I have to say, I feel bad for leaving this so long. My update schedule has always been pretty erratic, but almost four months for a brand new story is pretty bad. Suffice to say it's been busy. With the summer and holidays going on, I've been taking double shifts with my job, and it's been leaving me exhausted. Just the other day I literally worked two 8 hour shifts in one day. It's been tiring me out, and what little time I do have off, I spend sleeping.

However, things look like they're going to die down from now on and I'll be much better off. I'm going to try something new with updating once a week, forcing myself to spend at least an hour locked up in the room and just writing. I'm hoping on Mondays would be best, giving my beta readers the weekend to read it over, but we'll see.

For now, feel free to enjoy the conclusion of the second chapter.

Chapter 3: Power of the Blue Eye

Rebbeca's screams didn't stop as she stared down at the corpse in front of her. The blood would not stop gushing out, streams turning into rivers, pools... oceans of the crimson liquid. The smell made her want to be sick, and she felt useless as she sat there, unable to do anything for the man who had been killed to save her life. This was all her fault. She'd insisted on coming with him. She'd not listened when he told her it would be dangerous, too intent on the rescue of her grandfather. He'd become distracted when her life had been endangered, and he hadn't even been able to make it past the first room because of her.

A soft click sounded, but it was enough to break through her hysterics. Her wide eyes snapped up to see the gun pointed at her by the fat, short man. It was as if the world had slipped away from her during an indistinguishable amount of time, drowning her in the sands of a hourglass, only to pull her back with a horrible jolt. He was right in front of her now, and she'd never even noticed him approach. She swallowed the horrible tight feeling in her throat, knowing she was going to die in this place, seeing her last moments would be drowned in darkness and blood.

"Oh... oh god no," she whispered softly. "No..."

"GET DOWN, MISS HAWKINS!"

Jumping in fright, she looked up to see the last person she'd expected, jumping onto the shooter and grabbing his wrist, forcing it up to the ceiling just as another shot rang out. She watched Ryou Bakura wrestling with the shorter man until he was able to throw him off balance and toward the ground.

"D-detective... Bakura?" she breathed, her breath hitching. "I... what... your partner... he..."

"Don't worry about that now," he snapped, grabbing her wrist and hurling her up to her feet. "I'll handle that later. We need to get out of here, right now!"

He pulled her along with her as he started to run, and in shock she could only follow him, stumbling as she ran and desperately trying to keep up. She looked around frantically, trying to figure out where he was going, but as he ran down halls and ducked past door after door, she was getting the impression he had no idea where he was going. It was only when he shouldered open a door and rush in did he stop suddenly, the girl crashing into his back before he threw his arm back to keep her in place behind him.

She was only barely able to peek past his back to see what had made him stop so suddenly, and the sight was not a pleasant one.

They must have accidentally doubled around somewhere, or the butler knew the house well enough to get around them and cut them off. They were in a large ballroom and the man who's murdered Mariku stood in the middle, revolver pointed at Ryou and looking incredibly smug. He had a right to be too, standing behind him several men in suits carrying double barreled riffles and looking more than ready to use them. At a glance she thought there were maybe twenty, but there could have easily been more.

"I guess Mr. Kaiba really was expecting resistance," Ryou sighed, grimacing a little. "I perhaps was a little careless."

His eyes narrowed when he found all the weapons suddenly pointed at him, and the murderer snarling at him.

"Alright now, who are you?" he demanded.

"Oh, no one too important," Ryou assured, his expression suddenly changing to a bright and cheerful. "Simply a corpse herder."

If the man had a reaction to that, he didn't have time to express it. Rebecca screamed again when the wall to their right suddenly exploded in a debris of polished wood and wallpaper, brick and mortar scattering around on the floor in chunks no larger than pebbles. In the mess of the architecture, a man stood there, eyes narrowed and teeth bared in a snarl.

