AN: So this chapter is, you know… Not the best I could do. But something about this story has possessed me and I have about 18 million stories that come after it. And before it. So, uh, focus on plot and not writing here people.
Oh, side note – There are references here to what happened to the Millennium Items after the duel between Yami and Yugi. Obviously it doesn't follow canon and here's where I'm biting myself in the ass because remember that side note in the first chapter that said something along the lines of "there's a story that comes before that but it doesn't matter!"? Guess what? It matters!
Only vaguely and I think I explained enough that you get what happened but I really should write that one at some point.
Second side note – there are no plot holes. You may think you've found one but really you haven't. You'll see what I mean later.
Chapter Three – A Little Blood Never Hurt Anyone
"Yeah they talk about her
She smiles like she's so tough
She says: 'Hey, can you talk a little louder?
'I don't think my heart's broken enough
'But someday we'll all be old
'And I'll be so damn beautiful'"
- Verse 2, Paper Bag ( Anna Nalick )
The scent of blood was turning the air into a stinking miasma and she gasped and wheezed. One step, two step, sticky liquid splashed up onto her bare legs and burned. Her strength ebbed and she collapsed to her hands and knees. A harsh voice laughed and she recoiled back into herself.
"You did this. This is all your fault."
"No, that's not true!" The blood congealed beneath her and, try as she might, the girl couldn't free herself from the red web spreading about her. Footsteps splashed before her and her moments became panicked and jerky. There was a sick rip and her left hand tore free, the skin from the palm shredded. Pain radiated down into her wrist and she glanced up.
Just in time to see the silver blade come slicing down, catching her in the jaw. It easier cut through the skin and tendons but the edge wasn't sharp enough to go through the bone. She screamed – gurgled – and grabbed the blade with her hand. Ignoring her, the man grunted and jerked the blade up, slicing up through her skull and lopping the fingers of her left hand off.
-7-
Isis' footsteps echoed down the empty corridor. She shivered and pulled the white woven shawl tighter around her shoulders; even after her many years in service to the Pharaoh it still felt wrong for her to be here. A place so holy and sacred shouldn't be defiled by the presence of anyone unworthy and she was nothing more than a lowly servant.
A lowly servant with the power of a Millennium Item. Smilingly wryly, Isis reached up and placed her hand on the light-weight gold necklace. After recovering the Pharaoh's lost name – Atemu – and using the holy power to create bodies for both him and the darker side of Bakura, it was decided that each of the items should go back to their 'original' holders for safe-keeping. While the risk of having one go power crazy was still there, it was better than what could happen it someone was to get all the items. Keeping them together was out of the question. It had taken several hours of arguing and bickering to get her to reaccept necklace but now Isis was glad she had.
After all, the vision she had seen may very well be their only hint to what lay ahead. The smile wiped away, she hurried down the hall and the stairs to the ancient tomb of the Pharaoh below.
-7-
Aibou! Racing up the stairs, Yami slapped his hand against the yellow-washed wall as he whipped around the corner at the top. The door to Yugi's room was still open from when Jou had visited earlier and the Pharaoh twisted himself around on the ball of his foot to make a smooth entrance. "Yugi, are you-?"
The words died on his lips when Yami saw his hikari. Yugi was standing at the far end of the room facing the window. His left arm hung limply at his side, his right pressed against his chest in profile. At Yami's words he turned his head, staring blankly at the startled Pharaoh. "… Master…"
"What? Yu- Yugi!" Blood oozed from the corner of Yugi's mouth and the smaller boy's knees buckled. Rushing over to catch him, Yami knelt down to soften his fall. "Yugi, what's wrong with you."
