Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Point of Origin ❯ The Pieces of a Puzzle ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Yu-Gi-Oh! are the intellectual property of J.K. Rowling, Kazuki Takahashi, Konami, Warner Brothers, etc. and is being used in this fanfiction for fan purposes only. All situations, opinions and characters not belonging to J.K. Rowling and Kazuki Takahashi are the intellectual property of Alecto Perdita.

Saturday, 2001 July 7
3:03 AM, GMT +9:00
Domino City, Japan

Mutou Yugi rubbed his eyes tiredly. He glanced at the clock on his desk. It was past three o'clock in the morning. He had finished his paper for French class about an hour ago and had settled down to write emails to Anzu, Bakura, and Malik.

"Aibou, you should go to sleep. It's very late."

Yugi looked up at the translucent figure of his other self, the former pharaoh named Atemu, though he referred to the spirit as his other self less and less everyday. He yawned. "I will. Just let me send this," he pressed the Send button for his message. Yugi stood and stretched his limbs. "You're going out again?" Yugi pulled the Millennium Puzzle from around his neck and hung it from his bedpost like he had done for the last five years.

Atemu nodded and waited for Yugi to settle into bed. "Aren't you going to brush your teeth?"

Yugi groaned and pulled the cover over his head. "I'll do it first thing in the morning. Let me go to sleep. I have to meet with Hanako-kyouju."

Atemu chuckled. "Very well. Sleep well, Aibou."

"Yes, yes. Be careful out there Atemu. I don't want to hear about another epidemic of insanity going around on the news…"

Atemu would have replied if he hadn't known that Yugi was already asleep. The figure in the bed suddenly became more translucent and the image of Atemu more solid. He shook his head sadly. Yugi really shouldn't take all their powers so lightly. "Good night." he reached for the light switch and plunged the room into darkness.

He grabbed Yugi's keys off the table and headed out. He would be back before morning. Just as he stepped out the back door of the Game Shop and prepared to lock it behind him, a sudden shudder ran down his spine. His hands shook as he tried to insert the key into the keyhole.

The Millennium Puzzle around his neck began. It shone with a eerie dark gold light, not its usual golden radiance.

"What the fuck?"

A streak of dark energy leapt across the space between the Puzzle and his left hand. He gasped as the energy coursed through his veins. It felt like he was on fire. He dropped to his knees, drained of his strength. The cement sidewalk was rough against his palm, chafing at his skin. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath and his heart beat wildly against his ribcage.

What had just happened?

Friday, 6th July 2001
6:03 PM, GMT +1:00
London, England

Malik walked into the delicious smelling apartment. That meant that Ryou was home and cooking dinner for them. He dumped his keys onto the coffee table and called, "Ryou?"

Malik deposited his briefcase on the couch and went to kitchen to find Ryou. But not before making sure his Millennium Rod was in his briefcase. He carried it with him everywhere, especially since the kidnapping of his sister and the attack on Rishid.

He leaned against the doorway and watched as Ryou moved around the kitchen. He thought his boyfriend looked quite cute all domesticated in that apron. Malik made his way over to the other male completely focused on their dinner and wrapped his arms around Ryou's waist.

"What are you making?"

Ryou tried to free himself from Malik's embrace. "Spaghetti and if you would just let me finish, we can eat soon."

Malik persevered and didn't move. "But I let it here. Has anyone ever told you how cute you look dressed up like a housewife?"

Ryou forcibly detangled himself from Malik's arm and swatted the man with a wooden spoon. Malik simply laughed. He knew Ryou's slightly effeminate appearance annoyed his boyfriend to no end. Ryou had even cut his waist-long hair to shoulder-length, though then Ryou hated how he resembled the tomb robber of the past. Malik enjoyed teasing his boyfriend so.

"Just go set the table, lover."

Malik whispered another comment into Ryou's ear and found himself fleeing the kitchen with a multitude of pots following him. He shook his head. He was happy and that's what mattered. He found his mind wandering to the issue of Isis and Rishid as it often did these days. Just as he set the fork on Ryou's placemat, a loud clatter of pots and the breaking of china rang through their apartment.

Malik nearly tripped over one of the pans Ryou had thrown at him when he fled the kitchen. He gripped the doorframe tightly as stared at the mess on the kitchen floor. Tomato sauce was smeared all over the floor alongside the fallen spaghetti. Two broken plate lay by Ryou's knees. Ryou's clenched hands were just inches away from the shards with crimson flooding from them. Malik rushed over to Ryou as soon as he figured out that his boyfriend was cutting himself on the shards left over in his grip.

