Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson November ❯ revelations ( Chapter 5 )

Sight not worth seeing

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I can't spell, and the words I make up are mine. Alright… heehe.. please review! Input makes things work better.

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" What do you mean, you can see where the bodies are?"

Yami Bakura slammed his fist down on the dinner table, eyes narrowed into dark slits of fury.

Bakura whimpered and began to shake his head back and forth, violently trying to remove all traces of the sight he was seeing. Joey grabbed his shoulders, holding him steady, protectively grasping him, while Mokuba looked on in horrified fascination.

Kaiba shook his head, crossing his arms in annoyance.

" You can't be seeing dead bodies. It's impossible. Unless you're under psychological stress and you've up and cracked under the pressure." He eyed Yami Bakura nervously when the Yami seemed to twist his body, turning to glare directly into Kaiba's cerulean blue eyes.

He clenched and unclenched his hands, lips frozen in a horrific grin.

" You really don't believe in shadow magic, do you Kaiba? I could always lock you in the shadow realm for a few months, and then maybe you'd realize that in this world, anything is possible at any time." He shook his head as Bakura continued to tremble in fear, Joey holding onto his shoulders, soothingly patting his back.

" It's horrible… its so… So dark."

Bakura whispered, pressing his hands to his head in a desperate attempt to remove his eye, clawing at it.

Yami Bakura lept up and seized him, wrenching his arm behind his back in a brutal restraining movement, pinning him to the table. He gritted his teeth as his Hikari squirmed and flailed, trying to free himself, but to no avail.

" Wheeler, get me some sort of washcloth. We should check if what his eye looks like… and it might be infected… I had a friend once who went insane because of an eye infection." He growled bitterly, one arm looped around Bakura's neck, holding him in a headlock.

Mokuba got up and ran from the room, returning moments later with a wet washcloth in hand, the water still dripping from its fabric. He held it out nervously to Yami Bakura, who began to wrestle with the bandages wrapped around Bakura's head, unwinding the white porcelain cloth layer by layer until it came free and he hurled it away.

Bakura began to scream, screaming so loud that his voice became hoarse and rattling, as if he was being murdered himself. He began to thrash again, back arching in hysteria, stomach heaving but unable to spew its contents.

Yami Bakura held on, as if he were on a bucking bronco and grabbed at the washcloth, yelling over Bakura's screams, " Wheeler, help me hold him still."

Joey grabbed Bakura, pulling Bakura's arms behind his back, pinging them against his chest, letting Yami Bakura take a closer look at the offending eye.

It was hard to tell by the look on Yami bakura's face, whether he was horrified or intrigued. His mouth slipped open into a cocky almost goofy grin, and he shook his head.

" it's bad." He said, moving forward to daub at Bakura's face.

Kaiba strained to see over the Yami's shoulders, eyes widening with horror when he saw what was wrong.

The whole once bandaged side of Bakura's face was pale and throbbing with a strange light, while the eye itself was a heaving crimson ball of torment, its colour so bright that it seemed unnatural; while blood was leaking from the corners of his eye, crimson tears of misery.

He had to pull back, putting one hand over his mouth to hide the terror in his soul, grabbing Mokuba, claming his hands over his eyes in a desperate attempt to keep his little brother from seeing what he had seen.

Yami Bakura finished clearing away the blood and then pulled back, grasping Bakura's chin in his hand,, examining his hikari's face with a look of amusement flashing in his eyes. Bakura's one good eye focused on him, pleading for peace when Yami Bakura slapped him roughly across the face, stunning him. He fell limp in Joey's grasp and simply sat in the chair, sobs and breath choking him like death itself. Joey glared at Yami Bakura, but then realized the reason behind the unprecedented beating. If he hadn't calmed Bakura down, he might had done something to himself. He could easily exhaust himself and then pass out, unable to fight the infection in his eye.

But it wasn't an infection.

Yami Bakura turned Bakura's face to the side, staring intently at the eye, which moved of its own accord, following his every movement. He sneered, releasing Bakura, his fingers leaving tiny red finger marks on Bakura's flesh.

