Yu-Gi-Oh!

Rise With the Break of Dawn

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters aren't mine and the story is! This takes place in my Pendulum Swings verse, which redeemed Yami Bakura, the Big Five, and Lumis and Umbra. There are a few references to my story The End of All Things. I am also loosely adapting a storyline with Siegfried that I started and never finished in my old timeline, in the story Der Engel des Todes.

Chapter One

Mokuba sighed as he sat in a windowseat at the Kaiba Mansion and stared out the window at the front yard. It had been some time now since Zorc's attack and the von Schroeders' mysterious non-appearance to help fight his minions, and all of Mokuba's attempts to contact them had failed. The message he had left with the butler Ludwig had either been lost or Leonhard had chosen not to answer for some reason. The more the days went by without any contact, the more worried and despondent Mokuba grew. He really wanted to just fly out there and find out what was going on, but Seto had objected. And maybe that wouldn't help them learn anything more anyway. The butler certainly hadn't been forthcoming with information.

He looked up as Seto walked into the room. "Hey, Seto," he said softly.

Seto sighed. ". . . I called von Schroeder," he announced.

Mokuba stared at him. That was no small thing. Seto hated calling Siegfried, and he hadn't wanted anything to do with the man at all ever since he and Leonhard hadn't come to help fight Zorc. But from Seto's expression now, he had done it out of his love for Mokuba and realizing how worried the boy was about his friend.

"Well?!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Did you get him?!"

"No," Seto said. "And I don't know why." He frowned and sat down next to Mokuba in the windowseat. "I think you're right that something is wrong, Mokuba. I'm going to have some of my employees in Europe try to find out what's going on."

Mokuba stared at him in amazed awe. "Seto . . . you really mean that?"

"Of course," Seto said. "I should have listened to you before, little brother." He gripped the fabric of the windowseat. "I still don't like von Schroeder, and when neither he nor his brother came to help us, I was sure it was just to spite me. I didn't want to listen to other possibilities. I preferred being angry with him."

Mokuba sighed and looked down. "Well, at least you decided to listen now," he said softly. "I'm glad. I know Siegfried is a big jerk and all, but he's all Leon has! I can't stand to think of anything happening to him! Maybe they're even both hurt!"

Seto laid a hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "I hope not. But we should know soon."

The doorbell rang and Velma answered it. In the next moment she gave a strange, choked gasp.

Both Seto and Mokuba looked up with a collective start. "What is it?" Seto barked.

They stared as the errant Siegfried von Schroeder stumbled into the living room. One hand was inside his suitcoat, pressed against an apparent wound. Blood was soaking through in spite of his best efforts, and as he took another step he swayed, suddenly lighthearted. At his side, a horrified Leonhard reached to steady him. "Siegfried . . . !"

Siegfried leaned heavily on his brother, but still managed to give Seto a weak smirk. "I am truly sorry for the intrusion, Herr Kaiba. I do hope I won't bleed all over your expensive carpet."

Seto was already on his feet. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming here now!" he spat. "What is this?!"

Leonhard looked over with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry we weren't able to come help with that Zorc creature," he said. "It's a long story, but we didn't even get any of your messages until recently."

Mokuba was running over to help. Yet even as he did, he couldn't help saying, "But what about when I called and got the butler Ludwig?! He said he'd give you a message!"

Leonhard bit his lip. "He did . . . when we got back. . . . Please, I'll explain everything, Mokuba, but right now my brother needs help!"

Siegfried swayed again and almost crashed to the floor even with the two children trying to assist him. Finally realizing he had no choice but to help as well, Seto came over and grabbed Siegfried from behind. As he did, one hand touched the wound through Siegfried's suitcoat. His eyes went wide. "What the . . . ?!"

Siegfried gritted his teeth. "We would not have come, except for how Leonhard insisted," he said. "I most certainly had no intention of allowing you to see me in this sorry state, Herr Kaiba."

"I'm sure," Seto grunted. "What happened?!"

"Leonhard hoped that you would know something that could help me," Siegfried explained. "This wound was delivered by a magical sword, unfortunately." He turned away as a cough rose in his throat. Although he tried to disguise it, a bit of blood appeared at the side of his mouth. "You see, Herr Kaiba . . . I'm dying."

Seto stiffened. "Why would you even admit this to me?!"

"Only because of Leonhard," Siegfried said. He gave a weak sigh and slumped unwillingly back against Seto. "I do not wish to die, of course, but I would have stubbornly looked for another solution. Leonhard, however, was certain that you and your little friends would hold the best possible solutions. And so we have come. Whatever you may think of me, I know you wouldn't want a young child to be left all alone in this world without his only family."

Seto let out a frustrated breath. "You're right. I'll help you to a ground floor bedroom, but then someone had better start talking about what happened here!" He grabbed Siegfried's arm. "Lean on me."