"Ryou! What happened?!"

Ryou's breath was uneven as he leaned against Malik's shoulder. His clothes were now a horrid mix of sauce and blood. Ryou's trembling hands reached under his shirt and apron and pulled out the Millennium Ring. The Item was glowing with a dull golden color.

"Something's happening, Malik. Something terrible."

Ryou's body gave one last shudder before the man passed out.

"Ryou!"

Monday, 2001 July 9
2:13 PM, GMT +9:00
Domino University
Domino City, Japan

There was a curious tension in the air that day at Domino University. Yugi treaded across the quad carefully. Most of the students from aboard were crowded into tight-knit groups hiding in the shadows of trees and buildings. Many appeared distraught, particularly the British students. Domino University had a rather large population of British foreign students for some reason.

Yugi had been studying at DU for about the last three years. He had spent the first year just sampling university education, drifting from one area of study to another. While he fancied himself an Egyptologist early his first year, he realized he had learned more than enough about Ancient Egypt for more than a lifetime. He still loved Egypt but it wasn't something he wanted to live and breathe for the rest of his life.

Yugi did love cooking in that way. He was willing to admit that he chose to specialize in French cooking partly because of the opportunity to study in Marseilles, where Anzu was performing with a troupe. He spent the last year studying the French language intently with the help of his Jii-chan, who was surprisingly fluent and more multilingual than he had previously thought. He had worked very hard to attain this apprenticeship and would be moving to settle in Marseilles before the new term began there.

He caught a whisper of a conversation to his side.

"Have you heard? Albus Dumbledore is dead."

"I can't believe it, even Hogwarts has fallen. That place is impenetrable."

"I hear the French Ministry is finally getting involved."

Yugi ran a hand through his shortened hair. He had cut it after discovering exactly how large a fire hazard it was in his line of occupation.

"You-Know-Who is moving more boldly than ever before."

"I heard he took out a whole squad of Aurors over in Edinburgh."

Yugi fought down the feeling of dread bubbling within him. He didn't like the hushed tones and dreary words they spoke.

"All students from English Sector 1, 2, and 3 and the French Sector please report to the smaller auditorium in the student building. Black-kyouju, please report there as well. You have your order."

All at once, the students began moving toward the student center. Yugi shook his head and continued on his way. He had a meeting with his career counselor. He hadn't expected a body to rush through the double doors and into him. Papers and envelopes flew into the air.

Yugi sat up and rubbed his forehead.

"I'm sorry about I'm in a hurry. Excuse me."

Yugi stared after the fleeing form of Professor Black. She had gathered her belongings very quickly. The strangest thing was she was wearing a white lab coat and he could have sworn he smelt rosemary and thyme on her. Professor Black was the advisor for English Sector 1 and taught courses such as Western Mythology, Celtic Religion and Traditions, and British Lore. She had no reason to be in the lab.

He then noticed a 9x11 brown envelope by his leg. Professor Black must have left it behind in her haste to leave. The surface was void of any address or postage.

"Black-kyouju!" Yugi screamed just as she went through the double doors of the student center. Knowing that his counselor would forgive his lateness, he thought it best to return the envelope to Professor Black as soon as possible.

Domino University had only been built about five years ago. Its buildings and curriculum were modeled after those of American research universities rather than traditional Japanese universities. The smaller auditorium in the student center was usually used for guest lectures or for showing movies.

Yugi stopped in front of the double doors of the auditorium and listened to the somber lull of the speaker inside. He rested a hand on the cold handle as words drifted through the wooden panel.

"The death of Albus Dumbledore… The war… The British Ministry of… Auror training… Regretful…"

"Excuse me."

Yugi jumped in surprise before turning to face the speaker.

"This wing is closed off right now. I'm afraid you'll have to come back later." The tall foreigner regarded him with an openly suspicious expression.

"I'm looking for Black-kyouju."

"She's busy right now. Look for her later." The foreigner's eyes swept over his small stature again and rested on the envelope in his grip. "Is that for her?

Yugi hugged the envelope closer. A familiar feeling hummed against his skin. Something made him reluctant to give up this envelope. "No." He glanced at the door again. "Sorry for being nosy but who is this Albus Dumbledore that died and what war are they talking about?"

The foreigner grabbed his wrist and gripped it tightly. "Show me your ID."

Yugi was in an awkward position. The other man's grip hung Yugi's arm in the air. Yugi could feel Atemu rising to the surface of consciousness at this possible threat. Yugi suppressed the spirit. He dug into his pocket and emerged with his ID card. He would handle this himself.

