A/N: Hello, all (or, well, the two of you). Sorry for the two-week hiatus - Thanksgiving was hectic, and last weekend I was smashed by a truckload of homework. But it's all good now! D

So then, this is the chappie where bad things start happening... Battles and magic and some confusing bits, but I'll try to explain anything that I ddn't communicate well. :) These chapters were all written quite some time ago, keep in mind, so there my be some inconsistancies. I'm sorry in advance. ::bow::

So once again, thank you to Arion Girl and dragonlady222, for reviewing almost every time. '''''''' I'm honored that you keep returning.

Okay, let's go!

Chapter Six: Havoc

Joey peered behind a barrel. "Yug?" he called, turning and glancing through a window. Somebody screeched at him - a girl - and a length of cloth was slapped over it. "Yugi?" He checked an alley. He was glad it was empty. Bakura had been so freaked out that Yugi was missing, Joey didn't especially want to think about why. "Hellooooooooo. C'mon out, man."

A child squirmed out of a stuck door, stumbled, and fell over onto Joey's feet. He blinked down. "Hey, kid. Whassa matter?"

The boy grinned. "My sister says that there's gonna be a big fight! An' I wanna see it!"

"A fight? Why do you wanna see something like that?"

The kid sat up and pouted. "Cause it's cool."

Joey smirked. "Yeah, you think you're gonna be six for your whole life, huh?"

The boy blinked. "Yeah. Aren't I?"

"Nope. An' people die in battle, kid. Is your dad fighting?"

"Yeah!"

"He might not come back, y'know." Joey had no idea why he was talking this way.

The boy scowled up at the towering, pale teenager. "You shut up. My daddy isn't gonna die. You can't die if you're a dad."

Joey shook his head. "Whateva. Anyway, short stuff, I'm looking for somebody. A kid, a little younger than me. 'Bout your height."

"Does he look weird like you?"

"…Um, okay, yeh…."

The boy pointed. "That way. In the town square. He was running, and a lady stopped him. Then she walked away and he started walking real fast." His eyes expanded considerably. "And then practically the whole army went through the square! And you know who was there? You know who I saw? Wanna know? You won't believe it!"

"Jhakal!" a young woman called, looking out the doorway. "Jhakal, get back in here. Mama said not to leave the house."

"'Kay sis," Jhakal said flippantly. Then, addressing Joey, he announced proudly, "I saw the pharaoh! And he was even younger than everybody says! Almost nobody gets to see him if they're not royal or something, an' I did!" The woman - girl actually - hurried out and firmly grabbed the boy by the wrist, yanking him back inside.

Joey turned in the direction Jhakal had pointed and started jogging.

The first thought that came to his mind was that the thing was huge.

The second was that they were all going to die.

Charging straight through the front gate had not been a smart maneuver. With the entire rank, it might have been easier, but not with just a third of them. And, with the entire opposing army in front of them, swelled with Shadow Spirits and crowned by that… thing… some of the men were beginning to wonder if they should surrender.

Yami got one short look at the dragon's flashing underbelly: the bright, polished-looking scales; the icy white color of the reptilian skin - before everything was suddenly filled with intense heat and roaring sound and something very hard slamming into his back.

Dark splotches appeared in his vision; he was up before they faded. There was another surge of hot electricity, and he was hugging the ground again. Then he sensed his own men beginning to run forward, and also the Cult advancing.

It was instinct by now: a quick slice across his hand, a rapid pulling sensation, a mental heave, and instantly a violet sorcerer hovered above Yami, ready and eager for action.

He wiped sand out of his mouth and yanked the sword from his hip, diving forward against the men rushing him. Metal met cloth, then flesh, blood, finally bone. Something shattered. A sharp edge dug into his shoulder, directly through the armor. This was life. Beautiful.

Kafit tugged on the dragon's neck to make it turn, swooping low over the battlefield. Two pairs of blue eyes scanned the battlers. It was a good fight so far. The Cult had the upper hand.

There were two groups advancing from either side. So that was why the force had seemed so small, Kafit realized, and urged his dragon forward. There was a swift ripple of the winged body, a wave of static from the neck into the head; lightning exploded from the mouth. Nearly half of one side-troop hit the ground. Some were on fire. Kafit laughed, almost giddy. "Vil, kna passe! Ke owrc gi Wele Sind!"

He turned again, momentarily catching sight of his quarry. Instinctively, one hand went to his scabbard; then he hesitated. No, that man was Loyein's prey. He mustn't interfere. "Bai, sei-shay…." Soon, little king….

"Hey! Did you find him?" Bakura called. Tea nodded, waving, and gestured to her three companions. Yugi was with them. He wasn't hurt. Bakura sighed, relieved. But now, that just meant he had other things to worry about. Where in gods' names was his brother?

He didn't have to think long. The building to Bakura's left erupted, the clay melting into a pool of hot pitch. Bakura was thrown heavily to the sand. Barely a finger's-length away from his head, a gigantic claw slashed into the ground. Soil fell like a curtain.

"Bakura!" Somebody had him by the wrist. Lots of people were yelling. He allowed himself to be yanked, stumbling out of the thick cloud. He reached for an arrow. Ryou was the one who had his arm. Where had he come from? Chaos. Soldiers, some draped in black, some fitted with armor. The battle had been pushed back to the city. The Alabaster Dragon was here.

