Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Duel of Love ❯ Reckoning ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, wish I did but I don't.  Or the song, I don't own the song either

A/N: Argh!  *hums* Yo ho de doom…  LOVE the reviews!  Keep'em coming…LOL.  It's hard to find songs to use for some of my chapters; I don't think there's anything ancient enough sounding for this fic…any suggestions?  No, well, alright then, I just manage without… 

Duel of Love

Chapter 7: Reckoning

Katiana

     The plan was set, although it wasn't really qualified as a plan, it consisted of sneaking around, leaving at night and High Priest Shadi revealing where I was by morning.  That was what was going to happen, well, I guess it could consist as a plan…kinda.

     "Um… excuse m…me," I said to one of the servants around dinner, "C…could you give the Pha…pharaoh a message for me?"

     "What is it?" he asked kindly, "Is it important?"
     "T…tell him I w…will be staying at the t…temple tonight," I said, "Please t…tell him for me."

     "Alright, then," he said, "I will."  I thanked him and went to grab my pack that held my supplies and such and made sure my pendant was securely around my neck.  This pendant held my monster, a Blackland Fire Dragon that has been with me ever since I can remember.  He'd get me to the ruins alright.  I took out the map and made sure I knew where I was going before heading out of the Palace.  I had to do this; I had to at least try to find out if there was another tome.  I wanted to help, I really did.  I took the coin out of my pocket; the one High Priest Shadi said I would need to get into the temple.  One side of it was dark and the other side shined a regular gold.  Maybe this connected in some way to the "Two sides of a coin" thing I read about, but what sort of a connection could that be?  Time to go…

Yami

     Morning, I hated it more than anything now, because it followed night, showing I was still alive.  I got dressed like always and went to get breakfast, running into High Priest Seto and High Priest Shadi, who were arguing in the hall.

     "What do you mean she's not here?  How could you know?" High Priest Seto exclaimed.

     "I am only telling you because you need to know," High Priest Shadi said, "Priestess Katiana isn't here…"

     "That's right High Priest Seto," I said, "I received a message last night about how she was staying at the temple, what, isn't she there?"

     "No, she isn't," High Priest Seto replied and glared at High Priest Shadi.

     "So then where is she?" I asked, "Where is Miss Katiana?"

     "I already told High Priest Seto that Priestess Katiana has gone to the temple where the tomes were found.  You should know about this one my Pharaoh, it was the one that my priests and I excavated, and the tomes were all we had found.  Priestess Katiana believes there to be a sixth tome and has gone back there," High Priest Shadi said, "And High Priest Seto doesn't seem to believe me."
     "That is the most absurd thing I have heard!" High Priest Seto exclaimed.

     "It was part of the deal we had made that I would only give her one night's head start.  After that, I would tell both you High Priest Seto and the Pharaoh," High Priest Shadi said, "And whether you believe me or not is up to you."
     "That place is dangerous," I said, "I remember you telling me.  That's no place for her!"

     "She wanted to help you," came the reply, "But I cannot say anything beyond that for I do not know all her reasoning…"

     "She may be in danger," I said, "I'll go right now and find her, bring her back…"
     "You'll do no such thing!" High Priest Seto exclaimed.

     "What, do you expect me to let her get herself into danger?" I asked.

     "I will not let you go by yourself to find her," he replied, "I won't allow it."

     "I won't be taking an army," I said angrily, "And I can do what I wish."

     "Not after what you did to her," he said.

     "…" I couldn't respond to that, it was true and I hadn't even forgiven myself, "I won't let her put herself in danger at my expense…"
     "Then I'm going with you," he said without a second thought, "Never know when you might need someone helping to keep things in control." 

     "Very well then," I said, ignoring that last comment.

     "I will leave you two to your mission then," High Priest Shadi said, bowing out, "I can see you both care for Priestess Katiana."  He walked away leaving us to our confusion.  What had he just said?

     "Fine then, let's go," High Priest Seto said, heading in the direction of the stables, "I won't waste time."

     "Neither would I," I said, walking faster than he was.