Mariku staggered in over the rubble, breathing deep and growling like a tiger just let out of his cage after miserable treatment by his captures. Blood was still flowing from his head and shoulder, his body twisted and disjointed like someone who had been shot would be.

Like a corpse would be.

Every single person had turned to look at the broken down section of the wall, a few of the men backing off slowly. Others quickly turned to point their guns at him, but it was not with the same gait that they'd had against Ryou. The detective in question raised his hand and grinned.

"Mariku..." he said before he snapped his fingers. "Time to start, wouldn't you say?"

It was as if an explosion had suddenly happened in the room, Mariku rushing forward and jumping into the swarm of guards. He moved faster than should have been allowed, driving a fist into his supposed killer's stomach and literally sending the man flying. He crashed sickeningly into the wall behind him, but Mariku wasn't done yet, grabbing another by his collar and hefting him over his head and throwing him at the other guards, taking down a whole handful of them in mere seconds. He tore shotguns out of men's hands and cracked them into their bodies with sickeningly loud crunches, breaking their bodies as easily as if he were a child breaking dolls.

Screams and shots echoed in the hall, and Ryou took the girl by the shoulders, pushing her out of the way just as a man went skidding across the floor, leaving a trail of blood from his arm Mariku had nearly snapped off. She wanted to look away, to see anything else but this sight, and yet any time she tried she only saw more brutality and gore. The lady was sure she'd be sick by the end of this, if she survived.

"He's impressive, isn't he?" Ryou asked, watching the scene with only the barest bit of interest. His arms crossed and leaning his weight to rest on one foot, it was as if seeing people getting knocked around so ruthlessly by what should be a dead man wasn't worth his attention.

"What... what is he?" Rebecca asked, barely able to look away to give the detective an imploring look, wanting him to explain.

"I guess it is astute of you to ask that, what instead of a who," he said. "He's what I made him. Like I stated before, I am a corpse header. I take the dead, and I breathe life into them. The more effort I put into it, the more life I can grant. Mariku is a unique endeavor of mine. He's indestructible, powerful, and he can never die, mostly because he has already. I think the closest term you would know in your language would be a zombie, though it's not quite right. After all, he's hardly rotting, and he certainly has a pulse, but he is by no means alive by the standard definition anymore either."

"So... before when he took the bullet for me... it didn't really kill him?"

"No. One of the reasons I insisted I didn't take the case," he sighed. "Miss Hawkins, you're a total brat, I do hope you're aware of that."

"What?!" she cried out, seeming to have finally been snapped out of her horrified state, a few well worded insults and she had all her gusto back, glaring at him in spite. He couldn't help but chuckle. It was very tenacious of her, he had to give her credit on that. "What do you mean by that?"

"Not now," he said, shaking his head. "Right now, I do believe your grandfather is still in danger. We should probably go check on him, since you insisted on coming out this whole way. Mariku! Enough playing!"

The Egyptian looked up from his work, hunched over the last of men and scowling. There were several more bullet holes in his chest, but he didn't seem to be paying them any mind, or the blood flowing out of him. Like a gargoyle on the great cathedrals, he was stooped and viscous, pinning a whimpering man down to the floor by the back of his head. The moving corpse seemed as if he would have loved to crush it in his hands, but amazingly enough, his victim was still alive.

It took Rebecca a second to realize all the men were still alive, though many of them would probably never get up and walk again. It scared her more than the thought of Mariku just going berserk. He'd done all of this but avoided any fatalities... completely in control of himself the whole time. He had wanted to act like that. It was more scary than if he'd been out of control.

Ryou clucked his tongue a few times before walking past him and toward the man who'd first been attacked, the butler that seemed in charge and smirked slightly at seeing the unsightly lump crying a bit, bruised and bleeding all over. He was still breathing though, a considerable feat considering Maiku could have ripped him in half if he'd wanted to.

"Nice case of holding back. I owe you a biscuit," he stated over his shoulder, causing Mariku to snarl and stalk over to the detective.

"My head fucking hurts," he hissed. "I'm allowed to be a little pissed off."

