--: 11 :--
Face It
Teana was pulled out of her misery when she felt a strong presence near her. Not really caring and actually hoping that whoever it was would kill her, she looked up with lifeless eyes to be met by angered brown, almost black eyes.
"You worthless slave! You can't even face a simple test without needing my help! If you weren't the key to killing Atemu and getting those god tablets, I would let those damned shadows have you!"
Teana slowly came back to reality at recognizing the man's voice and seeing the familiar appearance, "Ma-master?" she choked out, not believing what she was seeing as the memory of Atemu killing her Master was still fresh in her mind.
"Yes it's me! Can you really not tell the difference between a damned illusion and the real me!" Dakuso rambled on, pacing back and forth in front of the female brunette, glaring at everything in sight.
Teana's eyes came back into focus and the misery that had taken her over completely vanished. She could suddenly feel the presence of Shadow Magic all around her and the lost souls in the Shadow Realm trying to pull her closer. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized how close she had been to becoming one of those souls.
"Are you even listening to me!" a kick in her side brought her back to reality and she winced at the sharp pain.
"I-I'm s-sorry Master." Teana got to her feet – ignoring the pain in her side as best she could – and bowed in respect for he master.
"That's better. Now listen to me this time for I won't repeat myself again. Everything around you is an illusion to test if you are worthy of the god tablets. I used my power to project myself in here because you were failing miserably obviously. I'll use my power to get you out of here and hopefully that spoiled brat and his damned friends will make the test on their own because you obviously need their help." Dakuso muttered darkly under his breath while at the same time, gathering the magic from his items in the real world.
Dakuso's body suddenly gained a blue flaming aura and Teana could feel his power increase with each passing moment.
His aura grew and engulfed its surroundings bit by bit. Teana closed her eyes as the aura engulfed her and she felt her soul being torn away from the hold the shadows held on her. Soon she was completely free and she felt her soul slipping back into her body.
She groaned and opened her eyes tiredly, trying to focus on her surroundings.
After blinking a few times and shaking her head, she recognized the large chamber with torches lit by Shadow Magic, and saw the forms of the other four next to her, still unconscious. She quietly looked around and noted that some of the writing on the tablet was seemingly burning with flaming Shadow Magic. She frowned at the strange phenomenon, wondering what it meant and more importantly, if it was good, or bad.
Jou lay on the sands unconscious, the images of Seth still flashing through his head, the words repeating themselves over and over again in his mind.
The shadows had already gotten a firm grip on his soul and were pulling the blonde deeper and deeper into their realm.
Jou's soul was subconsciously still struggling against the strong pull, clawing through Jou's memory to try and find something that could prove Jou's current depressive thoughts wrong. But the magic of the shadows was keeping all those pappy thought far out of reach.
The memory of Seth slapping him right after the sandstorm once more played itself in Jou's mind, the shadows making him feel the stinging pain on his cheek this time to gain even more power over his soul.
The shadows however, hadn't expected that Jou's struggling soul would cling to the memory, letting it play out further.
Feeling the mental torment Jou had gone through as he and Seth had walked in silence, the lost souls let the memory continue, and felt Jou come closer and closer to completely slipping into the Shadow Realm.
Although Jou was slipping further away at the memory now, his soul kept playing the memory, knowing what would come if the shadows would let it play out long enough.
:Flashback:
They kept walking in silence, both pondering what they were supposed to do. Finding the silence too unbearable, Seth let out a sigh, slowed his pace until he was next to Jou, and swallowed his pride, "Jou?"
Jou looked up with a start, not expecting Seth to be right next to him, "Yeah?" he said. It sounded a bit too angry for his taste and he regretted the tone immediately when he looked into the other's icy blue eyes. They looked as emotionless as ever at first glance, but Jou saw past this and could see how much Seth was fighting with himself.
"I'm-" Seth swallowed; apologizing wasn't exactly something he did a lot. The only people he had ever apologized to were Atemu, his father, and the Pharaoh – though the latter had been only so his head wouldn't be chopped off, not because he was truly sorry for what he had done, "I'm sorry… for slapping you." he muttered softly, almost inaudible. He looked at the ground, not wanting to meet Jou's eyes.
