THE BATTLE FOR LOST SOULS
Chapter Two: Crossing the Very Thin Line
To the Readers:
This chapter can be disturbing, since it will deal with topics such as resurrecting the dead, murder, the supernatural, the occult, and drinking.
Many thanks go to my dear friend and beta-reader Wes / Namonaki Pharaoh for her tireless efforts in beta-reading for this story arc.
Two weeks after Mutou Yugi receives package
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Pegasus placed his pen down as he stared at his assistant's eyes and asked, "Croquet, are you sure?"
"I'm positive, Sir. Should I send her in?"
"You should do more than that," Pegasus told him with a tight-lipped demeanor. "I would like to see and speak with her, too. If she needs any help coming upstairs to my office, then give her any necessary assistance. Also, have the chef prepare lunch for two."
As Croquet respectfully nodded his head once, he then gently closed the door behind him.
The platinum-haired businessman sat behind his desk in deep thought. He looked outside his window and at the busy streets below and the equally towering skyscrapers before him while dialing the phone. During those minutes alone, he made the necessary phone calls and arrangements to prepare for his visitor. After the phone calls, he then leaned against the window. He wracked his brain as he tried to figure out this unexpected visit. "It has been almost four months since we last saw each other. Why is she here?"
Then there was the loud knock, followed by Croquet opening the door wide enough to admit the unexpected visitor.
Pegasus slowly turned around, quickly approached the well-dressed new arrival, and slightly bent down to shake her hand. With a light smirk, he said, "At first, I wasn't sure if it was really you."
Croquet, who stood by the oak door, motioned to his employer that the visitor arrived alone. Shortly thereafter, he closed the door to give his employer and the new arrival their privacy.
"I'm sorry if I came unannounced," a wheelchair-bound and well-dressed Alexa Emrys told Pegasus with a small smile. She then removed the large silk scarf and sunglasses that covered most of her head and face.
"That's nonsense! You're always welcome to visit me," Pegasus exclaimed with an affectionate pat on Emrys' arm. "I wanted to speak with you face-to-face, anyway." Shifting his tone, he then asked her, "How long do you plan to stay in town?"
"I'm staying for a day or two," Emrys responded.
"That's good! The mansion's open for you, as always. I've already made arrangements for your stay since I assumed that you'll be staying in town." After Pegasus motioned for Emrys to join him at the lounge area inside his private office, he then went over to the bar. After giving her a half-filled brandy glass, he sat opposite from her and gazed at her for a long time while he sipped merlot. With a light smile, he told her, "You're looking much better now."
Emrys blinked once as she chuckled, "Anything is much better now than it was months ago, if you know what I mean..."
Knowing that Emrys was referring to her wheelchair-bound predicament, Pegasus' light smile changed into an empathetic one. "I'm glad... So, what brings you to San Francisco? I didn't hear any news about your upcoming concerts and appearances. Are you planning to visit Professor Hopkins?"
With a heavy sigh, Emrys slightly stretched out the cramps from her tired body. "The studio's working on my second CD, as we speak. There wouldn't be any concerts, public appearances, or videos until my legs are strong enough to perform. As of now, my legs aren't strong enough to stand or walk even with support. I'm not here to visit Uncle Arthur, either. His last visit was just two months ago in England, so I might call him and Rebecca if time permits."
While raising an eyebrow, Pegasus blurted out, "If you're not here for any public engagements, or to visit the professor, then what brings you here in San Francisco?"
Several minutes of tense silence followed that question...
Knowing that Pegasus was confused, Emrys confirmed with a genial smirk, "I'm here, Pegasus, to keep true to my word. Whether it works or not, this would bear no consequence against you or Cynthia. However, I do have a favor to ask you..."
Staring into Emrys' eyes, the executive then responded, "Whatever that favor might be, consider it done..."
Emrys' two-day stay quickly passed for Pegasus as he remembered the major details of her visit. The two worked together as they exhumed Cynthia's remains from the garden that he especially built for her. They then gathered Cynthia's bones to bring inside the mansion using one of the rooms to conduct the ritual. He was basically instructed by Emrys to do the strenuous physical tasks needed for the spell.
Pegasus then stood beside Emrys as she performed an Egyptian incantation from memory. He would never forget what happened next...
As a pentacle emanated from the spot where Cynthia's bones rested, Emrys' eyes went wide with fascination and pride. There was a glint of malevolence and insanity in those hazel-brown eyes of hers while the bones on the bed illuminated fluorescent green.
As Pegasus looked into Emrys' eyes, it seemed to him that she fully knew what would happen next.