"M-master…" Yugi choked the words out as he reached up with his left hand, cupping Yami's cheek. Something warm and wet and nauseating rubbed across his face and, when Yami reached up to take a hold of Yugi's wrist, he gasped at the angry raw wound on the palm of his hand. "Master, I'm sorry…"
"What are you talking about Aibou?" Yami felt frozen to the spot, his breath hitched in his throat as he tried to work out what do to next. "Aibou…"
Yugi's body tensed for a moment and then went slack, his head lolling back on his shoulders. The moment of indecisiveness passed and Yami stood, trying to ignore the stench from the blood smeared on his cheek or how light his hikari felt in his arms. I should never have let him get this bad. I should have been watching more closely; I should have protected him!
-7-
"Hana, come sit with us!"
"Um…" The brunette hesitated, lunch tray clutched tightly in her hands. It was the lunch period for the upper classes at Domino high and the cafeteria was a highly daunting place. Everybody was milling around while talking, yelling, or laughing enthusiastically and the din was making her head spin. How was she to refuse the kind girl's offer? "Okay…"
Anzu beamed as she led the new girl over to their table. "Here, sit here," she said, pulling a chair out for her. Hana nodded wordless and slid into the seat, her eyes glued to the tray in front of her. "The other guys will be here in a few minutes. How are you handling your first day?"
Hana shrugged noncommittally and pulled down on her blue skirt. She didn't understand how the girls could walk around so confidentially when it felt like you were flashing your panties with every step. "It's… okay. I'm sorry, you know my name but your's…?"
"It's Anzu." Sitting down next to Hana, Anzu dug her fork into the side-dish of macaroni and paused. It was completely understandable to be shy on your first day of school ( especially during the middle of the year when you'd be labeled as simply 'the new student' and tossed aside by everyone ) but the girl seemed almost terrified. Her hands were shaking as she slowly twisted the cap off of her iced tea. "Why'd your parents decide to send you out here? There are only two months left in the school year."
"Um, well my parents didn't." Hana thought for a moment, trying to pick her words carefully. "I'm here with my aunt and my uncle. There's a… Someone close to our family is very sick. We're here to help take care of him."
Anzu nodded while chewing her bite of food. On impulse after she swallowed, she added: "Yugi's sick. Yami went home to take care of him, I guess, after Jounouchi visited him… Jou's the boy that you were sitting next to."
There was a strained silence between the two; Anzu couldn't quite figure out why she had felt the need to explain that to Hana and Hana seemed too preoccupied with her drink to add anything. "Okay. So, Hana…"
"Anzu! Geeze, way to wait up for a guy. Thanks for that." Sneering mockingly at the blue-eyed brunette, Jou dropped his tray down across from her and plopped into his seat. Within moments he was joined by Honda, Otogi, and Ryou; Shizuka's class ate before them and Seto left during his lunch break to check up on Kaiba Corp. "I mean, what if I had really needed your help for something? It wouldn't matter to you. You'd just be off- Oh, hi Hana. What's up?"
Before Hana could answer, Otogi smacked his tray down next to Jounouchi's and punched him in the arm. "If you ever threaten me like that again-"
"Excuse me?" Jou was on his feet in a flash and had Otogi by the front of the shirt. "I can threaten anyone who's datin' my sister at anytime and if you have a problem with that then maybe you should consider seeing someone else."
"Shizuka is perfectly capable of taking care of herself so back off," Otogi growled, ripping Jou's hand off his shirt. Honda stared at the two impassively for a moment before something clicked.
"Wait… wait a second. Otogi, you're dating Shizuka now?" Honda glared at the black-haired boy. "I thought we both had agreed that she was off limits until we were out of high school."
Hana stared uncomfortably at the three angry teenage boys. It was hard imagining that the fate of the world had, at one point, been held partly in their hands. No… I was right in my decision. She was right. What's been decided, it has to happen or else… Next to her, Ryou coughed politely and poked at his food with his fork while Anzu shrugged and went back to eating. How can they just sit there and watch this?