"Yes, but killing the suspect isn't what I hired you for, despite what you think," Ryou said with a smile. He leaned down by the whimpering man who seemed scared out of his wits, but to be fair, he'd been getting attacked by a dead man. As Rebecca approached as well, the white haired young man nudged him a bit with his foot. "You're the burglar, I take it? The one who kidnapped Mr. Hawkins. What's your name?"

"D-Daimon... Daimon Hobson," he wheezed out, trying to move, only to have Mariku step crudely on his throat. The dark skinned man was slowly healing up, his body repairing itself, but with his face still half gone, he made for a terrifying sight. The small man was smart enough not to move again.

"Well, Mr. Hobson, I'm going to need your help," Ryou stated. "Because I know quite a few things regarding this case, but I'm a fan of having all the loose ends tied up. Now, if your master has any desires of getting what he lost back, you should really take me to him, now. This is not a request. This is not a inquiry. I know perfectly well who is at stake here, and you will bring me to him, or your life is not the only one on the line. Do you understand?"

He took the soft gurgle from the heap of flesh as a confirmation and nodded to Mariku. On cue, he yanked the fat little man up and shoved him forward, making him walk. They all followed as they started on down, Mariku still livid, Ryou lethargic, and Rebecca bewildered.

"I... I don't understand," she said as they moved down a hallway, steadily moving down to a set of stairs. They passed several doors, most of them locked to which the butler provided a key for each one. "How... how is any of this happening? How could he still be alive? Why are you here? How do you seem to know what's going on so well when I had only just approached you about the case?"

"I have to admit, for everything going on, you're taking it all in relative stride," Ryou complimented. "I'll answer your questions in the best order I can. I really had no intention of taking your case, Miss Hawkins, not in the way you would have wanted me to anyway. I'm not really in the business of handling living victims you see. There's only so much you can help them, and I often find I can really only be of use to a corpse, giving my talents. However, I suppose I couldn't ignore situation, and I really did have to come and help. Of course, I also received a bit of a scolding for refusing you at first."

Mariku snorted in annoyance, but Ryou merely continued.

"From your descriptions of what had happened, I already had all the information I needed. You said yourself you're not into social events that go on around you, but I try to study the elements of all life in London. Makes my work easier, and I think if you'd known what I'd read in the paper only a day or two previously, you would have been much less cross with a certain Mr. Kaiba. It wasn't front page news, but in the papers no less."

"What was?" she asked.

"Don't you find it a bit odd how empty this large mansion is?" he asked her. "He has a full staff, a little brother, several personal servants and... someone else. Someone dear to him. And yet, not a soul aside from the guards you bumped into. You would think the commotion would have had more people running, don't you? He sent them away, for this he would need privacy. After all, most wouldn't understand what he was trying."

They came to the last door, but to this one, Hobson had no key. There were crude chalk drawings all over the wood, hastily scribbled on and Ryou strode forward, running his hand down one of the runes, sighing.

"Kaiba clearly is desperate, but it's not going to work," he said softly. "The jewel doesn't work like that, and it never will. Mariku."

The undead moved forward, raising his fist and slamming it into the wood. It crashed in, exploding in bits of wood and dust, a few stones of the framework falling in and onto the floor. Striding in calmly, Ryou sighed softly.

The room was wide, but circular in shape and leaving a very cramped feel to it. Colder than the hallway, and dark, the only source of lights were the few candles spread out on the floor, lined up at certain junctures and crisscrosses of a chalk circle on the floor. In the very middle of it was a long wooden table, a woman laying on top of it with long blue tinted hair splayed out underneath of her, and her whole body seeming to glow. In fact, it was glowing. A small blue stone was next to her, glowing the same shade, and an open book next to it that someone was frantically flipping the pages through.

"Hello, Mr. Kaiba," he said to the shocked pair in the room. It was the only other two from what Rebecca could see, a tall man with brown hair and deep blue eyes, wide in astonishment at being interrupted, and in the corner and tied to a chair, a gagged older man still in his sleeping clothes and face pale in terror.

