Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Little Dagger ❯ Explanations, part two ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Hello all -

I know this is a long time coming, but here is the second part of the explanations. Just remember that I'm taking hugeliberties with this.... I hope everything is starting to make sense.

Trekker4life (Fanfiction)

YoukaiLuvr (Mediaminer/GaiaOnline)

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Little Dagger

Chapter Seven - Explanations, Part Two

Long ago, a traveler passed through Egypt on the way to his homeland. He came across the idea of the Duel Monster spirits while there and, shortly after he returned home, he was summoned before the King to give a summary of what he had seen. The King had heard the tales of the Monster spirits, as well as the ones the traveler had told, and wished to know if they were truthful. For if they were, he wanted to use the spirits for his own gain.

You see, this King, he was different, much different than the rulers we knew in Pharaohs Atemu or Set. He was a monster, a tyrant - ruling over an oppressed people in a land that was dark dull, and empty of any hope. He took the traveler's tales and used his own researchers to gather some of the spirits for himself. When he found them, he latched onto them - like some kind of warped leech, twisting them to fit his own warped ideals.

Using the soldiers of his own army, he began experiments to see what abilities these spirits had. Once it was found that they could be merged with a human, the experiments increased - he even included himself. By the end, only seven were found - the King and six soldiers, three men and three women. The six were a small, but efficient group that had been together for many years. Their original names have been lost to time, but I do know this - two were brother and sister; the brother was married to another of the women, just as the sister was betrothed to another of the men; and the last man and woman had known each other since only a few years of age.

The King took the six and trained them, turning them into an elite force of soldiers and assassins. They were a task force loyal only to him, doing anything he wished of them. Their reputation as the best earned them the title of `the Elite.' They were, and are to this day, known as that, and nothing else.

But the new-found power of the spirits gave the King a taste for more - more power, more riches, more territory, more whatever. He began to expand on all sides through a campaign of extreme warfare, use the Elite as the primary force behind it. Eventually, his campaign led him to the Egyptian border. Knowing the Egyptian people had possessed the power of the spirits long before they did, the King sent out one of the women from the Elite on undercover reconnaissance.

Posing as an ambassador - from a completely fake country, of course - the girl obtained an audience with the Pharaoh and was met at the city gates by palace guards to escort her to their ruler. Consequently, her trip was short, but the bits of the city she was able to see confused her. She had been born and raised in her home country, so she knew no other, but Egypt....

It was wonderful…if appearances could be believed, it was a country where the majority of the people were free, the ruler was just and fair, where the military and government wasn't corrupt. Her mind was swirling with such thoughts when she appeared for her audience with the Pharaoh that she forgot her primary duty of finding out their strength.

Instead, she asked him how his country could be so peaceful when so many others are not, when so many others are covered in darkness. The Pharaoh was puzzled by her question, but to try to answer, he took her on a tour of the lands. This time, she got to see much that she hadn't on her way to the Palace.

There was so much here that simply didn't exist in her country - children unafraid to play outside, families whole and happy, but most of all…there was laughter. Finally, about mid-afternoon, the Pharaoh stopped at a small house near one of the many temples surrounding the Palace. Without knocking, he stepped inside and called out to its owners. They appeared from another room within seconds, and greeted the Pharaoh and the girl as if they were one of their own.

Something was beginning to click for the girl - this was the way things were supposed to be, not the way she knew. As she bid the Pharaoh, his friends, and Egypt goodbye a few days later, she began to think of ways to stall the forthcoming invasion. When she returned to her homeland, the contrast hit made to the light of the world she had lived in for the past few weeks was brought into sharp relief. The shadows were overwhelmingly thick and she nearly turned tail and ran back. But she had a job to do.

Walking straight through the Palace, she marched into the throne room to report to the King. He was seated on his throne, as usual, with the Elite standing at attention behind him. She caught the smile of her best friend in encouragement before she started her report.

“My lord, the land of Egypt is much too strong for us as we are; their abilities with the Monster spirits much more advanced. If we fought now, we would most certainly fall.”

Of course, this was a complete lie - the Pharaoh had shown her nothing of the spirits, but the girl had no reason to think that the King would not believe her. She had a reputation of her own among the Elite - the `good' one, the one the King trusted above the rest. Thus, the King proceeded to announce that training regimens would triple and the attack on Egypt would continue in two months.

