Well here's another one kiddies! Hope you enjoy.

The Darkest Magic

Tifa Strifeheart

~Last Time~

Exhausted he sat back on his haunches and prodded his Master with his meagre power. His Master mind had begun to stir when he heard a sound. He turned in time to see the net come around him. With fearful eyes Kuriboh looked up at his red haired capture as the human stared down at him with interest behind the shining contraptions on his face.

Chapter Five

"What is that thing?" Arthur Weasly turned around; his wand still held up and shook his head.

"I have no idea." He peered down at the quivering bundle of fur caught within his spell. "I don't think that I've ever seen anything quite like it." He looked up at the auror that had followed behind him, the man had been introduced as simply Charles and - by the look of him - he was a newbie that hadn't seen very many duels. Mentally shaking his head, Arthur glanced over his shoulder and at the still form on the room's only horizontal surface. "Is this the person that you wanted me to see?"

"Indeed he is." The auror turned to Conilious Fudge as the president strode into the holding room. Straightening, Author stepped around Charles to look at the President. Fudge frowned at the swinging net at the tip of his wand."What is that thing?" Arthur shrugged.

"I don't know. It was sitting over the person's body when I got here." Fudge looked up at him.

"Well put is somewhere, Control of Magical Creatures can deal with it." Obediently, Arthur tied off the net and placed it in gently on the floor. The thing made a little sound as it touched down and then stared up at him with surprisingly large eyes. With a small smile he patted the top of its head once before getting up and turning back to Fudge. The president was standing over the man lying on the table. This was the first time that he had finally gotten the chance to get a good look at the person that had been taken into custody.

He would guess that this person was in his mid twenties. He had black hair – tipped crimson, with a few blond bangs most of which shot up into his hair. He could tell from the man's exotic appearance that he wasn't from around here; anyone who looked like that would stand out in both the muggle and wizarding worlds. He was lean, a bit on the short side and dressed up in more leather then he had ever seen on a muggle before. But apart from an apparent leather fetish there was nothing about him that seemed to match the report he had read before coming to headquarters. He was bound to the table with straps on his arms and legs – at the ankles, wrists, thighs and upper arms – a bit of overkill for such a person in his opinion; or what would have been his opinion if he hadn't been told what this person was supposedly capable of. Even as he stared at the man's expressionless face the words from the details filled his mind and he couldn't seem to make them stick. He turned to Fudge… who had been studying him studying the bound man.

"This is the person you told me about?" Fudge glanced down at the man on the table.

"Yes." He shook his head. "Terrible, terrible thing. This-this muggle killed seven high ranking aurors before they could put a stop to him." Fudge sighed. "Terrible way to go." Silently Arthur agreed and behind him there was a sound from Charles. The details of what had happened out there hadn't been in the report. The only people who could have said for sure what had happened were this unconscious man and the seven bodies they had found on the scene. At least they assumed there were seven bodies, only one had been whole – they were still searching for the pieces of the other six. Looking away from the prisoner he turned to the other men in the room taking in each in turn.

"If you don't mind me asking; why did you call me here?" he gestured at the man on the table – he always hated the way that Magical Enforcement dealt and wanted no part of it if he had a choice. Fudge crossed his arms and leaned back onto the balls of his feet rocking slightly.

"Well this has nothing to do with Magical Enforcement." He frowned.

"What do you-"

"This person is a muggle." Arthur gave them both disbelieving stares and Charles nodded at him when their eyes met. He turned back to look at the man strapped onto the table.

"But the report said-"

"We have no idea how he did… how he did whatever it was that he did. All that we know is that he was somehow able to defeat six of our own; six of our best at that." Arthur could only stare at the form on the table. Without conscious thought he found himself beside what he assumed was their prisoner. The moment his hand touched the skin of the others face he felt a jolt and snatched his hand back. In an instant Charles was there in front of him, pushing him away from the still prone form, wand raised and eyes cautiously eyeing the strange muggle. Suddenly no longer looked like the amateur that Arthur had taken him to be at first. There was a look in Charles's eye that hadn't been there a moment before as he stared at the man in the restraints and it clicked.

"You were there. You saw what happened." It hadn't been a question but the other man nodded anyways.