     "This is also assuming High Priest Shadi is telling the truth and Katiana isn't just avoiding me," he said arrogantly.

     "I have never known High Priest Shadi to tell a lie," I said, "And I'm not going to just stay here on the basis that he might, Miss Katiana's life may be in danger and I'm not taking any chances."

     "Like you did when you tried to rape her?" he asked and I stopped walking and he passed by me with a smirk on his face, "I thought as much…"

Katiana

     "We're here," I said, looking at the map before putting it back into my sack and my Blackland Fire Dragon set me down on the sand, bowing slightly before disappearing into my pendant once again.  I walked towards the ruins, heading towards the opening that High Priest Shadi had told me about, hoping, praying that this wouldn't be for naught, this trip here wouldn't be for naught.

High Priest Seto

     We saddled up the horses and set out at once, taking little with us except a good supply of water.  We ran our horses hard and fast, and more than once the Pharaoh tried to take the lead.  We both knew where the ruins were, but it seemed like a race, a race to rescue Katiana, who was mine in the first place, and the one girl the Pharaoh couldn't have, he didn't even deserve her after what he did to her.  I think he's just trying to redeem himself, just trying to make it so she may forgive him or so he can forgive himself.  I wasn't about to trust him, not so long as I knew she could be hurt again…

Katiana

     The temple on the inside was a lot bigger than what it originally looked like, but I think that was because most of it was underground.  It was really dusty in here and I kept kicking up sand.  But then again, this was in the middle of a desert; of course there would be sand…

     "I need to f…find where I'm going," I said, glancing around the room.  I knew there was a tome here, I just didn't know where.  This place actually seemed like a house or even a palace of some sort, and I wanted to find the library.  I was always drawn to libraries, and I thought all the answers lay in a book.  Of course, I had proven myself wrong on numerous accounts but I still believed in them.  I really believed the tome would be in the library, I just couldn't prove it, when it could actually be anywhere!  What had I gotten myself into?

High Priest Seto

     We rode hard, edging closer and closer to our destination as the sun rose up higher in the sky.  As soon as I found Katiana I would tear her from the palace whether she liked it or not and make her mine permanently.  She had no business being out here, even if she is trying to help the Pharaoh.  I couldn't see why though, because of the fact that he had tried to rape her.  I suppose she kept her goodness and her willingness to do any task that was given to her with the greatest of effort, which was why she was trying to help.  She may fear the Pharaoh now, but she wanted to help him anyways.

     "We're almost there High Priest," the Pharaoh called from his mount and I nodded in his direction.

     "I can see that my Pharaoh!" I exclaimed and watched as the ruins drew nearer and nearer, "And Katiana will be there, right?"

     "High Priest Shadi doesn't lie, she'll be there," he said back to me.

     "But the next thing to do is to find her in that labyrinth of ruins and navigating through that was a different task in itself," I murmured to myself.   I had trouble seeing how High Priest Shadi had even navigated enough to find the things he did but he managed it.  I could only hope we had better luck, because High Priest Shadi hadn't been looking for one thing in particular but we were, and that pretty much made all the difference.

Katiana

     "Wow, so this is the l…library!" I exclaimed giddily, it looked like a library, I saw shelves and shelves and a table in the middle, even though it was a little dark.  I spotted some torches along the wall and lit them, allowing the illumination to highlight the shelves, and I expected to see tons of scrolls, books and even stone tablets, providing High Priest Shadi didn't take all of them and all I saw was… dust.  There was dust, tons and tons of dust.  Had all the books that had once been here disappeared, did the tomes only survive because they were magically protected or something?  I walked up to one of the shelves and touched one of the piles of dust and it came up into my face in a puff and I backed away as some of it got into my nose, causing me to sneeze.

     "Uh," I said, "W…Won't do that again…"  I looked around the library, eventually coming to the center where the table was, wondering why it hadn't lost any of its shine or strength.  It was made out of wood and even wood turns to dust over time.  I placed my hand on it and pressed down; it was very firm and wasn't even creaking under my force!  Was this where the books had been found?

