Domino City - Japan
The young man woke up panting. The cackling laugh that woke him fading to his dreams. He grabbed at his chest, a habit from when he still owned the Millennium Ring. It wasn't there, his Yami's laugh had only been a dream. He wasn't back, and yet despite all the horrible things his Yami had done, he wanted him back. Everything about his room reminded him of Yami. Looking in the mirror felt like he was looking at his Yami instead of his own reflection. He didn't feel whole without his evil Ring spirit.
The glow of his clock told him it was just after two am. He wasn't going to be falling back to sleep tonight. With a sigh, he got up and flicked on the light. He wandered into his kitchen and turned on the kettle. A nice cup of tea should calm his nerves. It still felt like Yami Bakura was going to jump out of the Shadows at him. He dropped his teacup; it went smashing to the floor. Shadows! There was a disturbance in the Shadow realm. He could feel it. That is what woke him up! However, that should've been impossible. The Shadow realm had been sealed when Yugi and Yami Yugi completed the ritual in Egypt placing the Millennium Items in the stone tablet. The Shadows couldn't be disturbed unless someone had disturbed the stone tablet. Yet it was crystal clear to anyone with the ability to sense the Shadows. They were awake again and active. They'd recently tasted blood and they craved more.
Despite the time, he raced for his phone and called Yugi's number. The kettle still boiling in the background.
"Ryou, did you sense the disturbance as well?" Yugi asked him in a panic, not even letting Ryou have a chance to speak. "I don't know how it happened. Do you think that the Pharaoh is alright? Did I do something wrong with the ritual? Has Zork broken out of the Shadow Realm?"
"I did sense the disturbance to the Shadows. I was hoping that I'd imagined it." Ryou replied with dread. He had been hoping Yugi would confirm everything had been a dream. "Sorry for calling so late."
"No need to apologise, I was just about to call you myself," Yugi replied. "I couldn't fall back to sleep after feeling the Shadow Realm. I can still feel it though it's faint compared to before."
"Any idea what disturbed the Shadows?"
"None, do you mind if I come over? I don't want to be alone tonight." Yugi asked.
Yugi's grandfather was currently visiting his good friend Arthur Hawkins and his mother had moved away from Domino City for work in recent years.
"It's no problem for me. You're welcome anytime, even at two in the morning. Are you sure you're going to be alright walking the streets at this time of night-morning? I could always come to your place, instead. I don't mind." Ryou offered.
"No, it's fine. I really need the fresh air." Yugi assured Ryou. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
YGO
It was only a few minutes, but it felt longer. Ryou would not forgive himself if anything happened to Yugi. He was surprised when he saw a dark car pull up. Seeing the high classed car with heavily tinted windows only increased his panic. Yugi got out, waving to the person as they left. Not looking harmed in any way. Ryou's heart slowed when he realised the car was one of Kaiba's and not one of the local gangs or yakuza.
"I met Kaiba while walking here," Yugi explained as he walked through the door. "He drove past on his way home from work. He refused to let me walk here by myself. I think Kaiba sensed the Shadow disturbance as well. He didn't mention anything, but wasn't surprised to see me and assumed I was heading here."
Ryou smiled, despite the number of years that had gone by Kaiba still refused to talk about what had transpired all those years ago with real Duel Monsters, soul stealing, Shadow Magic and all that other nonsense they had lived through. Kaiba, at least, didn't make the snide, rude comments about their magical adventures not being real like he once did.
They both talked for a long while about their Yami's, Shadow Magic and university. Both he and Yugi were studying archaeology at the same campus. Their other friends from high school had left Domino. Joey had moved closer to Serenity, working manual labour jobs. Tea was not living her dream of dancing in America. She was still in Japan studying dance in the city and performing in small stage plays. Tristan had joined the military and often moved around. They didn't know what Duke was doing these days; they'd lost contact with him after school. All they knew was that he was no longer in Domino city. Not even Mokuba was in Domino anymore; he was attending boarding school internationally. Without Mokuba around Kaiba often sought himself of Yugi out, when he took a break from work. He craved to have a real conversation with someone that wouldn't hero worship him. Someone who would treat Kaiba just like a regular human being. Occasionally the three of them would get together and test the video games Kaiba Corporation released.
Around five am both he and Yugi started to fall asleep. Ryou chatted away as he made up a futon for his friend. Yugi was the only person who actually used it; they often had late nighters while studying occasionally joined by a couple of other mutual friends from university.
YGO
They were woken hours later by the phone ringing. Just as Yugi found his phone, the ringing stopped. Ryou's phone then started ringing with the same number as Yugi's missed call.