Jou blinked in shock at what Seth had said but smiled. He hadn't really expected Seth to apologize – let alone this soon, "It's okay." he replied, smiling slightly. The other looked up and their eyes met again – longer this time – before Seth gave a small smile. Jou's heart skipped a beat at seeing the sincere smile – no matter how small – on Seth's face. He was glad his thoughts of Seth being cold-hearted and non-caring had been proven wrong - though the slightest bit of doubt remained in his mind, locked far away.
:End Flashback:
The hold the shadows had weakened as Jou's soul now kept repeating Seth's apology over and over again, showing that Seth did care. Why would Seth have apologized if he hadn't meant it? Seth wasn't the type of person to apologize and not mean it; he had too much pride for something like that.
I'm sorry… for slapping you
Jou's heart once again jolted as he saw the sincere smile on Seth's face in his mind's eye. The grip of the shadows loosened considerably and Jou could actually feel the sand beneath him again. Slowly the rest of his senses came back to him and he opened his eyes to be met with a sight that scared him out of his wits.
He could see nothing but darkness all around him with what he assumed were the forms of souls surrounding him.
The sand beneath him had changed into hard solid ground and depression reigned everywhere.
"What da…?" Jou jumped away, trying to keep the souls away from him, and in doing so, freed himself completely from their grasp on him. A bright golden flash consumed everything and the next thing he knew, he felt his soul being placed back into his body. He opened his eyes and looked around confused.
"Jou?" he looked up to see Teana crouching near him, casting worried eyes over him.
"Teana? What's goin' on?"
"The test," Teana pointed to the tablet on the wall, "you made it."
Jou stared at the tablet and noticed the text was seemingly burning partially. The memories of his test came back to him. 'So I was seeing what my greatest fear was.' Ignoring the fact that he close to a rock that was burning in Shadow magic, he glanced at the others to see them still unconscious with pained expressions on their faces.
Ignoring the presence of Teana completely, Jou crawled over to Seth and lay down next to him, letting his head rest on the other's chest. 'Come on Seth, don't you dare fail!'
Seth lay on the bed, staring into completely nothingness. His senses had dimmed down to a minimum and the only thing keeping him from completely disappearing into the Shadow Realm was his experience with this dark force.
His soul had stopped its struggling some time ago, and if Seth would've bothered to sense around him, he would've felt the shadows almost completely enveloping him.
He suddenly felt another presence close to him. The presence felt warm, familiar and comforting. It felt like…
'Jou…?'
The thought of his pup being close to him again, brought Seth out of his depression slightly just, enough to get some coherent thoughts back into his mind.
'My pup's near? He does want to see me?'
Jou's words came back to him; the words with which he had send Seth away… forever.
and I want you to stay away from me.
Seth flinched at the memory and his depression took him over again, though the presence stayed with him.
Seth first told himself that he was just imagining Jou's presence near him, that it was only wishful thinking. But as time passed, the presence didn't go away, and Seth started to doubt his previous thoughts.
I want you to stay away from me
Though Jou's words kept repeating themselves, Jou's presence seemed to tug on Seth's soul, trying to help it resist the strong pull of the shadows. Seth forced himself to concentrate on the presence of who he thought was Jou, instead of on the words repeating themselves over and over again in his head.
'Maybe… maybe he does want to see me… Maybe he was just shocked... Maybe he just needed time…'
Sure, those were a lot of maybes, but it was the only thing keeping Seth from completely giving up right now. So he clung to the feeling of Jou being close to him. The presence seemed to be getting stronger as his soul fought his way free from the grasp the depression held on him.
His eyes slowly came back into focus and looked around the room for seemingly the first time. His eyes widened as he realized he wasn't alone in the room, but surrounded by the lost souls of the Shadow Realm, ready to claim his soul and make him one of them.
He remembered the stone tablet in the temple and what had been written on it. It had said something about your worst fear and facing it as a test.
Seth's eyes narrowed and he glared at the souls of the Shadow Realm, not caring that they had almost devoured him completely.
His own Shadow Power flared out, freeing him completely from the Shadows binding him to the obvious illusion world and a bright flash was emitted from seemingly nowhere.