Hold up, wait a second. "Bakura?" Hana blinked and looked at the white-haired boy sitting next to her. "Are you… Ryou Bakura? One, um, one of the top eight duelist from Battle City?" More than slightly startled, Ryou nodded slowly. "You… um, you were the only one I really paid attention to. I love your dueling style." It sounded so forced, lame, cheesy, fake, but it was the only thing she could think of to cover up her slip. "You seem a little different here…"
"That's because I'm not the duelist from Battle City." Hana's eyes widened slightly. "That was my… brother, Bakura. More like my twin really. He's the better dueler. I prefer standing on the sidelines…"
"Oh." Hana nodded and ran her finger around the lip of her iced tea bottle. The three boys were still bickering over Shizuka and Anzu had taken a book out of her backpack to read. "Can I ever meet this brother of yours?"
"Oh, sure. He's at home. Probably should be in school but he used to live somewhere else and there's hardly enough time left in the school year to make it worth trying to transfer him in…" Ryou frowned and cocked his head to the side. The color had drained from Hana's face and she was staring at him with an expression of shock and… horror. "Are you okay?"
"Okay? Am I okay?" She blinked and shook her head. No. You didn't, couldn't, he tried to kill everyone and now you tell me that he's free… "I-"
"I have an announcement to make." All conversation, be it bickering, yelling, or the curiously disturbing talk between Ryou and Hana, died down when Seto walked over to the table. Right hand held up with a cell phone in it, he glanced at the various faces around the table and grimaced. "I just received a call from Yami."
"… and?" Jou released Otogi – he had grabbed the dice-boy's arms to keep him from trying to attack Honda – and cocked his head to the side. "Why would Yami be calling you Kaiba?"
"Because I was the only one who had his – or her – cell phone on." Seto scowled and snapped his phone shut, slipping it back into his pocket. "Yugi's fine. The mutt here must have let off some false alarm which is why Yami ran off so panicked. He'll be back in school by next week." Jou squelched a strangled yell and glared at the obnoxious CEO.
"Oh, that's great to hear!" Anzu smiled in relief and looked up at Jounouchi. "See? I told you you were being paranoid. Yugi probably just has some really bad cold and it just seems that much worse because of how busy he's been before now. His body's just telling him to slow down."
"That's not what you were sayin' yesterday!" Jou shot back, angry that Anzu would be taking Kaiba's side over his. Anzu shrugged and picked her book back up.
"Well that was before I heard from Yami that Yugi was okay. I would trust Yami's word on that more than yours…"
"Hmph. Well if this lovely discussion is done then I'm going to head out. Unlike some people here I actually have work I need to get done." Hana stared after the imposing teen as he walked out of the cafeteria. Second of three chosen duelists…
"There is no way I'm letting him get away with that." Snarling, Jou shoved his chair back under the table and stalked off after the brunette. Hana let out a deep sigh and rummaged through her bag before finding her copy of their world culture text book. Anzu had the right idea. Just sit silent and read during the lunch break; it was too hectic and confusing to pay attention to anything that went on.
But now I know the Pharaoh trusts his High Priest now… and the Thief King isn't bound by the Ring.
-7-
"Marik? Marik!" The platinum-blond teen in question sighed and paused the TV program he was watching. It was Isis and she was panicked but when wasn't she? The millennium necklace seemed to be far more of a curse with the way her visions came sporadically and most of the time they didn't even mean anything. Which is probably why Atemu wanted to get rid of them, he thought wryly. The last 'major' vision his sister had was about white death which, they had eventually discovered, meant that the milk was going to go bad. He probably didn't want to deal with headache it caused.
"Coming sister dearest," he muttered. As he stepped out of his room into the hall, though, Marik nearly ran into a very-harried looking Isis. She grabbed his shoulders and forced him back into the room. "Woah! Isis, what's wrong?"
"The Ankh." Marik stared. "The Millennium Ankh, Marik! Where is it!"