"Grandfather!" the young lady cried, moving to run for him, but she was grabbed by Ryou.

"Wait, it's best you don't do anything rash," he said softly.

"Just who are you people?!" Kaiba demanded. "What are you doing in here? Hobson, did you let them-"

"Shut up," Maiku snapped, shoving the butler in question to the ground in front of them. "I'll show you exactly why your little lackey led us here. You'd look better torn in half anyway."

"Mariku, no," Ryou said, shaking his head. "Mr. Kaiba, perhaps you know me. I'm Ryou Bakura, detective, and I'm here to tell you this isn't going to work. She's not going to come back from that stone."

"You don't know anything!" Kaiba shouted at him. "I won't allow her to-"

"I don't think Miss Kisara would appreciate you kidnapping people and having anyone who tried to stop you killed!" Ryou yelled over him. "Now with all due respect to a man in grieving, you can be quiet and let me work!"

"She died recently, didn't she?" he said softly, running a finger down her cheek. "Fell down the stairs from what the story in the paper said. The Blue Eye of the White Dragon does not have the ability to bring back those of the dead. She's lost to you if you rely on those means. Mariku, Rebeca, feel free to untie the good professor. He should be taken away from here."

She was hurrying to her grandfather before he'd even finished his sentence, tearing the gag off while Mariku started on the knots.

"Before you try to stop them," Ryou said, holding up his hand to Kaiba's chest, "I want you to know you're wrong. The stone does indeed have healing qualities, and it can reverse many afflictions, but it's never to be known to bring people back to life. Claiming it to be yours so you had a right to try to purchase it, the lies hiding your real purpose for the stone, and how you acted so desperate to get it, despite your own admission thinking of it only for it's material possession. Honestly, did you really expect me not to figure it all out?"

"I didn't even realize you would come," he snarled out.

"You were expecting resistance however," he said. "The bullets in my partner more than prove that."

He turned to the woman, looking down at her. She looked beautiful, pure white skin without a mark on her. Anyone who looked might have thought she was only resting, asleep and would get up any moment with only a little nudge.

"It's not that I don't admire you for being willing to do anything to bring back the woman you love," he said suddenly as he turned to Kaiba, "but you can't do it this way. I've come here, not to stop you, but to help. I can bring her back... if you're willing to let Miss Hawkins and the professor go."

"How can I believe you?" Kaiba demanded, seeming tense and agitated. He was clearly shaken by the news the stone wouldn't work, and judging by the book and glowing stone on the table, he'd been trying for some time with no success. "The legends in this books say that the stone can heal her."

"And it's done a wonderful job, there is not a mark on her," he said. "It will not however, bring her soul back. You are hoping in vain. I'm sorry. I can however. It will only be a short while though. I can't give her life... but I can allow you to say good bye."

Seto Kaiba gripped the table, shaking a little. He looked down at the woman, before breaking out in a sob.

"We... we were going to marry in the winter... her favorite time of the year..." he whispered. "I... I can't lose her. She's everything to me. I needed the Blue Eye to save her. Don't you see? I can't... I can't live without her."

Ryou nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You'll have a few minutes, at best. Do you wish for me too, or would you rather that I wait and-"

"Do it. Now," Kaiba said. "Please..."

"Very well," he said, nodding.

Turning to the beautiful corpse, he laid his hand on her forehead. He started to speak, but it sounded more like a low hum in the air. Long and foreign words came out of his mouth, and the glowing stopped suddenly, cutting off as the room seemed to pitch itself into darkness. The candles flickered out before one by one they each lit again, yet somehow the room only seemed darker than it had before, cold and desolate.

"I will give you a happy reunion," Ryou whispered, his voice in a low hiss and his eyes draining of their color, only white left as he turned to look at Kaiba. "Her soul is yours to do with as you wish... Enjoy it, little mortal."

