A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad everyone liked the twist I threw in at the end of the last chapter. I can't believe how long this story has gotten! When I first started it, I can honestly say I never expected for it to reach 40 chapters. You can't begin to understand how that boggles my mind. We've come a long way... Enjoy!
It was the numb, distant pain in his wrists and arms that finally woke him up. Otogi blinked once and winced as harsh light stung his eyes. He tilted his head forward so that his bangs would fall over his eyes as a curtain, and only then did he begin to assess the situation. His hands had lost all feeling and his shoulders were a mess of steady, throbbing cramps that felt like someone had pressed needles into his muscles and left them there. Feet, legs, thighs, and bottom all tingled with the not-quite-painful feeling of being in one position too long, and his back - well, suffice to say the pain in his shoulders traveled fast, and when he tried to straighten up from his slouched position without thinking, he froze and couldn't contain the groan that escaped him.
"Fuck," he hissed, keeping perfectly still until the blazing pain had ebbed. Carefully, he raised his head a fraction, until he could see that he was in a cell of some kind, lit only by a single torch that didn't give off that much light. He was sitting on the ground with his hands cuffed above his head, preventing him from doing anything except sitting. There wasn't even enough extra leverage for him to stand, crouch or lie down, and forget taking the pressure off of his poor arms. No wonder his back hurt so much.
How had he gotten here? His mind felt hazy and sluggish and it was hard to think. For a few long minutes, he honestly couldn't remember anything. But then slowly, the memories started coming back to him: getting to Illusion Island, the subsequent attacks that had separated their group, being attacked, and then storming the Castle - sort of. He remembered entering the castle but after that everything became a blur. He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. Something niggled faintly at the back of his mind, something he thought he might have forgotten. But what?
A door creaked in the distance. Otogi's heart skipped a beat and he quickly dropped his head back down to his chest, pretending to be unconscious, as the door to his cell was shifted open. Footsteps entered the room and he kept himself from tensing, even though he knew that whoever had come in was looking at him. Was it Pegasus? Or, gods forbid, Hafiz? He'd never told anyone, but Otogi had had a run-in with the man before. The last time he had come to Illusion Castle, Hafiz hadn't liked the way their business meetings had been going, and he'd made that perfectly clear when he trapped Otogi in the bathroom. Otogi had played it off at the time, kept his cool and managed to walk away with no one the wiser when someone else walked in on them before the situation could escalate, but the memory of it was still enough to make his skin crawl. A hand reached out and touched his shoulder, and half-caught in that memory, he recoiled with a frightened squeak.
His eyes sprang open and he found himself looking up at Honda, Yami, and Seto. The three of them were staring down at him with matching peculiar expressions that would have been funny had it not been for the situation at hand. Otogi blinked and then glanced past them, searching the small cell almost wildly for Hafiz. Scattered memories were drifting across the forefront of his mind after his scare, of shadow magic and hands coming from the darkness to touch him, all combined with soft mocking laughter and whispered taunts about the fates of his friends and lover. His stomach twisted violently and it took every last bit of his composure to not throw up on the spot. Those were memories he would have rather remained forgotten.
"What took you guys so long?" he asked with an air of forced casualness. "I've been bored out of my mind waiting for you."
Honda's brow furrowed and something dark flashed into his eyes. "You alright?" he inquired tersely.
"Yes, I'm fine." It was relatively true. His body was one solid mass of aches, but no hands had gone beneath his clothing and all things considered, he knew he'd gotten off lightly. No one had really done anything that he could remember – he refused to consider the fact that something might have happened that he couldn't. "But it would be nice if one of you could unlock my shackles. My hands have gone completely numb."
"Bakura!" Yami called, not taking his eyes off of Otogi.
The white-haired boy swept into the cell holding two long, slender pins in his hands. Without so much as a glance in Otogi's direction, he knelt and began working on the shackles. Otogi leaned his head back against the wall and took a couple of slow, deep breaths. Now he understood why he'd felt like he had forgotten something and he wished it had stayed that way. It would have been much easier to have never remembered the brief visits Hafiz had 'graciously' bestowed on him. Not once had the man ever actually done anything, but every so-called innocent touch had been filled with such horrifying promise that Otogi had almost been relieved to let the drugs take him again. He couldn't repress a shudder and felt Bakura pause. He opened one eye.
"You didn't hurt me. Keep going," he said, guessing that was the reason Bakura had stopped. Bakura's frown grew deeper but he kept working, skilfully sliding the pins against each other, working on the tumbles until there was a faint clicking sound and they swung open. He grabbed Otogi's arms before they could fall to the boy's sides and held them in the air.