Some weeks later, the girl's best friend managed to finally catch her alone and ask her what was going on. He could tell something had been bothering her since her return, but hadn't had the chance. A few gentle words from him and the security that they were alone was all she needed. The girl told him what she had seen in Egypt, how this country wasn't how things were supposed to be. The boy believed her and confided that he had had some inkling of that before as well.

Later that day, they confided in the rest of the Elite, discovering that all six shared their feelings. And it wasn't just the six, either. There was one sub-ruler, a prime minister of sorts, that felt similar - or at the very least, was less scummy than most of the rulers in the government at that time. It was decided, almost without words.

All the Elite needed was a chance…one chance…and the King would be knocked off his throne.

Their chance came the day of the Egypt invasion. The King was prone to the failing of most bad guys - the need for speeches. And the day of the invasion, he was giving a prepared speech to an assembly of gathered troops with the Elite standing behind him, as usual. Only a large energy blast hitting him in the back was not normal.

Turning around, the King saw that his Elite were no longer his. When the Elite engaged the King in battle, the gathered soldiers fled. However, the King was much too powerful even the Elite to be rid of completely. They were able to place him under a containment spell - one that was supposed to last forever.

Over time, the kingdom recovered, the King was forgotten, and the Elite passed away, one by one. However, under the barrier, the King was still alive, and with the deaths of the Elite, the barrier had begun to weaken, allowing him to regain some of his past power.

Time passed yet again, and the Elite were reincarnated, but had no memory of their past lives, beyond the fact that the reincarnations were friends just as the original Elite were. By this time, the King had regained enough power to break free of the spell, returning to wreak havoc on the land and the Elite. The Elite regained their memories and powers of their past lives when they came in contact with the King once again.

They banded together to defeat the King, but as before, their power was not enough to destroy him, so they had to contain him. The Containment was successful, but at a cost. The energy drain from the casting of the spell was too great for the youngest of the Elite, the sister…she was killed.

Although the King was yet again sealed, this cycle would repeat through time - four more times in all. Each time, another Elite would be lost - the betrothed, the wife, the husband, the best friend…until the only Elite left for the next appearance was the girl who started it all.

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Anzu stopped, coughing slightly; who know talking that much would make her throat so dry? Mai turned to her.

“Do you want some water, hun?”

Anzu nodded. “Please?”

Mai left the room to fetch a glass of water. Yuugi turned to Anzu, who was staring at her hands, folded in her lap.

“Anzu, that story is good and all, but....”

“But what's it got to do with me?”

Yuugi and the others nodded.

Anzu sighed. “That part comes next, Yuugi - my story.”

Anzu looked up to meet his eyes and Yuugi suppressed a shudder at the haunted look in her eyes. Mai entered with the water and handed it to Anzu. Thanking her, Anzu drank a few sips before continuing.

“But before I continue, I want to warn you, what I just told you is real, it happened. The sooner you accept that, the easier my story will be to understand.”

This is the part I've been dreading....

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My mother married young, she was about twenty. They hadn't been married long when she found out she was pregnant and told him; he left after that. It took her several years - I was about three at the time - but she eventually found someone and married again.

His name was Michael, and although he was my mother's new husband - and my new step-father - he didn't care for my given name, so along with my new life in a new city, I got a new name, Téa Gardner.

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Jounouchi snorted; Mai glared at him.

“What?” he asked.

“I mean, come on…`Téa'?” Jounouchi laughed again.

Mai ignored him. “Finish your story, please, hun.”

Anzu smiled.

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Well, a year or so after my mom's remarriage, Michael started to take me with him on his regular visits to a nearby dojo. He was an excellent martial arts master - I'll give him that much. One day, he got the chance to become the owner of the dojo and he took it. Becoming the owner meant he could keep me there whenever I wasn't with my mother…which was a lot, consider how much work was going into her career at this point.

Eventually, he even pulled me out of public school and had tutors come by the dojo. When I wasn't in my lessons, I was being taught the martial arts by him, by Michael. And I was good, too. Before I graduated kindergarten, I could beat everyone that came to the dojo, except for Michael. He had to have wondered about that…I mean…here's a scrawny little five-year-old taking down some of the best in the dojo?

I still don't know precisely what happened, but somehow, I spent a week with my mom at home before I returned to the dojo. But when I did, a new class had been added to my list - Duel Monsters. When I took to that as easily as I did to everything else, things changed…and not for the better.

