(Lilo: gommen for the long wait but I need a beta reader. I cannot proof read this, and am pissed cuz of that. I also went to Cuba … (points out the reason for not updating) and I am working on describing things with a little more detail as well as trying not to leave plot holes. There might be some, actually, there 'are' some already and I've been working on stitching them up. Well, this chapter might raise a few questions but this is the beginning of an end. However, I need a beta reader! Seriously, I need one! Oh, and another reason for not updating is my school, and its evil exams…  yes, I also allow u to kill me… I mean, come on, I didn't update for how long? sweatdrops uhh…

Marikue: ' ahh, but the end ain't near. No no no, there is still a road ahead… YuGiOh manga ended typically --'')

Chapter 24

The Phoenix Takes Flight

            Dumbledore paced in front of his highly polished desk, with Snape sitting in one of the comfy chairs and watching him. Albus knew that there was a connection, a connection to everything that had happened and was happening so far… a connection that could mean their victory or their fall in the war that currently raged on in both wizard and muggle worlds.

            "I am sure Isis knows nothing about Sauro's death!" Snape finally have had enough of the headmasters pacing and it was starting to develop a headache that Snape definitely did not want coming.

            "She is not answering, so we cannot know for sure!" Dumbledore walked to his designated chair and sat down, putting his hands on the desk to support his head.

            "Even if she did know something, do you think that she would tell you?" barked the potions master. What Albus was doing was childlike, without any purpose and a possible use.

            "I don't know, I don't know," Dumbledore kept on repeating same words over and over as he pulled out a piece of parchment and a feather to write with.

            "So, what are you planning to do?" Snape raised one perfectly arched eyebrow as he wondered if Albus was still sane.

            "Well, the man that had taken Sauro's staff right after his death said that … said that I had enough clues to solve the puzzle," Dumbledore rubbed his forehead, "So I am trying to gather the clues, so that I can put an end to this and finish off Voldemort once and for all."

            "Desperate, aren't you?" Snape, too, leaned closer to see what the headmaster was doing.

            "I am," Dumbledore suddenly jerked his head to look at Snape straight in the eyes, "Harry is slipping, slipping further and further from my grasp. We are losing him, we are losing our hope, we are losing a child whom the fate titled guilty!"

           "I…" Snape couldn't come up with a snide remark or an excuse to make Harry out to be a total failure, not this time. What the headmaster said were the words that they both knew were truth but were too afraid to admit. Harry was their only hope, and Voldemort was their only rival… how more simple could it possibly become? 

            "Lets gather all that we know together so that we will have the pieces," the fire in Dumbledore's eyes died out, leaving only tiredness and submission.

            "Voldemort has three tablets," Snape began and the quill sprang to life and wrote what he had said on the paper.

            "Memories have one," and before Snape could interrupt, Dumbledore explained, "These beings, two according to Sauro and three according to the Man. A pharaoh, a thief and a priest. Sauro said that they possess bodies, summon monsters and fight for their own petty pleasures. They have killed many…"

            "Well, then that doesn't increase our chances," Snape shook his head while his eyes became blank as he thought of the terror that those three possessed if the Sauro feared to even utter their status.

            "But don't you think it is a strange combination though? A pharaoh, a thief and a priest… All I can conclude is that they come from ancient Egypt," and before Dumbledore could add anything else, Snape cut in.

            "Salazar's scale came from ancient Egypt!" the eyes of the potion's master suddenly became lively, filled with energy that they never possessed before.

            "So, what we can conclude is that the monsters originated in Egypt," Dumbledore's eyebrows almost met as he frowned, a loose thought dangling in his mind but he could not catch it, could not hold it long enough to think it through.

            "Now, then, there will be an event of some sort, or so the Man have said. He said they are preparing to depart… depart where?" Snape continued, wondering if they were on the right track or not.

            "I am not sure, but I suppose that they require some sort of preparation…" Dumbledore sighed, and looked at his phoenix. The bird sat peacefully, silently watching the two men talk, not making a sound, the only evidence of it still being alive was the light breathing that could barely be seen. However, suddenly, its eyes flared and it spread its wings as if wanting to take off but suddenly, it calmed somewhat and resumed being silent, as if nothing happened.