Leonhard watched worriedly as Siegfried succumbed, leaning heavily on someone he still quite disliked. His desire to stay alive for Leonhard was the only possible thing that could have humbled him enough for this.

"We were attacked by Vikings," Leonhard almost whispered as they headed down the hall to a room.

Mokuba stopped walking and stared in shock. "What?!"

Seto scowled. "I want to ask if you're kidding, but I already know the answer."

"It's all true." Leonhard blinked back tears as they entered a bedroom. Velma scurried in to turn down the covers, and Seto started to ease Siegfried into the bed. "They suddenly showed up at the castle and said they'd been living in a secret colony for generations, waiting for when the time was right for them to claim the world. They learned about Siegfried and realized he was the warrior destined to defeat them from conquering the world, so they wanted to stop him before he could. . . ."

"What. Your brother, a warrior?" Seto couldn't refrain from snorting. He eyed the frilly sleeves and cravat. Siegfried was about the farthest thing from a warrior Seto could imagine.

"I am just as confused as you, Herr Kaiba," Siegfried mumbled. "It must be a case of mistaken identity."

"They trapped us in some kind of magic barrier," Leonhard quavered. "We couldn't get phone signals or any other Internet or communications at all. For a while we just wandered around, trying to find them, and then suddenly they ambushed us. One of them went after me and . . . Siegfried tried to save me. . . ." He blinked back tears and his voice caught in his throat. "That's when he was stabbed with the sword. . . . The barrier fell away and the Vikings laughed and left. We tried to get medical help, but the doctors can't do anything with the wound. So . . . I knew we'd have to come out here. . . ."

Seto growled. He pushed back Siegfried's suitcoat and then unbuttoned his shirt to examine the wound. "Haven't you tried to do anything with it?" he said in disbelief.

"Of course," Siegfried said. "The doctors tried to stitch it, but it didn't hold. Bandages fall off. All we can do is put pressure on it. So you see, it is quite imperative that some magical solution be found right away. Otherwise . . ."

"You'll bleed to death," Seto finished. "You'd probably already be dead if this was a normal wound." He snarled in frustration. "I guess Yugi and the others were right about Viking magical items. Mokuba, call all of them right now! And make sure the Big Five bring that encyclopedia of magical objects."

"Right!" Mokuba took out his phone. As he did, he tried to give Leonhard an encouraging smile. "Everything's gonna be okay," he insisted. "We're not going to let Siegfried die."

Leonhard gave a shaky smile in return. "Thank you, Mokuba." He was certain these people were Siegfried's last hope. But . . . would even they be able to save him?

xxxx

Lector was badly shaken by Mokuba's call. He tried to stay optimistic and assure the boy that they would do all that they could, but as he hung up he wondered if they would really be able to. They had gone all through the encyclopedia before and hadn't found any trace of the Viking objects in there, save for a listing on the Eon Spear alone. How would they ever learn about the sword that had pierced Siegfried, let alone in time to save him? And what was all of that bizarre talk about Vikings preserving their culture for centuries and believing Siegfried was the warrior who would keep them from conquering the world? Not that any of them were warrior material, but Siegfried? He sighed and shook his head, overwhelmed.

Nesbitt wandered into the room and saw him. "What is it?" he frowned.

"I'm afraid our next problem is starting," Lector told him. "Let's find the others and I'll tell all of you together."

"I think they're in the kitchen," Nesbitt said.

They both went in and found that Nesbitt was right. Gansley, Crump, and Johnson were gathered around the table while Crump sprinkled sugar on some pancakes. Lector smiled sadly. He hated to spoil this peaceful time by telling them about the trouble, but they needed to know.

Crump looked up first. "Hey," he greeted. "What's up?"

Lector sighed and sank down at the table. Nesbitt sat next to him. "Mokuba just called me," Lector announced. "I'm afraid any peace we were having is now over. Something terrible has happened."

As they all ate brunch, Lector told of what Mokuba had said on the phone. The others listened, frowning in concern and distress.

"Ho boy," Crump groaned at the conclusion. "How are we ever gonna fix this one?! We don't know anything about these Viking items and there's nobody we can turn to about them!"

"All we can do is research on our own and see if Mr. Bakura and Ishizu can help us," Gansley said. "They may know someone who studies Scandinavian artifacts."

"Let's hope so," Johnson said as he adjusted his glasses. "Otherwise, I don't know how we're going to save Siegfried."

"And I can't bear to tell Mokuba there's nothing we can do," Lector said. "Or Leonhard either."

Nesbitt growled. "There has to be something we can do!"

"We can't always fix everything," Gansley said. "But if we're lucky, perhaps in this case we can."

xxxx

"Mr. Devlin?"