He cast a glance at Kaiba, a malevolent look quickly spreading across his face and moved forward, pushing Mokuba from his brother's grasp, yanking Kaiba over to Bakura's side, his fingers digging into the flesh of his writs, like tiny nooses. He thrust Kaiba forward and pressed his face forward to an inch in front of Bakura's eye, hands holding his head steady as he tried to pull back, repulsed by what he saw.

This was no human eye. The pupil's slit was just enough to tell him that it most likely wasn't even of something of the homosapien class. The way the pupil dilated as his face blocked out the light was terrifying, horrible in a sick and twisted way.

" You believe in shadow magic now? Or would you like me to show you more proof." He snarled viciously, grip intensifying when Kaiba flinched involuntarily.

Bakura whimpered, trying to pull back from Kaiba, but his head remained in the position it was in, as if controlled by the eye itself. He felt hot pain coursing up and down the side of his face, resonating from the eye itself, like flames burning up and down his cheeks.

" Hey let Kaiba go…" Joey growled, leaning over Bakura, who flinched, demon eye half closing by itself.

Yami Bakura sneered and pulled Kaiba bodily away from Bakura, pushing him back into his chair, eyes burning with hatred.

" Don't you realize what this means? He's got a demon's eye in his head and the stupid mortal doctors put it in him! What kind of idiot would put an eye that pulsates into someone else's head!"

Bakura shuddered as another jolt of pain washed down his spine. Joey shook his head, concern plastered across his face.

" Can't we do anything to help him?" he asked.

Yami Bakura nodded, turning to Mokuba, who was staring unabashedly at Bakura, eyes wide with fear.

" Little Kaiba, do you have some sort of patch that we could put over his eye?" he asked.

Mokuba nodded. " Will a pirate eye patch work? I got one for Halloween and I haven't used it since…"

Yami Bakura nodded. " Yes, and while your getting that, go get some lemon juice or vinegar? That should clean out the eye enough to contain it for a while."

Bakura shook, eyes rolling in his head, close to a seizure, limbs stiffening. He clenched Joey's shirt, fingers prying at the fabric as if begging to be freed and then began to murmur softly.

" they're all there… oh Ra… there all watching me… make it stop… please make it stop… they're staring at me… make it stop…" he moaned, jaw clenching and unclenching.

Joey shook his head sadly. " why's he doing this now? Shouldn't he have been doing it when they first put the damned eyeball in his head the first time?"

Yami Bakura shook his head.

" the effects of demon powers only show up after the body part has decided to abandon the new host…" he broke off when Bakura grabbed his arm, squeezing so hard he nearly fell to his knees from the pain.

He wretched his arm free and began to massage it, glaring at Kaiba, who seemed to pale even more before.

" it's not rejecting me… its making itself a part… in me…" Bakura howled, pulling free, trying to claw at his face, succeeding when he elbowed Joey in the head. He reached up, scratching madly at his face as though a plague of a thousand locusts had landed in his eyes. Blood began to smear its way down his chin from the corner of the eye like morbid tears.

Yami Bakura jumped up, seizing Bakura in another headlock, sending Joey a dark look.

" Wheeler, get something to tie him up with… a rope, anything… we can't let him claw it out of his bloody head… it may be our only chance to figure out where the bodies are and who the other killers are…" he grunted, struggling with Bakura, who began to wail pitifully, his other eye weeping with untainted tears.

" Why are you doing this… why aren't you helping me! Help me! Make it go away! It hurts so badly… make it stop!" he shrieked, rocking back and forth in Yami Bakura's grasp, the demon eye focused on Kaiba, its lifeless stare seeming to penetrate his very soul.

Kaiba's eyes began to water with tears. He felt as if the world had been thrust into his hands.

He had to stop it.

" Let him go. Rip that god damned eye out of his head while you still have the chance." He ordered, rising to get at Yami Bakura, when Mokuba ran forwards, clutching a bottle of vinegar and a half filled bottle of lemon juice, the eye patch held jauntily around his neck , a plastic blue bowl perched atop his head like a childish hat.

He moved forward, depositing everything on the table with a clatter, eyes wide with terror and shock.

