Chapter Fourteen: My Last Breath
For awhile, the pain had been bad enough to make purple lights flash in front of Joey's eyes, but now it had settled to a relatively dull, sharp ache.
He was aware that Mai was standing beside him, close enough that he could smell her perfume (and where had she gotten perfume in ancient Egypt? It was a handmaiden thing, probably). But he couldn't bring himself to care. Though it was quieter without contact, he could hear the Scale screaming, and was surprised that the rebel holding it hadn't noticed.
Mai gasped and grabbed his shoulder. "The Millennium Items," she said. "They're all here. Well, except the Ring."
Joey shook his head and looked around. Yes, he could see five of them, and Yami probably had the Eye in his pocket or something.
"Mai," he whispered.
"Yes?"
"If that dragon kills us, I want you to know that I do love you."
"I know, Joey."
"I just wanted to make sure you knew that."
"I know." She glanced at his arm. "Does it hurt?"
"It's broken, so yes. It hurts. A lot, really."
The rebels herded their prisoners into a group. Mokuba sat on the sand beside his still-unconscious brother, clinging to his hand with tears running down his cheeks. Ryou seemed slightly better than before - he was standing unaided, but shivering violently every now and then.
Shizu tapped her foot impatiently, glaring at Malik and the Winged Dragon of Ra. She strode over to her captives and crossed her arms. "Where's Akil?"
"Bakura," Yami snapped. "His name is Bakura and - I don't know where he went. I think he might be dead."
Shizu opened her mouth to say something, and stopped when Ryou said hollowly, "He isn't dead. He isn't dead. I'd know if he was dead. I'd know. I can't exist without him. I would be dead. I'm not dead, am I? Not yet. Am I dead? Yugi? Am I dead?"
"No," Yugi said, and turned his tear-filled eyes on Shizu. "Please, you have to let us go. You can have Yami's kingdom. Just let us go find help."
"I don't think it's your kingdom to give away," Yami said gently. "But you may have it - "
"I already have it!" Shizu hissed. "It's mine! And I don't know what Malik is doing with that dragon thing, but at his best he could kill you in an instant! You're in no position to be making deals with me!"
The rebel holding the Millennium Scale suddenly swore and dropped it, sticking his fingers in his mouth. "It burned," he muttered.
Joey dove forward and snatched up the Scale, whimpering when the movement caused a sharp, agonizing stab of pain to shoot up his arm.
The rebels began to close in, but halted when the one clutching the Millennium Puzzle let go with a shriek.
"Don't touch," Shizu commanded, staring at the Puzzle. "I don't know what kind of dark magic this is, pharaoh, but it does not intimidate me."
Yami swallowed. "I, uh, I'm not trying to intimidate you. I don't - "
"They want to be used," Joey said, returning to the group. "They want...to be used. They want to fix this, get rid of the Shadow Monsters. And they know we're the only ones who can use them."
Yugi took a hesitant step forward and, when he was met with no resistance, walked to the Millennium Puzzle and picked it up. He hung the chain around his neck and smiled.
"Then we should use them as soon as possible. I don't know about you guys, but I'd be happier if Malik /wasn't/ communing with the most dangerous of the Egyptian God Monsters."
-----
Hold on to me, love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was
I love you and I'm not afraid
Oh, can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
-----
Kaiba was conscious by then, but kept his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. As long as they considered him out of the picture, he had a huge advantage, and he wasn't about to give it up - not even for his sobbing brother's peace of mind.
So he listened, and tried not to move, even though sand had gotten in his robes and was itching fiercely.
"Well, every Millennium Item needs an owner," Yami was saying. "Since Shadi and Isis aren't here, we're going to have to improvise. Who wants the Key?"
"Can I have it?" Mokuba asked, his voice soft and sad. Kaiba winced inwardly; he hated to cause his brother pain like this, but...
A moment of silence, then, "Sure." There was a rustling of fabric as Mokuba stood and retrieved the Key from Yami.
"Necklace?"
A sigh from Mai. "Well, it's kind of a feminine sort of Item, so I guess I'll - "
"No." The hoarse voice of Ryou. "I don't think the Necklace is for you."
"Well, then who? Everyone else has already got one, except Kaiba, and he's not going to be very useful..."
"I can't see anything." Calm, too calm for a dying boy. "It's all gone blurry. I think - "
There was a thud, as of a body suddenly hitting the sand, and the crowded sound of several people reacting to Ryou's apparent collapse. Kaiba tried to keep still - it /itched/, dammit - and hoped for a miracle.
There was a sudden rushing sound, and screams, and then someone /stepped/ on him, and he couldn't help it - he curled up to protect himself, gasping, and opened his eyes.
He was on his feet almost immediately, watching the Sky Dragon chase the rebels toward the palace.
"That wasn't very nice," Malik said, approaching with the Winged Dragon of Ra in tow.
"Hello, tomb robber? Not a very nice person."
Kaiba's head whipped around, as did those of everyone present as a dripping wet Bakura appeared from behind the side of the cliff, where it sloped toward the river.
"You can't swim," Shizu said accusingly.
"Not really," Bakura said cheerfully. "But it's amazing how fast you learn when a Shadow Monster is trying to kill you."
"Akil," Yami said urgently. "We must - "
"Trap the Shadow Monsters, kill the bitch, save our asses?" Bakura suggested, with a devious and horrible grin that reminded Kaiba entirely too much of the times before that disastrous duel in Battle City. Granted, he hadn't seen much of the quiet Ryou's other half, but he'd heard about it. "Yeah," Bakura continued, "that's what I was planning, anyway. You idiots getting yourselves captured kinda screwed up my plots, but at least Slyphr's gotten them to leave us all alone."