"Good morning, Ishizu." Ryou greeted the Egyptian woman. "Yes, Yugi is with me. Wait a sec, just going to put you on speaker."
"I take it you both sensed the disturbance in the Shadows," she stated.
"Yes, we did," Yugi replied, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"The items have been taken by a group of archaeologists. I've been trying to talk to them, but they've locked me out. They're packing up the tablet and the items in a shipping crate as we speak." Ishizu informed them. "I'm sorry, I've failed you."
"You haven't failed us." Yugi protested. Ryou nodding in agreement despite the fact Ishizu couldn't see him. "Thank you for informing us. Can you keep up updated?"
"Of course," Ishizu replied. "I'll keep working on my end to find out where they are taking the items."
They both sighed. The items really had been disturbed. The people who had recovered the items had no idea what they had found. In the wrong hands, the Millennium Items were incredibly dangerous. Now they had the task of recovering the items.
YGO
Despite Kaiba not being an item bearer ... in this lifetime he had just as strong a link to the Shadows and Shadow Magic as Yugi, Ryou, and the Ishtar clan. He'd been awake when the disturbance had happened with the Shadows. He had tried to ignore it without any luck, it was calling to him, not allowing him to ignore them. He sighed as he looked at the time. It was late and time for him to call it a night. He should've called it a night hours ago. In a few hours, he would be back at work again doing the same thing he did ever day.
He called his driver who worked the night shift, trying to shake the feeling of the Shadows. The Shadows were meant to be dead and buried when Yugi finished that ritual to send Atem to the afterlife. Life was supposed to be normal now. No magic, no duel monsters coming to life, no Egyptian gods and most importantly of all no soul stealing shadows.
He knew that he hadn't imagined the shadow disturbance when he saw Yugi walking around in the middle of the night.
"Pull over," he ordered the driver.
He watched as Yugi jumped in surprise at his car. He opened the door, he watched as Yugi relaxed, realising who it was.
"Kaiba, I wasn't expecting to see you," Yugi greeted him.
"You're going to see Bakura, aren't you?" Kaiba asked him.
"Yes, I am. How did you know?" Yugi asked.
Kaiba shrugged his shoulders. It was rather obvious; there had been a disturbance in the Shadows. The first thing Yugi would do would seek out the other former item bearer to find out if he'd sensed the disturbance as well. He would not say it aloud, though.
"Was it really so important you couldn't wait until morning?" Kaiba asked him.
"I couldn't get back to sleep," Yugi replied.
Yugi didn't have a car so his only option was walking or public transport, at this time of night public transport didn't run.
"Get in." Kaiba moved over, making room for Yugi.
"I wouldn't want to intrude," Yugi replied. "I'm really okay with walking."
"At this time of night? You're going to get in the car Yugi, no arguing." Kaiba glared at his rival.
Yugi was far too innocent looking and looked far younger than he actually was. He was the type of person that thugs would prey on. If anything happened to Yugi tonight because he'd left him, Kaiba wouldn't forgive himself and neither would Mokuba if he'd known that he was in a position to do something and hadn't. That wasn't quite right, Mokuba would forgive him eventually. No that still wasn't correct. Mokuba would be disappointed in him for not helping and would think that nothing needed to be forgiven in the first place. When it was obvious that he wasn't going to change his mind, Yugi gave in and got in the car.
"Thank-you Kaiba." Yugi smiled.
He grunted.
"How's work? I haven't seen you around a lot recently?" Yugi asked.
Yugi was always one for small talk. "Several big projects going on at the moment. Have a big reveal coming up in a month's time if the schedule doesn't get pushed out again." He replied.
Talking to Yugi was easier than it once was. He'd never done well with people in his own age group. To him, they had been immature children though thinking back he was quite immature himself. Emotionally immature.
After a few minutes of small talk, he said his goodbyes to Yugi. Something big had started, what that big thing was he knew he would not like it. He ordered the driver to go slow. It was only once Yugi was in Bakura's apartment that he got his driver to return to the mansion.
YGO
Instead of heading to bed to get his much-needed sleep he was making a phone call to Ishizu Ishtar. Ryou and Yugi could talk out there Shadow issues together. He'd go direct to the Egyptian woman and find out what she knew. He knew she'd contact him eventually if he waited.
"You sensed it as well," Ishizu told him. "The Millennium Items have been moved by an archaeological team. I didn't even realise they'd discovered the temple until they'd disturbed the Shadows. I did have clan members watching over the temple. I found out far too late that they'd slacked off because nothing ever happened. They've already been dealt with."