            "Enough of that, we are just creating more questions for ourselves, we just need the facts," taking his eyes off the bird, Dumbledore desperately searched for something that could help him concentrate.

            "So, um, are those memories a threat?" Snape asked the question that has been on his mind for as long as he heard of such existence.

            "I suppose so and yet cannot be sure," Dumbledore rubbed his face, thinking of everything that had taken place this year. "However, I am sure that they are strong, very strong indeed…" before Dumbledore could finish, a bell rang, signaling the end of the first period.

            "I should be going, professor," Snape made a move to get up when Dumbledore suddenly looked up.

            "I need you to be alert, and the kids that Isis placed under my supervision … be very careful with them, for they hold power that none can control. They could be possible targets too, for the memories are trying to regain what was once theirs… it's possible that there is a link between them all. It is possible for the three to have something that memories might want…"

            "I sure will," Snape was almost at the door when he was held back by Dumbledore again.

            "Moody wanted to talk to me about them, he'll come soon … Severus, take my warning seriously, they know something that we don't," Dumbledore emphasized and Snape left with a final nod.

            "Something is happening, something bad…" Dumbledore looked up at his bird, who kept on shifting again, its feathers unusually ruffled. The phoenix was usually calm, but something caused it to have major mood swings since the beginning of the year. Of course, it was possible that it was just lonely or that it was falling under stress just like its master, and yet those explanations didn't calm Dumbledore's sense of unease.  The door to his office was suddenly swung open and Dumbledore froze in shock as Moody literally crawled in. His face was bloody and it looked like the remains of his nose were hammered right into his skull while his eyes were slightly popping out. His limbs did not look like they belonged to his body and he looked as if he had just crawled out of a grave.

            "Albus…" he began hoarsely, "… they u-use dark magic, Albus. Leave them al-alone… leave…" he couldn't finish his sentence because he collapsed in a bloody heap on the floor, motionless. The phoenix suddenly gave its malignant cry that had only occurred twice before in the entire history of human kind, its sound stunning Dumbledore so that he couldn't move, and then, it took off it's porch and dove through the door and out of the office in a blink of an eye.          

            "POPPY!" Dumbledore screamed into his fireplace, "Poppy, something is wrong with Alastar," even though the headmaster was old, he still managed to quickly gather Moody with his wand, run around his office twice in sheer panic and only then send him into the fire and straight into hospital wing. Following closely, he cast another glace the way his phoenix flew, before following Alastar to the hospital wing, thinking that it would be better to do one thing at a time.

            Ron blinked rapidly, trying to rid his vision of the blurriness that came with the impact with Bakura's fist. He had never been punched this hard before so the aftermath experience was new to him. Swaying from side to side, he finally managed to make his way up the wall while using it as his support. However, before he could stabilize himself, he jaw once again connected with a brick and he was sent right onto the floor, abate and helpless. His body went rigid and tiny hairs stood up on the back of his neck as he lay on the floor, too afraid to move.

            "Get. up.," emphasizing every word through clenched teeth, Bakura summoned enough Dark energy for it to be visible, spiraling around his very body as he stood above a creature that deserved to suffer in the shadows. Seething while different torture methods surfaced in his complicated mind, Bakura could distantly hear Ryou's pleas from somewhere deep within his mind and after the tiny voice became a disturbance, he blocked it off with ease. His name wasn't Bakura anymore, no. His name was Baku, the king of thieves, the king of underworld.

            "…I…" every inch of Hermione's body shook as she slowly lifted her body off the floor. She was scared, really scared as she stared at the back of a spiky-haired teen who grew in size and even though only his back was exposed to her, she was ready to run for her life.

            "Get. up.," repeating it again, Bakura decided that he didn't want to wait for Ron to rise, and instead, he lifted him by the scarf, suffocating him in the process.