"Why?" Joey asked.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "He doesn't want /me/ dead, he wants anyone he can get dead. And, why, look, prey, right here, how convenient. He'll chase anything that moves. They ran. Stupid. Before you ask, pharaoh, he grabbed me and flew off. By the time he decided to let me plunge to my death, the river was right there."
Shizu snarled and tried to leap at him, and was grabbed by Malik. "No," the blond boy said softly. "We're outnumbered, Shizu."
Kaiba didn't understand why almost everyone else immediately turned their heads to stare at Bakura.
The tomb robber laughed. "So I couldn't save you, Malik Ishtar? What a shame. Now I have to kill you."
"You couldn't kill me," Malik sneered.
Bakura tapped the Ring hanging around his neck. "I can do worse," he said, advancing on the blond. "So much worse. With this I can trap you in the place where the Monsters live. And you'll /never die/. They will chase you and tear you and bleed you but you can't die. All eternity in the Shadow Realm, Malik, and there is no escape, not for you. You see, we got out - Mai and Ryou and I. I don't know how, but we did. But I /will not let you get out/. I will make damn sure you stay forever. And the Monsters will kill you, and your beautiful golden dragon will do nothing. Is it your pet, Malik? Your pretty pet dragon? Have you tamed a vicious pretty thing and made it yours? But what happens when you try to tame a tiger, Malik?" Bakura stood nose to nose with Malik, dark eyes shining with malice. "The tiger will not be tamed, Malik. It will shatter its bonds and bite the hand that feeds it. Even your Rod cannot control the Winged Dragon of Ra. It is a god, Malik, your god, and it has the power to destroy you. But, unlike a real god, it does not have the power also to save you." He laughed and tapped the Ring once, for emphasis. "All I have to do is wish it, and you are gone, lost forever. But then...I've already lost you, old friend...good- bye."
"Yami," Ryou whispered behind them. "Yami...don't..."
-----
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
-----
Yugi, kneeling beside the barely-conscious Ryou, watched as Bakura froze in the act of terrorizing Malik.
/He won't do it,/ Yugi thought wildly. /He's evil again, we've lost him, he won't listen to Ryou anymore.../
Very, very slowly, Bakura backed away.
Shizu broke in on the silence. "I have no idea what's going on anymore," she announced, "but Egypt belongs to me. So get rid of these horrible Monsters and we'll talk about your executions, okay?"
"You're outnumbered," Mai pointed out. "Eight to two."
Shizu smirked. "Eight? Let's see. Your dying friend won't be much help, nor will the little apprentice magician. Seto is too worn to manage even a simple spell. Oh, and the other slave boy? He couldn't manage anything. The guard has a broken arm. So, really, it's even. Three on three. Because, remember, /I/ have a dragon."
"The Winged Dragon of Ra will not obey you!" Yami cried. "He is - "
"Mine," Malik said loudly. "He is mine and he will do as I say!"
"/What/ have I been saying?" Bakura asked. "You cannot tame a Shadow Monster! The Dark Magician is as close as anyone will ever get to that, and I bet if he were here Yami wouldn't be able to control him at all! These aren't holograms or cards or a game, Malik, they're real and terrible and /it is going to kill you/."
Malik smiled shakily. "I thought that was what you wanted."
Bakura turned on his heel and stalked over to Ryou, who was making the effort to stand again. "He's fading in and out of consciousness," Yugi explained.
Bakura pulled the Ring off and hung it around Ryou's neck. "It might help," he said softly. He fished in his pocket and produced the Eye, which he handed to Mai. "Yours, love, because without it I never would have found you."
There was a moment of silence before Kaiba said dryly, "So I'm stuck with the Necklace, then?"
Shizu stared, open-mouthed, at Bakura. "You love me," she wailed. "Not that - that - "
Bakura laughed grimly. "Love is a many-splintered thing," he said icily. "And sometimes it's almost indistinguishable from hate. So, if by love you mean hate, then yeah, I love you."
It took her a moment to decipher that; then she gasped and flew forward to pummel his chest with fists clenched hard enough to whiten her knuckles. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you! You're horrible! We were supposed to kill your brother and rule together! What is /wrong/ with you, taking a handmaiden over me?" Shizu spun and pointed at Malik. "Make your dragon kill them! Now!"
Malik raised the Millennium Rod, his eyes focused on Bakura.
"This thing," he said, "says that it can control minds and make them do whatever I want. Whatever I want."
Shizu smirked. "Sure, just do it, now."
Malik glanced over his shoulder at the docile dragon, and, to Shizu's dismay and everyone else's shock, hesitated.
-----
I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
-----
Yami waved his hand in front of Shizu's face, watching in fascination when she didn't react.
"Am I doing this right?" she asked. A moment later, Malik added, sheepishly, "This is really weird, you know?"
"Why?" Bakura asked. There was a strange, quavering tone to his voice.
Malik shrugged. "I remember you said once that you wanted to be a slave, because they could become the most powerful players in the game. And I wanted to be a priest, because they turn up in the places the kings don't expect them to be." He nodded at Shizu. "She's a king. Sort of. And she wasn't expecting that."
"But /why/?"
"Because the Rod told me to." The blond laughed. "That sounds so wrong. 'It told me to.' Well, it did. Sit down, Shizu."
The blank-eyed Egyptian obediently sat, cross-legged, on the sand, staring at nothing.
Malik turned and lifted a hand toward the Winged Dragon of Ra, which ducked its head so that he could pet it. "I can't keep you," he said wistfully. "What would I do with you? So it's back to the Shadow Realm with you. That's what it's called, right?"
"But - "
"If you say 'why' I'm going to hit you on the head with this Rod, Akil."
"Yes, Malik."