"It… it's… you're scaring me, Isis. It's, um…" Too startled to think clearly, Marik turned away from Isis and walked over to his desk. Since the dark spirit possessing the dark half of Bakura ( it hurt Marik's head sometimes thinking about that ) had killed Shadi, a new keeper for the Ankh had been needed and it was unanimously decided to be him. Unlike some of the other Item bearers he had chosen not to be in continuous contact with his. While it had been a great honor to know that the Pharaoh trusted him enough to give him a second chance, Marik preferred not to give the dark side of him any opportunities to break lose.
After several tense and breathless seconds, Marik straightened and turned back around with the golden Ankh in his outstretched hands. "Here. Isis, why-?" He stopped suddenly, eyeing her more carefully. There was a bloody scratch along her cheek and dirt was smudged on her hands and neck. Worse, he could see she was no longer wearing the Millennium necklace. "Isis, what ha-?"
"The Scales are gone." Isis wrapped her hands around Marik's and squeezed, causing him to wince as the ankh dug into the flesh of his fingers. "I went to check on the Pharaoh's tomb and the scales… They attacked me and took the necklace. But before they did, I saw them…
"We have to go to Japan. We have to find the Pharaoh and warn him before it's too late."
-7-
It was deathly quiet out in the halls after the din from the cafeteria. A small 'click' to the right and Jou scowled, bolting after the sound. "Kaiba, you no-good dirty rotten-! When I get my hands on you!"
"You're going to do what?" The brunette was standing impassively in the stairwell and Jou paused, blinking. He had fully expected a full-scale chase that would end in Kaiba being driven away by the car that was most surely parked ( but still on ) out by the front of the school. To have him stop here and wait… "You almost disappointed me. I was sure you would have caught up with me before I even left the lunch room."
"You… you wanted me to go after you…?" Jou would not have been more put off if the world had suddenly been yanked out from under him. "But why? You hate me. You hate us. You hate Yami. You… you just hate cause… that's what you do."
Seto grimaced and looked down. He could feel the start of an embarrassed flush spreading from his neck and the tips of his ears and Seto Kaiba would be damned if the mutt saw how upset those words made him. "I don't hate," he snapped back, raising his eyes to glare at Jou. "I have more important things to worry about than silly high school friendships." Why am I even bothering to explain this to you? "But Yugi's not okay. He at the hospital now and Yami doesn't want everyone worrying."
"Say what?" Jou froze and stared wide-eyed at Seto. He had known that Yug was in bad shape when he had visited him earlier but for him to already be in the hospital…? "But why wouldn't Yami want everyone else to know?" He blurted out desperately. "I mean, there's no way he can expect to keep that from everyone. Grandpa and Yug's mom are gonna find out and then Anzu's gonna find out when she calls to check up on him and-"
Seto stepped forward, crossing the distance between the two, and pressed a finger against Jounouchi's lips to silence him. "I didn't bother to ask Yami about his reasonings. Like Anzu said, he would know best for Yugi and if he doesn't want your little gang traipsing in and out of his hospital room at all hours of the day then I'm not going to be the messenger to cause that." He dropped his hand back down to his side then and turned away. "Yami said to tell you, though. Probably figured that if I didn't you'd start a crusade to try and figure out just what was going on."
"And he's right too. I'm not even sure if I should go along with this." Jou sighed and slumped back against the wall. His world was beginning to turn into such a confusing place and Katsuya Jounouchi did not do confusing. He did right, he did wrong, and occasionally he was dabble in the shades of grey but only if the answers were clear-cut.
The dreams, the drawing, the girl – but Hana didn't seem to be anything other than a scared and slightly clueless exchange student. She knew her math all right ( Jou had been trying to copy off of her ) and seemed to absolutely love science but when it came to history she didn't know her dynasties from her revolutions.
"You better keep your mouth shut about this." Seto's voice was laced with worry, fear, and a tint of anger; Jou looked up in surprise. "If something bad happens to Yugi because you felt the ne-"
"So you really do love him." Seto started and looked back at the blond. "Don't worry… I love him too."