The foreigner stared intently at the card and murmured to himself something in English that sounded distinctly like, "you're not a wizard."

"How do you know about Albus Dumbledore's death? Who told you?":

"I just heard it through the door."

The foreigner gritted his teeth. "That's not possible. How could you hear through the spell?"

"There's magic here?" Yugi's curiosity got the better of him.

The foreigner cursed. "I can't let you go until I fix this. Just keep still for a second."

Yugi fought harder against the taller man.

"You know what you're dealing with. Shut up and make it easier on yourself. It'll be much worse if they hear you in there!" The man drew a wooden stick from the inside of his windbreaker. "Obliviate!"

Atemu broke through Yugi's restraint and took control of the body.

The foreigner quickly hid the wooden wand and studied Atemu intensely. Yugi blinked in confusion next to Atemu.

"This wing is closed. You'll have to come back later." The other man turned away.

Yugi gazed down at his translucent form and then looked over at Atemu. "Did something happen, Atemu-kun? Why are you in control?"

Atemu did not answer. His grip on the envelope simply tightened, crinkling the edges.

Monday, 2001 July 9
3:34 PM, GMT +9:00
Domino City, Japan

Jounouchi Katsuya cursed and hauled himself over the chain link fence. The $300 camera bounced against his chest. He hoped no harm came to it as he nearly crashed into the pavement after getting his shoelaces caught in the wires on top. He quickly picked himself up and raced down the narrow alleyway ahead of him.

Jounouchi swore this was the absolute last time he accepted any assignment from Kaiba. They always invariably ended with him being chased and shot at. This time it was much worse. He had stumbled onto something of the magical nature. If half of the Red Dragon yakuza clan seemingly drops dead from the green light shot from a piece of freaking wood held by a blond-haired gaijin didn't constitute as magical, then he didn't know what did.

The aforementioned gaijin was also trailing him and had just blasted the chain link fence Jounouchi had jumped to pieces. The man was also screaming, "Stop, boy!" in English. Jounouchi knew that much English from the summer he spent in New York with Yugi, Anzu, and Honda. He ducked on instinct upon hearing a fairly familiar incantation and rounded a corner.

He dug his cell phone from his pocket and hit the third phone number on speed dial. It kept ringing as Jounouchi leapt over fallen garbage cans. Jounouchi certainly wasn't going to bring normal citizens into this.

Someone finally picked up. "Kaiba."

"If I die, I'm coming back to harass you for the rest of your life and afterwards. I am not doing this even again, Kaiba!"

"Jounouchi, I assume you have you have the photos then from this phone call."

"I can't believe the shit you get me into!"

"If your 'skills' with a camera were better, you wouldn't have to come to me for employment."

"Shut up, Kaiba! I didn't call you to get insulted. This is serious. This is bigger then your damn corporate backstabbing. This is magic!"

There was a pause and typing. "Turn left at the next corner and get into the limo waiting at Masahi."

Jounouchi, in the meanwhile, was quite surprised he had managed to survive through far. It looked as if all those years of dodging and dueling with evil ancient spirits possessing strange modern day teens finally paid off. Jounouchi, much to his disdain, followed Kaiba's instructions and turned at the next corner. As Kaiba had said, a black limo was waiting at the corner with open doors.

As soon as he jumped into the limo and slammed the door after himself, a thought occurred to him. "Wait! You placed a fucking tracker on me!" He screamed.

"You don't have to yell, inu. I'm right next to you." A dry voice drawled in leisure.

Jounouchi twirled around in his seat to glare at the impeccably dressed Kaiba Seto in a neat suit. He jabbed the end button on his cell phone violently before he snarled, "I hate you. How dare you invade my privacy like this?"

Kaiba did not appear impressed. "I only place a tracker on you when you're on the job. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a masochist and I refuse to give the spirit of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who has reconnected with his magical roots any excuse to banish me to the ends of who-knows-where. I have a company to run and better things to do with my time."

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "Glad to know you care."

"Kazeno?"

"He's dead. They all are."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Tell me everything that happened."

Jounouchi sighed. This was going to take a long time. He was going to be late to his double date with Honda.

Monday, 2001 July 9
9:10 PM, GMT +9:00
Domino City, Japan

Honda Hiroto glanced at his watch again. It was well past their meeting time. He, as usual, was the only one on time. He was going to if they were meeting at his garage/auto shop. He tapped his foot impatiently and continued to wait.