Cynthia's bones reattached on their own.
Shortly thereafter, Pegasus' eye widened as he witnessed each layer of vein and muscle form on the bone surface - making him half-sick from the morbid sight and half-amazed from anticipating what would happen next. It was just as if he was seeing the creation of man unfold before him.
The slow but sure mystical process continued until Cynthia's body was fully restored.
Pegasus gaped at the lovely but equally bone-chilling sight before them. Cynthia looked as if she was just sleeping on the bed where her bones laid a minute ago. With half-hope and half-disbelief in his heart, he approached her.
When Pegasus touched Cynthia's arm, he gasped. Everything before him was real!
Seeing Cynthia once more made Pegasus' chest heave and his heart ache. He held his breath as all his unresolved emotions from the past reawakened. His tears - the ones that he though had run dry when she was buried - suddenly came back. He had missed her so much and it hurt him to live each day without her.
Pegasus prayed to have his most earnest wish come true.
After Emrys performed the second incantation, everything went pitch dark. The only light that they had in the room was the lightning from outside.
Although it had been raining for the past couple of days, the weather outside made it seem as if Nature was angry over what they were doing. The thunder mercilessly roared, and the wind relentlessly howled outside the window. The lightning then came close and hit its dazzling but lethal bolt on one tree, causing it to split in half. Nature's violence continued outside, as the tension inside the room increased tenfold.
Minutes later, as the light flickered on and off, a warm hand suddenly grabbed Pegasus' arm. As his heart stopped and he held his breath, the lights completely went back on.
Seconds later, Pegasus then bolted out of bed with sweat trickling down his face and chest. Panting hard and keeping his eye shut, he did his best to calm down his racing heart. He buried his face with his hands as he just realized that it was only a dream. He was so conflicted. He did not even know if he should consider it as a good dream or a blood-chilling nightmare.
"Are you okay?" murmured a familiar feminine voice as its owner planted a lingering kiss on Pegasus' shoulder before embracing him from behind with her warm and soft body. Her warm and supple lips gave comforting warmth as it touched his bare skin. That soft voice had the power to soothe the savage beast and to tame his turbulent emotions.
Pegasus held his breath and then closed his eye as a new sense of peace dawned upon him. His heart slowed down in its racing pace as he exhaled. With the moonlight seeping through the bedroom window, he did confirm that someone was physically with him...that someone shared his bed and kept him company.
Now turning to the source of those affectionate gestures and gazing into her expressive eyes, Pegasus tightly held her hands and repeatedly kissed them with such passion and longing. As teardrops built at the corner of his eye, he then murmured as if he were a helpless child, "You're really here..."
"Shhhh..." whispered Cynthia in the sweetest and most consoling voice possible as Pegasus rested his weary head on her warm chest.
Pegasus' heart then caved in from hearing Cynthia's melodic voice. His chest heaved from happiness that she was with him again, pain from remembering the trials that he went through to get her back, sorrow for living these empty years without her, and fear that all of this was just a dream.
If it were a dream, Pegasus wished never to wake up ever again. If death had finally taken him, he then would gladly accept its cold embrace if it meant that he would forever be with Cynthia.
Cynthia looked into Pegasus' eye, which made him somewhat ashamed to return that consoling gaze because his face was now marred from the absence of his right eye. However, those emerald eyes of hers never failed to express that she truly loved him. She was the only one who knew and loved him for who he really was - a man who saw life through the eyes of a child and would do anything in his power to be with her.
After these long years and especially since Cynthia came back, Pegasus never cried as he did tonight. He was finally free to be the man that he used to be. He might love his comics, the finer and delectable things that life had to offer, and his painting and duel monsters with the giddiness of a child. Cynthia, however, superseded all of those things for him. She was the one and only woman that he loved with all his heart and soul. He loved her above anything else.
Pegasus was not really some power-greedy monster who was only concerned with material gain, although he did fool many others - including Yugi, Yugi's other self, and Kaiba - to believe otherwise. It suffocated him to inflict harm on others, but he did everything to bring Cynthia back.
Well, almost everything...
One thing that Pegasus did not do was break his word of honor which was why he released Mutou Sugoroku, Kaiba, and Mokuba after he lost the duel against Yugi and his other self. His parents raised him to value his word of honor, not just as a businessperson but also as a human being. He embraced the ideal that a person's material worth could always be stolen and retrieved. One's principle and word of honor, however, were immeasurable. He believed that once given away or broken, that person would forever be morally bankrupt.