            "Let … go…" Ron managed to groan out before Bakura's fist grinded his ribcage. Coughing up blood, Ron was still short on air because of Bakura's metal grip on his scarf, and the pain in his chest was unbearable. Tears streamed down his face as every labored breath became a pain thousand times worse than anything he had ever experienced. It was as if his entire soul was being pushed out of his broken body, fires of hell dancing inside his chest.

            "Release him!!!" Hermione's shrill voice rang throughout the room but if fell deaf to Bakura's ears. He had one target, one target that he was currently holding at arms length. Inside of him, Ryou was using all of his spiritual power to bring the Bakura he knew back or at least to halt him in any way possible. Nothing was working; nothing could stop a mind set to kill. Bakura never tolerated rape or invasion, especially if someone was to invade a territory marked as 'his'.  Such thought suddenly made his power flare and his desire for nemesis increase.  Using the staff that was conveniently transformed into a wand and was currently resting in one of his many pockets, Bakura concentrated the shadow powers and made them immerge, just like he did on the train. This time, however, he was in perfect control of it, thanks to the staff, and was able to curl the shadow-magic all around the red-haired boy.

            "H … e … l … p …" Ron could only make distance noise and forming words became difficult to him. The cold feeling seized his brutally abused body, nearly freezing the blood in his veins, and the coldness continued to spread until his mind became a hollow place. He was no longer aware of where he was, or who he was for that matter. The void filled him like water filling an empty glass, his heartbeat decreased and nothing mattered anymore. All he could feel was the unbearable pain in his chest and the dark void that was welcoming, beckoning him to fall into it, to run away from the pain and yet… and yet something held him back, letting him feel the never-dulling pain over and over again and again, killing his very being, killing his very soul.

            "STOP!" tears rolled down her cheeks as Hermione struggled with the hold that Bakura had on Ron. Maybe he was a bastard, maybe he was a person who didn't deserve to live but she couldn't let him die, not like this. She didn't want to feel guilty for being the cause of his death for the rest of her life and she couldn't give her ex-best friend to death. However, Bakura proved to be unmovable, his grip that now moved to Ron's neck was getting stronger and stronger by the second and Hermione was at loss, not knowing what to do. It was pointless to try and search for her wand in the debris of the classroom and even if she would be able find it she doubted that she could come up with a spell that could stop the dark cord of energy that spiraled Ron's entire body. Looking into his face, she realized that it was sickeningly blue and yet Bakura didn't kill him outright. No, Bakura was torturing him, a slow death was definitely worse than a quick one and by the looks of it, Hermione's only way of stopping Bakura was to persuade him to let Ron go … but it was easier said than done.

            Yami was livid. No matter how much he tried, he could not break the barrier that Bakura put up around the classroom that he was in. Of course, Yami could try a destructive method but that would mean that he would have to blast half the castle to pieces and he didn't want to do that. Also, there might've been that tiny possibility that the barrier around the castle weakened his powers but that would mean Bakura's spiritual strength would decrease as well. No, Yami was sure that his powers did not decrease nor was Bakura any stronger today than he was yesterday. That left only one other possibility: a being older than Yami had to be present in the castle and was supporting Bakura's barrier. However, Yami could sense no-one around himself, other than Bakura's presence that was sickeningly close but Yami knew that this barrier probably allowed for him to feel Bakura's strong presence anyways. After all, they felt each other wherever they were and this type of barrier would surely be nothing in comparison to their link. However, the pharaoh was suddenly jerked from his dismal thoughts when he felt a presence behind him, a presence he felt once before behind the door to their dormitory.

            "Show yourself!" Yami turned around faster than one could blink and he saw bright blue eyes staring right back at him some 20 meters away in the darkness of the deserted hallway. He could not identify who it was because as quickly as he came, the blue-eyed person was gone, leaving the pharaoh alone again with the already transformed golden staff tightly in his left hand. It was then that Yami saw something bright golden, like a little dot of light that was becoming brighter and brighter at the very end of the hallway, and he realized that that object was quickly moving in his direction. Bracing himself, he took a fighting stance with the staff in both hands and waited, waited for that thing to come. However, it suddenly hit him and hit him hard. It was a fact that there was a way to break a barrier created by the creature of the underworld, and that was to use the bird loved by the god.   