" what's wrong with him?" he asked, chewing his lip, shrinking back from Yami Bakura who was clutching Bakura to his chest.

Joey ran in from another room bearing a bed sheet in his arms like a bridal gown. He hurried forward and began to restrain Bakura with the Yami's help, securing the struggling boy to the chair he was sitting in.

" let me go! I won't stand for it! it hurts! Make it stop, oh please Ra make it stop!" Bakura shouted, shaking his head back and forth like a shark making its first deadly bite.

Yami Bakura sighed in defeat and grabbed the lemon juice and the bowl.

" Mokuba, I need you to get me a knife… a sharp knife."

Kaiba shook his head, authority bouncing around his aura like a ball.

" no. don't get him the knife Mokuba. Don't do anything else he says." He commanded.

Yami Bakura smiled.

" I'm not going to hurt him. The knife's for me. I've got to pour the lemon juice in his demon eye to calm it down… lemons are like battery acid to demons. The vinegar's rinsing out the slash I'm going to make on my arm. Blood usually draws a demon out from its hiding… and it might appease it for a few minutes… just enough to figure out what it wants with MY Bakura."

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Joey sat limply on the living room couch with Mokuba lying asleep across his lap. He couldn't get the dazed feeling out of his head. It had been a mess, a horrible bloody mess.

All of the pain and stress he'd felt in the classroom during Tristan's slaughter of his friends had felt like a rainshower compared to what he had seen.

The eye…

The eye had started to talk aloud to them…

Or perhaps it hadn't been the eye. Maybe it had been something else…

But as soon as Yami Bakura had slashed his arm, it had begun to speak in long droning tones, as if having waited till then to let loose a single word.

Bakura had gone all ridged, traced out, but still aware and alive in his body…

But the demon had seemed amused almost when Yami Bakura had begun to question it…

It had wanted retribution…

It had wanted them to promise to avenge its death… to kill its killer…

All he could see was red and black and black and red in a whirling pattern of gore and death…

It had showed them the realm where the bodies of his sister and his parents lay, the realm where the demon had lived once… before being slaughtered and forced out of its world…

Bakura was sleeping on the couch beside him now, wrapped in a soft blanket, sleeping off the nightmare.

It had to have been around midnight now…

Yami Bakura was lying under the coffee table, muttering to himself, repeating everything the demon had said, trying to commit it to memory. It had been clear that the strange ritual summoning had taken a lot out of him, for he had practically been physically carried to the living room.

Kaiba himself was still having a hard time trying to understand what had occurred and was presently typing away on his computer, researching all he could about demons and the occult. He had never been one to believe the supernatural, but seeing it first hand had swayed him to the side of believing.

Joey was confused and afraid about the entire introduction to the demon. He felt dirty, as if he had been contaminated by the entire presence of the creature. And worse yet, he felt guilty for Bakura having to have been put through agony just so that they could find out information. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to do something… something that didn't involve thinking…

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair, feeling sweat dampening the strands.

Why had things gone so strange all of a sudden? He hadn't asked for something like this to happen, he hadn't wanted anything to happen… all he wanted was go to sleep and be where he had once been…

Sure, he loved the fact that Kaiba had become something of a part of his life… but if he could do it all over again… he'd have chosen to repeat the entire episode with only the Kaiba goodies in it. He wanted to be able to sleep without having dreams of people dying in front of him… to sleep a sleep that was nothingness… that was empty and not reality…

Mokuba rolled over and snuggled into his chest, burrowing like a cat into his stomach.

" Joey… did all that really happen?" he murmured, voice soft as snow falling on the cold ground.

Joey wrapped an arm around the smaller boy, squeezing him gently.

" It's real… but we'll fix it… we'll fix it all Mokie."

