Chapter 5

Author's notes: I'm in a rather foul mood thanks to the early snowfall, and I refuse to move out of my bed, so here's some more Puppet!

Marik Ishtar sat on his concrete throne, his rare hunters cloaked in dark purple in front of him. They knelt before him, loyal subjects to their dark pharaoh. His amethyst eyes scanned the room. Several days had passed after the murders of Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor. The police hadn't found any clues or leads to the mysterious killings. He knew very well who was behind it, and was somewhat amazed that the tournament hadn't been cancelled because of such an occurrence.

This tournament seemed more important than he suspected to Seto Kaiba. "What he should be more afraid of is for his life," Marik murmured. He then looked at this Rare Hunters. "I want you to find the Pharaoh and his friends, make their lives miserable. I want those God Cards!" His minions nodded, quickly scattering. As they fled, Marik caressed the smooth surface of his Millennium Rod. This demonic woman stalking Seto Kaiba eluded him constantly, and even his most skilled trackers in his clan of thieves, couldn't find a trace of her. "You're quite the tricky one, aren't you..."

He got up from his throne, and stepped down, the purple silk brushing against the cold concrete floor. He murmured to himself about finding this intriguing mistress of death, his golden hair swishing around his shoulders. The young Ishtar heir paced around his underground lair, utterly stumped. "You should be careful what you wish for," a smooth voice murmured behind him. Mark whirled around, seeing Kurayami sprawled out horizontally on his throne. Her long, bi-coloured hair cascading down onto the base of the throne. "Here I am..."

Marik's eyes widened then a smirk crossed his tanned lips. "So here you are indeed," he said, folding his arms. "I was wondering if you were just a passing fantasy of mine. You've been quite quiet these past few days."

Kurayami didn't move from her spot and smirked slightly. "There is something to be said for patience." She then sat up straight. "How can fear properly do its work if there is no time to let it ferment?" Slowly she crossed over to him, and put her hands on her hips. "Let me get right to the point. I will need your assistance. Seto Kaiba's soul is of no use to me as it is. You are after the Pharaoh's power, which resides in Kaiba's nemesis..."

"My assistance?" Marik echoed, his lips curling into a confident smirk. "Then I believe we can be of help to each other. Only when Kaiba faces Yami will his soul be ready for you to snatch. I know this much because of my interfering sister, Isis. Let me torment them for a little while out in their field of expertise, and it will be plum pickings for you, my mistress..." Although she was right in front of him, and speaking directly to him, Marik reached out to touch her face.

She grabbed his wrist with her skeletal hand, shaking her head. "Indulging in these little fantasies of yours will take your eyes off the prize." She pushed his hand away, and turned around. "The only one who interests me is Seto Kaiba." With that, the darkness swirled around her as she walked, and within moments, she was no where to be seen. Marik smirked, his pink tongue flicking against the golden head of the Rod. This was going to be a very lucrative partnership...

--- ---

A young, brown-skinned male dressed in white glanced around the bustling city. He sensed death, and darkness swirling around everywhere. Shaking his head, he knew his destination, and crossed through the crowds to Isis Ishtar's museum. He pushed a door open, and set foot inside of the building, raking a hand through his longish black hair. They were in here, both of them. He was quite lucky to have them both in the same room at the same time, although anything less would not have sufficed. Passing various artefacts, his hazel eyes searched for the two people he desired to speak to.

Finally, he spotted Isis Ishtar speaking with Seto Kaiba in front of two giant slabs of rock behind panes of glass. They noticed someone intruding on their private conversation, and turned to see him. "May I help you?" Isis asked, maintaining her professional demeanour, while Seto remained expressionless.

"Actually I can help you," he replied, moving over to them. "My name is Rick, and I have information about Kurayami."

Seto's eyes widened and was about to grab Rick and hoist him up by the collar, to demand he spit out the information at once. Isis raised a hand to stall him. "I sense no treachery in your "

Rick nodded, and looked around. "Is there somewhere we can sit down? This will take some time, and some of it may be hard to believe." Isis nodded, and gestured to Seto and Rick to follow her to a back room, with three chairs around a circular table. Rick sat down across from Seto and Isis, and cleared his throat. "I know that Kurayami has been stalking a young Japanese man for quite some time. She had gone missing from where I am from, and it's taken us up to now to fully track her down."