Yami cleared his throat and stepped between the two. "Now, I think, is the time to banish the Monsters, before the palace is completely destroyed."
"How?" Bakura asked, and smirked at Malik. "Didn't say it."
"Well, we know why, Akil, that's just - "
"Shut up!" Yami yelled. "Gods, I don't know what's worse, you two being evil or you two being friends. How. Um. There should be a ceremony - "
Yugi spoke up. "The Puzzle says there isn't, Yami. It says that the Ring has to transport the entire country to the Shadow Realm, first."
"I can do that," Ryou said weakly.
-----
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
-----
It was little more than a ripple and a change of color, and they were in the misty blue world that was the Shadow Realm.
Kaiba took the Necklace from Yami and, protesting heavily, clasped it around his neck. He had /known/ when he met Isis that she would be nothing but trouble, and if - no, when - they got home, he would search her out and inform her that she had completely destroyed any shred of credibility he had with his friends.
Friends? No. CEOs did not have friends. Why had he thought that?
"Now what?" Mokuba asked, one hand holding the Key and the other clutching his brother's hand.
They all immediately looked at Yugi, but it was the Scale, through Joey, that answered.
"I have weighed all of your hearts," it said in Joey's voice. "Metaphorically," it added impatiently. "And I have found you all to be pure-hearted."
"What a relief," Malik said.
"However, to complete the binding, three of you must give your souls to us, to be bound to us forever. To be immortal, but trapped."
Yami and Bakura exchanged glances. "Oh, hell," Bakura said finally. "We knew it was coming. Us. And Malik."
Malik backed away. "I didn't volunteer! I didn't volunteer!"
"You don't have a choice," Bakura snapped. "It already happened."
Joey held the Scale up. "Answer me," it said, "and you must answer truthfully, lest you be cursed. Will you, pharaoh, submit to the binding?"
"I will," Yami said, and Kaiba could tell that he was trying to avoid Yugi's stunned look.
"You speak the truth. Will you, tomb robber, submit to the binding?"
"I...will," Bakura said, with a quick glance at Ryou. "Yes. I will."
"You speak the truth. Will you - "
"No," Malik interrupted. "No, I won't. I don't want to live forever if I have to do it here. Let someone else do it."
"There is no one else."
"Oh, come on. There are six other candidates." He pointed at Shizu, who hadn't moved. "And her! She's evil, she deserves it!"
"Yet you followed her," the Scale said.
Mokuba let go of Kaiba's hand, and before his brother could stop him, strode over to Malik with the Key in hand. It glowed brightly as he held it in front of the boy's forehead.
"And," the Key said, "you were going to betray your best friend to her. You were going to kill him. Even now, you are hoping that the deed you have done in trapping the girl will gain you a pardon for all your crimes. I thought you said he was pure-hearted?"
"When I said 'all,'" the Scale said pointedly, "I obviously did not mean him or the girl he controls. Do I have to spell everything out for you Items? Egad. By 'all' I /clearly/ meant only the time-travelers."
"Then it will be his punishment," Mai said serenely, and it took Kaiba a moment to decide that this must be the Eye. "He will be locked away in the Millennium Rod as his own hell."
"I saved you!" Malik cried, and turned to Bakura. "Akil - Bakura - you can't possibly let them - "
Bakura shook his head. "I don't think that I can stop it, Malik."
"Then we will perform the binding," Kaiba found himself saying, "and the rest of you will be free."
"Wait," Joey said suddenly. "Could we just - say good-bye?"
There was silence.
Then Ryou said, "The Ring will transport us back, leaving the Monsters here. We won't have long, but - "
"Do it," Yami said.
There was a ripple, the colors changed, and they were back in Egypt with the dark clouds boiling above them. The Winged Dragon of Ra had disappeared.
Kaiba blinked, and saw Ryou collapse.
-----
Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there
Say goodnight, don't be afraid
Calling me, calling me as you fade to black
-----
Bakura caught his hikari just before he hit the sand.
"'Kura," Ryou said through dry lips. "The demon said I'm going to go into a coma soon. So I just want you to know that - "
"No," Bakura snapped. "No. I'm not letting you die because of me."
Ryou shook his head slowly, less for emphasis than because he simply didn't have the strength to move at anything more than half-speed. "Whatever it says, Yami, you didn't murder me. You couldn't have known - "
"But I did know! I knew, all the time, and I forgot, and I'm the worst yami there is, and I'm sorry, and this is not happening to you, you hear me? It's not."
"Zahara said...she's a priestess of Nephthys...she said I'm going to die."
"She's a loony, she doesn't know anything."
Bakura glanced up. With the exception of Malik, who was staring at the Nile, the others were gathered around them in a silent circle. "He's not going to die," he said pointedly.
Ryou coughed and raised a trembling hand to his mouth. It came away stained with blood. "I...really don't think...there's an alternative, Yami."
Bakura glanced at his wrist, then gave it a long, hard stare. "I have one use of Sathaugula left! I could transport us backward or forward or something, to before you found that thing - "
"It's changing time," Yami said. "I don't think we can actually do that."
"Well, he's not dying, pharaoh."
Ryou laughed softly. "I didn't know...you cared."
"Of course I bloody well care! Would I have saved your life in Battle City if I didn't /care/? You stupid little prat. I love you."
Mai, whose eyes were already red, burst into tears at that and buried her face in Joey's chest.
Ryou coughed again and twisted out of his yami's grip. He hit the sand on his hands and knees, coughing violently.
"Right," Bakura said grimly. "If that's the way it is, then."
Nothing seemed to happen, except that the Ring glowed for a moment, but suddenly Bakura was blinking and squinting at everything.
"I can see again," he said in amazement.
Yugi stared at the white-haired boy. "Ryou?"