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Seto Kaiba sat in front of his computer in his room, typing like a mad man. Everything he found out made him have to find out more. It was horrible, the complexity of the matter at hand. Who could have thought that Occult was so damned hard to understand? Sure, he'd never believed in it, but once he'd seen the records and logbooks of various ancient peoples, he began to see a pattern. Everything that had to do with life had some reach into the supernatural, for a part of all the history came from records of what people had done. He'd learned about everything that happened in Egypt in perhaps an hour, going through medieval history with a pace that would have startled any history teacher to tears. It was terribly fascinating but also horrifying in the same manner. There was no break for history, it just kept continuing with its tales of mass murder and death. He was beginning to become suspicious that something was wrong with his database when he realized that he hadn't checked into any black hole theories. He'd read about them, books and books about the transport of particles through time and space in the blink of an eye. It was dimensional shift, that had to be what the Shadow realm was… but how could anyone control the black holes? All his research had led him to a dead end on that part.

He sighted, shaking his head in disbelief, clicking shut the window he had been looking at.

It was all there… and it all made some sense, to a low level of consciousness. But from the information he gained, there were holes that left large gaps in the histories. There were almost no bits of data surrounding the shadow games played in ancient Egypt. All the computer had been able to locate when he'd typed in "shadow Realm" was a few tid bits from Pegasus's personal translations of the ancient text, and a few porno sites. It hadn't all been too profitable.

He clasped his hands, frowning in concentration. There had to be some explanation to why the demon's eye had transported itself across dimensions just to take Bakura as its host. Revenge couldn't be the entire truth of the matter. He seriously doubted whether Tristan could use any occult black or white magic, and it confused him to think that Tristan might have killed a creature twice the size of a Volvo. From the description he'd found on the computer, the creature that had taken over Bakura had been huge, and had been of the Draco lucine species, one of the rarest creatures in the world. It was rumored to have teeth the sizes of dinner plates and feet the size of desks. Just a few guns couldn't possibly have defeated something that large. Someone else must have been in on the fight, but it didn't add up. Only someone with strong magical powers could tap into the nether realms, and from what he gathered, Tristan wouldn't have been able to summon or kill a fly in the Lucineian Dimension.

They were dealing with something much stronger… some sort of ancient magic…

Or perhaps a god…

He tapped his chin with his index finger, cerulean blue eyes narrowed in deep concentration.

One of the ancient Egyptian gods then… Someone who loved Chaos and destruction… random acts of violence…

That sounded right…

He cast a glance at the computer and then hurriedly keyed in the words " god or goddess of chaos", receiving a file the size of the entire report of Kaiba corporations' physical earnings for three years.

No.

That wasn't it at all…. Too many names to run through.

Perhaps he had to look up a specific region to find the god he was looking for… But where could a god that strong come from? Ancient Babylon? The Mayans? The Aztecs?

There wasn't anything to hint at, or even to spectulate at yet…

Or perhaps there had been…

The eye itself had been strangley familiar in apperance… he'd seen it before somewhere…but where?

Then it clicked.

He yanked his dueling deck out of his pocket and began to flip through the cards, finding the one he head been looking for. The twin headed fire dragon.

He shook his head at his stupidity.

" So… Pegasus saw the creature too. That doesn't surprise me in the least." He chuckled darkly, turning back the computer, placing his deck on the table beside him. He brought up Industrial illusions direct satellite uplink and began to hack his way through the massive index of information, finding what he needed on Pegasus's home computer.

Ancient Text Translations for the three god cards.

It was so simple he thought, printing out the information he'd pirated off Pegasus's computer, stapling them neatly.

Why hadn't he thought about it before?

The ancient past of the pharaoh was the key to everything, and the crazy psycho himself had figured out part of it. Good old Pegasus. You could always count on him to find the answer to the strangest and most little known questions.

All he had been able to find out though about the pharaoh's past was this.

" He who was the guardian to the shadow realm will pass the safety on to his lover. They will in turn pass their power on to the one who asks, and the dragons and demons will rule the world."

Whatever that ment…

Pegasus had figured that the pharaoh had been the gatekeeper of the dimensions, which had been pretty much the whole concept of shadow games. But what Kaiba had deemed himself had startled even him.

The ruler had been unable to do all of this on his own. He had used his high priest, Kaiba's past self, to summon the ancient goddess Sekmet, the goddess of war. But she hadn't been the only god summoned… in order to get the full power, they had needed to combine the power of a human mortal and the God Set, the god of chaos. This would have created a hybrid creature, something that would not be bound by the laws of dimensions and mortality.