"Yes." His hand tightened on his wand making the poor instrument shake a bit. "I was there. It was horrible. He- it killed everyone." Charles shook his head almost reluctantly, like he didn't want to take his eyes off the other. In fear maybe? "I don't know how. All I felt was cold; a bone chilling cold that just burned everything away." Arthur forced himself to let out the breath that he had been holding.

"A Dementor?" If this muggle had somehow found a way to command the guardians of Azkabam… Charles shook his head, his wand and eyes slowing lowering.

"No. Nothing that happened could have been done by a Dementor. A dementor sucks the happiness leaving only the pain. Whatever this was sucked out everything. Happiness, sadness, all of it. Standing there I was blind and deaf the only thing left was fear and the knowledge that I was going to die." There was a silence that lay heavy on them. Charles just stared at the ground. Arthur stared at him. Even though he read the report, it came nothing close to what this man described.

"What-what happened?" Charles sighed, tension seeming to flow out of him.

"When we came to – the others and myself – he was just laying there. No one knew what had stopped him but he was just on the ground beside that other one." Arthur nodded. Even though he didn't understand most of it, the report had mentioned something about another person that had been hit with the killing curse. There had been a note that both muggles looked alike… had looked exactly alike – twins maybe. 'Whatever stopped it, it didn't have anything to do with something we did." Arthur looked down at the hand that had touched the prisoners face and only realized that he had been holding it through the entire tale. What he had felt… he was sure that whatever the unconscious man was he couldn't be human. "We were like children that didn't know how to use are magic." He hung his head. "We were as helpless as muggle children."

It struck him then and he turned around ignoring the confused gazes of the other two men. The creature that they had walked in on - there was no way that such a thing could have gotten into a place like this. Especially not with the men guarding the door – there was no way a thing like that could have simply walked in. And apparition wasn't possible down here. For a moment he stared at the empty net on the wall wondering why the fact that it was empty didn't surprise him.

"What is it?" Arthur straightened and met the Charles concerned look. He just shook his head and gestured at the net. He watched realization appear in the auror's eye.

"What the bloody hell-"

"It's gone." Charles' emotionless voice cut the minister off. "The creature Mr. Weasly caught; it has disappeared." Arthur watched the Ministers face darkened as he stared at the empty net. Somehow the creature had escaped even with all three of them in the room with it.

"Well we have to find it! Who knows what it could have been doing in here." He glanced at the person strapped onto the table and his face became anxious. Spinning on his heel, Fudge swung open the door. "I want this building searched. Charles, come over here and describe the creature to them. I want the security on this room doubled." Arthur drowned out the Ministers voice as he kneeled beside the empty net. Touching the tip of his wand to the net, he watched it slowly unravel wondering why he was so sure that no matter how hard that they searched for the creature they wouldn't find it, whatever it was.

He should have never been forced to come to a place like this. That's what other people were around for – to do the things that he didn't want to do. It was situations like this that secretaries were the most useful. Unfortunately his secretary was the reason that he was here in the first place. Kaiba Seto sighed as he stepped through the apartment buildings front doors. There was no receptionist in the lobby, hell there wasn't even a desk or chairs for guests but he didn't expect much when it came to these lower class dwellings. A small part of his mind told him that this apartment building was in what was considered a middle class neighbourhood but he crushed it before it could begin to influence him. Everything not at his standards could be considered lower class. His thoughts paused a moment as he pressed the call button for the elevator as he imagined how his secretary would react to such thoughts. Probably with a retort about him being full of himself or some such. A blank look quickly turned into a scowl as the elevator began to ascend. It was Jounouchis fault that he was here. What use was a secretary that didn't show up to work three days in a row? He would have already fired him if it wasn't for the fact that good help really was hard to find and surprisingly enough his secretary fell into the 'good help' category.

He crossed his arms and leaned against one of the elevators walls. What the hell was happening? First Jounouchi has that seizure in his office and ends up in the hospital. Then the blond tells him that they are a normal thing from him and now he fails to come to work. He didn't understand what was going on with the blonde. The only reason he even bothered to come here was because his secretary was a slacker and not because of stupid images of the blond dead on his living room floor. If Jounouchi wanted to die he had better do it on his own time and with a two week notice. A chime signalled that the elevator had arrived at the desired floor and he swept out as soon as the doors opened. The last thing he wanted to do was spend any more time then he absolutely had to in this place. Walking down that hall he compared the numbers on the doors to the one he had found in his employee files. The door was only partway down the hall and when he found it he suddenly couldn't decide what to do.