"I...yes." Ryou stared down at his chest. "The Ring is...Yami!"
Bakura pushed himself onto his knees, a hand over his mouth. "'m okay," he mumbled.
"Oh, no no no," Ryou cried. "/No/. You can't take my body just so you can die for me. That's /cheating/."
"Tomb robber," Bakura pointed out wearily.
-----
No one was more surprised than Kaiba when a demon appeared behind him.
It brushed past him and hovered over the two white-haired boys, one light, one dark. "My Sathaugula," it breathed. "Soon it will be mine, mine!"
Ryou got to his feet a bit too fast, probably still stunned by being able to move, and doubled over, clutching at his head. "Ow. You can't have him, demon, he's my yami."
The demon looked between them. "I see," it hissed. "A switch. Ah, well, I don't care. A sacrifice is all it takes, and she will be mine again, my Sathaugula."
"No," Ryou wailed. "No, no, no."
Bakura reached for the Ring and closed his eyes.
There was a ripple, and a shift in the color spectrum, and they were back in the Shadow Realm.
"There," the tomb robber gasped. "Part of me is in it, I'm bound to it, history is fulfilled, yadda yadda yadda. Can I die now? This is remarkably painful."
"The pain is necessary," the demon said.
Mai let go of Joey and leapt onto the demon's back, hitting it around the head. "You can't kill him!" she screamed. "He's mine! I love him! Go away!"
It took Joey and Kaiba both to drag her off, although, to be fair, Joey could only use one hand. The demon glared at her. "Girl, a deal was made and broken. It must be paid for with blood."
"Ryou," Bakura interrupted. "Give me the watch."
Ryou blinked and reached for his wrist, and looked surprised when the watch actually came off. He handed it to his yami. "You're going to save yourself now, right?" he asked hopefully.
"Nope, I'm done for. I'm going to save the rest of you." Bakura waved Sathaugula at the demon. "One use left, idiot, or else we wouldn't be in this predicament. Hold onto each other, guys, I don't know how well this thing's going to work."
"What?" Yami asked intelligently.
"Oh, yeah, bind yourself to the Puzzle right now." Bakura tilted his head, though the effect was spoiled by a sudden bout of coughing. When he could breathe again, he said, "I'm sending you back, you morons."
Joey grabbed Mai's hand. She glared at him and shook him off, running to Bakura.
"No," she whispered, and kissed him on the mouth. She came away with red lips, red with blood.
"Love you," Bakura said, and brushed a tendril of blonde hair out of her face. "Go."
"There must be - "
"There isn't a way, Mai. Go."
However, as soon as the more-practical Kaiba and Yami managed to drag her away, Ryou took her place, throwing his arms around his yami's neck.
"Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me..."
"You stupid prat," Bakura said gently. "We're running out of people to drag you off me. Go."
Ryou pulled away, tears flowing down his face. "I'd rather die than live without you," he declared.
"That's just too bad, isn't it?"
It took a few more minutes, but eventually they were all holding on, though Mai was merely holding Kaiba's sleeve, since he didn't exactly want to hold hands with her. Yami held the Puzzle, which glowed, and then threw it onto the ground. The others divested themselves of their Items as well.
"You know what to do," Bakura said to the watch, and then, "Good-bye."
A flash of light, and he was alone with the demon and Malik.
A ripple, and they were in Egypt.
Malik clung to his Rod. "You're dying," he said.
"No kidding."
"I'm going to be stuck forever in this thing?"
"Yep."
Malik stared at his friend. "They called you time-travelers."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Well, this is cliche. Hi, Malik, nice to see you, I'm from the future. Incidentally, don't buy that car, and when you meet Marcy, run away."
"What?"
"Get in the Rod, Malik."
Malik vanished, and the Rod clattered to the ground. Bakura suspected that his friend hadn't had the slightest bit of choice in that.
The demon stared at him. "Would you die already?"
Bakura, with arms that felt like logs, pulled the Ring off and tossed it onto the Rod. "I'm going to be in that thing for five thousand years," he murmured. "At least that part of me will survive...for awhile."
For a time, silence.
The demon waited.
Lightning flickered in the dark sky, and rain began to fall. The survivors of the Shadow Monster attack emerged from their hiding places to rejoice in the end of the brief war.
Still the demon waited.
The huddled figure in the sand did not move.
After a time, there was a barely-discernible click, and a gold-and-crystal watch rolled onto the sand.
Eventually, the Egyptians found the body and interred it in the royal tomb.
They never knew what had happened to their pharaoh.
It was the end of a dynasty.
The end of an age.
-----
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
-----
"Is the boy ready?"
"No, sir. He is weak, he is ill. Something has changed - "
"And yet," the first voice interrupted coolly, "our plans cannot, will not, change. Things change, people change, but it matters not. The plan stays the same - the one constant in our shattered world."
"The world is not broken."
"If you think that...then you have never tried to see through open eyes."
A pause. "Sir, I'd like to think that - "
"That what? That you are open-minded? Well, my friend...think again. You are fallen, you are lost. 'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?'"
A glint of gold and crystal. A sharp intake of breath.
"Sir!"
"I see you know this. And do you know the price?"
"I know it well. But, sir - "
A laugh, cruel and harsh. "I would not place myself in jeopardy. It will not be I who pays the price. Nor will it be you."
"Then..."
"It will be the one who almost paid. The one who is already in debt."
"As you will it, sir."
It would be the beginning of an era, if all went according to their plans.
The beginning of an age.
-----
A/N: Something wicked this way comes. This is the beginning of the end.
Well, no. It's the end of the beginning, really.
Now, you see why this must be a trilogy? I can't end it there. I'm cruel, not sadistic.
Bonus points to anyone who can guess the speakers in that last scene!