The very first - and last time - that Pegasus was tempted to break his word was at Duelist Kingdom. His better nature finally won as he mused while looking at the three soul cards prior to releasing his three captives, "What type of man would I be for Cynthia, if I had nothing to offer her? I'm a man of my word..."
Since this wonderful dream of having Cynthia back, Pegasus told her everything evil that he ever did. He wanted to purge his conscience. Once and for all, he removed the mask that he wore all these years since she died and returned to becoming the man that he once was - the man that she fell in love with since they were children. He was tired from all the charades. He wanted to stop running, searching, and hiding. He now wanted to rest and be with the woman that he unconditionally loved.
Pegasus was happy after he confided everything to Cynthia. Much to his great relief, she stayed with him. He was happy that she fully understood and unconditionally accepted him... Her forgiveness and understanding, to him, were part of the many blessing that he now had in his life.
With Cynthia's warm and soft hands, she now touched Pegasus' face and kissed his forehead with such love and gentleness. Her lips then touched his as they exchanged a long and lingering kiss that held their breath and made their hearts race. To him, it was pure bliss to love someone who made him bear the innocence of a child as well as the yearnings of a man.
When Pegasus finally had the courage to look into Cynthia's eyes, he now believed that all of this before him - her touch, her scent, her warmth, her presence, and her love - were all real. His tears flowed more freely, as they kissed and embraced once more.
Pegasus mused, "She came back! She returned from the dead, so that we could spent the rest of our days together - just as we planned many years ago..."
Throughout the entire evening, and Pegasus knew that he would continue doing so through the rest of his days, he repeatedly thanked God that this was not a dream.
Middle of the night, one week after the incident at Pegasus' mansion
Location: the parlor at Emrys Manor, England
Alexandra Emrys sat inside the parlor for her nightly ritual - sitting on her favorite chair, drinking brandy as she stared at the fireplace, and waiting for either sleep or dawn to come whichever came first.
Emrys did not know why, but she felt as if an entire lifetime had gone by in a flash since she left Thera. When she returned home, she would never be the same ever again...
Emrys succeeded in what her past life had failed to do. She returned from near-death after completing the incantation inside the caves of Thera. Once that happened, the thin veil that separated the physical world and the realm of shadows became non-existent for her. She also gained the favor of the ancient gods since they granted her petition - the gift to restore three bodies and bring them to life.
The only reason why Emrys succeeded in this lifetime was when she welcomed the Essence to merge with her. She did not know this before and during the time that she dueled against the dark mist. However, she finally understood what she had to do when she endured the pain and saw her past with Yugi's other self.
Emrys mused as she stared into the fireplace and took a sip from her brandy glass, "So far, almost everything has proceeded according to my plans. Pegasus reclaimed his fiancée from the dead and the two are to be married shortly thereafter. I confirmed that the more dangerous half of the ritual to bring back Yugi's other self will work. I now also know that my quest had not been in vain. At least now, someone who has suffered for so long has finally found his happiness."
After letting out a heavy sigh, Emrys' mood became somber. She now had to face a long rehabilitation to regain the strength of her legs. For now, she considered her wheelchair as her prison unless she found a mystical way to fix her problem.
Emrys did not intend matters to happen the way that it did, no matter if the results thereafter were fruitful...
Emrys also did not intend for the Essence to become a permanent part of her. Hyperion - the one that the hooded followers call Master - and his ritual ensured that the dark mist and she would forever be one. She did not know if she should curse or bless Hyperion for sealing her Fate. She also did not know if she should consider her fate as doom or salvation. What she did know was that his ritual gave her access to the darkest powers of Chaos - the very source that the ancients believed was used to create the universe and also has the capacity to destroy all of creation itself. This was also the same power that fueled all the Millennium items, particularly the Millennium Puzzle.
Either way, what mattered most to Emrys was that she was alive and that she must finish the terms of her pact with the ancient ones. Inside her, there was a constant struggle - now more than ever - between good and evil...and to her, everything was now in blurry shades of gray.
Emrys told Pegasus the truth when she said that the ritual would not bear any ill consequence against him or Cynthia. The price had been paid in so many ways. First of all, she lost her parents. Her new loved ones were constantly in danger as hooded men hunted them down for the God Cards, the Millennium Puzzle, and her allegiance. She risked everything and dueled against the Essence which made the specter now exist in this world by falling into her trap and taking her place.
During Emrys' merge with the Essence, she saw their past selves in Ancient Egypt. Yugi's other self's name, however, was not disclosed to her.