Seth closed his eyes calmly. Nothing could be worse than what he had just gone through so he didn't care where he was brought. He felt his soul being torn away from the illusion and the Shadows, and slowly placed back into his body.
As his soul settled back into his body, he felt something lying on his chest. It was shaking slightly and his robes felt slightly wet.
He opened his eyes and glanced down to have his eyes widen as he saw the person who had just made his greatest fear come true, softly sobbing into his robes.
His first reaction was to panic, push Jou away from him and sneer at the blonde to never come near him again. This had always been his type of reaction to anybody who came to close or disobeyed him and it was something he did without thinking these days.
Luckily for Seth, his brain kicked in as he opened his mouth and stopped him from making another big mistake.
"Mu-Pup?" he mumbled, still a bit dazed from having his soul go though his worst fear.
The sobbing didn't stop but Jou turned tear- and fearful eyes upwards. His eyes immediately lit up with happiness as he saw Seth conscious and looking at him.
"Seth?" Jou asked as if not believing his own eyes before feeling arms wrap around him and seeing a smirk come back onto Seth's face.
"The one and only, pup." Seth glanced to his side to see Teana sitting against the wall, determinedly looking away from the two boys cuddling on the ground. His eyes also fell on the stone tablet and he frowned at seeing the text… burning? Well partially anyway.
Jou nuzzling into his chest some more made him look down at his pup in his arms and he pushed the strange stone out of his thoughts. Right now, his pup was much more important to him than some stupid stone that was defying the laws of physics.
Dulled, glazed over lifeless crimson eyes stared up to the sky impassively. Sometimes, a flash of life would shoot through the orbs, showing that an inner fight was being fought. But as quickly as it would come, it would disappear again.
On the inside, Atemu was telling himself over and over that he couldn't have stopped Dakuso, that it wasn't his fault. But the shadows just kept showing him Yuugi's disappointed transparent form, letting him hear the sad words Yuugi had spoken.
There was a little voice in the back of his head begging to be heard, but Atemu didn't even seem to notice it, let alone understand what it was saying.
Another flash of life shot through Atemu's eyes, this time at the same time as the voice's words, and Atemu finally noted what the voice was saying.
Yuugi might be in the Shadow Realm now, but if Dakuso was beaten, Yuugi's soul would be released again. Atemu immediately thought of the temple, the tablet, the test, and hope filled him. If he beat the test, and got through the possible other traps, he could get the god tablets and beat Dakuso. Then he'd get Yuugi back.
The flashes of life came more and more often. The grip of the shadows loosened, though they refused to give up just yet.
Atemu's determination came back to him and his eyes fully came back into focus. He pushed himself off the ground and noticed for the first time that he wasn't alone.
He stared at all the lost souls around him, the souls that tried to grab him and obviously claim his soul. His stare turned into a fierce and defiant glare. The Puzzle around his neck shone brightly, making all souls let go of him in fear of the light and power.
Atemu smirked as the last tendrils of the shadows let him go, but was surprised as he felt his soul being torn away from the unfamiliar place he was at, and being placed back into his own body.
As soon as his soul was completely back in his body, he shot up with wide eyes and scanned his surroundings with confusion. He was back at the chamber with the large tablet that had started this all. Teana was sitting against the wall a little away, not looking in his direction, and Seth and Jou were lying on the ground in each other's arms. As Atemu looked to his other side, he saw Yuugi lying on the ground, curled up in a small ball and whimpering slightly.
"Welcome back, cous." Atemu hardly noted Seth's voice, and crawled over to Yuugi. He cradled he younger one in his arms, before finally looking up and seeing 3 pair of eyes on him, "What happened?"
"The test. It made us face our greatest fears and we had to overcome them in order to get out of that illusion world created by the shadows of the Shadow Realm." Seth explained, "The tablet over there seems to be burning in Shadow Magic more and more as each of us pass the test."
Atemu looked at the tablet to see it almost completely shimmering in flames of Shadow Magic, seemingly coming from inside the tablet itself.
"So Yuugi's the last of us to pass?" seeing the nod from his cousin and Jou, Atemu pulled Yuugi even closer to him, praying to every god he knew that Yuugi would make it safe and sound.
