Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Shadow ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 18 )

>_<

Tabby, I can explain.

*deep breath*

We got home from Arkansas around 8:00 on Friday, upon which my mom got on the computer until around 11:00 or 11:30. This was obviously too late for me to get on and post the chapter, since she doesn't approve of me writing and reading fanfiction anyway- heck, she has a thing against anime and manga in general. Thinks it's plotless and full of nuthin but violence, language, and nude women. XP And I couldn't even get on yesterday because I had a birthday party to go to that (most conviniently) was a sleepover. So- here's chapter 18, I guess. >_<

And I know you're not mad at me, which makes it even worse… *sigh*

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It was cold outside. Cassie vaguely wished she had put her jacket back on before leaving the house with the others, but there wasn't really anything she could do about that now- after Jep's announcement, they had all been in too much of a hurry for anyone to get jackets- although Cassie, having lived in Egypt all her life, guessed that she was much colder than everyone else.

She still couldn't believe it. Chrissy? Kidnapped? Who in their right minds would want to kidnap Chrissy, no matter what kind of powers she had? Jep had said it was the descendant of Bastet, but he hadn't said who she was, or why she wanted Chrissy- hell, Cassie didn't even know how Chrissy had been kidnapped in the first place! Hadn't she been at the hospital? Did those guys just have crap security or something?

"Where are we going, anyway?" Otogi's voice cut into Cassie's train of thought. The rest of the gang had rejoined her, Ryou, Bakura, Jep, and Honda a couple blocks away from Ryou's house. Now they were all following Jep- wherever he was taking them. Apparently he knew where they were headed.

"I don't know," Jep answered him.

"You don't know?" shouted Otogi, Jou, and Honda. All at once. Unrehearsed. Cue the applause.

"I don't know the exact place," Jep replied. "I can follow Chrissy's energy, but I don't know where it's coming from."

"That's freaky," Jou mumbled. Cassie blinked. She had been feeling something too. She didn't know exactly what it was, but now that she thought about it-

Jep came to a stop at an intersection. Cassie almost bumped into Honda, who was in front of her. "Why'd we stop?" Mai asked.

Jep seemed to be deciding which way to go. "Um-"

"Hurry up!" Otogi urged him. "We haven't got all day!"

"It's nightime, genius," Mai pointed out. Cassie closed her eyes. Some thing- some signal- was pulling at her on the inside. She could sense it…

"It's left."

Jep and Cassie exchanged startled looks. They had both spoken at the same time. Cassie felt numb. How had she known that?

"How do you know?" Jou. Even in the dim light from the streetlamp, Cassie could see his eyes widened in shock.

"I don't know- it's just- I had a- a feeling," Cassie stammered. Jep looked knowingly at her, but Yugi voiced what he must have been thinking.

"Maybe you're sensing Chrissy's energy too," he said. Cassie knew he was right, but she didn't adknowledge him. Jep turned and flew off to the left. They were moving again. Cassie darted around Honda so that she was directly behind the apparition.

"Jep," she said, lowering her voice. Jep glanced back at her, slowing his speed slightly and dropping down so that they were beside each other. Cassie spoke aloud what she had been wondering since they had left the house. "Who is this 'descendant of Bastet' person? And what does she want with Chrissy?"

Jep sighed. "She kidnapped Chrissy to lure you out. She-"

"What?"

"She knows that she'll have to face you sooner or later, but she didn't want to fight you both at once. So she took Chrissy, knowing that you'd have to go after her- take the bait," Jep explained. "She's also guessing that the two of you will be weaker if you're seperated, weaker than you would be if you fought her side by side."

Cassie snorted. "Bull. Like I'd be at a disadvantage without that twit dragging me down."

Jep was silent for a moment, then continued. "Unfortunately, I can't tell you her name, or what she looks like- though you may already know some of that," he added.

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked. "I've never-"

"You might have," Jep interjected. "Through one of your visions."

"Visions?" Cassie's mind was drawing a blank. "You haven't said anything about-"

"Through your necklace," Jep interrupted, eyes focused on the path ahead. "I've been talking to you, but I haven't been controlling what you've been seeing. Maybe you've already seen her."

