Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do Duel Monsters Dream of Cardboard Sheep? ❯ Croquet? You're fired ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

They made their way down the hallway at a rate so slow that their distance per minute in feet would probably require decimals. Gabriel walked ahead, staff held out, ready to collide with any unseen obstruction that might be in their path. At least, Ailill thought that was what it was for- for what other thing could Gabriel use it? After all, he did his Dark Magic Attack with his hand, not the staff. And if the green jewel in the staff could glow, as Ailill suspected it could, then they would be giving themselves away to anyone who happened to walk down the hall from the opposite direction.
Ailill himself was several feet behind Gabriel, carrying the child; the latter had not stirred once, and Ailill wasn't surprised. How could he move at all with no soul in his body? How could he even still be breathing? He couldn't ask Gabriel, not now when he needed to focus so badly.
He was sure Gabriel was having second thoughts now- maybe he had been having second thoughts for a long time. He was sure Gabriel was calling himself insane.
But Gabriel had done it. That was what counted.

Yami Bakura's eyes were unusually good in the dark; his ears were just good. They had to be- in his chosen profession eyes and ears like his weren't just an asset- they were a requirement. Real thieves, after all, didn't go about with devices of lighting that advertised their location to any passerby.
That was part of the reason he had wrapped a gray scarf around the Ring so that its glow was even more muted. He could just barely make out the pointers, but he could make them out.
He walked slowly, constantly turning and sweeping his dark-eyed glance in every direction. When Ryou did that, he generally wound up looking apprehensive, which he was; those big brown eyes were a veritable invitation for any predator to attack. But anyone looking at his yami performing the same action would never in a millennia mistake that expression for one of fear. Ryou looked for predators; his yami was a predator.
At the moment, an extremely displeased predator.
He'd been walking around for Ra knew how long, without the slightest idea of who had dared to take the Ring's power for their own use. He cursed in a language whose impact was slightly lessened by the fact that near nobody could understand it as he realized the possibility that whoever had used the Ring could also have placed a blocking charm on it, so that it was blinded to things of its own making.
He cursed several more times, and Ryou let out an automatic objection concerning the intensity of his chosen profanity. By Ra- when had he stopped blocking?
(must be more careful next time)
Yami Bakura hastily crushed a button camera he'd seen out of the corner of one eye, then went about erecting a shield between Ryou and himself, a task he had performed many times and could literally do in his sleep.
But something went wrong this time around.
He cursed again and ignored Ryou best as he could as he came to the obvious conclusion- not only had the Ring been blinded from all the power drained, it had been otherwise crippled. No longer could he show Ryou anything beside the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. No longer could Ryou be denied the use of his own eyes and ears. And by Set, in all likelihood he could probably no longer seal souls- after all, it required a good deal more power than the shielding.
This time he used the worst curses he could remember, and it was only by virtue of his ears that he heard the footsteps of someone around the next corner-
(By Ra and Set why does there always have to be something around the next corner?)
His voluntary muscles all drew taut; he lifted up the Ring-
(at least if they shoot this could be some help blocking)
-And he laughed at the thought. His laughter was sharp as the hair of the Pharaoh no baka, and just as strange. This was probably why the footsteps came to a complete halt.
He kept on laughing, more for the heck of it than for anything else. His spare hand jammed into the back pockets of Ryou's jeans one after the other, then extracted a flashlight and dueling deck. He held the flashlight and deck before him like that celebrity from America might hold a gun in entertainment (Ryou had heard of the American celebrity, but had never once watched any Clint Eastwood film; he wasn't interested in the genre except to use comparisons from it).
Although now, with the failure of the Ring, he thought he trusted a gun more.
A figure emerged from around the corner. He hadn't thought he could stiffen any more without undergoing rigor mortis, but apparently he hadn't correctly gauged the capacity of this body.