'That annoying bastard.' He didn't want to knock on the door but at the same time he wasn't sure that breaking the door down would have been such a good idea. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene, especially considering the fact that he was standing in the middle of a deserted hallway, staring at a door and looking like an idiot. It was that thought that made him reach out and knock on the door; loudly. There was a crashing sound from behind the door. He rolled his eyes. A few moments silence; or what would have been silence if not for the loud thumps and mini-crashes coming from behind the door, the door opened. Kaiba didn't even give the face that appeared the time to realize who it was before he pushed his way passed both him and the door and into the apartment.

"Where the hell have you been?" He turned around and met a complete stranger. His frowned deepened as he started at the person gawking at him with the front door still open. He was sure he had gotten the address right. But that couldn't be Jounouchi. The other man was usually less… swollen most of the time.

"K-Kaiba" The blond rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing here?" Kiaba crossed his arms over his chest.

"I should be asking you that." He could only stand the absent look the blond shot him for about a miniute before he gave up with a sigh and uncrossed his arms. "I take it then, that you had no idea that you have been absent from work for the past three days. Without notice if I might add." The start and surprised expression would have been more impressive if he had believed it.

"Three days!" Hurriedly, and with more energy than he had appeared to have, Jounouchi swept past him and further into the apartment, with no other options, Kaiba followed suit. Jounouchi's apartment was tidier then he'd expected it to be. It was nothing impressive but it was serviceable. Taking in his surroundings Kaiba didn't realise that they had entered the bedroom till the blonde had stopped walking. He watched Jounouchi bend over and pick up what appeared to be his cell phone from the bed side table. He pressed a button and the screen lit up. Kaiba cocked his head, wasn't his secretary just full of surprises today; he hadn't even been aware that a person's eyes could get that big… unless you were Yugi, of course. Jounouchi took a deep breath and let it out. Kaiba crossed his arms again.

"Now do you believe me?" There was no response; the blond just stared at the phone in his hands.

"Yug… what have you done." Now the idiot was talking to himself. Kaiba had just about had enough.

"Hello, earth to idiot! Wanna explain to me why you decided to take an unexcused leave. I'm just your boss if you care to recall." That got Jounouchis attention but not exactly the kind he had been looking for. The blond sighed and turned to him dragging a hand through his mop of hair.

"Look Kaiba I didn't plan any of this. It just happened." He glanced at the phone still in his hands. "Three whole days… man. I haven't had anything to eat since I left from work. It was just such a shock." Kaiba frowned.

"What was?" Now it was Jounouchis turn to frown at him.

"You mean to tell me that you didn't feel it?" He didn't bother to respond to the question. Jounochi sighed again. "Well at…. Three days ago, I guess, at around ten-ish at night, I got this – this feeling. It was terrible. I can't really explain it except that it was painful… and lonely. And somehow I just knew that it had to do with Yugi. I don't know how I knew I just did. Something's happened to my little bud somewhere. It felt like something was torn away and went missing. It still feels that way. I couldn't deal." Kaiba recalled that night. The feelings he had had experienced were similar pain but also despair and helplessness and then there was just a void. The idea of Yugi had come to but he had just shrugged it off. Yugi, couldn't have made him feel like that, but that night he couldn't stop worrying. He had left his work earlier then he would have usually to look in on Mokuba. The sight of his sleeping little brother had eased him enough catch some sleep of his own that night however the hollow feeling had yet to disappear. The only reason that he had let Jounouchi off for so long was because he didn't want to associate his feelings of emptiness with anything that had to do with the blond. He couldn't deny though how being in the blonds company seemed to make the sharpness, that he couldn't explain, ease some. He looked up from his musings to find Jounouchi staring at him.

"What?"