He heard someone talking to Ishizu in Arabic. Telling her that she need to leave and that she wasn't welcome. He could hear her arguing back.
"Sorry Kaiba, I'll call back when I have more. I'll need to deal with this problem." Ishizu told him in Arabic. It was a good thing he understood Arabic because he assumed Ishizu didn't even realise she hadn't switched back to Japanese.
Ishizu wouldn't be calling back for a while and there was nothing else he could do at that point. He needed more information before he could act.
YGO
Kaiba had got a couple hours sleep before he returned to work. Mid-morning Ishizu called back with an update. The items had been loaded into crates; she wanted him to trace them. The last thing he needed was for some madman to take control of the Millennium items. He'd had enough of dealing with Shadow Magic during his high school years. He didn't want to spend his adult life fighting against Shadow Magic. He had spent several weeks tracking the items; they'd been shipped to America and ended up at Area-51. That was going to make them difficult to recover. He'd been hoping they would end up in a private collection, that way he has an easier time to recover them. He would either buy them for himself or if that did not work, recover them with brute force. Just knowing that the items had ended up in Area-51 would bring up to many questions on how he knew. He couldn't exactly recover them with bribery or brute force either. This was going to be harder than he'd first assumed.
His first step was to call Ishizu and tell her he'd arranged a flight to Japan. He couldn't tell her over the phone. Too much risk of someone else listening to their conversation. He'd just told her that he'd found something that couldn't be discussed on the phone. She was understanding and had agreed. He'd also told Yugi and Bakura the time and place to meet up.
YGO
Ishizu looked tired from her flight. Yugi and Bakura both chatting with her happily while they waited for Kaiba to tell them what he knew so far. Once Kaiba was happy that they didn't have anyone eavesdropping he filled them in on the location of the Millennium Items.
"Area-51," Yugi said in disbelief. "Why are they at Area-51?"
"I never imagined they would end up there," Ishizu exclaimed. "That will make it almost impossible to recover."
They'd discussed for a while what they could possibly do. Bakura staying remarkably quiet about the whole ordeal. Yugi was the first one who needed to leave; he was meeting up with Joey, who was visiting for the day.
Ryou spoke up once Yugi left. "Kaiba, Ishizu. I think I have a plan, but you have to promise not to tell Yugi. He'd just worry and want to be involved."
They both promised, Ryou was obviously trying to protect Yugi if he wanted him kept out of the loop.
"I think I should be able to break into Area-51 to retrieve the items if I am on my own," Ryou told Ishizu and Kaiba his plan. "If the Shadows are awake like I assume my Yami should be able to get us-me out with the items."
He felt slightly guilty that he was excluding Yugi from his plans. He hated keeping secrets from Yugi. The one person who understood exactly what it was like to be possessed and share a body with an ancient spirit. It was also the reason he could not tell him. He didn't want his closest friend to be hurt. He needed to protect Yugi in case his plan didn't work out. Getting caught could mean a long time in jail or possibly even death. Breaking into Area-51 would most likely be seen as an act of terrorism.
"But then we have the issue of the Thief King stealing the items for himself," Ishizu told Ryou.
"That may be true, but it's the best chance of getting the items back. If Bakura's other self-does steal all the items, Yugi and I, at least, have a high chance of winning them back." Kaiba agreed. "I did consider sending in one of my team, but that can be linked back to my company. It's too risky for me to act."
"Same if I send in someone from the clan." Ishizu agreed. "Everyone has just started to find their place in the modern world. They would begin to doubt that Yugi is the Pharaohs reincarnation if the whole clan knew the Shadows had been awakened."
"I wouldn't want you to send anyone else. My Yami has a very high chance of killing anyone else that is sent after the items. I have the best chance of getting in and out alive." Ryou pointed out to them.
"You make a valid point." Kaiba agreed. "Yugi would want to come if he knew what you are planning."
"That is why I don't want him to know," Ryou told them. "I have a better chance of getting in and out undetected without Yugi. My Yami also taught me a thing or two about breaking into building undetected. I've never actually used it before, but ..."
"If you're going to do this, you have a lot of prep work to do. You may have the knowledge, but you don't haven't had the experience." Ishizu pointed out.
"The items aren't going anywhere. I'll update you if they move. In the meantime, we have a lot of prep work to do." Kaiba grinned. "You know the saying, practice makes perfect."
Ryou gulped, he did not know what he was in for and knowing Kaiba it could be anything.