After another though-filled sip from her glass, Emrys pondered about the other Yugi, "In the past, we learned how to love and care for each other as man and wife. We chose to give up our domestic peace if it meant the overall harmony of the land. I now fully understand why we fell in love so quickly and so deeply. Bonds between adopted siblings, friends, lovers, and spouse are hard to break even though many millennia pass by between us... But why was Fate so cruel to us by putting a stop in bringing you back from the dead...that reality slipping through my fingertips after I have risked so much...? Why does Fate continue to be cruel to all of us, even up to now?"
As Emrys' thoughts shifted to Kaiba, she shook her head. Even in the past, we have shared this complicated, intense, and mostly solid relationship and friendship. You and your past self believe that Fate has no influence over you. It's ironic that we repeated history by loving and caring for each other as more than friends, but knowing that our hearts have been given up for others. In the past, you gave your heart to Egypt and Kisara. I shared my heart with the Pharaoh and Egypt. We now repeat Fate's path when I gave my heart to Yugi's other self, while you gave your all to Mokuba and Kaiba Corporation. Are we always meant to be that way...loving each other wholly but never being given the chance to see where things would be between us?"
Emrys now also remembered how she killed Yoshiko with her bare hands. She also recalled as to how she walked inside that cave after her duel against the Essence, making the very ones who wanted her dead now bow before her.
Emrys' newfound knowledge also raised more questions for her to answer. Was the successful reign that the Scrolls spoke of pertained to her ascension as the Dark Queen or her past reign as Queen of Egypt? Was she supposed to serve good or evil? What was she supposed to do, now that she gained the very knowledge that she sought to have? With her new power, was she now allowed to cross any boundaries without any consequence or repercussion?
Little did Emrys know that she was still falling for Hyperion's trap.
For each passing day, Emrys felt this surge of intoxicating self-confidence and awesome power. It made her afraid and bold at the same time. The Essence's evil pull was getting stronger within her as well. Aside from this, her distinctions turned from black-and-white to shades of gray. She used to, even in her most confused state of mind, be able to distinguish between right and wrong. Her newfound principles told her that killing Yoshiko was justified, and no one could convince her to believe otherwise.
"Along with this curse came the gift of free will. Whatever happens to me would be due to the choices that I'd make. I'll make sure that my plans will succeed." After a pause and a sigh, Emrys then thought, "On the other hand, there's one problem. Someone's holding me back..."
Yugi's other self as well as the feelings that Emrys had for him were holding her back.
Fighting back as her heart warmed up from the fond memories they had together, Emrys closed her eyes and bit her lip. "Fate's cruel and ironic indeed. She has us playing on opposite sides. She wants me to test all of them. As difficult as it is, I won't see him if until I'm ready. I'll do whatever it takes to carry out my plans - regardless on whether I love him, or care about our friends."
As of now, all that Emrys could do was to seal the Stone of Destiny. She stopped the other Yugi just in time from retrieving his lost memory. She purposefully withheld that privilege from him until the right time comes. She also took the two golden tomes from Isis Ishtar's safe, claiming them to be rightfully hers.
"Everything's moving according to my plans. And now, these very hands that touched his face and held his hand before will be the very ones to strike him down. I'll use all that I have, and all that I know, to get what I want. After all, everything that I've done since we've met was for us and for the greater good."
The most ironic part for Emrys, however, was her true feelings. She loved the other Yugi with all of her heart, but her mind was already fixed. As an ounce of love and friendship and the warmth that they bring seeped within her heart, she struggled to keep her mind in control of her emotions.
Instinctively, Emrys' efforts projected on the brandy glass that she held in her hand. Her grip cracked the crystal, making it shatter and wounding her hand in many places. Her hazel eyes glinted upon seeing blood ooze from the wounds and drip on the marble floor. The cut in her hand caused a small pool of crimson to build nearby her chair. Feeling the pain and exhilaration, she chuckled and then laughed...the sound of her voice reverberating throughout the parlor.
Emrys deeply stared into the fire as she thoughtfully smirked. "Mark my word, my love. I'll do whatever it takes to complete my task. No matter what happens, the destined duel will take place and proceed the way that I desire. Nothing will stop the events from happening the way that I've planned them. As to our beloved friends, little do they know that I also have plans for them..."
End of Chapter Two
Normal Disclaimer
Yu-Gi-Oh and the Seal of Orichalchos magic card are the copyrighted properties of Kazuki Takahashi.
Alexandra Emrys, Yoshiko, Detective Garson, the Order of Orichalchos, the Scrolls of Passage, The Portal of Osiris, The Dead Incantations, other original characters and locations, as well as this fanfic, are the properties of the author.
This fanfic is written for entertainment purposes only - thereby releasing the author from any liabilities.