"You felt it too that night, didn't you?" Kaiba refused to answer and the expectant look on the blonds face eventually faded."Well I have been in bed for the last three days. I have no idea how I made it so long without fo…" The other man trialed off and Kaiba turned to see what it was that had grabbed his attention. There on one of his four drawer cabinets was the millennium scales. The gold was glowing brightly surrounded by wisps of shadows. Behind him the blond chuckled. "Well that answers that." Even as he spoke the glowing dimmed down a shade or two and there was a very loud, very obvious growl behind him. Arching an eyebrow he turned to Jounouchi who was scratching his head sheepishly. "Heh heh, Guess I spoke to soon. Well since you're already here, would you give me a sec to get dressed?"

"Why the hell would I do that?" The blond began to herd him to the door even as he spoke.

"Well isn't it obvious. You're taking me out to lunch." He craned his neck back to look at the person that was pushing him from behind.

"Now just wait for one god damned min-" He whirled around just in time to watch the bedroom door slam shut in his face.

Silently he groaned. He couldn't have made a sound even if he had wanted to. Everything; everywhere hurt. His whole body was sore. Even the spikes on the top of his head seemed to ache and it wasn't just his body. Everything inside hurt as well. It was as if someone had taken both his mind and body and put them through that contraption for grinding food… the blender. He just wanted to lie here and sleep until the pain passed and his energy returned. He didn't even know where here was or how he had come to be here; all he knew was that the last thing that he wanted to go was get up. The lull of sleep was rhythmically pulling him back into his warm embrace when something from the outside intruded.

It was like a gentle pressure but at the same time it was insistent… and so very familiar. From what he could sense the thing that was doing the prodding was light surrounded by darkness. The feel of that purity lying just out of reach sent a longing through him that, for a moment, overrode the pain that was lancing through him. Determined to get more he reached out to it. He didn't know how but he did and…

As soon as the light appeared it had disappeared and something inside of him cried out for its return even as that same part of him began to die. Now that he could remember the light, the sense that there was something missing slammed into him... Something was very wrong. There should never be this lightless void of darkness inside of him. Something that had kept the shadows at bay was missing. Unconsciously he reached towards the connection that he had always had to the light, some part of him desperate to find that missing piece. He was very aware of the hollow agony that made his soul flinch when he touched the ragged remains of that torn connection. Even the pain that he had awoken too could not compare to this; this feeling of helplessness. Even as he drowned in his despair his resolve to claim what was rightfully his solidified.

He tried to recall it. What it was that that was missing. The flood of memories came back in a flood started with a flash of light then a smile and that was all it took. As he watched the memories he was shocked that he could have possibly forgotten all this, cursing himself silently for his failure. His mood only darkened as his memory returned and by the end of the flashbacks he was horrified by what he had forgotten; what he now remembered.. None of it could have been true. He refused to believe it. He had to get up from here and find out what had really happened. Weakness made his body heavy. There was no way he could rise and begin to search. Slowly as the reality of his situation began to sink in, his decision to find his missing piece became less a conscious choice and more an unconscious instinct. Unable to take the strain of his body, his consciousness began to fade away despite his hardening resolve. Only a single thought managed to break the surface as a darkness part natural and part shadow began to envelop him.

Lying bound on the table, Yami's eyes snapped open as he silently whispered a single monotonies word as if in a trance: "Yugi."

Wow… I'm sorry all. I know it has been forever. First came mid-terms, then final exams before I knew it and then preparing for Anime North – an anime convention here in Canada – and finally the convention itself. But finally all that is over with. Now it's just dividing my time between: anime, manga, video games, being online and fic writing… oh and actual real work sigh. I'll try to stay on top of things but I promise nothing.

I Need YOUR help! (For the next chapter) Reader question: What type of Deck should Ryou and Bakura use? (You know, for those of you who actually care about the game lol). I have the next chapter planned but I need a deack and can't figure out what he uses… sigh

So I just realized that Is NOT uploading my formatting – as simple as it is! I'll have to do something about that. How come no one said anything! No wonder switching views became a hassle sigh. Ah well. I'll try to go back and fix all that. Heh heh. I'm still looking for a YGO HP BETA if anyone is or knows someone I'm all ears. So I'm actually going to try and consciously revise this chapter… hope I do a good job.