     "This is weird," I said, trying to take it all in at once.  The table was fine, the shelves were of stone so they were fine and the dust all around must be from all the other writings!

     "By Ra, w…what am I going to do?" I asked myself, "W…where do I begin to l…look now?  This l…looks like a dead end!"  Had I really come all this way for nothing?  I ran my hands over the table, searching for something, anything that could help.  There was nothing.  I couldn't give up now!

Yami

     "I think we should split up, there are so many areas of ground to cover it would be hard," I said, "It only makes sense."

     "It does but I don't trust you to control yourself should you find her first," High Priest Seto replied with a seething look in his eyes.  He really didn't want me hurting her again, and I glared back at him, didn't he realize that I didn't want to hurt her again either?

     "We split up, it's faster," I said again, repeating myself.  I hoped I didn't have to order him.

     "If you so much as lay one hand on a hair on her head and I will personally make you pay," he said in a low tone, "And you know what I am capable of."

     "Don't threaten High Priest, I care for her well being just as much as you do," I said but he chose to ignore me and instead headed into the ruins, turning one way so he was out of my sight.

     "Find her," he said before he was completely out of range and I nodded, resolute in my goal to find Miss Katiana.  I headed down into the ruins, resolved to find her first.  I walked the opposite direction of where High Priest Seto had gone, hoping she wasn't in danger.

Katiana

     The wall was carved with lots of symbols; maybe they had something to do with it.  I had to try something…  I ran my fingers the surface, feeling every crevice my hands passed over.  Something that felt circular caught my hand in that spot and I looked closer at what it was.  It looked like one of the sides of that coin High Priest Shadi had given me!  I went and put my pack down on the table, digging through it until I brought out the coin, turning it over in my hand. 

     I went back to the symbol and felt what side of the coin I needed to press against it, assuming that's what it was meant for and pressed in the light side, which was represented by a sun, the symbol for Ra of course.  Even though it seemed like it, I mean it was a simple symbol; it couldn't be that easy.  The coin stuck in place and turned halfway around, the dark side of the coin falling to the ground with a clatter.  I picked it up and examined its other side, which turned out to be smooth.  There was something more than just inserting the first half, there had to be because

     "Miss Katiana," a voice spoke softly and I turned only to see the Pharaoh, and he wasn't with Seto!  I backed up against the wall, pressing up against it, the fear apparent in my eyes.

     "W…What do you want?" I asked.

     "To take you back home, this is a dangerous place," he said.  He didn't move closer to me, but he didn't exactly leave the doorway, so any exit was blocked.

     "I c…can't," I said, "I'm not d…done here yet…"

     "I know why you're here," he said softly, "And I thank you for it.  But I am too far gone for any help; if there is nothing in the tomes you have now… I agree with High Priest Shadi, I do not believe there is another tome to find."

     "I d…do, how c…can you believe t…that?!" I exclaimed, "There h…has to be… there has to b…be…"

     "Miss Katiana, we must leave, I am not leaving without you…" he said, ignoring my question.

     "And I am not l…leaving this place until I find t…that last tome," I said, "Or p…proof that it isn't here…"

     "The proof lies in the dust here, there is only dust," he said, "I came here with High Priest Shadi when he was excavating this place.  I saw this place; there were only a few scattered artifacts, the tomes and dust… There may have been something here before, but there isn't anymore, believe that Miss Katiana."

     "B…but…" I said.

     "I can't understand why you even want to help when I tried to rape you," he interrupted.

     "That wasn't you, it c…couldn't have been," I said slowly, "You always t…treated me so nicely…"

     "Miss Katiana, any kindness I may have shown you…" he said, as if considered his words, "matters not now, come, we must leave…"

     "No," I said solidly, "You c…can wait for m…me if you want but I'm s…staying!"  He looked at me, his crimson red eyes boring into my green ones.  I had to stay firm and resolute, I knew there was something here, something that High Priest Shadi failed to see.  He must not have known about the coin thing, unless the tomes came from whatever chamber the coin unlocked.