He suspected that this would be the problem that they were to solve. If the Pharaoh hadn't stopped the creature, believing that it was a "good" creature, then it was now somewhere out there in the real world causing mass havoc and death. He was surprised that the thing hadn't attacked the planet beforehand.

He frowned again, shaking his head as he took in every possible situation change.

Nothing seemed to have changed in the timelines. No one had mysteriously vanished only to return a few measly millennia later with an army of shadow creatures… in fact, the only thing that had changed in terms of human civilizations was technology.

It was then that things started to fit.

Noa.

Noa had been sent to his virtual world after death… to live in it alive but not truly alive. Noa Kaiba… he might know how to stop the creature… or perhaps he was involved in it somehow. Maybe it had something to do with the god cards being put into holographic images…

This was not good, even by Kaiba's standards.

If the creature had escaped imprisonment by breaching the dimensional rifts through holograms, it might have been his fault for releasing everything. It was like Pandora's box. What if he had released something unstoppable and it had taken over Tristan and those other murderers… maybe they had been goofing around and had accidentally summoned the creatures… or perhaps Noa himself had stayed dormant inside Tristan ever since the battle city tournament…

Dread grabbed at his face like a tearful lover.

He had to find out where Noa was… if Noa was still alive, somewhere in the mainframe of Kaiba corporation, even after the tower broadcasting it had been destroyed, there might be a small sliver of a chance to stop the creature…

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It was dawn now, and Seto Kaiba had been typing for hours, going through every single file ever loaded into Kaiba Corporation's network. He went through the Big Five's personal hard drives from his home computer and found nothing that would have even remotely resembled the digital world Noa lived in.

He was beginning to think that perhaps he had let his mind get away from him when he finally located a single file labeled " diginoa". His eyes narrowed, glaring at the screen. So it was still alive… harboured in the deep inerworkings of Kaiba Corporation. He paused, debating whether to click on the icon or not and then decided to click it, knowing that it was now his responsablilty to take care of the mess.

The icon glowed eerily and instantly, the computer screen was filled with the image of the digital world they had nearly been trapped in, its vibrant colours alive and well, as were all the duelmonsters. Noa himself was lying on the ground, eyes shut, not moving, almost zombie like in his control center. Kaiba sighed and tapped the screen.

Promptly, Noa sat up, rubbing his head.

His eyes fixed on Kaiba's and instantly he began to grin. He stood up, walking over the screen, face pressed against the glass, eyes wide with excitement.

" Seto? What's going on? I thought I got destroyed- or did you help me?" He asked, making Kaiba flinch.

" I didn't save you. You must have had a back up copy of your digital world uploaded in the network in Kaiba Corporation. And I've got a few questions to ask you, for instance, has anything happened in your world that involves changing dimensions, for instance, oh lets say, releasing a demon who wants to kill everyone on the planet?" Kaiba growled.

Noa looked scandalized. He pulled back from the computer screen and waved a finger chastising at Kaiba, rolling his eyes.

" You really think I'd waste my precious time trying to take over your … world." He sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat.

" Alright… I know something about this creature your talking about… the big five were looking in on it a few months ago… they weren't exactly destroyed either. They decided to use some sort of virus to invade people's computers… so that they could instantly take over the minds of unsuspecting people… of course I wasn't involved." He yawned, examining his nails with a look of boredom.

" they might have found someone else in the dimensional rift.. mainly someone who was defeated during the battle city tournament… but I'm not one to play stool pidgeon. I'm not going to tell just anyone who it is…"

Kaiba smiled sweetly at the screen, a sinister air in his actions.

He crossed his arms and leaned back against his chair, putting his feet up on the desk in a manner Noa seemed petered by.

" I can wait. Or I can just delete you and your little program. It's your choice Noa."

Noa sighed and pursed his lips in distaste. " your such a spoil sport, you know that Seto? Well then, if your not even going to play my game, I suppose I'll just have to make a deal with you… you promise me you won't delete my program and I'll tell you the name of who's using my system to bring forth your creature."

Kaiba nodded.

" alright. I won't delete you. now spill the beans runt."