For awhile, the pain had been bad enough to make purple lights flash in front of Joey's eyes, but now it had settled to a relatively dull, sharp ache.
He was aware that Mai was standing beside him, close enough that he could smell her perfume (and where had she gotten perfume in ancient Egypt? It was a handmaiden thing, probably). But he couldn't bring himself to care. Though it was quieter without contact, he could hear the Scale screaming, and was surprised that the rebel holding it hadn't noticed.
Mai gasped and grabbed his shoulder. "The Millennium Items," she said. "They're all here. Well, except the Ring."
Joey shook his head and looked around. Yes, he could see five of them, and Yami probably had the Eye in his pocket or something.
"Mai," he whispered.
"Yes?"
"If that dragon kills us, I want you to know that I do love you."
"I know, Joey."
"I just wanted to make sure you knew that."
"I know." She glanced at his arm. "Does it hurt?"
"It's broken, so yes. It hurts. A lot, really."
The rebels herded their prisoners into a group. Mokuba sat on the sand beside his still-unconscious brother, clinging to his hand with tears running down his cheeks. Ryou seemed slightly better than before - he was standing unaided, but shivering violently every now and then.
Shizu tapped her foot impatiently, glaring at Malik and the Winged Dragon of Ra. She strode over to her captives and crossed her arms. "Where's Akil?"
"Bakura," Yami snapped. "His name is Bakura and - I don't know where he went. I think he might be dead."
Shizu opened her mouth to say something, and stopped when Ryou said hollowly, "He isn't dead. He isn't dead. I'd know if he was dead. I'd know. I can't exist without him. I would be dead. I'm not dead, am I? Not yet. Am I dead? Yugi? Am I dead?"
"No," Yugi said, and turned his tear-filled eyes on Shizu. "Please, you have to let us go. You can have Yami's kingdom. Just let us go find help."
"I don't think it's your kingdom to give away," Yami said gently. "But you may have it - "
"I already have it!" Shizu hissed. "It's mine! And I don't know what Malik is doing with that dragon thing, but at his best he could kill you in an instant! You're in no position to be making deals with me!"
The rebel holding the Millennium Scale suddenly swore and dropped it, sticking his fingers in his mouth. "It burned," he muttered.
Joey dove forward and snatched up the Scale, whimpering when the movement caused a sharp, agonizing stab of pain to shoot up his arm.
The rebels began to close in, but halted when the one clutching the Millennium Puzzle let go with a shriek.
"Don't touch," Shizu commanded, staring at the Puzzle. "I don't know what kind of dark magic this is, pharaoh, but it does not intimidate me."
Yami swallowed. "I, uh, I'm not trying to intimidate you. I don't - "
"They want to be used," Joey said, returning to the group. "They want...to be used. They want to fix this, get rid of the Shadow Monsters. And they know we're the only ones who can use them."
Yugi took a hesitant step forward and, when he was met with no resistance, walked to the Millennium Puzzle and picked it up. He hung the chain around his neck and smiled.
"Then we should use them as soon as possible. I don't know about you guys, but I'd be happier if Malik /wasn't/ communing with the most dangerous of the Egyptian God Monsters."
-----
Hold on to me, love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was
I love you and I'm not afraid
Oh, can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
-----
Kaiba was conscious by then, but kept his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. As long as they considered him out of the picture, he had a huge advantage, and he wasn't about to give it up - not even for his sobbing brother's peace of mind.
So he listened, and tried not to move, even though sand had gotten in his robes and was itching fiercely.
"Well, every Millennium Item needs an owner," Yami was saying. "Since Shadi and Isis aren't here, we're going to have to improvise. Who wants the Key?"
"Can I have it?" Mokuba asked, his voice soft and sad. Kaiba winced inwardly; he hated to cause his brother pain like this, but...
A moment of silence, then, "Sure." There was a rustling of fabric as Mokuba stood and retrieved the Key from Yami.
"Necklace?"
A sigh from Mai. "Well, it's kind of a feminine sort of Item, so I guess I'll - "
"No." The hoarse voice of Ryou. "I don't think the Necklace is for you."
"Well, then who? Everyone else has already got one, except Kaiba, and he's not going to be very useful..."
"I can't see anything." Calm, too calm for a dying boy. "It's all gone blurry. I think - "
There was a thud, as of a body suddenly hitting the sand, and the crowded sound of several people reacting to Ryou's apparent collapse. Kaiba tried to keep still - it /itched/, dammit - and hoped for a miracle.
There was a sudden rushing sound, and screams, and then someone /stepped/ on him, and he couldn't help it - he curled up to protect himself, gasping, and opened his eyes.
He was on his feet almost immediately, watching the Sky Dragon chase the rebels toward the palace.
"That wasn't very nice," Malik said, approaching with the Winged Dragon of Ra in tow.
"Hello, tomb robber? Not a very nice person."
Kaiba's head whipped around, as did those of everyone present as a dripping wet Bakura appeared from behind the side of the cliff, where it sloped toward the river.
"You can't swim," Shizu said accusingly.
"Not really," Bakura said cheerfully. "But it's amazing how fast you learn when a Shadow Monster is trying to kill you."
"Akil," Yami said urgently. "We must - "
"Trap the Shadow Monsters, kill the bitch, save our asses?" Bakura suggested, with a devious and horrible grin that reminded Kaiba entirely too much of the times before that disastrous duel in Battle City. Granted, he hadn't seen much of the quiet Ryou's other half, but he'd heard about it. "Yeah," Bakura continued, "that's what I was planning, anyway. You idiots getting yourselves captured kinda screwed up my plots, but at least Slyphr's gotten them to leave us all alone."