If the words were shocking to anyone in the room, it compared to nothing when Kisara opened her eyes slowly, a shuddering breath leaving her lips. Kaiba pushed past Ryou roughly to grab her hands, holding them tightly in his own.

"Kisara, Kisara can you hear me?" he asked frantically. "Kisara, please answer me."

"Seto... my love..." she whispered as she smiled up at him. "I was afraid... I'd never see you again. I'm so happy."

"Kisara... I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I only wanted to see you again. I went insane with grief. I never meant-"

"Shhh," she said, reaching up and pressing a finger to his lips. "I have seen what you did... and I... I appreciate your devotion to me. I love you... so very much, and I will wait for you in the beyond... Please do not weep at my passing. I am still with you... and I will always be with you. You're the only one who has my heart. Good bye... my love."

Her fingers slowly slipped from his lips, her arm falling onto the table. Kaiba's eyes widened as she smiled at him one last time before her eyes slowly drifted closed, never to open again.

"Kisara... KISARA!" he yelled. "No! Open your eyes! Please, don't leave me! D-don't leave me again!"

He turned toward Ryou, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.

"Again!" he cried out. "Please, bring her back again! I don't want to lose her!"

Ryou however, sighed and shook his head.

"I can't," he whispered softly, his eyes back to normal and his voice the tone it was before. "I don't have a way to. It's a one time deal, I'm afraid. Her soul can't be wrenched from her resting place again. I could bring her body back permanently, but it wouldn't really be her, only a walking corpse. Do you really wish to put her body through that?"

Kaiba's arms dropped from Ryou before sinking to his knees. He buried his face into his hands, trembling and broken. The detective could do nothing as the man started to weep bitterly, turning away after a moment and looking at his companions.

"Let's go," he said, picking up the Blue Eye and slipping it into his pocket. "We have no more reason to be here."

The trip back was made in silence, and when they had left the mansion Ryou hailed down a cab discreetly for them. The police were only just starting to arrive as they pulled off, and the man was already thinking of what to tell them if they showed up on his doorstep. He would leave it to Mr. Kaiba to deal with, but just in case he was too big of a mess to handle it, he'd have to be prepared.

Not that he wouldn't understand why he would be too much of a mess to come up with a convincing lie. He was hardly in the shape for it after all.

"Detective Bakura," Professor Hawkins said as they were carried back to the Hawkins household. "I never would have expected to see you rescuing me."

"Yes, it seemed best to come back to London after my studies to continue my work," Ryou said with a smile. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Wait. You two know each other?" Rebecca asked.

"We met on one of your grandfather's travels, and came back to London together," he explained. "We had many talks about the occult and magic over our trip, and became good acquaintance. I traveled much back in the day when I was learning my magic, you see. In fact, I do believe you've quoted a few things I've said in your reports, did you not?"

"Ah, I see you've been keeping up with them. That makes me happy," he replied.

"No doubt the reason why Kaiba insisted on you being forced to come along," Ryou stated. "He no doubt knew of your knowledge too, and wished to keep you to ensure the stone worked. Speaking of, I do believe this is yours."

He slipped the Blue Eye out of his pocket and handed it to the professor.

"I don't understand any of this," Rebecca said. "If you knew him, why didn't you come to help? How is Mariku still alive? What did you do to that woman back there? How is any of this possible?"

"I did come to help, if you recall," he answered. "I think what you mean to ask, why didn't I come with you to begin with?"

"Well, yes."

"I will admit, I had more interest than I led you to believe. You see, I was going to go after him on my own, but I didn't want you involved, you should know why. After all, it was dangerous in there. I'd planned to go there on my own and offer Kaiba what I gave him, a chance to say goodbye to his fiance in exchange for Professor Hawkins' return, along with the Blue Eye. I was already there when you and Mariku came in, and when I heard the commotion, I figured you two had just gotten in trouble, so I had to save you. As for Mariku and my abilities, well I'm a seasoned necromancer. I bring people back from the dead. Mariku is the only one I was able to give another life to permanently. He's a special case, as you can see, and the only one I was ever able to create. Doing the same with Miss Kisara was impossible."

