Author's Note: Whew! I knew a lot of time and effort went into great story-telling but this is a different kind of exhaustion… I don't like to ask for reviews and I still won't but any good feedback would be greatly appreciated, and it's needed right now. I know where this story is going but some scenes are not playing out on paper like they are in my head and for the sake of keeping some momentum I'm having to edit some minor points to this tale. Also, I apologize if some things don't seem to flow right/mistakes are made/don't make sense. I'd be happy to go back and fix them or explain in my notes. For those that followed/favorited/reviewed already THANK YOU SO MUCH! It feels amazing knowing others read the crazy things that come out of my head. :D I apologize for the things that are not canonically correct, & also for future shipping in later chapters, I either forgot about those things completely or they didn't offer help to how it played in my head (though I will work hard to have it make sense). While I know many of you are against shipping OTP's, please respect that this is my story and the pair I've chosen to focus on is essential to the character development and plot to my saga. With that all being said, I hope you all choose to stay and go on this journey with me. Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN YUGIOH CHARACTERS.
Chapter 6: The Search Begins
Yugi dropped his carry-on and stretched his arms as far above his head as they would go. The Cairo terminal Pegasus had dropped them off in was mostly deserted save for a few wealthy businessmen in suits. Joey slumped in a nearby chair, Ryou was loosening his tie and his Grandpa had made a beeline straight for the restroom.
"Dat was the most exhausting plane ride I've ever done in my LIFE." Joey complained.
Yugi rotated his shoulders loosening knots in his back, "It could have been worse, a free ride first class and top dollar meals? Pegasus did us a pretty big favor."
"Well yeah, but did he have to drag us through the friggin' dog-and-pony show? If I never see another camera again it'll still be too soon!" Joey whined, pulling off his light blue button up and straightening his plain white undershirt. Ryou tiredly nodded his head in agreement.
"Honestly this time around wasn't as bad as the Ball...so many pictures were taken on the island I was seeing spots for days after. I'm just glad Grandpa wasn't roped into all that, he's not able to bounce back like he used to." Yugi replied, reaching down to touch his toes and groaning when his spine popped in places. He was still young and felt less sprightly already...
"I don't know how you do it Yugi. Is it like this at tournaments?" Ryou asked.
"No, not nearly as bad. I'd rather do a million Battle City events than go through that again." Yugi shuddered.
"Yeah, until we need another ride across the world." Joey moaned, reclining back and folding his hands behind his head. Yugi sighed and agreed with him.
After his meeting with Kaiba, Pegasus had cheerfully escorted them to the airport-private terminal, of course-and proceeded to get them camera ready. While the boys had dressed up a bit nicer than usual in case of a public appearance, Pegasus' wardrobe assistant made them change into semi-formal attire. The always daintily dressed man happened to have business in America to tend to and informed them that they'd be detouring over the continent to drop them off in Cairo, and Yugi wasn't the least bit surprised that there had been a catch. The plane ride had been an 8-hour onslaught of photo ops, interviews and a four-way duel between the Yugi, Joey, Ryou and Pegasus ("Just for a bit of fun for the fans!" Pegasus laughed-Yugi won, of course) broadcasted live online. The luxurious private jet had proven to be more than comfortable, but even with the extra leg room it wasn't enough of a cushion against Pegasus' over-the-top personality. Between events Pegasus demanded to know even the most minute detail of their lives since they last spoke and in return shared the finer details of his travels as a young man before and after receiving the Millenium Eye-a conversation that Grandpa had taken quite an interest in. After dinner they had excused themselves for some much needed rest and shortly after that they landed. After a rather dramatic farewell on Pegasus' part they finally stepped off the plane in Egypt. Yugi had no idea where the man got all his energy from, and while he did a good job keeping up and staying in good spirits throughout the journey he was wiped. Solomon came out of the bathroom and waved them forward. Yugi yawned and turned to his equally exhausted companions.
"C'mon guys, let's grab our bags and head towards the exit. Ishizu said our ride would be parked outside our original flight gate." Yugi picked up his carry-on and led them out towards the baggage claim.
Teá sat on a lounge chair in the break room of the Luxor Museum watching Rebecca pace back and forth. 'Yugi and the guys should be here any minute.' She was happy to get to see her friends, but her excitement for the trip had disappeared when she and Rebecca had been told what had happened. Marik was missing-like disappeared into thin air! The entire archeological dig had been destroyed and artifacts were stolen-gone without a trace. Even though most of the hired help hadn't been there during the attack a lot of people had still been injured and half the crew up and quit complaining by loud-mouth about egyptian curses and such. She assumed that Ishizu, Odion and Rebecca's grandfather were counting their lucky stars that no one had died in the explosion, but anxiety and sadness permeated the air whenever they were around. She felt bad that they were going through this, but she couldn't help but wonder what they could even do to help? What could she do to help? This wasn't just above her pay grade-this was in a whole different ballpark of weird and dangerous.