Duke started awake. For a moment he couldn't remember where he was or why he was asleep. But then he felt the dice pressing against his cheek and caught sight of the colors of the game board. He had fallen asleep laying over one of the tabletop RPG games in his store. Both Lumis and Umbra were looking down at him in concern.

"You really didn't have to stay here," Umbra said. "We had everything under control."

Duke sat up, running a hand into his hair. "I know. . . ."

"We know you and Mr. Tanaka have been trying to watch out for us," Lumis said. "But it's really alright. We don't want you to have to do that."

"I don't have to," Duke grunted, an edge creeping into his voice. But then he sighed and looked away, his shoulders slumping. "Or maybe I do, in a way. After I finally found a way to bring David back from the dead, I . . . I couldn't ever relax. I kept being afraid that I would set the whole thing in motion again. And I guess . . . I'm doing the same thing now . . . wanting to make sure I'm doing all I can to keep you guys from being hurt again, like you were by Bandit Keith. . . ."

Lumis and Umbra exchanged a worried look.

"I really don't think anyone will come after us again," Lumis said. "Especially right in the store. . . ."

"They'd better not." Duke's voice darkened. "That wasn't even the first time it happened! When Yami Marik attacked and killed you, Umbra, that happened in the store too!"

Umbra cringed. He had to admit Duke had a point.

"It's completely unacceptable," Duke said now. "I have a responsibility to make sure my employees are safe."

"And you've more than fulfilled that by now," Umbra assured him.

Lumis nodded. "Both you and Mr. Tanaka have been working very hard for our sakes."

"And as long as you both stay safe, it's worth it," Duke insisted.

The electronic doors opened and Yugi, Atem, Joey, Tristan, and Téa came in. "Hi, Duke," Yugi smiled. "Hey there, Lumis, Umbra." It was a friendly, happy smile, but worry tinged his expression as well.

"Hey, guys," Téa greeted with a wave.

"Hello," Lumis said.

"Hey, Yugi, everyone." Duke shoved his hands in his pockets. "What's up?"

"We were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by," Joey said with a thumbs-up.

Tristan nodded. "That's right." He looked somewhat hesitant as he spoke. When he had told Duke about what he remembered of how he had hurt Duke while under mind-control, Duke had not been happy but had said he forgave Tristan. Still, however, Tristan worried that Duke was still smarting from it, especially if he had regained his memory of what had happened. If he had, he hadn't said. But Duke might not ever say.

"Is everything going well here?" Atem asked in concern.

"Just fine," Duke said before Lumis or Umbra could speak up.

Yugi's phone dinged and he looked down at it. A gasp left his lips. "Oh no! Things aren't just fine elsewhere!"

As everyone else's phones dinged as well, they all stared at the same message Yugi had just received.

"What the heck?!" Joey exclaimed. "Siegfreak shows up at Kaiba's place and claims he's dying from a magical wound?! It has to be a trick!"

A second message from Mokuba followed the first.

This isn't a trick, guys. We're looking at the sword wound. It's for real.

"Aurgh!" Joey messed up his hair. "We already went through the magical wound mess with Kaiba!"

"This is awful!" Yugi exclaimed. "And if the wound is magical, and from one of those Viking items, how are we ever going to find the solution?!"

"Bakura's dad and Ishizu don't study Scandinavian history," Téa said. "But they must know someone who does!"

"And even then, what are the odds of that person knowing about Viking magical items?" Atem said with furrowed brow.

"We'll have to try," Yugi said. "Ugh! I wish that encyclopedia listed all of the Eon Items!"

"Well, I guess we can't expect it to have everything," Duke said.

"We don't have any time to waste," Atem said. "Let's do what we can, now!"

Tristan frowned as most of the group hastened to make contact with the only people they knew of who might be able to help them. "You know, Siegfried would never bend over backwards if any of us were dying," he remarked.

Yugi frowned. "We don't know that," he said. "We've never been in a situation like that with him. But anyway, Tristan . . ."

"I know, I know," Tristan sighed. "Even if he wouldn't, we wouldn't want to be like that ourselves." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's true," he admitted in resignation.

"There aren't many people I dislike more than Siegfried," Joey said. "I even liked Kaiba better than him when I didn't like Kaiba!" He sighed too. "But Yugi's right, and also, we like Leonhard, right? That's another reason to try to do everything we can to help Siegfried pull through this."

Tristan nodded. "I know that too. Yeah, I'm in."

Lumis stood back and watched them. "Is there anything we can do to help?" he wondered.

"Do you know somebody who might know about the Viking Items?" Tristan retorted. "If not, then I don't know."

Umbra sighed. "We're just in the way," he told Lumis. "Come on, let's get back to work."

Lumis slowly nodded and followed him to the storeroom.