Cassie didn't speak. She tried to think back. Had she seen anyone in either of her visions? She couldn't remember having seen a person- she hadn't seen much of anything… it was all darkness…

"And," Cassie said, asking her other question, "I still don't know how Chrissy got herself kidnapped in the first place. Wasn't she at the hospital? And weren't all you guys with her?"

"Yes, she was, and yes, we were," Jep replied. "And I honestly don't know how it happened. It was about fifteen minutes after you ran out- everyone was getting ready to leave, Chrissy included- and then it happened. The lights just went out, there was a sound of glass smashing, I felt Chrissy's energy vanish- then the lights came back on, the window was broken, and-"

"And Chrissy was gone," Cassie finished for him. She felt a feeling of anxiety rising slowly in her. If this Bastet lady or whoever she was could do something like that so easily- what else was she capable of?

Jep turned another corner. Cassie followed him, her sneakers scraping the pavement. She almost fell over. Stupid cheap shoes. Suddenly Jep stopped. Cassie, not paying attention, abruptly realized he wasn't moving forward and skidded to a halt as well. This time she did fall over. Stupid, stupid shoes! Ryou helped her up.

Rubbing her scraped palms together, Cassie looked at where they had come to a stop. They were standing outside of a broken-down building- a very large broken-down building. It was made entirely out of brick, all the windows were shattered, and the door was boarded up.

Correction- the door had been boarded up. It looked now as if it had been split in two- there was a large, splintered crack down the middle, and one section of the door had fallen inwards, revealing a gaping blackness inside. Not wanting to look in, Cassie tilted her head back. There were smokestacks prtotruding from the top of the building, and a sign was painted on the bricks above the doorway. Cassie squinted. It was dark, but the streetlamps along the deserted road gave just enough light so that she could dimly make out the faded words.

"Domino Ice Company…?" she muttered.

"This building must be old," Ryou murmered.

"Yeah, nobody's had to buy those big blocks of ice for ages," Mai agreed.

"Blocks of ice?" Cassie jumped. She hadn't realized that Yami was once more visible. Peering around Ryou's shoulder, she saw that Bakura was visible too, wearing a similar confused expression.

"It wasn't that long ago," Mai said, with a wave of her hand. "Before refridgerators wre invented, people just had iceboxes, and they'd buy big blocks of ice to keep their food cold. But it doesn't matter-" She glanced uneasily at the dark doorway. "She's in there?"

"They both are," Jep said quietly. Cassie sensed a tremble in his voice. He was… afraid?

"So are we going in?" Jou demanded. Jep blinked.

"We really don't have a choice," he replied.

"So who's going in f-"

Cassie didn't wait for Otogi to finish his sentence. She strode forward and gave the plywood a hard kick. The remaining piece fell with a loud bang that reverberated around the room it had fallen into.

"Let's draw straws," she muttered, trying to keep her voice calm. The air wafting out of the building felt stale and dusty- and something else, too. She could feel that there was something waiting inside. Something dark. Something dangerous. And Cassie realized that she was afraid.

Well, this is unexpected, she thought dryly. She glanced at Jep out of the corner of her eye. His face was stiff. Cassie could see his jet-black wings quivering. So, he was afraid too…

Someone stepped past her. Cassie jerked in surprise. It was Bakura. His eyes were narrowed, and his jaw was clenched. He paused at the entrance, then spoke in a loud voice.

"Breaking into dark, abandoned buildings in the middle of the night, with no idea of what the hell could be inside, except that it could probably kill us all… and here I thought the good old days were over."

He strode into the building. The tension in Cassie's chest loosened slightly, and she gritted her teeth and followed him.

"Quiet down, would you?" she growled at him. Bakura was standing about ten feet from the doorway, his arms folded in front of him. His face was set in an intense gaze.

"They're both in here," he said in a low voice.

"Well, duh," Cassie hissed back. She could hear the others coming in behind them. Ignoring them, she strained her eyes, trying to see through the musty blackness inside the factory. Where were they…?!

Suddenly a tremor ran through the room, as if the entire building was shuddering. Cassie could hear Jou give a yelp of alarm. A cold dread flooded her chest.

Then, in an instant, the lights snapped on. Cassie blinked rapidly, scanning the room wildly for signs of life. "Chrissy!" she heard herself yell.

