suspiciously.

Aria poked at her food with her pointed chopsticks. Icky leftovers… she thought in disgust.

"Because Tori and Saka are missing," replied Devi frankly.

"So you think that they're lost in the library?" Aria suspected that Devi was attempting to trick her into doing something school-related.

"Yes…or even worse."

"How?"

"I'll explain it to you later." Devi glanced at her watch and grabbed her schoolbag.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Aria rolled her eyes. "Well, if it's so serious, I might as well get Yami to come," she added on a happier note.

"Whatever makes you happy." Devi stuffed the last bite of her breakfast into her mouth and ran outside towards the limousine.

--

Aria sneezed, causing more dust to fly up into her face.

"How did you ever convince me to crawl through a disgusting vent?" She groaned.

Devi, who was in the lead, glanced at Yami, who was third in line.

"Oh yeah," Aria said to herself, after seeing the direction of Devi's gaze.

School was pretty much the same, except for the announcement that a spring formal was coming up. That day, girls tried to make themselves more "appealing" to win the heart of Seto Kaiba. Nasawa came in with curled hair, as much make-up as possible without it getting noticed by the teacher, and a skirt raised an inch or two higher. Both Devi and Aria, as well as every girl vying for Seto's affections, passed her off as desperate idiots. Anyone who was in the room five minutes with the guy would know that he had no desire of society that was other than Mokuba and other CEOs of companies (strictly on a professional basis), much less think that he'd willingly ask someone into a life that he already considered just a little less than perfect (due to Devi) just because she put on a little more make-up than usual. And for those who were attracted to Yami, well, they met the cold glares of Aria, and, of course, polite refusals from him.

The three high schoolers finally found the end of the metal tunnel. The enclosed room was exactly as Devi remembered it two days before. There had to be a clue here. Tori and Saka must have gone somewhere, if not into Crayste, which was not a great possibility, as there was practically no way out. Devi wandered over to the wall. The same stench as before insulted her nose as she examined the brown streaks of…blood! The splotches of brown on the wall were splotches of blood, but whose blood? Tori's? Saka's? Then they must be somewhere… Just then, Aria screamed, which caused Devi to shoot a weak bolt of electricity at her. Now scared and annoyed at the uncalled-for punishment, Aria pointed at what Devi had taken for a pile of rags. Yami ran to her side.

"I-is that…?" His violet eyes grew larger.

"Oh, poor Tori! Who has done this to you?" Aria began to cry.

Devi hurried over to the corpse.

"Devi, can you…bring her back?" Yami whispered, and at that question, Aria looked attentively at Devi.

Devi shook her head. "I can only heal if the death occurred within the day."

Yami stared at the body in shock. "Then what happened to Saka?"

Devi picked up the millennium dagger that Tori seemed to have gripped tightly when she died. The glow of it was gone. There was nothing magical about it. It was only a golden dagger that had the Eye of Horus engraved at the hilt.

"Then where's the body?" Devi whispered, more to herself than to anybody else. "Could it be that a…? No, how would it…? Of course!" She then stared at Aria, who was now hiccupping from crying. "Aria, I need you to do something." Devi grabbed her left hand and pointed to the ring. "You must close this portal before anything else gets out."

Aria attempted to calm down, and finally she was able to concentrate her magic into executing the order.

Yami noticed the word "else," and immediately asked what had gotten out.

"The millennium dagger has no more magic in it. Unlike Saka's body when she was in her time, she has no body of her own. Magic was the only thing that kept her in a physical form. Once Tori died, Saka retreated back into the millennium dagger once more, as pure magic. But, the millennium dagger is not glowing, so that means that something took that magic. My guess would be a peirnet," Devi informed him in a very quiet tone, as if hoping that the decrease in volume would decrease the amount of impact it would have in his life.

"So…Saka could still be alive?" Yami asked hopefully.

"Uh…" Devi bit her lip. "A peirnet devours magic. It's how it survives…"

"Then why did it kill…?" Yami glanced at Tori's body.

"I suppose she tried to protect Saka from an attack from the peirnet."

Aria finally spoke up. "We need to give Tori and Saka a proper burial."

--

Aria searched for Yami's hand as they stared at the glistening golden weapon on a no-longer anthropomorphic corpse. She found his fist instead. He had failed in protecting his family. Aria, sympathizing with his anger, clutched his fist, causing it to open and welcome her soft fingers.

The Mornedraian skies reflected Devi's melancholy mood. Dark clouds attended the funeral, crowding to take a peek at the small group of teenagers huddling over a golden casket. Devi's outfit matched the deep blue of the direth on her staff. The extended sleeves swept over the tomb as Devi murmured several Mornedraian phrases, wishing the girls' souls a safe journey to their afterlives.

Inadvertently, she glanced over to Seto, who respectfully attended the ceremony without much protest. Strangely enough, a great amount of sadness emanated from his body. Devi choked back the pain she experienced from that single glimpse of the boy. He had had feelings for one of them. Devi paused in the middle of her sentence with this revelation.

Bowing to Solomon and hastily apologizing, she hurried out of the palace cemetery, tears now blurring her vision completely. She refused to let them fall as she forced them back into her soul. It's not worth it… He's not worth it.

She sat down on a nearby marble bench, slowly breathing to calm herself down. She could never have him, anyway. It was against every rule set by the Council. Besides, who needs a mate? I'm not sharing any of my power with anybody… was Devi's vain attempt for reconciliation. I'll just finish performing my duties at the funeral, and then I'll take some time to think things over… she mused.

Devi returned to courtyard and continued with her chants. Slowly, the objects within the coffin began to dissipate into the air. When Devi finished, both the body of her friend and her feelings of doubt returned to nothingness.