This was insane.
If Ryou's eyes weren't deceiving him, there was someone before him with the exact silhouette of the Dark Magician. There was only one thing to do-
(I can't exactly pretend this is a gun, much as I might like it to)
-he gritted perfectly-brushed teeth (because Ryou was a perfectly-brushed-teeth kind of person), aimed the flashlight while trying not to bend the cards in the same hand, and pressed the button so hard he swore the finger was paling even more than it already was.
A circle of revealing light-
(who needs the Swords of Revealing Light when you have this?)
-illuminated the hallway, turning what had looked like dark purple carpeting to red.
The figure let out a startled cry and stepped backward, hands before his face. The staff in one of them nearly whacked Yami Bakura in the face. He frowned as he noted that what he could see was identical to that of the hologram that represented Yugi Motou's Dark Magician. There was no way this could be Yugi wandering about the halls as a bit of fun- he was far too tall.
(If this is a stunt by some wannabe duelist it's a damn good stunt. And I don't think it's a stunt)
The hands came down, showing him blue eyes that made him think of what he saw when Ryou looked in a mirror. He could sense the fear and surprise in those eyes that were so like Ryou's.
He had only begun to recover from this when his mind was sent scrambling again.
There was another one which was, if he wasn't mistaken, Celtic Guardian (he didn't know many of what he considered weaker cards- this one didn't even have an effect like Magician of Faith or Man-Eater Bug did. Man-Eater Bug only had roughly a third of Celtic Guardian's attack power, but Man-Eater Bug was the one with the "sugoi" effect). Another carbon copy of the hologram right down to the four medallions dangling from the armor and the red stone in the center of the helmet.
Then again, the Celtic Guardian he had seen wasn't carrying Mokuba Kaiba.
Before his mind could go through all the facts and draw a logical conclusion as to What He Should Do Next, his mouth was automatically opening.
"You're the one who stole the power of the Millennium Ring, you…"
The voice was quite low as it pronounced the words, "Dark Magic Attack."
Ryou screamed; he thought he heard himself screaming, too. He was flung back, everything falling from his hands. He grasped at one card that he thought might be a Spell Binding Circle, but it probably wasn't. He wasn't sure if he even had that card. The ring of light dropped down to someplace he couldn't see; he heard the dull knock of the Millennium Ring striking the carpet. He struck the ground, staring up at the unseen ceiling.
Ryou's screaming was going on something fierce. Yami Bakura lay there and watched the two that logically were supposed to be cards pick up the Ring and one of his cards.
"Gabriel, it's Celestina."
"Celestina? You are sure this is Celestina?"
"Yes, you see the words right here?"
"'Change of Heart.'"
He was suddenly full of righteous anger- (how dare they touch MY Change of Heart card!) -but he was smart enough to be silent as they went on.
Yes, remember Jewel said that Celestina was in a card that said-"
"I remember what Jewel said, Ailill."
"Gabriel, d'you think…"
"No. No, I cannot."
"But why not?"
"I apologize, but… all that power…"
"Oh. I see. It's really too bad about Celestina…"
"At least when we return you can tell Morgan and the others that you saw Celestina."
"I'm not going back. D'you know what Michael and Aoibheann would say if I came back?"
"I see…"
And then they were lifting the Millennium Ring high, only it was in Mokuba Kaiba's limp little hand. It was glowing and pointing down the hall, and they were headed down the hall, with Celtic Guardian first kneeling and placing Change of Heart in Ryou's hand. And then Ryou was asking what the bloody hell just happened. He couldn't answer.

Pegasus had been having an incredibly pleasurable dream involving Funny Bunny, the late Mrs. Pegasus, and "fruit juice." That was why he was so annoyed when he woke to find someone slicing into the door of one of his in-room safety deposit boxes (the one labeled Funny Bunny Toys) with what looked suspiciously like a sword. The other one was already severely mangled and lying on the floor. His favorite Funny Bunny toys cascaded over it.
"Chihiro was right. He's crazy. Putting those stupid toys behind the door that said Soul Cards."
"At least, Ailill, we can safely assume that this one contains them. Ailill?"
"Yes?"
"What is a funny bunny toy?"
"The most wonderful thing in the world!"
The intruders both turned and looked at him with wide eyes. The door to the second safety deposit box fell off. Nobody moved.
It was then that he remembered. He reached for a cell phone and dialed. "Hello? Croquet? You're fired."