            The phoenix was a ball of fire moving at nearly the speed of light. Its master has called upon it so that its master could get a body of his own. Not that he didn't have one… it was just that due to the time wrap, if he didn't get it now then there would be lots and lots of chaos in both realms later. Concentrating all of its power on the shield that surrounded the classroom where the king of darkness currently resided, the golden bird literally crashed through the barrier, shattering it to pieces. However, this little victory came with a price, a price of being turned to ashes and to be reborn again. To be reborn again and realize that it was a cycle that would always repeat itself, forever after the destruction of the world, forever … forever… a long time…   

            Hermione gasped, feeling as if thousands of cold needles suddenly embedded themselves in her skin before she risked a look at the new person who appeared in the doorway.  To her, Yami looked indifferent but she knew that he was feeling something entirely different by the way he stood. She wasn't sure how she knew it, but she just did. Still hearing Ron's futile gasps for breath, her nerves were on the brink of destruction and her mind in a total wreck. 

            "Help!" Hermione practically screamed into Yami's face, making him flinch and then move. Still clinging onto Bakura's arms that were tightly circled around Ron's neck, she tried to make a move towards the exit, encountering difficulty because she was trying to drag two grown teens along with her without realizing it. Suddenly, she was flung back and her head hit the wall, hard, and the world turned blurry.

            Yami couldn't tell what was going through Bakura's mind at the very moment, and honestly, he didn't much care. Once the girl was practically knocked out cold, Yami realized that holding back was not an option.

            /You cannot possibly summon a shadow realm here! I won't allow it!/ Yugi couldn't believe what his dark side was thinking, but then again, he was his dark side…

            You know a better way?Yami growled as he watched the red-haired boy finally lose consciousness.

            /I won't allow it!/ Yugi screamed through their link.

            I am going to do it anywaysaying it cruelly, Yami concentrated on the staff that allowed him a much better access to the Shadow Realm than the puzzle did.

            Chanting the words from the ancient times, Yami could feel a strong draw-back from Yugi.

            "Leave, pharaoh! This is something between me and this imbecile. You are not included," Bakura's voice was like venom, making the room's air heavy with foreshadow of death. This did not sway Yami from his main goal and soon, the room was in blaze of red, black and golden light. Yami was only vividly aware of the girl, Hermione, getting slowly onto her feet, as he released one of his strongest attacks. A huge ball of highly dense energy was thrown at Bakura with such force that Hermione was sent flying back, right into the wall again even though she was way out of the line of 'fire'.

            Bakura didn't stand a chance in surviving such attack with both of his hands occupying someone else's neck, and when faced with the choice, Bakura choose to live. Throwing the motionless body aside, he conjured up enough energy to block the attack yet be hurt because of delay that 'throwing the object' caused. The room became dark, with purple thunderbolts striking here and there. However, when the darkness cleared, no one could believe their eyes. There, in the room, stood two Yugi's and two Ryou's, two pairs, light and dark, life and death.

            "Yami…?" Yugi hesitated, suddenly feeling alone, empty. He could no longer feel Yami inside his body and he could barely sense him through their link.

            "Yugi, Ryou," Yami was speaking slowly, carefully, as if afraid to disturb Bakura whose eyes were currently hidden behind his now short hair, "Get Hermione and … Ron out of… here…" he practically murmured, his entire being focused on Bakura. Something was wrong with the other spirit, something that could cause potential danger to all in radius of 10000 kilometers.

            "Yami…? Why are you …?" Yugi stood frozen in place, starring at the person who used to be a part of him, a part that was no longer his…

            "Yugi … I think Bakura, I think he lost it," came Ryou's weak voice from the other side of the room as he slowly, painfully, made his way to where Ron lay motionless. However, before Ryou could touch the fallen boy, a wall of dark energy shot out of nowhere making Ryou jump back in fright.