     "Miss Katiana…" he said and then lowered his gaze, "I have no right to order you to leave… if this search is truly your choice; then I shall wait for you…"

     "T…Thank you," I said.

     "But if High Priest Seto should come, I will not allow you any more time," he said, "Is that clear?"

     "Y…yes," I said, and began to look around the room again.  If the simplest part was inserting the coin into the sun side, how would I find the symbol Anubis, the dark side?  This had to be a simple answer, so I didn't know what to do…but…wait, the sun rose at the same time the moon set and likewise, always across from each other, never interacting with one another.  I went to the other side of the room, keeping my guard up against the Pharaoh, because I didn't know how he'd be.  I knew he was watching me, his curious gaze upon me like a hawk.  I also knew why he was here as well, he wanted to earn my forgiveness, and I don't think I was ready to give it to him, if I should really at all.  What was I thinking?  I had heard him crying the other day and here I was thinking of not forgiving him! 

     No, but he had tried to hurt me, tried to rape me… and he knew what he had done, he remembered everything he did.  If he didn't remember, things might be different, things might have changed, and I couldn't blame him if he had something possessing him.  But he remembered, and he did nothing to stop his actions that night…

     I made my way along the wall, feeling along the sides and looking to make sure I was aligned with the sun coin on the other end.  I found it!  I took the dark side of the coin and pressed the engraved side into the wall.  It half turned itself and the floor underneath me started to move.  I turned unsteadily as I watched the table shatter into millions of shards, flying everywhere.

     "Miss Katiana!" the Pharaoh exclaimed and ran up to me, tackling me to the ground and covering me.  I stifled a cry and heard the shards hit the walls and fall to the ground.  The Pharaoh gave out a cry of pain and my eyes widened.  He stood and looked towards his side.  It was bleeding slightly and a piece of wood was embedded in it.

     "My Pha…Pharaoh!" I exclaimed and moved my hands to see if I couldn't remove it.  He batted my hands away and I stood back, frightened.  He grabbed the piece of wood and pulled it out of himself, not even letting out a hiss of pain.  Blood seeped from his wound and he looked at me, not even bothering to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

     "I'm alright Miss Katiana," he said.

     "But you're b…bleeding!" I exclaimed, "We h…have to stop the b…bleeding!"

     "I said I'm alright," he said, "I heal quickly…but I am grateful for your concern." 

     "Of c…course I'm w…worried!  B…bleeding can be serious and it c…could get infected…" I said and he smiled at me, a smile that was so familiar to me, and yet still seemed so distant.

     "I'll be fine Miss Katiana," he said, and then looked around the room, "I wonder what that rumbling caused…this whole place could have collapsed who knows how old it is!"  I looked towards the other side of the room, and where the table had been, a room had opened up beneath it!  I went over to it and looked down the hole, there was a ladder!  I made a move to go down it but the Pharaoh grabbed my arm.

     "W…what is it?" I asked.

     "It could be dangerous, going down there," he said but I shrugged him off, "You don't know how old or how strong that thing is!"

     "I'm l…lighter than you are, it s…should hold me b…better than you!" I said and once again made my way to get onto the ladder, testing it cautiously with my foot and starting down it.

     "Don't do anything dangerous!" he called and I nodded up to him, "Do you need a light?"  I nodded and he quickly went to fetch one of the torches, handing it down to me carefully.  I shone it down what looked like a small passageway and started to walk down it.

     "It's c…cold here," I commented, and made my way forward.  I came into a small room and noticed a pedestal.  Something was on it!  I walked forward and went to the other side, it wasn't facing me.  There was a tome!  I knew it!  There as a tome on the other side!  I knew!

     "I f…found it!" I exclaimed joyfully.

     "Miss…Katiana, did you really find something?" the Pharaoh's voice echoed through the wall.  I grabbed the tome and ran back to the ladder, clutching the torch and tome as I did so.  I arrived back near the ladder and handed the Pharaoh the torch, unwilling to let go of the tome.  I began to climb back up and the ladder felt shaky underneath me.  It was breaking!