"Why?" Joey asked.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "He doesn't want /me/ dead, he wants anyone he can get dead. And, why, look, prey, right here, how convenient. He'll chase anything that moves. They ran. Stupid. Before you ask, pharaoh, he grabbed me and flew off. By the time he decided to let me plunge to my death, the river was right there."
Shizu snarled and tried to leap at him, and was grabbed by Malik. "No," the blond boy said softly. "We're outnumbered, Shizu."
Kaiba didn't understand why almost everyone else immediately turned their heads to stare at Bakura.
The tomb robber laughed. "So I couldn't save you, Malik Ishtar? What a shame. Now I have to kill you."
"You couldn't kill me," Malik sneered.
Bakura tapped the Ring hanging around his neck. "I can do worse," he said, advancing on the blond. "So much worse. With this I can trap you in the place where the Monsters live. And you'll /never die/. They will chase you and tear you and bleed you but you can't die. All eternity in the Shadow Realm, Malik, and there is no escape, not for you. You see, we got out - Mai and Ryou and I. I don't know how, but we did. But I /will not let you get out/. I will make damn sure you stay forever. And the Monsters will kill you, and your beautiful golden dragon will do nothing. Is it your pet, Malik? Your pretty pet dragon? Have you tamed a vicious pretty thing and made it yours? But what happens when you try to tame a tiger, Malik?" Bakura stood nose to nose with Malik, dark eyes shining with malice. "The tiger will not be tamed, Malik. It will shatter its bonds and bite the hand that feeds it. Even your Rod cannot control the Winged Dragon of Ra. It is a god, Malik, your god, and it has the power to destroy you. But, unlike a real god, it does not have the power also to save you." He laughed and tapped the Ring once, for emphasis. "All I have to do is wish it, and you are gone, lost forever. But then...I've already lost you, old friend...good- bye."
"Yami," Ryou whispered behind them. "Yami...don't..."
-----
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
-----
Yugi, kneeling beside the barely-conscious Ryou, watched as Bakura froze in the act of terrorizing Malik.
/He won't do it,/ Yugi thought wildly. /He's evil again, we've lost him, he won't listen to Ryou anymore.../
Very, very slowly, Bakura backed away.
Shizu broke in on the silence. "I have no idea what's going on anymore," she announced, "but Egypt belongs to me. So get rid of these horrible Monsters and we'll talk about your executions, okay?"
"You're outnumbered," Mai pointed out. "Eight to two."
Shizu smirked. "Eight? Let's see. Your dying friend won't be much help, nor will the little apprentice magician. Seto is too worn to manage even a simple spell. Oh, and the other slave boy? He couldn't manage anything. The guard has a broken arm. So, really, it's even. Three on three. Because, remember, /I/ have a dragon."
"The Winged Dragon of Ra will not obey you!" Yami cried. "He is - "
"Mine," Malik said loudly. "He is mine and he will do as I say!"
"/What/ have I been saying?" Bakura asked. "You cannot tame a Shadow Monster! The Dark Magician is as close as anyone will ever get to that, and I bet if he were here Yami wouldn't be able to control him at all! These aren't holograms or cards or a game, Malik, they're real and terrible and /it is going to kill you/."
Malik smiled shakily. "I thought that was what you wanted."
Bakura turned on his heel and stalked over to Ryou, who was making the effort to stand again. "He's fading in and out of consciousness," Yugi explained.
Bakura pulled the Ring off and hung it around Ryou's neck. "It might help," he said softly. He fished in his pocket and produced the Eye, which he handed to Mai. "Yours, love, because without it I never would have found you."
There was a moment of silence before Kaiba said dryly, "So I'm stuck with the Necklace, then?"
Shizu stared, open-mouthed, at Bakura. "You love me," she wailed. "Not that - that - "
Bakura laughed grimly. "Love is a many-splintered thing," he said icily. "And sometimes it's almost indistinguishable from hate. So, if by love you mean hate, then yeah, I love you."
It took her a moment to decipher that; then she gasped and flew forward to pummel his chest with fists clenched hard enough to whiten her knuckles. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you! You're horrible! We were supposed to kill your brother and rule together! What is /wrong/ with you, taking a handmaiden over me?" Shizu spun and pointed at Malik. "Make your dragon kill them! Now!"
Malik raised the Millennium Rod, his eyes focused on Bakura.
"This thing," he said, "says that it can control minds and make them do whatever I want. Whatever I want."
Shizu smirked. "Sure, just do it, now."
Malik glanced over his shoulder at the docile dragon, and, to Shizu's dismay and everyone else's shock, hesitated.
-----
I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
-----
Yami waved his hand in front of Shizu's face, watching in fascination when she didn't react.
"Am I doing this right?" she asked. A moment later, Malik added, sheepishly, "This is really weird, you know?"
"Why?" Bakura asked. There was a strange, quavering tone to his voice.
Malik shrugged. "I remember you said once that you wanted to be a slave, because they could become the most powerful players in the game. And I wanted to be a priest, because they turn up in the places the kings don't expect them to be." He nodded at Shizu. "She's a king. Sort of. And she wasn't expecting that."
"But /why/?"
"Because the Rod told me to." The blond laughed. "That sounds so wrong. 'It told me to.' Well, it did. Sit down, Shizu."
The blank-eyed Egyptian obediently sat, cross-legged, on the sand, staring at nothing.
Malik turned and lifted a hand toward the Winged Dragon of Ra, which ducked its head so that he could pet it. "I can't keep you," he said wistfully. "What would I do with you? So it's back to the Shadow Realm with you. That's what it's called, right?"
"But - "
"If you say 'why' I'm going to hit you on the head with this Rod, Akil."
"Yes, Malik."