My school classes were cut down to where I could keep up if I was in a public school, but no more. Every waking moment I had was spent at the dojo, to my mother's dismay. Her career was finally settled and she wanted to become a family once again, but Michael was having none of it. There were many, many arguments between the two.

My lessons with Michael were expanded once again. I had the martial arts and Duel Monsters…and something from the hidden side of him…the killing arts.

I was taught this along with the rest of the men at the dojo…when he took it over, he turned it for his own uses, developing a school of assassins for his own desires. You name it, we can kill someone with it - knives, guns, ropes, explosives, Duel Monsters…you get the idea. And I caught onto this just as quickly as anything else I had been taught at that dojo.

In reality, Michael was nuttier than Dartz and Pegasus put together on their worst day. But somehow he managed to hide it…really well. He had a group of us - seven in total, if you include Michael; you already met two, Souta and Katan - that he had trained. We would go out every so often to get rid of certain people, usually politicians or celebrities or someone else high profile. We were always told the target and no one else. That's how I earned the name Jekri Kaleh. It means Little Dagger, which fit both the way I looked and my calling card - I always left one on the bodies of each of my jobs.

Months passed, jobs and targets came and went. Only I was growing more and more conflicted. Somehow I knew what I, what we, were doing was wrong, yet…I didn't know how I knew that how what to do about it.

Finally one night…just after my seventh birthday, Michael told me about my next job. I was to take the power of Summoned Skull and take down a commercial airline flight. I balked immediately. He said the reason was because of a certain corrupt politician on board, but there had never been this many innocents involved before. I questioned him on it and he said it had to be done. His tone of voice promised pain if I didn't comply, so I did what I had to do.

The plane came down quickly and into water. The media called it a freak thunderstorm or a possible microburst…but that night haunted me for several days and nights later…it still does.

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While the others were trying to get over the shock of hearing that Anzu - their sweet, cheerleader Anzu - was really an assassin, Yuugi stared at her.

“Anzu.” His quiet voice broke through the fog of memories surrounding her. “What was the flight number of that plane?”

She looked away.

“Anzu?” came Jounouchi's worried voice.

“Yuugi, do you promise to stay until I'm finished explaining?” Anzu asked, still not looking at him.

Yuugi nodded, then realizing she wasn't looking at him, said yes. Anzu took a deep breath.

“It was Tokyo Air 46.”

The shocked, pained gasp she knew would come, came, but the foreknowledge didn't help.

“Do you want me to continue?”

At the nods from the others, she continued.

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Several days after that night, I found myself at an old playground near dark. My mother and Michael were having another fight about something stupid. I couldn't take it, so I left the house and wandered until I found this park.

I was sitting on one of the swings when a boy about my age walked up. He saw me there and turned to leave, but I stopped him.

“There's plenty of room on the swings to join me, if you want,” I said.

As we sat there, I learned that his parents were recently killed in a plane crash and that he was leaving in the morning to live with his grandfather. He seemed to know so much for one so young. I asked him if you were doing something you knew was wrong, but didn't know how to stop, what would you do?

I never got his full answer because his grandfather arrived to pick him up. But I do know that after that night, my world started to change…again. My mother divorced Michael and got sole custody of me - without visitation - which meant no more jobs, no more targets!

We moved back here, back home, and I took back my old name, Anzu. But best of all, I discovered two of the best things in the whole world - dancing and you guys! I thought all that mess was behind me…but I was wrong.

Nothing happened for years - not a thing in any of our `adventures' gave me any clue that things would start up again. But a few years ago, Seto Kaiba was in New York to check in on the KCI2headquarters there. While he was there, there was this big to-do in the media - his face was everywhere for about a week. Anyway, beside him in most of the shots was a new guy - part of the reason the press was going so nuts.

When I saw him, everything came back to me - every battle, every wound, every loss. The man at Kaiba's side was Michael. Or as he was calling himself now, Liikos. He has many names, but that one he seems to favor.

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“Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec,” said Jounouchi. “You mean ta say tha your dad is the one of da head bosses of Kaiba Corp.?”

Anzu's eyes flashed. “He's not my father.”

“Whoa…okay,” said Jounouchi, fighting the urge to hide behind Mai…an angry Anzu was scary....

“But yes, he is one of the bosses.”

“He's also the King from the other story, isn't he?”