     "AHHH!" I exclaimed as the ladder began to break.  I felt strong hands grab my free hand and pull me up just as the ladder shattered to the ground.

     "Are you alright Miss Katiana?" the Pharaoh asked and I nodded, showing him the tome.

     "H…Here it is!" I exclaimed, "I k…knew it!"

     "By Ra you did find a sixth tome!" he exclaimed and there was a vision of pure joy on his face, pure hope…he embraced me quickly, holding me tight against him and I blushed slightly, clutching the tome against me.  He broke the embrace quickly, a blush apparent on his face, apologizing for doing what he did.  I blushed as well, I didn't expect that.  I think that was what I had heard to be 'in the moment' so I didn't know what to think of it and I think he was grateful that I set it to the side and focused on something else.

     "But t…that was too easy," I said, "The p…puzzle was too easy…"

     "Is something wrong Miss Katiana…" he started to ask but as soon as he began talking the room began shaking again and this time it was worse than when the passageway had opened up, "I think we need to leave, now!"  I grabbed my pouch and we started to run out of the room and down the various passageways, the torch long gone out and clattered to the floor of one of the tunnels.  We made it back to the main room and Seto was already there, looking for where we were.

     "What's going on?" he called over and we started to run towards him, "What did you do Katiana!"

     "I f…found it!" I exclaimed, "But it s…set something off…we h…have to leave!"

     "This place is collapsing in on itself," the Pharaoh said and then I realized I had forgotten the two sides to the coin!  Before I knew it though I realized I was being dragged towards the exit.

     "The c…coin!" I exclaimed, "High Priest Shadi w…will be expecting it b…back!"

     "No, we can't go back for it, I think he'll understand after we tell him what's going on here," the Pharaoh said, "And after you show him you found the tome…"  The rocks and temple collapsed faster, and I felt something hit my head.

     "Katiana!" Seto called out as I fell to the ground and let out a cry of pain as something hit my leg.

     "Miss Katiana!" the Pharaoh exclaimed and they both ran back to where I was…

Yami

     "I c…can't move my l…leg," she said, "My h…head…"  She fainted dead away.  I looked at the rock that sat on her leg and moved to get it off of her.  High Priest Seto was looking at the gash on her head.

     "I think it won't be too bad," he said, "But we need to go now!"  I lifted with all my strength; I had to get the stone off of her before we could move her.

     "It's really heavy!" I exclaimed and he glared at me before coming over to me and getting on the other side of the stone, and we lifted it and tossed it to the side.  High Priest Seto scooped up Miss Katiana and we once again made our way towards the exit.  It was blocked!

     "What do we do now?" he asked, "We're trapped!"  I heard the roar of a dragon and Miss Katiana's pendant, which I must admit I hadn't noticed because I had never seen her wear it before, but a dragon came out from it and shot towards the rocks blocking our exit and blew them out of the way and shielded a passage for use.

     "We need to move now!" I said and ran towards the passage, thanking the dragon for giving us the time we needed to get out of the ruins.  I looked back to see the temple collapsing into the sand.  We made it out of the temple onto the hot desert sand and noticed it was starting to get dark.  We made our way to our horses that were startled from the rumble but were unable to move being tied down to a stone.  I comforted them as High Priest Seto lay Miss Katiana on the sand and brought out a small cloth to cover her head wound and a larger one to cover her leg, which was bleeding and most likely broken.

     "She'll be alright," High Priest Seto said, and then looked towards the wreckage, "I never saw her dragon do such a thing before…"

     "What do you mean by that?" I asked, heading over to where he was.  I noticed that Miss Katiana still clutched the tome.

     "Her spirit monster is the Blackland Fire Dragon.  It has only evolved once and to have that type of power, which is unheard of…" he said, "And it hasn't returned to her necklace…"

     "Could it have been destroyed while it was trying to save us?" I asked and then Miss Katiana moaned before High Priest Seto had a chance to respond.