            "He has no right to touch one of us," Bakura's deep, harsh and terribly low voice came from the other side of the room. He finally straightened and his eyes were now visible from behind his white/grey hair. The red pools of hatred were now glaring at the suspended body, making it clear that Bakura wanted him dead. "he is alive, I can hear him breathe…" he continued in the same dark voice.

            "Separate…?" Hermione's weak voice came from where she was sitting against the wall. So far, she still couldn't get over the fact that the two separated, it just didn't register. She also had a hard time trying to ignore the fact that both 'ex-spirits' were totally and completely naked. What was a girl supposed to do in her situation when she was face with two totally gorgeous species of men with well-built bodies and nude? She felt a nosebleed coming.         

            "He hurt us," were Bakura's final words before he lunged at Ron with everything he got, and was suddenly facing Yami. Realizing that Yami was defending it made Bakura furious and he no longer recognized a friend from a foe. Summoning the dark energy of shadow realm, he sent a ball hurling in Yami's direction, which the former king was able to absorb and them send back. It did not halter Bakura in any way, as he continued to send attacks and block the ones coming towards him with relative ease. It was then that he decided to end the little game and use his full power. It did not take long for him to absorb a small portion of the shadow realm into his body and then he went straight at Yami who also, regrettable, did the same thing. The two spirits were mirroring each other, and were now tightly locked in a trap that they themselves created.

            "Ru..n..n," were Yami's final words before both he and Bakura were engulfed in darkness. It was then that Yugi felt something tugging on his sleeve and turning around, he discovered that it was a bright golden bird. It wanted to drag him out of there.

            "Yugi, look out!" Ryou screamed from the other side of the room and Yugi jumped out of reflex, out of the way of pure silver-blue wall that choose to encircle the two yamis. Its pure light worked wonders against the darkness, making it become smaller and smaller while the darkness fought against it. "It's the barrier from around the castle!"

            Yugi wanted to run, to run into there and help his other self, to help his Yami, to help his friend. Sadly, he was unable to succeed because an unknown force, a force stronger than his entire being pulled him back, away from his most precious friend, away from the darkness that was losing, down the corridor that he did not remember coming through and out into the Eastern Tower's floor. He could distantly hear three other bodies lading somewhere near him, he could distantly hear the bird beating its wings in fatigue and he could distantly feel his entire body. All that he knew was that he could no longer feel Yami through their link.

            "Atemu!" Yugi screamed and collapsed in a crying heap on the well-polished floor.       

            Harry and Marik were slowly making their way up to Divination, having left the Defense Against the Dark Arts right after Moody, who stumbled out of the office in a hurry the minute he regain consciousness. The class was, of course, in an uproar, and everyone was talking about what had happened in loud voices so by now, the entire student body was probably already aware. When the two were unable to find Hermione, they decided to simply start heading to their next class, dismissing the entire thing as if it never happened.

            "Nice friends you've got there, Potter," came Malfoy's voice from around the corner and nearly gave Harry a heart attack.

            "What are … What are YOU doing here?" Harry couldn't believe his eyes. There, in front of the Divination classroom's trapdoor stood no other than Draco Malfoy himself, looking like he was pissed at the entire world.

            "Well, I can't help it if the new law states that Aurors have to have at least one course of Divination!" he spat angrily.

            "You are kidding, right?" Harry couldn't help but blink and smile dumbly.

            "I am serious! It was in the Daily Prophet, Scar head!" he glared at Harry, and if one could kill by looking, Harry would already be dead.

            "No, no, that's not what I meant," Harry waved his hands around, nearly smacking Marik in the face, "I mean, are you seriously looking forward to being an Auror?"

            "What? Don't tell me that you think that only scar-heads are allowed in!" Malfoy faked disappointment.

            "But your dad…?" Harry shot Marik a nervous look. Marik, however, appeared completely blank to the entire situation and was starring at one of the far-away windows.

            "What's that, Potty? Are you saying that because my dad died in Azkaban, I won't be allowed in? Your dad died and nobody found his body, does that mean that you won't be allowed in due to the fact that your dad might still be alive and simply hiding somewhere in fear of the Dark Lord?" Malfoy was now glaring at Harry with a similar glare that only Bakura could produce.