Yami cleared his throat and stepped between the two. "Now, I think, is the time to banish the Monsters, before the palace is completely destroyed."
"How?" Bakura asked, and smirked at Malik. "Didn't say it."
"Well, we know why, Akil, that's just - "
"Shut up!" Yami yelled. "Gods, I don't know what's worse, you two being evil or you two being friends. How. Um. There should be a ceremony - "
Yugi spoke up. "The Puzzle says there isn't, Yami. It says that the Ring has to transport the entire country to the Shadow Realm, first."
"I can do that," Ryou said weakly.
-----
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
-----
It was little more than a ripple and a change of color, and they were in the misty blue world that was the Shadow Realm.
Kaiba took the Necklace from Yami and, protesting heavily, clasped it around his neck. He had /known/ when he met Isis that she would be nothing but trouble, and if - no, when - they got home, he would search her out and inform her that she had completely destroyed any shred of credibility he had with his friends.
Friends? No. CEOs did not have friends. Why had he thought that?
"Now what?" Mokuba asked, one hand holding the Key and the other clutching his brother's hand.
They all immediately looked at Yugi, but it was the Scale, through Joey, that answered.
"I have weighed all of your hearts," it said in Joey's voice. "Metaphorically," it added impatiently. "And I have found you all to be pure-hearted."
"What a relief," Malik said.
"However, to complete the binding, three of you must give your souls to us, to be bound to us forever. To be immortal, but trapped."
Yami and Bakura exchanged glances. "Oh, hell," Bakura said finally. "We knew it was coming. Us. And Malik."
Malik backed away. "I didn't volunteer! I didn't volunteer!"
"You don't have a choice," Bakura snapped. "It already happened."
Joey held the Scale up. "Answer me," it said, "and you must answer truthfully, lest you be cursed. Will you, pharaoh, submit to the binding?"
"I will," Yami said, and Kaiba could tell that he was trying to avoid Yugi's stunned look.
"You speak the truth. Will you, tomb robber, submit to the binding?"
"I...will," Bakura said, with a quick glance at Ryou. "Yes. I will."
"You speak the truth. Will you - "
"No," Malik interrupted. "No, I won't. I don't want to live forever if I have to do it here. Let someone else do it."
"There is no one else."
"Oh, come on. There are six other candidates." He pointed at Shizu, who hadn't moved. "And her! She's evil, she deserves it!"
"Yet you followed her," the Scale said.
Mokuba let go of Kaiba's hand, and before his brother could stop him, strode over to Malik with the Key in hand. It glowed brightly as he held it in front of the boy's forehead.
"And," the Key said, "you were going to betray your best friend to her. You were going to kill him. Even now, you are hoping that the deed you have done in trapping the girl will gain you a pardon for all your crimes. I thought you said he was pure-hearted?"
"When I said 'all,'" the Scale said pointedly, "I obviously did not mean him or the girl he controls. Do I have to spell everything out for you Items? Egad. By 'all' I /clearly/ meant only the time-travelers."
"Then it will be his punishment," Mai said serenely, and it took Kaiba a moment to decide that this must be the Eye. "He will be locked away in the Millennium Rod as his own hell."
"I saved you!" Malik cried, and turned to Bakura. "Akil - Bakura - you can't possibly let them - "
Bakura shook his head. "I don't think that I can stop it, Malik."
"Then we will perform the binding," Kaiba found himself saying, "and the rest of you will be free."
"Wait," Joey said suddenly. "Could we just - say good-bye?"
There was silence.
Then Ryou said, "The Ring will transport us back, leaving the Monsters here. We won't have long, but - "
"Do it," Yami said.
There was a ripple, the colors changed, and they were back in Egypt with the dark clouds boiling above them. The Winged Dragon of Ra had disappeared.
Kaiba blinked, and saw Ryou collapse.
-----
Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there
Say goodnight, don't be afraid
Calling me, calling me as you fade to black
-----
Bakura caught his hikari just before he hit the sand.
"'Kura," Ryou said through dry lips. "The demon said I'm going to go into a coma soon. So I just want you to know that - "
"No," Bakura snapped. "No. I'm not letting you die because of me."
Ryou shook his head slowly, less for emphasis than because he simply didn't have the strength to move at anything more than half-speed. "Whatever it says, Yami, you didn't murder me. You couldn't have known - "
"But I did know! I knew, all the time, and I forgot, and I'm the worst yami there is, and I'm sorry, and this is not happening to you, you hear me? It's not."
"Zahara said...she's a priestess of Nephthys...she said I'm going to die."
"She's a loony, she doesn't know anything."
Bakura glanced up. With the exception of Malik, who was staring at the Nile, the others were gathered around them in a silent circle. "He's not going to die," he said pointedly.
Ryou coughed and raised a trembling hand to his mouth. It came away stained with blood. "I...really don't think...there's an alternative, Yami."
Bakura glanced at his wrist, then gave it a long, hard stare. "I have one use of Sathaugula left! I could transport us backward or forward or something, to before you found that thing - "
"It's changing time," Yami said. "I don't think we can actually do that."
"Well, he's not dying, pharaoh."
Ryou laughed softly. "I didn't know...you cared."
"Of course I bloody well care! Would I have saved your life in Battle City if I didn't /care/? You stupid little prat. I love you."
Mai, whose eyes were already red, burst into tears at that and buried her face in Joey's chest.
Ryou coughed again and twisted out of his yami's grip. He hit the sand on his hands and knees, coughing violently.
"Right," Bakura said grimly. "If that's the way it is, then."
Nothing seemed to happen, except that the Ring glowed for a moment, but suddenly Bakura was blinking and squinting at everything.
"I can see again," he said in amazement.
Yugi stared at the white-haired boy. "Ryou?"