"You'll do damage to yourself if you just let go," he muttered. "Seto."
Seto leaned down to examine the muscles and Otogi flinched. It was instinctive, borne from one time too many of being dragged out of his sleep to find Hafiz hovering over him, and yet it was enough to make the tall brunet freeze momentarily. "You'll be fine," he said finally, backing off a little. "Just lower your hands slowly to let the blood flow re-enter them. Here." Gently, he reached out and took Otogi's hands from Bakura. Over the course of the next five or six minutes, he lowered them gradually. Otogi gritted his teeth as the numbness turned into a tingly feeling before moving into full, painful burning.
"Do you remember anything?" Yami asked him.
"Not really," Otogi said, wincing. His arms felt curiously heavy, like they were lumps of dough attached to his body, but he was determined to walk out under his own power. He allowed Honda to pull him to his feet but wavered as the cell suddenly swam in front of him, threatening to send him to the floor. Honda grabbed him around the waist just in time.
"Ryuuji!" he exclaimed. "You – "
"I'm fine." It only took him a second to get his legs underneath his body. He straightened and took a quick step away from Honda – perhaps too quick, he thought, mentally noting the hurt look on Honda's face – before offering him a tentative smile. "It's fine, really. I'm pretty sure they kept me drugged most of the time and it's probably just taking a few minutes to work its way out of my system." Without giving anyone a chance to respond, he turned and began staggering towards the door. Every second in the cell seemed to last an eternity and he was desperate to get out before Hafiz came back.
Yuugi, Ryou, Malik, Jou and Dark Magician were all waiting outside of the cell, clustered into a little group against the chill in the air that Otogi was only just noticing. They all turned to look at him when he appeared. It was good to see people, good to be standing, good to be out of that blasted cell. He rubbed his wrists absently, massaging the badly chafed skin, as Yami, Bakura, Honda and Seto followed him out into the corridor. They were in a long passageway with cells on either side. Otogi's had been the very last one, hidden deep in the corner of the dungeon, away from prying eyes and – the urge to throw up came over him again – away from anyone who could have heard him scream.
Somehow, though, he'd been granted a reprieve. Hafiz had been too distracted to pay much attention to him. Otogi closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. It felt like had been trapped down here for days, even though it had probably only been less than one or two. Feeling eyes on him, he looked up to see that everyone was watching him. The skin on the back of his neck prickled and he felt trapped. It took considerably more effort to force another smile. "What are we waiting for? No one else is down here, right?"
"No." Yuugi was looking at him intently. "Are you okay, Otogi-kun?"
"I'm fine." The second time he'd spoken those words in less than five minutes, and neither had been entirely true. He could feel a headache building at his temples and he itched for a long, hot bath. "Let's just go, okay?"
"Go? Why would you want to do that?"
Otogi stiffened, breath catching in his throat, as the voice floated out of the cell across from where he had been trapped. Malik went pale and whimpered, shrinking back against the wall, as Mariku stepped forward, eyes narrowing. The only response was laughter as Hafiz appeared out of the shadows wearing a broad, mocking smile. The edges of his body were blurred, like he was merging with the darkness around him, and he was holding a flat gold disc in his hands. It was glowing with a faint, dark light that barely pierced the shadows, and when he flipped it over, the symbol of Ra could be seen on the bottom.
"Weren't we having fun?" he asked, looking at Otogi. His blue-green eyes were filled with something that made Otogi take an unconscious step backwards. "You make the prettiest little sounds when you're frightened, just like my son and daughter. We could have some more fun, you and I. I'll even let you reciprocate this time."
Some part of Otogi wanted to challenge Hafiz, to make it sound like it wasn't at all the way he was inferring, but the words got lost on the way from his brain to his vocal chords and never emerged. A strangled sound escaped instead and Hafiz laughed, clapping his hands. "That's the one!"
"Hafiz..." Yami's voice was practically a hiss, he was so furious. "How dare you show your face after what you've done?"
"Such regal words, my pharaoh," Hafiz said, finally taking his attention off of Otogi. His lips curled into a sneer. "You forget that this is my castle and I have invited you here. What kind of host would I be if I proceeded to ignore you after you've taken the time to come visit?"
"You kidnapped my hikari and trapped me inside of the Puzzle. That's hardly what I would call an invitation," Yami replied. It was taking everything he had to refrain from commanding Dark Magician to beat Hafiz senseless. He wanted desperately to attack, but at the same time, the part of his mind that hadn't been taken over by pure rage was stopping him. There had to be a reason that Hafiz had come to them and not waited for them to find him. The man was planning something, but what?
