Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Psyche ❯ Meetings ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

 

This is the third part of the Chrysalis series. You will enjoy this more if you read Chrysalis and Emergence first. You will get lost!

 

Psyche

Chapter Five: Meetings

 

~*~*~*

Bakura

~*~*~*

He didn't have many happy memories of this place. He hadn't been at his brilliant best, last time. Oh, he'd done what had needed to be done, but, when he was alone in his soul room, he reluctantly admitted that he could have been a bit … less… talkative. He even blushed in embarrassment, back in the farthest, loneliest, most remote corner of his room, at some of the inept things he'd babbled. His defense was that he'd been a bit… tired, yes, tired, therefore any less than… inspired things he had done or said, had been the fault of little sleep, little food -Damn boats. Man was not supposed to float around like that on all that damn waving, lurching, unruly water. Give me a nice smooth river that did nice smooth predictable things, where one could stand on the bank and never be tossed about like a fucking child's ball.- and a queasy stomach.

 

Duelist Kingdom island had not changed much. The wharf looked the same, with it's grey weathered wood and overblown arches proclaiming their welcome to any seagull that passed this way. Many of the dueling arenas were still in place, though looking a bit neglected. Pegasus' castle had a few more moats, but looked otherwise the same too. Croquette looked as staunchly dull as ever, as he opened the door, then surprisingly -well maybe not- slammed it in his face.

 

“Hey! I'm trying to be nice here!” Bakura griped at the door. “I could have broken in you know!” Inspired…maybe it was being this close to a total fruitcake that was muddling his brain. With a long suffering look, he stepped back and planned his next attempt, while silently cursing his stupid hikari. “Go talk to Pegasus, he says. Be nice, he says. Just knock on the front door, he says, and tell then you just want to talk.” Bakura snarled and eyed the electronic security scanners. “Bite me, I say.” Then shrugged. “No point in being subtle.”

 

The door was not problem, he was even “nice” and didn't completely obliterate the thing. Completely. The phalanx of security guards, he actually felt a bit sorry for. Pegasus, with his knowledge of shadow magic should have known better then to hire such complete incompetents. Croquette was barely a thought, as he brushed the stooge lightly aside. It was locating Pegasus that took the effort. The nutcase wasn't in the study, any of the bedrooms, the kitchen, the dinning room, the family room, the parlor, the armory -Gotta come back to that later.- the tiny chapel, the underground dueling arena, the TV room, the library, the butler's pantry, the greenhouse, the … -how many fucking rooms does this wacko have?!-

 

Bakura, taking a breather in the kitchen, pulled open the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. Slumping against a counter, he contemplated his next move. Okay, so the wacko isn't in the castle, then where is he? Bakura twisted the cap off his beer and stared out the window. He shrugged and considered going back and torturing the info out of Croquette, or hunting aimlessly through Duelist Kingdom. “That's a no brainer.” He chugged his beer as he went searching for where he tossed the bodyguard.

 

“Croquette! I'm home!” A merry voice caroled through the foyer, brining a feral smile to Bakura's lips as he gave a yeasty belch.

 

Pegasus was standing lightly to one side of the entry, dropping a hat on the table. His white hair was slightly mussed from the light breeze. His pale hands absently smoothing a pair of gloves as he placed them next to the hat.

 

Bakura slid up silently behind him. “Hello again.”

 

Pegasus turned, with a mildly curious look that disappeared quickly. “NO! NO. Keep it away from me! Keep it away!”

 

“Keep what away?” Bakura was mildly curious, as the man plastered himself against the wall and tried to scoot along it keeping as much distance between himself and the thief as possible.

 

“Don't bring it near me!” Pegasus looked wildly around, still trying to slide along the wall to the door.

 

“The Eye?” Bakura stepped forward, somehow not entirely pleased as the other man cringed. “Don't you want it back?”

 

“NO! I don't want it back. I don't want it back.” He shook his head wildly. “I won't play another game. I won't. You took it, you have to keep it. You can't make me take it back.”