A hand flashed out, a rock curled into the fingers, and smashed him along the back of the head, dropping him hard. But he landed on his shoulder, twisted, and kicked at the attacker's legs. Platisum hair gleamed. He didn't get a look at the face.

Another Cult-member glanced at him, seeming to give him a double-check, then grabbed for his hair. Stupid to keep it long. Ryou laid him flat with his fist. Nobody hurt his brother, not as long as he could still breathe. The Cult soldier twisted up and lunged, hitting Ryou at the waist. Bakura's brother disappeared from his side. "Ryou!"

Bakura grabbed for the scaffolding of the building beside him, scrambling up. He slid onto the flat roof, yanking the bow off of his shoulder and fixing the arrow in it. "Tea! Tristan! Joey!" What was the other one? Damn weird name. "Yugi! Tea! Where are you guys?!" He looked around for the foreigners, or his brother. He just saw swarms of black-robed and Egyptian soldiers, trying to rip each others' throats out. Bakura rose to his knees to see better. "JOEY! YUGI!" Why did he care about them? It wasn't like they were friends with him or anything. "TRISTAN! TEA! RYOU!"

There was a sudden, bright light, acid green, swirled with a dark violet shine. Bakura turned clumsily on his knees and caught a glimpse of an indigo-colored, humanoid Shadow Spirit swinging its thin arm, casting a jet of greenish light at a familiar sorcerer Spirit. The Dark Magician blocked the attack with ease, but then darted down, thrusting its staff at someone Bakura couldn't see. His throat tightened. Yami was in trouble.

Bakura jumped to his feet to aim better, pulled an arrow, pointed it down, closing one eye. Now he could see - there was the pharaoh, right near the middle of everything. Bakura pulled back on the bow….

It seemed to him, later on, that the sound came first - a loud, gurgling scream - and then heat, and then a horrible, hot, stomach-wrenching shockwave. After that came light, and hurt. And then - it seemed like hours before he hit the ground, before he woke up - but it must have been a matter of moments.

Black. Spinning. No pain, yet, but… then numbness. Black.

When he could finally see, the sand was wet and smelled like blood. There was something on top of him. Bakura pushed at it, and the thing rolled heavily away, sand sticking to it. It was cold. It was clothed in black. It was a man.

Bakura scrambled up, then sank back onto the sand with a whimper. He couldn't move his right arm. It hurt. Everything swam. There was something sharp thrust into the soft skin in his hand. It was a shard of his bow.

The sky was dark. How long had he been out for? The sun had just risen when he last remembered….

Using the wall of the destroyed building next to him, Bakura very slowly got to his feet. "Ryou?" he called, in a tiny voice he hadn't used for ages. His brother always came when he called like that. His big brother always came when he had nightmares, when someone had hit him, when anything… where was he now? Bakura needed him now. "Ryou?" Bakura started limping. He couldn't go three steps without treading on a person. None of them moved. "Ryou!"

The temple loomed ahead. He could see the crown of Osiris carved into the stone wall, painted white. It shone in the moonlight. The pillars supporting the roof moaned. He stumbled into the building. The statue, cut so gracefully from pure marble, was cracked. There were symbols carved into it, jeering words. Bakura sat down unsteadily in front of the desecrated god.

"Where is my brother?" he asked in a small, small voice.

"I'm over here."

Bakura jumped and twisted painfully around. "Ryou! You're okay! That - whatever it was - you're not hurt?"

"No." Ryou tossed his hair and stared oddly at him from his seat on a tipped-over miniature statue. He was blanketed in shadows. "It was Kafit's dragon, you know."

"Th - that attacked? But - everyone -"

"They're dead." Ryou stood up and stretched. A metallic object gleamed in his hand, catching the moonlight. "They're all dead. The king. The soldiers. Kafit as well. The Cult-Master killed him."

Bakura thought, for a moment, that Ryou's voice sounded strange, his eyes too blank. Their color was off, too green to be his brother's eyes. "So… is the Cult dead too?" he asked uncertainly, standing shakily up and hobbling nearer to his brother.

Ryou smiled. He raised the object to his mouth and licked it. It had a dark red cast over the smooth metal. "No," he said after a moment, pulling up the black hood of his cloak. "We're all fine." He tightened his grip on the broken arrow shaft and started forward, cupping one hand over the side of his little brother's face. His grip tightened painfully. "Just fine."

::is attacked by hordes or angry fangirls:: NUU, I didn't kill them! Well, yes I did, but it'll all be okay! You'll see! I promise I don't even do that cheap "oh, we'll brign them back to life"-type of thing so common in character death stories!

Yes, Ryou was "evil". But why did his eyes change color? And how could he kill his little brother? And what happened to Yugi and the others::gasp:: Next chapter is where it starts getting weird, so please bear with me... "Consequence" may turn out excellent because of the strangeness, or may simply crash and burn. ::determined gleam:: But I shall try!!!

Kafit's speech basically translates to "Haha, burn, ya bitches". No, not really, but that's the gist of it. And I have to run now, so I'm sorry! Bye! review::Disappears in a puff of smoke::