Rebecca's phone chimed and she checked her messages, "Hey my Grandpa is on his way up. I'm gonna grab a drink at the vending machines real quick, you want anything?" Her tired eyes looked at Teá through her glasses.
"No thanks, I'm okay for now. I'm gonna wait to eat and stuff till the guys get here." Rebecca responded "'Kay." and went across the hall. Teá's mind went over what little information Rebecca had gotten from the Professor. Other than the fact that Marik and some artifacts were gone there wasn't much to go on….No suspects, no weapons, no trace of arson or artillery shells, no previous threats...if the few witnesses who actually came forward to share what they had seen hadn't done so then it could all be chalked up to one scarily big freak accident. The guys still didn't know what had happened and she worried how they'd take the news. 'Poor Marik...I hope he's okay.' He wasn't close to them, but every once in awhile Yugi would hear from him...they could say they were all friends right? After all they'd been through there was bound to be some loyalty, or at the very least a debt to be paid. She'd never admit it out loud but he kinda owed them for saving his ass from the Shadow Realm. She had already seen how torn up his sister was with his disappearance. Ishizu said that she'd fill them in on all the details when the gang got here, and if the far off look in her eyes had been any clue she just knew it was bound to be something creepy.
Couldn't they just have normal lives already? They did their time with the crazy magic and saving the world from bad guys thing! She hung her head and sighed, looking up she saw Rebecca come back in the room with Professor Hawkins, Odion and Ishizu right behind her.
"Teá, it is good to see you again." Odion greeted, smiling warmly at her as they all sat down in around the small coffee table.
She returned the smile, "Hi Odion, hey Professor! It's been a long time. I'm sorry about everything that's happened, I hope we can help you get everything sorted out."
Odion's smile faltered a bit, "Thank you, and yes, I hope for that too. With you and your friends' record for the strange and impossible I'm sure you can be of much help to us." She chuckled and silently hoped he was right.
"I believe that as well. Rebecca tells me you're quite the dancer, I'm glad to see you're doing so well." Professor Hawkins commented. Rebecca nodded enthusiastically behind her soda can.
Teá smiled brightly, "Oh thanks! Anytime you're in New York and want to see a show just give me a call. Best seats in the house on me. You too guys, I know you're busy but you come to America every so often right?"
Ishizu nodded, "We do, the Smithsonian is actually the one we visit the most. It's a nice change not staying in a hotel; we always stay a few days at Mar…at Marik's apartment." Her face saddened and Odion frowned at the floor. Professor Hawkins broke the sudden tension in the air.
"As you know, yesterday was quite an eventful day. Sadly, we don't know much more than what we've already shared with you. Ishizu, Odion and a number of others were pulled from the pit itself after the ground collapsed. I wasn't there at the time but from what I've seen...it's bad. The government has soldiers stationed all around the Valley, preventing us from going in and truly assessing the damage on the pyramid-they still believe this might have been a terrorist attack. Most of our artifacts survived the fires and are accounted for, save one." He shot a curious look over to the siblings, "But all of our paperwork and much of our tools and supplies have been destroyed. The worst part is that I'm afraid we have lost any chance of learning more about the Pharaoh's past, at least more than what we already know."
"That's awful! I'm so sorry Grandpa! I should have been here." Rebecca cried, her emerald eyes tearing up a bit. Arthur wrapped an arm around her and patting her hair.
"No no Rebecca, it is better that you weren't here. You could have been seriously hurt. I'm glad you were not in the midst of it. Though I have to say I'm still not comfortable with you calling your friends here to Egypt. We don't know if there will be another attack."
"Gramps, I had to come! You needed me, and our friends can help with this sort of thing. Yugi, Ryou, Ishizu and Marik were all Item holders, so who's to say that they aren't potential targets? They'll be safer if we stick together."
"Rebecca wait, your grandfather is right, had you been there at the time of the attack you would have just ended up being pulled out of the sand with us. As for the Items we recovered, they're safe for now." Ishizu said gently.
Teá asked, "So what did they take if the Items are still here? And what happened to Marik exactly? You think he was what-kidnapped? But it wasn't an attack from a group of thugs or terrorists? I don't understand how he can be gone if no one saw what happened."