All eyes turned to Honda, who had just spoken. Anzu recovered first.

“Yes, he is; but I thought I'd have to tell you guys outright. How'd you figure it out?”

Honda blinked and answered, ignoring the looks of disbelief that covered the others' faces.

“I…don't know, actually. Something you said just sounded right - that old story, I mean. It sounded like something I should know, too - like something I knew a long time ago, but I've forgotten.”

Anzu smiled, her eyes bright.

“You were the second to fall. We tried our hardest, but without your betrothed, you didn't want to stay.”

Honda blinked again, and when he refocused on Anzu, his eyes were wide with amazement.

“You're still here…how the hell did you make it?”

Anzu laughed slightly. “It hasn't been easy, trust me.”

Jounouchi looked from Honda to Anzu.

“Okay, does someone want to tell me what in da world is goin' on here? Honda never curses.”

Anzu turned back to the others.

“This is going to sound totally bizarre, but do you remember that first story I told you - about the King and his Elite?”

They nodded.

“Well, that…King…is Liikos.”

Dropped jaws were visible all around her.

“How do you know that?” asked Shizuka, scooting closer to Honda as she spoke.

“That's the easy part - I am the last of the Elite.”

“Okay, Anzu, did you hit your head out there or something?”

Anzu turned to Mai. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you wake up saying that Liikos is some ancient warfaring King who is out to control the world and you're the last of his Elite, who turned on him and defeated him in the past? That's kinda hard to believe.”

“Is it the story that's hard to believe or who's telling it?” snapped Anzu.

Mai's shocked silence was enough.

“Honda remembers. I didn't think you guys could, but evidently, you can. I remembered the past when I heard and saw Liikos. Honda had to see me and be reminded with what I knew in order to remember. Maybe - this is just a theory - his incarnation as an Elite had been killed in battle…mine hasn't…not yet anyway.”

The six sat in silence for a few moments, digesting the information given them. Finally, Shizuka broke it.

“If Honda's the second to fall, then am I the first? I'm the girl, aren't I?”

Anzu smiled slightly.

“Yeah, you are. As much as you many not want to hear it, our battles only got harder after that.”

Mai spoke. “Then according to your story - uh, memory - if Shizuka and Honda are the betrothed ones, then -”

“Mai `n' I're da married ones, right?”

Anzu nodded. Jounouchi whistled.

“Whoa. Dat's some heavy stuff. Hey, Yuge - that means you'd be the best friend, wouldn't it?”

Yuugi shrugged. Jounouchi frowned.

“You've been awful quiet. Somethin' wrong?”

Yuugi shook his head. “No…just have a lot on my mind.”

Anzu cast a worried look at Yuugi before turning back to Mai, who seemed to be having a hard time getting a grasp on the situation.

“So, let me get this straight - the six of us are the reincarnations of a group of fighters who once overthrew their corrupt King and had to continue fighting him time after time? And this King is now one of the CEOs of KCI2? And has the usual take-over-the-world complex?”

Anzu nodded. “That's about it.”

Jounouchi looked at her. “So, den, what was all dat about earlier? With Ugly and Uglier?”

“Liikos must be getting ready to strike again. He wanted me back - to fight as his `Little Dagger' once again. As soon as the kids are safe, though, the ball's back in his court. He knows who I fight for - it's up to him to decide what he wants to do. I know this, though - if we don't destroy him here and now, he will survive to conquer the world in the future.”

“What do you mean?” asked Honda, a frown etched on his face.

“I am the only one of the Elite that has not been killed in battle with him - that was the biggest part of why you five got your memories back. If I don't survive and he does…there will be no one to stop him next time.”

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It's rather long…for me, anyway, about 22 double-space handwritten pages and 13 pages in MSWord. But what do you think?

I hope everyone likes it. And I warned you about the liberties I took…so I expect no flames whatsoever. lolz

Oh, and here's a tiny, tiny snippet of the next chap (it's not much, really…but it came to me while I was writing this one; the plain italics are a flashback to this chap):

Little Dagger: Chapter 8: Fall-Out

“What flight was it?”

“TokyoAir 46.”

“Do you blame me?”

“…I don't know.”

So, that's the little, tiny bit I have…dunno when the next bit will be - hopefully soon, though.

Ja!

Trekker4life (Fanfiction)

YoukaiLuvr (Mediaminer/Gaiaonline)