"Where you're from?" Seto repeated, raising an eyebrow. "And who is 'us'?"

"I'm getting there," Rick said, waving a hand, dismissing Seto's remarks. "North America, Canada in particular, is where I mean. And what I mean by us...well this is going to seem rather farfetched, but I hope you'll bear with me. There is eight of us, kids just the same age and previously enjoying high school. One day we received these necklaces." He paused, and fingered a Japanese character 'Light' shaped out of pure Diamond around his neck. "Each of them were for a specific element: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Thunder, Holy, Light...and Darkness.

"We are called upon to stop a sorcerer of dark magic, who desires to control the world," Rick continued. "It sounds like something from a bad comic book, doesn't it? However, it became very real. He took the body of one of our classmates, and slowly began a rampage that's shed much blood. The leader of our warriors, Holy, began to get intoxicated with her power, knowing no one could challenge her. She would constantly berate Darkness, and Darkness boiled with anger, vowing to knock Holy from her high horse. When her love was injured by the Sorcerer, Darkness went mad...absolutely enraged that his had occurred, and Holy had done nothing to stop it.

"Her anger was understandable. One can only take so much crap before snapping," Rick frowned deeply, and Isis noted there was some connection to Darkness he had that Rick wasn't letting on. "But the way she went about it...none of us could handle her. Not even Holy. Darkness left the country, saying something about a way to increase her power so even the Gods could not challenge her power."

"You know quite a bit about Darkness...Kurayami," Isis began slowly, and gently. Seto was staring at the two of them in disbelief. This was turning into a mystical three-ringed circus, and his life was at the epicentre. "You are Light, the Ying to Kurayami's Yang..."

"There is a good reason for that," Rick said, and took a deep breath. "I'm very in tune to her feelings, and to her in general because she is my twin sister." Seto's eyes widened, and he sat up straight in his chair, while Isis nodded, her suspicion confirmed. "I'm here because I know she is here, and this is the young man she has been after. I believe I can help you, and hopefully, get my sister back."

"She was never like this, was she?" Isis questioned lightly.

Rick shook his head. "She was cold at times, sure...sarcastic, but she was ... never like this. But losing her deepest love really set her off. I do have hope that I can bring her back, to the way she used to be. But it will be difficult. The Darkness has a firm hold on her, and she's welcomed its intoxicating and detrimental powers with open arms. She's given herself wholly over to this darkness...and the murders that occurred here a while ago are a clear indication of how far she's fallen." He looked at Seto, seeing clearly that her nightmares have permanently changed him. "Well...at least she chose a cute one to torment."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Seto demanded, clenching his fists. "I'm being stalked by some deranged psycho and you see fit to crack jokes?"

Rick blinked, then smiled a little. "Calm down, Kaiba. Go about your business with this tournament. Fate has strange ways of working these things out." Seto snarled, not liking this guy's attitude one bit, and stood up, stalking out. "It's remarkable how easy it is to get this guy angry."

Isis laughed slightly, shaking her head. "He's been through quite a bit at the hands of this woman. He is not quite sure how to act, seeing as how everything he believed about himself has been thrown into question."

"Yeah, that would do it, wouldn't it?" Rick mused, stroking his chin. Who knows really what is going to happen. I've made a large step getting here and explaining the situation to Kaiba and to Isis. But, there is still the task of banishing the darkness from Didi's1 heart...but I am not going back until I see her back to normal. "Say, Isis...I'm not much of a history buff...do you think you can fill me in on Ancient Egypt?"

"Specifically the High Priest and the Pharaoh, you mean?" Isis supplied, and Rick nodded, giving her a brilliant smile. "Of course, it is the least I can do." Rick thanked her, and she began explaining the past, as much as she knew. This boy's aura...there is something else that he is to do here, someone else's life he is meant to touch with his light, infectious personality...But there is no time to muse on this. I must stop my brother and this woman from destroying the world. I will do everything in my power to do so...

-TBC-