     "W…Where's Blackland…?" she asked, unable or unwilling to open her eyes.

     "It hasn't returned to the pendant yet?" High Priest Seto asked and she shook her head.

     "It h…hurts," she murmured and tried to shift, opening her eyes, "B…Blackland…"

     "It's alright, you're going to be fine," I said soothingly, wanting to soothe her and hold her, to comfort her pain, but I knew I couldn't.  There was another rumbling and High Priest Seto and I looked around, unsure of what was going on.

     "Aftershocks or something like that?" he asked me and I didn't know, I couldn't reply.  The wreckage shook greater and a roar erupted from the rubble.

     "W…What?" Miss Katiana asked, and another roar followed the first.  I stood up as did High Priest Seto, wondering if something was wrong, wondering what was going to happen.  A great dragon erupted from the rubble, roaring as it did so.

     "B. Dragon Jungle King…" High Priest Seto said, and looked at Miss Katiana who was still lying on the ground, staring above herself at the dragon.  Its eyes glowed red, and stared down at the three of us.

     "Her spirit monster evolved," I said, "Which time is this?"

     "The second…she started… she had started with the Petite Dragon and it only evolved once…" High Priest Seto said, "Every other priest and priestess had their monsters evolve twice at least, and yet her monster never evolved, it never grew, it just wanted to be the same for Katiana…"

     "What do you mean?" I asked, fully aware that Miss Katiana was wondering what was going on.

     "When Petite Dragon evolved for the first time, Katiana cried, she was crying afterwards.  Her monster went up to her, wondering why she was so sad…" he explained.

Flashback

     Blackland Fire Dragon approached Katiana who was crying heavily.

     "Why… why did you c…change?" she asked it, "I l…liked you w…when you were l…little…"  The Dragon nuzzled her softly, joining her in her tears.  It had evolved for her, and it wasn't what she had wanted.

End Flashback

     "Oh…" I said.

     "B…Blackland?" Miss Katiana asked and it stared down at her, and walked over to her.  High Priest Seto and I scooted instinctively closer to her, wondering if we would have to protect her.  I looked down at her and noticed she was crying slightly.  B. Dragon Jungle King lowered its great head towards her and nuzzled her slightly.  She reached a hand up weakly and touched its head.

     "Miss Katiana, it saved you, it saved all of us," I said.  I couldn't bear to see her tears for some reason; I wanted to make them go away.

     "B. D…Dragon Jungle K…King," she spoke softly, "…"  She didn't say anything after that because she closed her eyes again.  The dragon disappeared almost at once into her necklace again and High Priest Seto and I knelt by her side.

     "She's alright, she just fainted," he said, "This probably was too much for her…"

     "You don't say," I said dryly, "We should be heading back now…"

     "I agree," he replied, and scooped Miss Katiana into his arms, "She will ride with me; you better take the tome…"  I went forward and gently removed the tome from Miss Katiana's grasp, that same feeling of hope coming back to me.  She had been right about it; I could only hope it had something that would help.  Riding back, there was no conversation between any of us, we just rode and Miss Katiana must have fallen asleep at some point because she made no sounds as I watched High Priest Seto carry her in his embrace as he rode.  I was jealous; I wanted to be the one to carry her.  I looked at her leg sorrowfully, it had stopped bleeding but the blood had soaked through the cloth that wrapped it up and High Priest Seto was being very careful not to move that leg much.  A healer would have to attend to that and her head injury as soon as we returned.

     She had found it, she had found the sixth tome and maybe there was hope… I didn't want to hurt anyone, especially Miss Katiana again…ever again…

TBC

A/N: So, I kinda think this one sucked…what do you reviewers think?  I don't know…  Well I forwarded the plot though, what did you think of the Pharaoh protecting Miss Katiana?  Tell me what you think in a review, I love how many of you like the story.

And remember, any flames will be used to roast marshmallows for those that like this story!  Please tell me what you think, alright?

Yeah, I know it was a really long chapter; it had to be though, kinda…

Just tell me what you think!