Noa shook a finger at Kaiba, stalking over to his own control chair, leaning back into the plush seat with a look of amusement.

" it's someone you didn't like very much. And I'm not talking about Gozaburo. It's the Ishtar boy… the weird one with the veins that always pop out of his head… what's his name… Yami Merik."

Kaiba smiled and reached forward to close the program when Noa paniced, running forward to touch the screen, as if holding onto it.

" I'm not lying! I swear it! it's Yami Merick, honestly!" he pleaded.

Kaiba smiled again.

" I know your not lying. I'm just finished with listening to your annoying voice - "

" Seto Kaiba don't you dare turn off that screen! I've got more information; I swear by my very life that it's all true! What would I have to gain by lying? I know your just waiting for a reason to delete me for good." Noa begged, pressing his face so close to the screen that Kaiba could have sworn he could see the boy's freckles.

Kaiba sighed and moved way from the screen, sitting back down in the chair.

" I'm listening."

Noa sighed with relief, relaxing a little.

" I know we weren't on the best to terms last time, but don't I deserve a chance at life-" Kaiba reached out again threateningly as if to turn off the screen and noa hurriedly continued.

" It's Gozaburo, Seto. He's the one who's merged with it. He wants revenge against the world for daring to kill him off. I'm not sure if he's actually part of it, all I know is that he and Yami Merick have decided to work together to get the power of the pharaoh. It was Yami Merick that released the creature… most likely by Gozaburo's direct orders… and it's Gozaburo who's controlling everything… but he's not in charge of the decisions they make… I found out a few days ago that he's employed a bunch of students to go to Domino school to slaughter everyone. It's supposed to be some sort of test… you should be careful, or you might -"

" it's already happened. It's too late for your warnings now Noa." Kaiba snarled, feeling ready to slam his fist right through the computer screen.

Noa looked crestfallen.

" Oh. Well then… it's good that you escaped-"

" Of course it's good. Good for you, learning how to suck up to people. I'm surprised your in as good a mood your in right now. " Kaiba growled.

Noa puffed up, arrogance building up his stature immensely.

" Well, well. Look who thinks they're so powerful? I'm surprised you're still alive. I know that Gozaburo means to have you and your little dueling buddies wiped out. Somehow you got a lucky break…"

Kaiba glared heatedly at Noa before calming himself, wanting to ask another question.

" Noa, you know about the Draco lucine beast Gozaburo killed in order to put all the bodie-"

Noa looked impressed.

" Did you figure that out all by yourself, or did your computer help you? Of course I know about the Draco lucine. It was Yami Merick's idea to use its habitat to store the body's in. what do you think I am, some sort of idiot?"

Noa crossed his arms and snorted in disbelief at Kaiba.

" you really are sad, you know that Seto? I thought better of you." he chuckled darkly before turning away from Kaiba, acting more childish then ever before.

Kaiba smiled, glad to be beating Noa in anything.

" your lucky your still in that stupid digital world Noa, or I'd strangle you myself for keeping all this to yourself. Your probably on their side too."

Noa whirled around, eyes gleaming with anger.

" How dare you state that I, Noa Kaiba, would become a lackey for some bunch of imbeciles! I wouldn't lower myself to their level, not in a thousand years."

" and that's how long it'll take for anyone to ever find you again once I turn off this computer, isn't it Noa. A few hundred years and you'll be nothing but old data frozen on a broken down hard drive. It's sad to think that you could have been something more then what you are… but as I always say, its pity that drives idiots to do the impossible."

Kaiba sneered.

An alarm clock went off from somewhere in the room, and Kaiba jumped, frowning as he looked down at his watch. Damn. He'd pulled an all nighter. He should have known better then to stay up all night… not after what had happened the previous night… all he'd been able to do was stare blankly at the walls…

Noa faked concern, sticking out his bottom lip like a sad puppy dog.

" ah, did poor widdle Seto stay up all night doing research?"

Kaiba reached forward and pushed the button on the screen, sending it black with a pop of electricity.

He did not need to start off his day with Noa Kaiba harassing him.