At this the Ishtars looked uncomfortable, and Odion spoke up, "An ancient spellbook we discovered within the bottom chamber-that was in our possession at the time of the attack, was taken..but until we can search the tomb itself we won't know what else is missing. If anything else is missing. As for how Marik vanished...people did see it, we saw it, but it is still very hard to believe."
"What do you mean?" Rebecca asked.
"He means that even though we have seen and experienced things we can't explain in the past we've come across something completely different...something that we've never seen before...and I'm not even sure where to begin." Ishizu looked helplessly at Teá, which unnerved the brunette. Normally Ishizu was a strong and clever woman-always two steps ahead of the game. To see her so shaken worried her.
"Perhaps you should start at the beginning." Arthur said. Ishizu and her brother shared a look, then she nodded at Odion.
His deep voice resonated in the tile room, "Ishizu, Marik and I had been in the main tent talking just before the fires started. At first, I thought it might have been a mechanical malfunction. A light stand shorting out and catching on fire. Then other light stands began exploding one after another..someone targeted those lights and set fire to the camp. The flames grew so quickly I thought there is no possible way it was just one individual-it had to have been a group effort. Strategically speaking, this was one of two things: an ambush or a distraction. When I left our tent to see what was happening there were no gunshots, no threats being shouted, no casualties from a surprise attack. Panic and chaos like that you would think there would be, but this was different. Due to the lack of perpetrators seen I'm almost positive this was meant to be a distraction."
"But a distraction for what? It was an archeological dig, what could possibly have warranted such attention?" The old Professor asked. He and Rebecca were the only two who hadn't had real experience with the shadows-didn't truly understand that this particular Pharaoh's tomb was cause for a lot of attention-good and bad.
"I saw the person responsible." Odion's brow furrowed as he recalled what had happened.
"You saw them?" Teá asked, eyes wide.
"I saw her." His voice dropped almost to a whisper, "It was just one woman. I can't recall any details about her because she was completely covered up. Except her eyes...she had silver eyes. And she fought like a highly trained soldier, so fast it was like fighting smoke. She overpowered me and Marik in seconds." He glowered.
The girls' eyes bulged at that. Odion was huge and intimidating as hell if you didn't know him...and he got taken down by a girl? Was she some kind of ninja mercenary sent to steal ancient artifacts? Teá had it in her mind that they went up against some huge scary amazon type woman with a black belt in jujitsu.
"We assumed that she was after the Millenium Items. It would explain why she dove into the pyramid after fighting my brothers. If she was watching us she would have known we found the bottom chamber where the Pharaoh lay buried." Ishizu looked at the Professor. "We don't know exactly how, but she is the one who caused the pyramid to sink into the ground."
Odion rubbed his temples, "It didn't just sink-she blew it up...from the inside. It may be hard to believe but she floated out of the wreckage in a black bubble-type forcefield. At first I thought it was an illusion, but she landed safely despite the destruction around us..then it disappeared. I'm pretty sure Marik saw it too."
"A forcefield? She flew herself out of the pyramid?" The brunette asked, he nodded, "Guess that does make this a freaky magic thing. So what can we do about it?" Teá turned back to Ishizu.
The Egyptian woman sat forward, "Teá, I know this is a lot to ask of you and your friends. I understand that you may not have much to offer, but we have no one else to turn to. There are very few people who truly understand there is real magic in the world, and fewer still those who have faced it head-on. Whatever help you can offer we will gladly accept."
"Then what are we waiting for?" A familiar voice chimed in. Everyone jumped and looked towards the door as Yugi, Joey, Ryou and Solomon all filed in.
"Yugi!" Rebecca flew across the room and flung her arms around him. He chuckled and hugged her back. Arthur shook hands with Solomon while everyone exchanged greetings. Teá felt emotional at seeing her good friends again and ran over to hug each of them. It was never more apparent how much she missed them than when they were together again. Once the chatter of the happy reunion died down Yugi turned to Ishizu.
"Okay so we caught the tail end of things but there's a lot we missed. Care to start over?"
Before she could respond a loud gurgling noise echoed through the room. Everyone looked around confused before all eyes found Joey.
"Hey! Don't look at me! That wasn't my stomach!" He said defensively.
"Then whose was it?" Solomon asked.
"Um, mine. Sorry.." Ryou's face flushed and he grabbed his tummy, "I didn't realize….I need food!" They all laughed at his pained expression.
Ishizu and Odion looked at each other and grinned, "Well, I think we can help with that. Your staying at the Luxor Hotel correct?"
Rebecca nodded, "Yeah, we have two suites." The gang's eyes lit up at that.
"Since it's no longer safe to stay in our previous accommodations we booked a room there as well. The Luxor has a wonderful dinner buffet, so why don't we head over and I'll fill you in tonight?"