Yuugi couldn't feel, hear or see anything except from the painful memories anymore. He was being completely consumed by his loneliness. His soul, although weak, was still resisting with all its might, but Yuugi was inexperienced with this magic and therefore, his soul wasn't fairing too well with it.
Yuugi tried to think of something, anything that could prove the world he was now in wrong. That he wasn't alone, that his friends hadn't left him there… that Atemu hadn't left him there. Sadly, no thoughts came to mind, which only discouraged him even more.
Atemu's image entered his mind and he once again saw the disgust in the other's eyes, heard the loathing in his voice,
The only reason I took you with me on this journey was because I hoped you'd die.
Yuugi whimpered at the harsh words said, but for some reason they sounded untruthful, as if his mind was already trying to tell him what he had been searching for the entire time; something to prove this memory wrong.
He tried desperately to clutch to this feeling, trying to find out what the answer was at the same time. He came up with the memory of Sovok kidnapping him, and Atemu bursting into the room just in time to save him.
Atemu had been beyond enraged back then. Why would he bother to save a 'worthless' slave, if he didn't care? Yuugi's mind managed to free itself a bit and more suppressed memories came back to him. He remembered what Atemu had done when they were back in their home town and the guards had suddenly burst into the Dueling Ground. Atemu had stayed to protect him, had saved him.
Their first kiss then flooded back to him. Why would Atemu kiss him if he didn't care? Yuugi's mind was working rapidly now and he slowly opened his eyes, that had been shut tightly the entire time.
'No… Atemu wouldn't leave me alone. He'd protect me.. This can't be real!'
He stirred, trying to stand up straight on still shaky legs so he could find his friends. Something was wrong with them. They'd never say the things to him that they had. They wouldn't leave him alone!
He saw dark shapes through hazed vision and reflexively took back a few stops to get away from whatever was in front of him. He something akin to a cold wind against his back and as he turned around, he saw another one of the dark shapes standing there. His eyes widened as he realized that the dark shapes were all around him, trying to grab him.
"NO! I have to find my friends!" Yuugi screamed out, tears filling his eyes once more. In a fit he pulled loose of all the things holding him and felt the world around him go black again. The next thing he knew, he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling of the weird chamber they had been in earlier. Feeling warm arms around him, he looked up to see Atemu's relieved crimson eyes staring at him.
"A-Atemu? Y-you're here!" Yuugi flung his arms around Atemu's neck, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably into the other's chest. Atemu just hugged Yuugi close to him, whispering comforting words into his ear while explaining what had been going on.
Their attention – as well as that of the other people in the room – was drawn as dark blue flames emanated from the tablet, completely consuming the rock in Shadow Magic. Everybody stared in shock at the phenomenon. As the flames died away, a passage was revealed behind it. The passage wasn't all that long as light could already by seen at the end.
"I guess we found our next passage." Seth muttered, still in slight shock at seeing a rock burning away in Shadow Magic.
They got up – most reluctantly – and cautiously walked through the passage. The chamber they entered had a large gap in the middle of the floor stretching from one side to the other so you couldn't get around it. The only way to get past the gap was a narrow bridge going over it. Under the bridge however, were deadly spikes, coated with Shadow Magic.
On the other side of the large gap, surrounded by torches lit in shimmering flames of Shadow Magic, were three tablets with – to Atemu and Seth – familiar drawings on them.
In front of their eyes were the tablets of The Winged Dragon of Ra, Slifer the Sky Dragon and Obelisk the Tormentor, the three most powerful Shadow creatures to have ever existed.
"The God Tablets…" Atemu whispered in awe. He could practically see the power beaming off the stone tablets and see the Shadow Magic radiating off it.
"I can't believe we actually found them." Seth said, just as awed as his cousin was. Jou and Yuugi were staring at the tablets wide eyed; even they could feel the immense power coming off the 3 stones. Teana, on the other hand, was smirking widely. Her eyes were lightly glazed over, as if she was having a mental conversation with someone. Her smirk widened even more as her eyes came back into focus, 'It's time.'
Okay, I normally love giving you people a cliffhanger, but since you might have to wait longer than a week, I'M SORRY! I REALLY AM! I hope you people won't be to mad... Ugh, well hope to cya'll next week. R&R!