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Joey woke up lying flattened underneath Mokuba and Bakura, who'd migrated during the night to his couch. Bakura was sleeping peacefully on Joey's stomach, legs dangling octopus like over the side. He looked sickly and pale somehow in the early morning light, and Joey knew that things had been hard for the boy the night before. He yawned, stretching lightly beneath his human blanket, noticing an arm sticking out from beneath the coffee table.

Yami Bakura rolled over in his sleep and banged his head on the edge of the coffee table, snarling, waking everyone else up.

Bakura jumped up, looking around frantically, spying his Yami lying flat on the floor, cursing the morning and various other things. He blushed embarrassedly at Joey, who shrugged and closed his eyes again, trying to go back to sleep when Kaiba sauntered back into the living room carrying a rather large stack of information, which he was nervously flipping through.

Bakura reached up and touched his face, feeling the pirate eye patch covering his new eye. He shivered, remembering the night before and then sighed, shaking his head sadly as he noticed Yami Bakura's bandaged arm.

Mokuba struggled up from being pan-caked beneath Joey and the couch and began to yawn profusely, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

They all turned to look at Kaiba, who frowned and stalked over out of the room, returning with a cup of tea clutched in one hand, a muffin hanging out of his mouth while he read and reread the papers again. He sat down on an empty couch and set his mug of tea on the coffee table, chewing lazily on the muffin in his mouth, knowing full well that everyone was watching him.

Mokuba stuck his tongue out at his brother and then giggled when Joey grabbed him like a teddy bear, yawning, pulling him back down into the couch.

" Seto! Help me!"

Kaiba sighed and stood up, stalking over to Joey, prying his brother from his lover's grasp.

" For the love of Ra Wheeler, stop trying to suffocate my little brother…" he grumbled.

Joey released Mokuba and then tackled Kaiba himself, putting him in a headlock.

" Ha! I've finally managed to catch Seto Kaiba off guard-"

Kaiba twisted a little and pulled free, reversing the hold so that Joey was in a headlock instead.

" ha. You suspect too much Wheeler. You'll never catch me off guard."

Joey smirked, face going red. He reached backwards with one hand and slipped his hand up underneath Kaiba's shirt, making Kaiba's eyes widen with shock.

He grinned when Mokuba tackled Kaiba from the other side, clamping his hands over Kaiba's eyes.

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes and rolled back under the table, trying not to laugh.

Bakura simply smiled and forlornly began to touch the eye patch.

" May I ask, when you three are done with your foolishness, why I still have the eye… and why I'm wearing a plastic Pirate eye patch?" he asked quietly.

Immediately, Kaiba released Joey and looked down at his feet, eyes narrowed.

" we had to let it stay, because without it, we wouldn't have been able to figure out what happened to Tristan and everyone…"

Bakura felt cold welling up in his stomach and looked down at his hands, timid and afraid.

" but what happens if it takes over.. and trys to hurt you all…?" he murmured.

Yami Bakura reached out from under the coffee table, grasping at Bakura's leg lightly, tugging it.

" it's alright… we made a deal with it. as long as we avenge it's death, it'll revert back to the normal eye they put in your head in the first place. It's supposed to have once been a demon that-" he broke off, unable to speak further on the subject.

Kaiba waved a hand at him, keeping him silent.

" I spent all night researching this thing, and frankly, it's not good. According to … noa Kaiba, Gozaburo Kaiba's decided to team up with the big five and Yami Merick Ishatar to take over the world.. or most likely destroy it. they've summoned a creature that was created by the pharaoh in ancient times to guard the shadow realm's gates… the breeding of Sekmet, the goddess of war, and Set, the god of chaos. They also added a human into the mix, so that it would have more of a concience… but somehow I don't think it will make this thing any better."

Yami Bakura stared wildly at Kaiba, snaking his way out from under the coffee table, rising up to his feet, grabbing Kaiba by the shirt and yanking him up.

" your kidding, right? There's no way the pharaoh would create- never mind… I know what your getting at… your saying that Yami Merick is involved… and there are some things I know about him that might fill in the puzzle.."

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What does Yami Merick have to do with everything other then being involved directly with Gozaburo Kaiba? And how will they stop the creature before it gets any stronger?

TBC.