 

Bakura frowned, as far as he could tell, most people who have Millennium Items wanted to keep them desperately. He'd fought a war for them. The pharaoh protected the Puzzle with every power he had, even risking his own soul. Marik, crazed as he was, would leave a large bloody streak through the population if he ever felt the Rod was jeopardized. He wouldn't think twice of sacrificing himself to protect the ring. To have hysterics because someone might return a Millennium Item? That was beyond bizarre, heading straight to lunatic and zeroing in on unbelievable. -Well there is Moto's little girlfriend. She hates hers with a passion, but then it really isn't hers is it?-

 

“You don't want it?” Bakura took another step forward.

 

Pegasus bolted, running through the door, yelling for Croquette. Bakura followed after him, sipping the last of his beer. For some reason, he felt he came to the right place. If anyone knew anything about that Eye, the terrified man that was racing, stumbling up the main staircase knew.

 

~*~*~*

Yuai

~*~*~*

 

The Millennium Necklace now lived in the kitchen, under the sink, beneath the box of Decon, in the unused studio apartment over the garage, at the far back of the Kaiba estate. The garage that only the gardeners used to store their equipment. The only time that the golden nightmare saw the light of day was when Yuai knew that Yugi or Yami were going to come over and notice it's absence from her throat, body, immediate presence, room, or even vicinity. Then and only then, would she trek out to the back of the beyond of the estate and dig the thing out of the shoebox it now called home and shove it in her pocket next to her statue of the black magician.

 

In the nearly eight days that it had been in her possession, she had suffered from a variety of amusing nighttime entertainments. After delighting her with the joy of getting the life smashed out of her from a car accident, the necklace had expanded it hymn of happiness to show her lovely dreams of getting impaled on spears, burning at the stake, freezing in a snowstorm, getting literally fucked to death by solders, and dying in a Nazi concentration camp. She now woke up every morning plotting how to repay Yami for the lovely gift he had given her. A pit of fire ants, hungry, irritable, fire ants were this morning's choice.

 

She hunched her shoulders and glowered at the beautiful day that surrounded her. Domino City park was all decked out in its spring glory of blooming flowers, soft lush green grass and merry, jewel like birds that flittered joyously around singing their small hearts out. Small children scampered like puppies through the spring breezes, followed by proud, indulgent parents. A few small groups of teens hung around the fountain and lake, lolling gleefully at the picnic tables and drinking from bright colored soda cans as they laughed with their friends. Life, for the non-Millennium Necklace cursed crowd, was sweet. Yuai felt like a small speck of dark gloom, perched on a bench, watching the bacchanalia of spring like a disapproving old auntie.

 

“Maybe if you snarl a bit, it might help.”

 

Startled, Yuai looked up into a smiling familiar face. He was an old man, with a long neatly clipped white beard. “Thanks…uh…Mr…”

 

He sat down next to her with a tired sigh. “Kallon, my dear. Remember the convention? You bought those little figurines.”

 

“Oh. Yes, I remember.” Yuai nodded, fingering the small statue in her pocket. She pulled it out. “Thanks for the statue. I figure you had to have…”

 

“You're quite welcome.” He gave an amused snort. “He misses you, you know. Not that he'd ever admit such sentimental garbage, but he does miss you.”

 

“Excuse me?” Yuai looked around quickly, trying to keep up with the turn in the conversation. No one was around that looked like they missed her. Though there was one little hell-beast masquerading as a innocent child that was taking aim at her head with a squirt gun that had better miss her. She tried out the snarl Mr. Kallon had suggested. It worked fine.

 

“Never mind.” He looked out over the park. “I take it you haven't been pleased with the necklace.”

 

“The necklace?” Yuai blanked, what necklace did she get at the convention. Was there another entertaining piece of jewelry lurking around to make her life complete?

 

“The Millennium Necklace.” He looked over at her with arched eyebrows and humorous eyes.

 

“The necklace from hell? What do you have to do with that?” Visions of fire ants danced in her head.

 

“I'm afraid I was one of the ones to…encourage it to be sent to you.” He looked amused as she glared death at him.

 

“Really. Who are the others?” Yuai ticked off things she would need. Happily she could find most of them in the gardener's garage. She could grab them on her way through it tonight. She was going to one of the dueling arenas with Yugi tonight and she'd have to fetch the necklace. Multi-tasking, always a good thing.

 

“Making a list and checking it twice.” The laughter was working closer to the surface of his eyes.