Hafiz shrugged. "Maybe not in your circles," he purred, losing interest in Yami and glancing instead at his son and Yuugi and Ryou. "Ah, yes, you did bring the lights along, didn't you? They're so pretty when they cry out in pain, you know. It's fascinating, really. Most people in this world are a perfect blend of light and dark, even soul mates." He spoke the words with a certain amount of derision and Seto stiffened, moving protectively in front of Jou. "Never before has there ever been a time when one soul was so perfectly split down the middle. Some people would call it an abomination... But all of that light..." Raw hunger blazed into his eyes. Otogi's back hit the bars and he realized he couldn't back away any further. "Makes me want to taint it."
Yami snapped. "Dark Magician, attack!"
Two things happened at once. Dark Magician responded to the command instantly and leapt forward, staff lifted above his head. Hafiz merely laughed and held up his little gold disk. As the world around them exploded in grey-purple smoke, Otogi dove instinctively towards the three lights and pushed them backwards into the cell. The four of them landed in a heap on the floor and he forced them to stay down as he twisted his head to see what was going on. Smoke was floating into the cell and beyond that, he could hear the sounds of fighting. Dark Magician's voice rose above everything, calling out attacks, and someone – it sounded like Bakura or Mariku – was swearing loudly.
"They're so predictable."
He swallowed a yelp and reared backwards, arm flying out protectively in front of Yuugi, Ryou, and Malik. "What do you want?" Otogi demanded, staring at Hafiz. The man was crouched in a corner of the cell, hands still wrapped around that damnable flat gold disc, only the symbol on the bottom was now glowing an ugly red color.
"The world," Hafiz said simply. "I was denied it at one time, you know. Foolish on their part. I would have been perfectly satisfied with being able to rule Egypt." His expression twisted and he let out a low growl. "It was my right. But then my brother had the nerve to go and get himself an heir, and I knew that my chances of being the Pharaoh were numbered unless I figured out a way to get rid of both of them. Unfortunately, I was ill-prepared for battle, and as it turned out, I made my move too early and the little brat was able to defeat me. And upon his death, he appointed another as the Pharaoh. This time around, however, things will be different. Yes... quite different..."
Otogi knew what was coming before it happened. Desperately, he threw his hands up and tried to summon his partner, but nothing happened. He watched with wide eyes as Hafiz chuckled and held up the gold disc. "Everyone down!" he cried, ducking his shoulders.
White light blazed above his head in the direction of Hafiz, nearly throwing the man off of his feet. Startled, he glanced around and realized that it had come from Malik. The younger boy was on his feet, though he was swaying slightly, and his hands were outstretched. His lavender eyes were curiously blank. "I won't let you do this," he said emotionlessly, watching his father stagger and fall to one knee. "I should have let Mariku kill you that day. All of us would be better off if you were dead!"
"Sentimentality is for the weak," Hafiz panted, one hand cupping his chest protectively. "You are weak and your friends will suffer the consequences."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" Malik asked with a cruel smile. His hands were shaking slightly but he stood firm, refusing to allow Hafiz to intimidate him. Though he was terrified of the man, it had never stopped him from protecting Isis, and it wouldn't stop him from protecting his friends. You're insane. You will never rule the world. Even if we don't stop you, someone else will."
"Once I have the Millennium Items, I will be unstoppable," Hafiz said gleefully, eyes locking onto the Millennium Rod. "I haven't got that many more to collect. The Puzzle… the Rod… the Ring… the Tawk… Once those four items are in my possession I will have them all. And as it so happens, the four owners were foolish enough to accept my invitation and are inside my castle right now."
Yuugi stirred and lifted his head in spite of Otogi's best efforts to keep the boy down. "What did you do to Shadi?" he demanded.
"Shadi… I assume you're referring to the man who owned the Millennium Scale and the Millennium Key. I'm afraid that he was in my way and I've disposed of him. Him and that other little pest. What was his name?" Hafiz's smirk grew broader and he looked straight at Malik as he gave a taunting wave of his hand. "Ah yes, I believe his name was Rishid."
The light went out of Malik's eyes and his hands dropped to his sides, stricken by the notion that his father might have killed his yami's older brother. Hafiz took his chance and lunged forward, one hand outstretched to grab the Millennium Rod. Otogi shot to his feet and blocked him, shoving Malik backwards. He shot a desperate glance towards the corridor, wondering what was occupying the others, but he couldn't see anything in the darkness. A hand curled around his collar during his distraction and he squeaked as Hafiz dragged him off of his feet. Helplessly, he grabbed at the fingers and tried to pull them free as he struggled to draw air into his lungs. The fabric had twisted around his throat and was preventing him from breathing. Spots bloomed in front of his eyes and his frantic kicks subsided, arms falling away weakly...