            "Why you?!" Harry's eyes flashed and he pulled out his wand. However, he didn't curse Malfoy because something that he said made him pause. "What do you mean by 'His body was never found?' He was killed by Voldemort, who must've obliterated him!"

            "Right and my mother is You-Know-Who's daughter," Malfoy mocked Harry with a sigh.

            "Maybe she is, for all we know…" Harry trailed off with a satisfying smirk on his face. This time, it was Malfoy who pulled out his wand. Both of them got ready to curse each other with spells that would surely result in a full day of laying in hospital wing, motionless, when suddenly, out of blue, Marik asked a question that shocked both of them out of their wits.

            "You sound like a married couple, for god's sake!" he said, moving closer to the window he was starring at, "Oh, and that reminds me. What kiss was Hermione talking about when she tried to wake you up?"

            "How did you…?" Harry turned scarlet red, his skin mirroring that of Malfoy, who stared at the ground, fuming.

            "I stood close by, and I just caught that you kissed someone …" Marik trailed off, realizing the uncomfortable silence that his innocent question caused. "Could it be…?" and idea suddenly struck him.

            "It was his fault!" Malfoy's high pitched voice carried through the corridors.

            "You are the one who turned! How is it my fault?" Harry glared at his enemy.

            "You were the one to hug me out of blue!" Malfoy countered, taking a defensive position.

            "It was only to annoy Ron! It had nothing to do with you! …Now that I think of it, its because of YOU that half the school thought I was gay on top of me being a freak and a psycho," Harry stomped his foot against the ground.

            "Oh, so you are saying that you were the only one who was hurt? What about my reputation? Because of you, I was kicked off the Slytherin's Quidditch team!" Malfoy's breath was becoming rapid and he was getting tired from the encounter.

            "Well, it's better than being called homosexual!" Harry screamed in return. Some students who were passing by gave the two very weird looks before entering through the trap door. Harry and Draco remained in their places, ignorant to the world outside of their conversation, throwing insults back and forth. Marik, who stood there dumbly, sweat dropped and finally had had enough.

           "I hate to break this little drama but," Marik began and his little speech finally caught the attention of the arguing boys, "There is something out there on the grounds, I am not sure what…" he trailed off and pointed to the window he was starring through throughout the entire thing.

            "Those are…!" Harry couldn't believe his eyes.

            "What in the world…??" Malfoy took a step back after getting a good look.  Suddenly, every ghost around them, including the paintings, turned their heads but they were not starring out of the window, no.

            "Did you hear that?"

            "I heard that"

            "The forbidden came!"

            "What? No, they won't enter! They won't dare!"

            The paintings and ghosts were nervous, afraid, and utterly and completely helpless.

            "What else can possibly happen?" Malfoy's voice was weak, as he cast another glance through the window.

(Lilo: Moody is not … well, you'll see in the end. Also, re-reading the story, I encountered something very amusing… in chapter 20, I used 'mood-blood' instead of 'mud-blood' … why didn't anybody tell me about it?! I mean…. faints it's not there anymore but…. No, seriously, I cannot believe I made such silly mistake… . … I need a beta!!!!!!!! Yes, I am a crappy updater, but I try, I really do. Basically, this is all that I wanted to say. The plot holes… well, I can't fix all of them but I can change mood-bloods into mud-bloods … .  Oh, and by the way, you have NO idea how hard the Ron/Bakura/Hermione part was… I mean, I was just spending one or more hours on each paragraph, if not more… xX …

Marikue: You can see her at DA, she goes there a lot … htt p:li llo . d ev iant art . c o  m  /   She has fun drawing things… and about that pic that she linked… the link wasn't complete and you know wut? Thank god! … the pic is awful, she is going to do another one soon, and trust us, it's gonna be something!   plz R&R)

PS: does the length of the chapter makes up for the wait?  I know that it doesn't, really, but … sweatdrops