 

“Fire ants are cheap.”

 

He started laughing, “I have missed you, too, dearest one. I have truly missed you.” He suddenly sobered. “Enough. The necklace was sent for a reason. A very good reason.”

 

Yuai looked at him doubtfully. “I can't honestly say I've missed you. Who are you again?”

“Kallon.” He gave her a troubled frown. “Now, listen. You don't have much time.”

Yuai shifted away from him, looking suspiciously at him. “What do you mean. You send me a necklace that gives me nightmares…”

 

“Not nightmares, dearest, memories.” He caught her hand and held it. “You are reliving your own deaths.” He cocked his head questioningly to one side. “Don't tell me you've adopted the modern day disbelief of the soul.”

 

“Look,” she tugged at her hand. “This is all very nice, but I…”

 

“Am going to get crushed by a car in a few days?” He nodded, keeping her hand trapped. “And when it happens, you will be born again, and again, living the same nightmare life and dying a painful death. You need to stop it.”

 

“I don't…”

 

“Believe me? How many deaths have you relived? Burned by the Inquisition? Slowly suffocated by a fallen tree? Ritually sacrificed? Poisoned? Gasses in a concentration camp? How about the lives you lived before those deaths? Roman slave? Orphaned kitchen wench? Penniless leper? How about this one as fuck toy for deranged parents? Kicked, raped, abused, whipped, tortured? Aren't you tired of it yet?” He dropped her hand and looked away. “You need to stop it and come home.”

 

“I am home.” Yuai stood up, turning away. “Leave me alone.”

 

“No dearest, you aren't home, and soon you and that car will meet. If you try to avoid the car, then something else will happen. You always die on the same day, at the same time, at the same age. And unless you do something soon, you will only be reborn moments later to live the same life you just escaped from. Is that what you want?”

 

“When?” She froze, remembering the car's grill racing toward her.

 

“Soon, dearest, unless you cheat death.”

 

She turned around, “You can't cheat death.”

 

Kallon nodded solemnly, “It is possible. You just have to know how.”

 

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

“Concentrate Kaiba, you need to focus your mind.” Yami's voice was low, slipping silkily around him. “If you can't focus, you won't be able to tell what thoughts are yours and what are not. Focus.”

 

They were sitting cross legged on the floor of his home office. The window shades drawn, blocking out the glare of the over bright sun. The door to the hall was left cracked open, so that he could hear if Mokuba needed him, but so far the mansion's usual hush pervaded, not even the soft sounds of the maids doing their afternoon cleaning could be heard in the shady room.

 

“Can I wash my hands first?” Kaiba squirmed. He was doing the one thing he had sworn he would never, in this life or any other, do, concede to Yam that magic was real. But if there was anyway, anyway in hell, he could find the person who had Jo by backtracking the shadow spell that was choking the sanity out of him, he'd do it. He'd live with Yami's smirking, Bakura's gloating, even Marik's crazed grins, if he could only get Jo back. He could more than live with it. He'd revel in it. He'd celebrate every second. Have anniversaries. Teach his kids all about the wonders of the Shadow Realm. Just as long as Jo was there sniping little told-you-so-s at him.

 

“No, Kaiba, you've washed your hands enough. They're clean.” Yami soothed.

 

They didn't feel clean. Kaiba could still feel a sticky residue on them, like half dried blood. If he looked down at them, he would see a ghostly impression of a reddish brown smear on his finger tips from where he had touched the ghost's blood. Still, if it was part of the spell, it was good that it was there, very good. They might be able to trace it, like a phone call being traced on those cheesy cop show reruns Jonouchi loved to watch late at night.

 

“Focus.”

 

“Hey Kaiba! Where's the remote?”

 

The ghost yelled from downstairs. A pause then feet distantly thumping up the staircase.

 

“Kaiba! You hogging the remote again?”

 

“Focus. Look at your thoughts.” Yami's hands smoothed through his hair, coming to rest on his shoulders.

 

“He's coming.” Kaiba opened his eyes, only to have Yami cover them again, smoothing the lids down with the palm of his hand.

 

“No he isn't. There is nothing there. Focus.” Yami's voice dropped lower, becoming a mere whisper.