"Yeah!" They all cheered and headed towards the main doors. Teá followed them out, feeling better now that she had her friends there. They'd been through enough over the years to know that they could overcome any obstacle when they were together. 'Still, I have a bad feeling about what we might be getting into...' She shook off the apprehension and joined in the playful teasing of Ryou's growling stomach as they piled into cars and headed for the hotel.
Yugi towel dried his hair and walked to the window to look outside. The stars stood out against the night sky and he took a second to enjoy just being somewhere he could see all the constellations without all the interference from city lights. Opening the window, he leaned out and the cool breeze floated into the room. He shivered as the wind blew through his damp hair. He knew the temperature dropped at night but he seriously wondered if he should trade his shorts for sweatpants. Deciding against it, he thought back over what he had learned that night. Ishizu had told them over dinner everything that had happened leading up to Marik's disappearance...finding the sealed bottom chamber, the Items, and some kind of black magic spellbook that the woman had chased them down to get. Professor Hawkin's hadn't been too happy when he learned that the Ishtar men had been secretly planning to hide the book, but seeing as how it had attracted the kind of trouble they originally feared he graciously let it go.
Yugi had been stunned into silence upon learning that the Pharoah's pyramid had been destroyed. At first, all he felt was shock-which bled through to anger that someone had desecrated his old friend's resting place. Then sadness that the last place he would ever feel close to him was gone. Arthur sadly gave Yugi the news; with the tomb being blown to bits he was being forced to terminate the internship program, which had been created specifically for the ancient king's tomb-a surprise for Yugi planned by the good Professor and his Grandpa as a college graduation present. Hearing that had been a punch to the gut, he had been really looking forward to working with Professor Hawkins. And working on Pharaoh Atem's tomb? He was floored. It would have been an honor to help uncover more of his life story to share with the world-it would have been the cherry on top of the whole damn sundae! A sundae that someone had thrown unceremoniously in the dirt. 'Poor Pharaoh...' He desperately hoped that wherever his friend was on the other side, he didn't know what had happened here. A fire had been lit in Yugi's soul, to bring justice to the offense brought upon his yami's resting place-and bring Marik home. A knocked at the door caught his attention. A soaking wet Joey walked in with Ryou, Rebecca and Teá all filing in behind him with bemused expressions.
"Yuug, you gotta check out the pool! It's AWESOME. They have a hot tub too! Glad I packed my swim trunks. Hey is it just me or is it kinda chilly in here?" He looked at the thermostat.
"Sorry Joey, I opened the window for a minute." He turned and shut it, "Uhh why are you wet?"
Ryou giggled and Teá sarcastically asked, "Yeah Joey, how did you get all wet?" They all relaxed around the boy's roomy suite. The girls sat on one of the two king size beds and Ryou sat in a big armchair by the t.v.. It was a nice room, with a half kitchen and a big bathroom-one Yugi hoped they'd treat better than some of the hotels they'd stayed at before. Though if the trouble was already starting he wasn't going to bet on it. Joey peeled off his wet shirt and sent Rebecca an irritated look.
"Dunno exactly, why don't you ask her…" Rebecca checked out her nails innocently, and Ryou's shoulders shook with his mirth. Joey chucked the wet garment in his direction, "SHUD UP ALBINO!" Only causing him to laugh harder.
Said albino raised his arms stopping the sopping shirt from hitting his face, "Hehehe sorry Joey, but your face was priceless!" He tossed the shirt at Rebecca who squealed, "But I'm more sorry that I wasn't closer to do it myself!"
Yugi smiled and gave them questioning looks, "Do what? Did you push him into the pool Rebecca?"
She smiled wickedly, "No, and push wouldn't be the word I would use to describe what happened."
Joey growled at her, "Aw yeah? So what would ya call it then Beccs? Cause it sure felt like a push to me!" She turned to glare at the nickname but stopped short as he hopped on one foot, pulling off his wet jeans, completely ignoring the girls' protests of his shedding clothes in their presence.
Teá averted her eyes to the ceiling, "Joey here was making a scene out on the pavilion by jumping onto the fountain and yelling about how cool the scenery was."
Yugi looked over at his best friend, his face said it all, 'Really?' To which Joey went on the defensive.
"I wasn't yelling! I was just really excited that you could see the Valley of the Kings over the gate! I jumped onto the ledge to get a better view and somebody.." He shot Rebecca another scowl, "..decided to be funny and shove me into the water!"
"It was too good an opportunity to pass up! All I did was give you a little nudge! It's not my fault you weren't able to keep your balance." Rebecca covered her eyes and pointed at him accusingly.