"But why?"

"To be put bluntly, I only had one component to bring him back," he explained. "The process was complicated, and I'm afraid it would take too long to explain. Besides, we're almost back to your home."

The young woman didn't seem pleased with not getting a full explanation, but it seemed to be enough for her. Looking out the window as they continued along, she seemed thoughtful for a second before looking back at Mariku.

"Are you alright?" she asked him. He was now completely healed, but there was still blood all over him. They'd had to have made quite a sight to the driver if Ryou had not distracted him while they'd all hurried to climb in.

"I've had much worse, little lady," he said with a smile. "No need to worry. The worst I have right now is torn clothes. That's about it."

"Well... I guess all's well that ends well," she said. "Though it doesn't seem very well to me."

"No," Ryou said. "Mr. Kaiba was hardly happy with the few moments he had, and you two made a rather big scene getting inside, while I just snuck in. Scotland Yard will want answers, and it's likely they may come looking for them. With any luck, we are out of the woods, but I'll breathe easier on that in a few days when I know for sure."

He smiled however when they reached their stop and the two climbed out of the carriage, bidding them thanks and farewell before the cab started to move again, this time Ryou's own home the destination.

"Nice of you to lie to her," Mariku snorted.

"Oh?" Ryou asked. "How do you know?"

"You sat right back down to read once she'd left," he said. "You were never going to go after the professor."

"Well...actually I was," he admitted. "I just couldn't go immediately, especially if you knew. I planned to wait until you wouldn't see me leave and then run off. It was a gamble to wait, and I would have hated to lose him, but... well, I didn't want to risk it."

"Risk what?"

Ryou frowned.

"You."

"What?" Mariku asked, feeling shocked. "I was in no danger, and you know that. Okay, the blow to the head slowed me down, and fucking hurt, but I-"

"I had heard the stories about the Eye granting life again too," he said to interrupt him. "I didn't know if they were true or not until now. Could you imagine what could have happened if they were? You're an undead creature, Mariku. If the stories hadn't been false... what could it have done to you? It might have sundered your connection to your body. Maybe it could have made you mortal again, and Kaiba could have easily killed you then. If I went there and you knew about it, you would have insisted on coming along. I... I couldn't have risked your life, even if it was for another. Of course, you had to run off anyway. I hoped to take care of it all there before you got there, but I didn't have much luck."

"Ryou... I..." Mariku sighed. He didn't know what to say. It was both kind and sick what the other was willing to do for him. Pulling the other into his lap, he gave him a lopsided grin before kissing him. "Just don't do it again, you depraved freak. I don't want to hear about you running off without me to protect you. It's why you brought me back for the dead in the first place."

"True, but I didn't plan to get so attached," he said, resting in Mariku's arms. "If you had been hurt..."

"Ryou, you've dealt with loss before," he said. "It's not like you're like that Kaiba man."

"A loss in family and a loss of a lover are too close to say they're not the same thing," he said. "I think after one more... I might have been horrible enough to try those things he had done."

Mariku stayed silent for a moment, holding him close and resting his chin on Ryou's head. This relationship of theirs was an odd one, but he certainly couldn't say he didn't love Ryou. Somehow they'd just become close. He knew things about him Ryou would never share with anyone else, and in the few years of being together, they'd long since stopped being just master and servant. As they rode along on the cobbles, the carriage rocking along back home, he sincerely hoped he would be with Ryou forever to save him from loneliness and insanity.

End of Chapter 3

I hope that was worth the wait for everyone, and that they enjoyed it. Looking back, it was a bit of trouble to get this all written, but I certainly enjoy the final product and I hope you do too. Just review to let me know. Thanks.

Of course, as always, thanks to Ria for betaing. Thanks go to Thooruchan as well, for being able to come back after her move and help out at well. Really appreciate it, girls.