-7-
"Sister, calm down. Please. Isis!" Growing frantic as he watched – quite helplessly – as Isis set about putting their trip to Japan in motion, Marik moved toward his older sibling and placed his hand on her wrist, forcing her to hand the phone. She started and tried to pull back away but he tightened his grip. "Isis, stop and calm down for a moment. You're not thinking rationally about this at all."
"Of course I am," she snapped back, glaring at her younger brother. "I saw them. I saw her. The Pharaoh would never… He would never suspect them. If I don't warn him, he's going to die."
"Warn him about what? Isis, how can you expect me to sit back and watch you turn into this crazed woman possessed by a vision when you won't even tell me who or what you saw?" Isis recoiled back into herself before letting her head hang down, shoulders slumping in defeat. Marik shook his head and placed a hand on her cheek, lifting her chin. "Isis, what did you see?"
"I saw… a massacre."
-7-
The trip to the hospital had been a nerve-wracking experience the Pharaoh never wanted to deal with again and he had made a promise to himself that once this ordeal was done he would start paying attention to Grandpa when he tried to teach him how to drive. Yugi had been totted off to the emergency room after Yami carried him in and for three hours he had to sit in a waiting room, filling out medical forms as best he could. Any known allergies, any past history of kidney disease… does he feel safe at home? A quick call to Kaiba to ensure that no one would worry ( and that the CEO had indeed finished working out all the kinks in the papers to make Yami an actual citizen of Japan ) and he was allowed back to 'visit' with Yugi.
"His core temperature has dropped down to 96 and there seems to be some internal bleeding…" The nurse who led him back eyed him levelly, her unsaid accusation of abuse burning in his ears. "The wound on his hand doesn't look to be self-inflicted either."
If it wouldn't have caused an even bigger headache, Yami would have banished her to the Shadow Realm on the spot. How dare she accuse me of purposely hurting my hikari?
-7-
"I couldn't see his face. He kept to the shadows but I saw him killing them. They were trying to leave and he used his power to lock them in and then cut them down. The last on, the girl, he was blaming everything on her."
-7-
"I'm sorry aibou…" Yami gripped Yugi's right hand tightly as he watched his hikari sleep. The younger boy grimaced and tossed his head to the side, caught up in some nightmare that Yami could do little to protect him from. "This should be happening to me, not you…" Still gripping Yugi's hand tightly, Yami placed his other hand on the Millennium Puzzle.
The images on the stone tablet faded – the Black Magician and Blue Eyes White Dragon – the Dragon fell, the Magician laughed – the puzzle shattered and Yugi lay dead.
Gasping loudly, Yami jerked back from Yugi and stared down at the Puzzle around his neck. While it had seemed obvious to him that this illness wasn't natural, the thought that it was supernatural and linked somehow to the Items… "The Puzzle doesn't grant visions though," he whispered breathlessly, holding it up with shaky hands. "The Necklace does."
Pharaoh.
Yami started and glanced up. Kneeling before him, at the base of the hospital bed, was the translucent image of the Black Magician. He raised his head and slowly stood, emerald green staff clutched tightly in his hands. "Black Ma-, no. Mahado." The man before him nodded.
Pharaoh, there is a grave and evil threat. I tried to stop her but she's gone mad… she wants to destroy the Items to sever the connection between the Duel Monster world and your world. She wants to kill Yugi.
"What? Who?"
-7-
"The girl in my vision was the same girl who attacked me today. I didn't want to believe it but…" Isis closed her eyes, placing her free hand over Marik's. "I don't know what's happened to her."
"Who?" Marik swallowed hard, unsure if he really wanted to force the answer to this question from his sister. She sounded so lost, so scared… "Who did you see?"
-7-
"The Black Magician Girl… Mana.
"Mana is trying to destroy the Millennium Items."