The Queen had a songbird that sang in the dark Chapter 9, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Sorry for the wait. My computer went through a cranky phase after getting the wi-fi put it.

On another note - real internet connection! Yay me!

Disclaimer: Yugioh and Black&White not owned by me

The island they arrived at was small, and only inhabited by one deity, a goddess named Ralee. She was a younger goddess who had spent the war as a neutral on the sidelines…which translated to her attacking other gods and goddess' Temples behind their backs in order to kill them (if they were still there) and take over all their territory, whether or not they were good or bad.

The first thing the mortals did, once the trip through the Vortex ended, was to throw up after all the whirling and flying and spinning involved in the journey got to them.

The second thing that Joey did was to look at Yami and gasp, "Yami! You look better now!"

Which was true: Yami felt better than he had for a while now. The strange soul-numbing lethargy that he had been fighting for weeks had evaporated, almost completely.

"Was going through dat swirling hole of doom good for ya or something?" Joey wondered.

"No," Yami replied, feeling a deep-set sort of excitement begin humming through his being, "But…being closer to Yugi is."

"He's here!" Joey yelped.

Yami shook his head.

"He's not here…but this island is closer to where he is than mine…"

Noticing something else, Yami murmured a quiet "Excuse me" and shifted forms, rising into the air for a better look around. Up ahead of him, on the other side of the smallish island, Layweh had already found what they were looking for.

"Guess this is the fourth mystery death we gotta worry about," Layweh sighed, staring at something on the ground.

The Creatures were a little slower to catch up - Jake was balancing both Joey and Malik on top of his head, after all, and Kabammo was a turtle and therefore couldn't exactly run - but when they arrived they shivered in sympathy at the scene, while the mortals gaped in shock and horror at the sight.

Ralee was dead.

Her Temple had been completely eradicated from the island, with no sign of it remaining, save for the patch of scorched earth at their feet that was still in the shape of its base. The villages of her worshippers - there had been two - had been decimated, burnt down to the ground, with the blood splatters the only testaments to the previous existence of their human inhabitants. All around, there were tears and slash marks in the ground, showing where a huge battle between Creatures had taken place.

Having the keenest senses, Laurel examined the battered area carefully, before declaring that Ralee's Creature - which had been a nasty old billy goat, judging from the smell of it - had fought another, bigger Creature, lost that fight, been killed as a result of losing, and then its body had been chucked into the sea.

"I'm gonna be sick again," Joey groaned, to which Jake exclaimed ((EWW! Do that over the side!))

"Come on," Yami sighed, starting to float towards another island - a far larger one that connected to this smaller one by a long sandbar, "We'll need to go talk to him after all."

"Who?" Malik blinked.

"Why?" Layweh asked, following after Yami.

Yami was far enough ahead that he had to call back over his shoulder "Because he's the one that killed her!"

The next island over was large enough for two gods to share comfortably - or even three, if they didn't want a lot of Influence or worshippers for some reason - but Yami knew Dekos and Dekos didn't do sharing. When their group got far enough inside of Dekos' Influence, they found that his wicked wolf Creature Ripclaw had come out to meet them.

((Hey, long time no see, Bloodshot, Fleabag!)) Ripclaw greeted them, ((Oh look, you brought more weak idiots with you, how nice. I was just starting to get a little hungry…))

((Shut up, Teeth-for-Brains,)) Laurel retorted, ((We need to talk to your pathetic excuse of a master, right now.))

((Wow, cat, you thought that up all by yourself? Did it make your feeble brains hurt? And where are your manners?)) Ripclaw sneered back, ((I mean, I already know Bubblehead and Flanksteak, but who's the kitten and those three entrées? Don't be so rude and introduce us, eh?))

"Gee, who does dis remind me of? Let me think here," Joey commented sarcastically.

"We don't have time for this," Yami interrupted the growing argument, "We're here because we need to ask your master if he knows what happened to your neighbor, Ralee."

((Hmm, Ralee, Rah-lee,)) Ripclaw smirked, pretending to think, ((Would this be a little orange pain in the ass? I think the Boss might know something…but why should he tell you?))

"Well well, if it isn't my favoritest little buddy," Dekos drawled, floating slowly over as a ball of acid-yellow light, "And his little weakling friends! What brings you to my humble home, so unwanted?"

"We're here for Ralee!" Layweh piped up, "You better tell us what happened to her, or else!"

"Or else what, you'll cry on me because you don't know what to do?" Dekos sneered.

"Layweh," Yami sighed, "You should know by now that asking Dekos anything directly does nothing."

"Damn right," Dekos agreed.

Smirking to himself, Yami added, "After all, if he's too embarrassed to admit that someone far more bigger, stronger, and evil came along, and that they destroyed a neighbor of his but ignored him because he wasn't a threat…"

"That's low," Dekos growled, glaring at Yami, "Why don't you go lower, Golden Boy? I recommend about six feet or so - and underground."

"Is this such a good idea?" Malik quietly wondered aloud.

((Don't worry, he knows what he's doing!)) Jake said confidently.

"All right, fine. I admit it. Ralee stepped out of line, so for punishment I stepped on her. What's the big deal?" Dekos huffed.

"She killed Oralldor!" Layweh exclaimed.

"Really?" Dekos blinked, "But I thought you had the hots for your little red man here! If I had known that she'd sliced open your one true love…"

Dekos laughed as Layweh raged incoherently and Yami sighed. Dekos had, unfortunately, a personality that was like a mixture of Yami Bakura and Seto Kaiba, and only someone with as much experience with both of them like Yami had could ignore his annoyances and get to the heart of the matter.

"How did she manage to do it without you noticing it ahead of time, Dekos?" Yami asked Dekos.

"Well, hmm, lets see," Dekos said sarcastically, "Oralldor's northeast of here, or at least he was, and Ralee's little island's on the east side, and me being on this western side kinda leaves me out of the loop…'specially when she decides to go southwards for days at a time."

"So, what's south of here?" Malik asked Joey.

Joey shrugged.

"I can't even tell which way south is!"

((Pickles? Relish?)) Kabammo piped up in curiosity.

((I think it might be both,)) Baboom answered - she was the only one to really understand her companion Creature, ((It used to be that the only thing south of here was The Continent…))

((…We went southwards from our island to get this far,)) Laurel mentioned.

Yami thought about the implications of that statement for a moment, before turning to stare southwards.

Layweh noticed this, because the next thing she said to Dekos was "So! Got any neighbors down thatta way?"