She saw dozens of cardboard boxes- broken bits of glass beneath the shattered windows- dust, everywhere- and there, on a stack of crates against the opposite wall, barely a hundred feet away, lay Chrissy. She was clearly unconcious, but that wasn't the worst part. She was surrounded by a glowing gold shield- like a barrier. And standing in front of the crates, wearing a long black dress and a smirk of pure evil, was a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. Her hair was thick, dark red, and two mahogany cat ears were poking from the top of her head. But her eyes-

Cassie's heart stopped.

Two bright, shining golden eyes, locked onto hers, beaming like headlights of a car, staring-

Her eyes were the eyes from Cassie's vision. Jep was right, Cassie thought, feeling paralyzed. I have seen her before…

"So glad you could make it," the woman purred. Even her voice was catlike- smooth and yet sinister. "Especially you," she said, turning her eyes on Cassie. "Protector." She hissed the word. Cassie felt herself freeze under the woman's gaze. There was something about those eyes that pierced directly through her, left her defenseless-

"Who are you?" Yami demanded. The woman raised a slender eyebrow as she glanced at him.

"And why would my name be of any importance to you?" she asked cooly. Yami's eyes narrowed dangerously in response. The woman's smirk deepened, as if his anger delighted her. "I have many different titles. I believe the closest interpretation into your language would be Kuchiku." She stepped casually forward, tossing her head. "But enough talk." She focused her eyes on Cassie once more. "I'll let you make the first move if you want, little girl. Use it wisely."

"First move?" Cassie asked uncertainly. Kuchiku's eyes lit up.

"You mean you don't even know what to do? How to even use your powers?" She chuckled darkly, shaking her head. "Oh, this is just delicious." Her gaze flitted over the group, before resting on Jep. "I'm assuming you know what I'm talking about. Would you be kind enough to explain the rather delicate situation to our young friend here? Providing she can understand it."

Cassie might not have been sure of anything else at that moment, but she was sure that Kuchiku was insulting her. Her anger flared up, momentarily overpowering her fear. "Listen, you-"

"Cassie!" Jep said almost pleadingly. "It's not the time!"

Cassie shot a glare at him. "Well, what do I do, then?" she demanded. "I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to fight her, so yeah, it'd be helpful if you could show me!"

"I can't show you, only tell you," Jep said. "You have to use your power."

"How?!" Cassie growled. Could he be any less specific? "All I know how to do is-" She abruptly fell short. "Well, you know- and I don't think that'll help here."

"Power comes in different forms," Jep explained. "You need to focus your energy- concentrate it into one purpose- to fight. Then you'll discover how to use it properly."

"Focus?"

"Yes, focus!" Jep said exasperatedly. "Channel all of your energy towards-"

Cassie never heard the rest of his sentence. She suddenly sensed something coming at her- something coming at her very quickly. And she doubted that it would be painless if it hit. Her fighting instincts took over, and she leapt to the side-

Just in time to see a golden beam of what appeared to be light hit the floor and explode, leaving a black scorch mark.

Kuchiku was gazing at Cassie with an expression of pure, satisfied malice. "You must forgive me…" She raised her arm, a golden glow surrounding her palm. "I'm rather impatient when it comes to killing people. After all, it's what I do best."

The glow erupted from her hand in a beam of golden light that was painful to look at- and even more painful to come in contact with. Once more, Cassie flung herself out of the path of the beam and it singed the floor. "One might say- I was born for it?" She gave a condescending, mirthless chuckle.

Laugh it up, bitch, Cassie was tempted to snap, but words seemed to have deserted her- along with her usual cockiness. She licked her dry lips, anticipating Kuchiku's next attack, realizing that- for perhaps the first time in her life- she had entered a fight that she wasn't sure she could win. Hell, she hadn't even entered it, she'd been forced into it. And now there was no way out.

It took Cassie a few seconds to identify the emotion usually associated with a racing heart and a cold dread in the pit of her stomach- a few seconds that felt like an eternity.

It was fear.

And it was definitely, inescapably, there.

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Well, there you go- oh, and before I forget, thanks so much for reading and reviewing, FairyMage. You rock, and I love you, woman, I really do, but still… God, I feel like nothing would give me greater satisfaction than crawling into some decrepit ditch somewhere and shooting myself in the head. -_-

I know, I know, it's just the mood swings talking. *sigh* Don't worry about me, I'll be fine by tomorrow- probably. It's an 80-20% chance, I guess.

Happy birthday, Tabby-chan…