"Get away from him!" Ryou kicked Hafiz in the side as hard as he could. At the same time, Yuugi wrapped his arms around Otogi's waist and wrenched him backwards. Hafiz's grip slipped away and Otogi gasped for breath as he collapsed to his knees, one hand protectively cupping his neck. He looked up through bleary eyes to see that Yuugi and Ryou had taken up a protective stance in front of him and Malik.
"So cute. The little lights have come out to play." Hafiz drew himself up and smirked. "If you really want to have some fun, why don't you follow me?" He removed two familiar objects from inside of his robes - the Millennium Key and Scales - and dangled them from either hand. "I take it you want these back... well, if you want them, you're going to have to come get them." The flat gold disc flared with light.
"You bastard!" Otogi shouted, but Hafiz was already disappearing.
"I'll be waiting!" the man called out, laughing as he faded away. Ryou ran to the spot where he had been standing, but Hafiz was gone, and there was nothing left to indicate that he had ever been there.
"Kura-chan," Ryou whispered, fear flashing into his face. He turned and rushed over to the entrance of the cell, but before he could go very far, he stumbled over something soft. His knees struck the ground and he let out a pained yelp.
"Ryou, be careful," Yuugi admonished him, following Ryou more slowly as the dim lights came back on, revealing that Ryou had tripped over the unconscious form of Seto. All of their friends had been knocked unconscious and he suspected that if it hadn't been for Otogi's quick thinking in pushing them into the cell out of reach of the smoke, they would have suffered the same fate - and then the Millennium Items would have been easy pickings. He shuddered at the thought and knelt beside Yami. /Yami, wake up./
It took a few mental prods for the older boy to awaken. His crimson eyes were dazed when he finally opened them. \Aibou?\ he asked groggily. The single thought was sent along with a warm rush of belonging and affection that made Yuugi's cheeks turn pink as he reached out to place a hand on Yami's forehead.
"Hafiz attacked us," he said quietly.
Yami was instantly alert. He sat up and looked around as the others began to stir. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Thanks to Otogi-kun, yes," Yuugi said. "But Yami... Shadi and Rishid..." He looked up at his partner anxiously. Yami studied his face and seemed to know what was coming.
Mariku looked up, rubbing his head. "What about my brother?"
Yuugi hesitated. "He's... well..."
"He's dead," Malik said bluntly. "Rishid and Shadi are dead."
GMA
There was a long, heavy silence during which no one spoke. Shizuka's mouth dropped open and she stared blankly from Mai to Pegasus for several seconds before she twisted and looked at the others, who seemed to be as shocked as she felt. Turning back, she glanced at Mai and said, "I'm sorry, you're who?"
"Cecelia's little sister," Mai repeated patiently, never taking her eyes off of Pegasus. "I know you haven't met me before. You've probably never even heard of me before." She smiled grimly. "The truth is, when my mother left, she took Nee-chan... Cecelia... with her and left me with my dad and our cousin. She said that I was too much like my father, and she didn't approve of their… our life. I was only able to speak to Cecelia once in a while after that, usually when our parents weren't around to try and keep us away from each other. Nee-chan told me all about you. She really loved you." Finally, she glanced away from him, but it was only to look up at the portrait on the wall. Her eyes were misty with tears. "I knew who you were as soon as you kidnapped me."
"I didn't..." Pegasus looked bewildered. "Cecelia never told me she had a sister."
"No, she wouldn't have. She tried to distance herself from our family after she had a falling out with our mother, including me," Mai explained regretfully. She took a step closer to him, seemingly unperturbed that he backed away when she did. "Then we heard she had died, and I didn't want to make it seem like I was after your money or something like that." She took a deep breath. "And... I didn't want to tell you before because I was worried that Hafiz wouldn't take it well."
At the mention of the other man, Pegasus scowled and seemed to come to a decision. "I don't believe you," he declared. With a quick jerk of his wrist, the curtains slid closed over Cecelia's portrait. "Cecelia would have told me if she'd had any siblings. We shared everything. I think you're just trying to trick me. None of you should be here." His eyes swept over the assembled group and for the first time, anger entered his voice. "Get out! Get out or I'll summon my partner, and then you'll be in a lot of trouble."