"I...yes." Ryou stared down at his chest. "The Ring is...Yami!"
Bakura pushed himself onto his knees, a hand over his mouth. "'m okay," he mumbled.
"Oh, no no no," Ryou cried. "/No/. You can't take my body just so you can die for me. That's /cheating/."
"Tomb robber," Bakura pointed out wearily.
-----
No one was more surprised than Kaiba when a demon appeared behind him.
It brushed past him and hovered over the two white-haired boys, one light, one dark. "My Sathaugula," it breathed. "Soon it will be mine, mine!"
Ryou got to his feet a bit too fast, probably still stunned by being able to move, and doubled over, clutching at his head. "Ow. You can't have him, demon, he's my yami."
The demon looked between them. "I see," it hissed. "A switch. Ah, well, I don't care. A sacrifice is all it takes, and she will be mine again, my Sathaugula."
"No," Ryou wailed. "No, no, no."
Bakura reached for the Ring and closed his eyes.
There was a ripple, and a shift in the color spectrum, and they were back in the Shadow Realm.
"There," the tomb robber gasped. "Part of me is in it, I'm bound to it, history is fulfilled, yadda yadda yadda. Can I die now? This is remarkably painful."
"The pain is necessary," the demon said.
Mai let go of Joey and leapt onto the demon's back, hitting it around the head. "You can't kill him!" she screamed. "He's mine! I love him! Go away!"
It took Joey and Kaiba both to drag her off, although, to be fair, Joey could only use one hand. The demon glared at her. "Girl, a deal was made and broken. It must be paid for with blood."
"Ryou," Bakura interrupted. "Give me the watch."
Ryou blinked and reached for his wrist, and looked surprised when the watch actually came off. He handed it to his yami. "You're going to save yourself now, right?" he asked hopefully.
"Nope, I'm done for. I'm going to save the rest of you." Bakura waved Sathaugula at the demon. "One use left, idiot, or else we wouldn't be in this predicament. Hold onto each other, guys, I don't know how well this thing's going to work."
"What?" Yami asked intelligently.
"Oh, yeah, bind yourself to the Puzzle right now." Bakura tilted his head, though the effect was spoiled by a sudden bout of coughing. When he could breathe again, he said, "I'm sending you back, you morons."
Joey grabbed Mai's hand. She glared at him and shook him off, running to Bakura.
"No," she whispered, and kissed him on the mouth. She came away with red lips, red with blood.
"Love you," Bakura said, and brushed a tendril of blonde hair out of her face. "Go."
"There must be - "
"There isn't a way, Mai. Go."
However, as soon as the more-practical Kaiba and Yami managed to drag her away, Ryou took her place, throwing his arms around his yami's neck.
"Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me..."
"You stupid prat," Bakura said gently. "We're running out of people to drag you off me. Go."
Ryou pulled away, tears flowing down his face. "I'd rather die than live without you," he declared.
"That's just too bad, isn't it?"
It took a few more minutes, but eventually they were all holding on, though Mai was merely holding Kaiba's sleeve, since he didn't exactly want to hold hands with her. Yami held the Puzzle, which glowed, and then threw it onto the ground. The others divested themselves of their Items as well.
"You know what to do," Bakura said to the watch, and then, "Good-bye."
A flash of light, and he was alone with the demon and Malik.
A ripple, and they were in Egypt.
Malik clung to his Rod. "You're dying," he said.
"No kidding."
"I'm going to be stuck forever in this thing?"
"Yep."
Malik stared at his friend. "They called you time-travelers."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Well, this is cliche. Hi, Malik, nice to see you, I'm from the future. Incidentally, don't buy that car, and when you meet Marcy, run away."
"What?"
"Get in the Rod, Malik."
Malik vanished, and the Rod clattered to the ground. Bakura suspected that his friend hadn't had the slightest bit of choice in that.
The demon stared at him. "Would you die already?"
Bakura, with arms that felt like logs, pulled the Ring off and tossed it onto the Rod. "I'm going to be in that thing for five thousand years," he murmured. "At least that part of me will survive...for awhile."
For a time, silence.
The demon waited.
Lightning flickered in the dark sky, and rain began to fall. The survivors of the Shadow Monster attack emerged from their hiding places to rejoice in the end of the brief war.
Still the demon waited.
The huddled figure in the sand did not move.
After a time, there was a barely-discernible click, and a gold-and-crystal watch rolled onto the sand.
Eventually, the Egyptians found the body and interred it in the royal tomb.
They never knew what had happened to their pharaoh.
It was the end of a dynasty.
The end of an age.
-----
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
-----
"Is the boy ready?"
"No, sir. He is weak, he is ill. Something has changed - "
"And yet," the first voice interrupted coolly, "our plans cannot, will not, change. Things change, people change, but it matters not. The plan stays the same - the one constant in our shattered world."
"The world is not broken."
"If you think that...then you have never tried to see through open eyes."
A pause. "Sir, I'd like to think that - "
"That what? That you are open-minded? Well, my friend...think again. You are fallen, you are lost. 'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?'"
A glint of gold and crystal. A sharp intake of breath.
"Sir!"
"I see you know this. And do you know the price?"
"I know it well. But, sir - "
A laugh, cruel and harsh. "I would not place myself in jeopardy. It will not be I who pays the price. Nor will it be you."
"Then..."
"It will be the one who almost paid. The one who is already in debt."
"As you will it, sir."
It would be the beginning of an era, if all went according to their plans.
The beginning of an age.
-----
A/N: Something wicked this way comes. This is the beginning of the end.
Well, no. It's the end of the beginning, really.
Now, you see why this must be a trilogy? I can't end it there. I'm cruel, not sadistic.
Bonus points to anyone who can guess the speakers in that last scene!