Ryou laughed out, "He-he c-couldn't! He was wheeling his arms through the a-air ha ha ha with this panicked look on his f-face!" He re-enacted the scene from his chair, "And then, SPLOOSH! He splashed water all over the balcony a-and ha ha just sat there looking like a drowned puppy!" He rolled in his chair. Yugi and the girls joined in as Joey flew across the room and knocked him to the floor. Ryou screeched about being molested by a wet, half-naked dude and Joey pinned him down and slathered his wet body all over him in revenge. They made such a ruckus they didn't hear another visitor enter the room.
"Oh my.." Ishizu's eyes widened at the sight of the two wrestling on the floor. They all looked up in shock.
"Shit!" Joey dove behind the bed in an attempt to hide himself, and Yugi burst out laughing at his and Ryou's beet red faces. Joey sputtered out, "H-hey Ishizu! Wasn't expecting you this late! Hehehe.." Ishizu just shook her head and addressed the room.
"Sorry for interrupting, I simply came by to bid you all goodnight. And I also wanted to thank you for being here for my family. It means a great deal knowing we have such caring friends in far places."
Yugi stood and walked over to her, "Of course Ishizu, we've been through too much to not be friends! We're worried about Marik too, and I promise we'll do all we can to help you find him." He gave her a determined nod and she smiled at him.
"Thank you Yugi. I suggest you all get some rest. Tomorrow Odion and I will be driving back to the dig site to search for any more clues, and if they allow us to search the tomb I'll need all the pairs of eyes I can get. With everything that's happened I'm sad to say the better portion of our team has left us. Unless you had planned to start somewhere else?"
"No, we'll definitely go with you. What better place to start then at the scene of the crime?"
"Alright, we'll leave after breakfast. I'll see you all tomorrow." She bade them goodnight and left.
Teá got up and stretched, "We'd better go too, I have a feeling it's gonna be a long week and we'll need all the sleep we can get." The girls got up and waved goodnight before leaving the boy's alone.
Yugi walked into the bathroom and draped his towel over the shower curtain to dry. Coming back he saw Ryou had already changed and was getting comfortable in the bed they were gonna share. Joey was nowhere in sight. Walking over to the empty bed he jumped on it and peered over the side to find the underwear clad Joseph Wheeler playing with his fingers, trying not to drown in embarrassment. He propped his head up on one arm.
"Hey buddy, you doing okay?" Yugi whispered, trying to keep a straight face at his friend's antics. Joey shrugged.
"Ehh you know, just thinkin about if I'll ever get any shred of my dignity back…"
Yugi chuckled, "I hate to tell you this, but I think dignity flew out the window when you decided to put on those boxers this morning."
Joey glanced at his dingy purple boxer shorts (with a few holes) and his face turned another shade darker.
"I should probably buy some new pairs soon…" He whispered. Yugi nodded and reached out, patting Joey's head before getting up and turning off lights and jumping into his own bed. The room was quiet as Joey got up, shuffling around before going into the bathroom to rinse off and change. Yugi relaxed into the pillows, just listening to the water running and Ryou's even breathing. As his eyes started to feel heavy he heard the albino whisper in the dark.
"Yugi, are you nervous about going to the tomb tomorrow?"
Yugi turned his head in Ryou's direction, finding warm chocolate eyes glinting at him in the dark.
"Yeah, a little...but I'm more worried about Marik, and if he's okay."
"What about the Items?" Yugi could hear the anxiety in his voice.
"I hadn't really given it much thought. Why? Are you nervous about being so close to the Ring again?" Ryou didn't answer but Yugi could see him nod his head. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. There isn't any magic tied to them anymore and Zorc is gone forever. He's never coming back. Let's just focus on getting Marik back, okay?"
"Okay." Ryou whispered, turning to sleep with his back to Yugi. A few moments later his soft snoring could be heard. Yugi lay there for awhile thinking over everything. Only after Joey had come out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the other bed did his eyes slip closed. He slept uneasily; dreaming of falling chambers, white fire and the Pharaoh reaching out to him-screaming wordlessly- before being swallowed by purple flames.
Author's note: A few things were brought to my attention about the placement of the Millenium Items! So I make this announcement: Once the first book of the saga is done I plan on going back to make changes to make the story more canonically correct in the first couple of chapters. But for now, I need it the way it is and it's hard to go back and make changes while I'm in the process of getting everything down before I forget it. My fellow writers will understand..Hope you enjoyed this chapter. There is so much more to come! Also, the next couple of chapters will be more focused on Marik's time in Avhall, seeing as time passes differently there and I'm hoping that it will flow right into Atem's grand entrance! Keep checking back peeps. Mwahahahaha! Focker out!