 

“Kaiba, whatcha doin' up here with him? You cheating on me?”

 

“No, I would never…” Kaiba shifted against Yami's hands.

 

“Focus. It isn't there.” Hands came up to stroke his temples.

 

“Jo…”

 

“Isn't there. This spell only works if you give it permission for it to work. It's using your need to see Jo against you. Now focus, or we won't find the real Jo.” Yami's voice was barely above a breath.

 

“Hey! Don't listen to him. I'm right here!” Ghost hands yanked at his sleeve, demanding attention.

 

“That's it. Focus. The image is the scent, we just need to track it to the real Jonouchi.”

 

Jo, for Jo he'd do this. He pushed the feeling of the hands away, narrowing it out of his mind, just like he did when working on a programming. He could imagine it. The smooth sequence of numbers. The orderly dance of pixels across the screen.

 

The hands disappeared. He almost wanted to cry out, to bring them back. They were the only thing he had left.

 

No! He wouldn't think like that. He'd track the bastard down. He'd get Jo back. He'd have more than some sick ghost hanging around dripping blood and madness through his house. He'd have Jo, the real one, once again roaming through his house, yelling about the lack of Rocky, Rocky Road ice cream and sleeping in a warm cuddle in his arms at night.

 

“Good, very good.” Yami's hands slipped away. “Focus, find the scent, so we can follow.”

 

~*~*~*

Bakura

 

~*~*~*

Pegasus sipped his wine, nodding at Bakura. “Yes, that's the entire secret. Rather twisted, isn't it.”

 

“I really never even thought of that. It just seems… wrong. Deeply wrong.” The spirit ran his fingers through his white hair shaking his head, bewildered at the new revelation.

 

“Yes, but I've been watching this happen for a long time, you can trust that I know what I'm talking about.” Pegasus set his now empty glass down and motioned for Croquette to fill it again.

 

“But this?” Bakura nodded as Croquette arched a questioning eyebrow at his beer bottle.

 

“Surprising?”

 

“Unexpected.” Bakura flipped the copy of The Daily Soap Almanac down on the table. “How could you possibly have figured out that Jessica was carrying her long lost brother Teddy's child, when they haven't even seen each other since they were three?”

 

“You'll see. The child was the result of artificial insemination because Roman is infertile…”

 

“No! He has three kids with Raven!”

 

“Raven's a slut. The kids are from her affair with Jack.” Pegasus shook his head sadly. “Roman's been infertile since Mona poisoned him because he dumped her for Rebecca.”

 

“Then how could Teddy be the child's father?” Bakura nodded absently at Croquette as another beer appeared in front of him.

 

“Pauline is really Teddy, but since Teddy is now working for a secret government agency, he's working under cover as a transvestite weightlifter.” Pegasus lifted his new glass of wine and took a sip. “Just wait, in a week or two when Jessica has the baby it'll have two heads or something.”

 

Smirking, Bakura leaned back in his seat. “Yes. Inbreeding has some unusual effects. Who knows? The kid might end up with red eyes, odd hair, or even be severely stunted.”

 

“You never know.”

 

~*~*~*

Review!

 

Here's a question, and I'll give a prize to the winner. Probably a guest shot in my fic. I have been trying, unsuccessfully to write a good summary for Chrysalis and for Emergence. How would you do it?

 

Sakiyama: I have to admit, my favorite scene so far is the poker game too. I could practically see Bakura's face when I wrote that! Jo haunting Kaiba was fun too, but in a weird dark way. I want everyone to be okay too. *smacks around the muses*

 

dragonlady222: I know, it's a cliché that Jo gets raped and Kaiba comes to rescue him, but I had to do it *smacks the muses around a bit more* . Well, off I go to be more evil…

 

Sorceress Sarrkh: If you keep writing great reviews like this, I'm willing to wait. I know, I know, I need a betta reader for my fics. I can always spot typos the moment that I put it up, then want to smack myself for it. I really hesitate doing much with Yuai. I'm so conscious of OCs that suddenly take over and run the story. This part of the trilogy however has a lot of Yuainess in it, but I'll try to keep it centered on the real main characters and leave Yuai as a cause and not the focus. This one is really more Yami and Kaiba's story than anyone else's.