Mai winced. "Please don't," she said urgently. "Listen to me. It's the truth, I swear. I can tell you all sorts of things about Cecelia that no one else would know. Like the fact that she had one eye that was a paler shade of green than the other, and she used to wear coloured contacts to compensate because it embarrassed her. And... and every morning when she would wake up, she'd have an apple for breakfast before anything else. Her favourite color was pink but she told everyone that it was green because it was the color that looked best on her." Her voice softened with pain. "I know that she was dying of a disease that would have caused her to waste away until there was nothing left. It's the same thing that killed our grandmother and Cecelia was so frightened that she would die of it, too. I know that she didn't want that and she took steps to end it before that happened."
Pegasus ducked his head. His breath came in short, sharp pants. "You're lying. You're lying," he repeated. "This is all some sort of trick."
"No, it's not!" Shizuka said, surprising all of them. She had finally figured out why the portrait had looked a little familiar to her. Though she had never seen or met Mai before – the woman had gone missing long before Shizuka and Mokuba had become guardians – she had spent a fair amount of time around Bakura whenever she stayed at Seto's house with Jou. The woman in the portrait had some facial features that were similar to Bakura as well as Mai, including a smile that had a tendency towards mischief. Even with the curtain closed, she could still see Cecelia in her mind's eye, and she knew that Mai was telling the truth. "Mai and Cecelia look so much alike that they have to be related. It's the only explanation."
"Thank you," Mai muttered to her. Raising her voice, she faced Pegasus squarely and said, "Ever since you first kidnapped me, I haven't tried to escape, even though I wanted to. I've stayed here for a couple of reasons, neither of which directly benefitted me. One, I stayed to make sure that neither you nor Hafiz had plans to attack my cousin. Bakura is like my little brother and I would do anything to keep him safe. But the second reason was because I know how much Nee-chan loved you. I know what Hafiz is doing to you, and I know she would have wanted me to stop it."
"My yami?" Pegasus was staring at her, eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, what he's doing to me? He hasn't done anything."
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed that something is wrong, Pegasus. You're smarter than all this." Mai waved a hand to indicate the piles of junk that were making the room a hazard. "Do you think that my sister would have wanted this? Do you think she would have wanted you to mourn her for years on end, and try to find some way to bring her back to life? No. She loved you and she would have wanted you to be happy, even if it meant finding some way to move on. When I think about the time I've spent here with you, trapped in this damn castle with a psychopath... time I could have spent doing other things that were more important..." Her violet eyes were sparkling with angry tears. "And all because you won't open your eyes and see what's right in front of you!"
Pegasus was shaking his head in denial. "No, you're not - "
"I am!" Mai yelled, losing her temper. "Hafiz is lying to you! He's not your yami and he never will be! You don't have one!"
"Is… is that true?" Anzu asked, turning to look at Isis.
"Possibly," Isis said with a grimace, folding her arms. "I had thought it highly suspicious that Hafiz would have a lighter half, but I was waiting to see them interact before I said anything. The Pharaoh, the Tomb Robber and the Assassin were all unable to use their Millennium Items. The darkness of the Shadow Realm would have taken them over because they had no light to tie them to this world. But the High Priest Akhenaden had no such problems. He freely used the Millennium Eye during the war he waged on the pharaoh. Though he certainly had more darkness in him than light, he was not a yami, and his reincarnation shouldn't be either."
"Shouldn't be doesn't mean he isn't," Mokuba pointed out, putting a hand on Shizuka's shoulder.
"No, it doesn't. This is a strange puzzle. Pegasus shouldn't be able to use the Millennium Eye if he is not a part of Akhenaden's soul." Isis rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I understand how this came to be, but I do know that he is not a hikari. Pegasus, Hafiz has been lying to you. He is not your yami."
"Lies!" The distraught man yelled, backing up until he was huddled against the curtains. He placed his hands over his face, shoulders trembling, and his voice was quivering when he spoke. "He said that you would do this, that you would try to twist my mind and turn me against him."
"We're not lying!" said Mai. "We're all telling you the truth. He never intended to bring Cecelia back, Pegasus. Don't you think that I would be right there fighting with you if I thought there was any way to bring my sister back to life? I would be with him, not against him. But the Millennium Items don't work that way. They grant power, yes, but not even they have the ability to bring someone to life again." She shook her head, a pained smile on her lips. "And even if it did, Hafiz wouldn't care enough about you to bother!"
"Shut up!" Pegasus roared, his head snapping up. "You don't understand anything. How dare you come here and spread such lies!" His silvery hair was blown back, revealing the glowing Millennium Eye. "I want you stop talking!"
Mai screamed, but the sound cut off abruptly as she crumbled to the floor.
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