The metal gates to the entrance rose and fell. The last of his mechanics trickled out and their secretary. They bowed stiffly to him and chorused in unison, "Good evening, Shachou."

Honda suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He would have to "thank" Jounouchi for giving that nickname to him. "You guys done for the day?"

"Yea, we're going down to the bar for happy hour. Are you coming?" His best mechanic, not that they weren't all great, asked.

Honda shook his head. "Can't, waiting for the people who think they don't have to be on time."

"Going on a double date with Jounouchi-san? Where to?"

"We got tickets to see the Ashes to Ashes concert."

Their secretary squealed. "Oh my god! I've been trying to get tickets for months. I'm so jealous."

"Mai knew some people." Honda shrugged.

The roar of a motorcycle alerted him to Kujaku Mai and his girlfriend's arrival. The navy blue motorcycle Jounouchi and Mai shared was a piece of work. He had personally customized it for them. His employees left him with a farewell and a "shachou."

"Honda-kun!" The figure riding behind the driver leapt out of the seat and at Honda.

Honda laughed as he caught the flying figure. He watched as the soft violet hair fanned out from under the helmet. He helped his girlfriend to take off the helmet. Nosaki Miho smiled and Honda's heart skipped a beat. It had been a while since he last felt this way around a woman since his breakup with Shizuka.

Mai stepped off the bike. She pulled her helmet off and leaned against the bike. "Where's Jounouchi?"

Honda shrugged. "He's still not here yet."

Mai placed her hand on her hips. "That boy…" She muttered. "Can't be on time even if his life depended on it. He'd probably be late to his own funeral."

Honda found it eternally amusing how Mai still addressed Jounouchi as "boy" sometimes. Jounouchi's habit of unpunctuality had only grown worse over the years. This was especially true since he started taking assignments from Kaiba.

Before Mai could complain anymore, a limo pulled up suddenly next to them. Mai matched over to the passenger's door and kicked it. "You're late, Jounouchi!" She declared.

A harried-looking Jounouchi emerged from the car. He alternated glares between the Kaiba seated inside and his girlfriend. "What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?"

Mai simply rolled her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Jounouchi's arm and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for returning him, Kaiba."

Kaiba smirked. "You might want to consider a dog collar, Kujaku."

Jounouchi sputtered indignantly at the comment. "Come on! How long has it been? Can't you get something new?"

Kaiba's smirked widened. "But it works so well."

Honda glanced at his watch again. "Come on, we're going to be late to the concert at this rate."

Kaiba nodded in a slightly absent-minded manner. "I won't be keeping you then," he threw a meaningful look. "Remember what I said, we'll discuss this further tomorrow."

Kaiba reached over and closed the door. They watched as the businessman's car vanished down the road.

"What was that about Jounouchi?" Mai studied her boyfriend through serious eyes.

Jounouchi averted his gaze. "Later, Mai, later."

Sunday, 8th July 2001
1:47 PM, GMT +1:00
St. George's Hospital
Wandsworth, London, England

Ryou rushed to meet his mentor in the second medical examiner's room. The coroners had already moved the body they were going to examine today to the room. He frowned. The number of unexplainable deaths in London had jumped drastically over the last few weeks. He heard it was like that in many place across Britain today and it unnerved everyone. These bodies were mostly found in the same manner, clothed but occasionally beaten with various lacerations. No weapons were ever found at the scene. This would be the second time he would examine these types of murders.

The strangest thing was how these corpses kept disappearing afterwards. The coroners insisted that the bodies had been returned to family members but Bakura would find no official record of such. It was almost as if he was the only one who noticed anything strange going on...

"I'm sorry I was late."

Eliot Orwell, one of the best forensics pathologists in Britain and the world, waved his apology aside. His mentor was one of few words when on the job. "Yes. Yes. Just come over here and hand me the oscillating handsaw. I need to extract the spinal cord."

Ryou pulled the medical mask over his mouth and pulled on the gloves quickly. When he moved to his mentor's side, he saw that the man had already made his way well through half of the autopsy procedure. After another few minutes of cutting at the muscle, fat, and sinew around the spine, they finally removed the vertebrae. The vertebrae had already suffered from extensive damaged. It was dislocated in several locations as indicated by the disk and broken at the weakest point toward the bottom.

"This chap seems to have suffered a lot before death. Most of the others were simply killed." Eliot muttered to himself.

"Can you discern the cause of death?" asked Ryou.

The older man shook his head. "As extensive as the damage to the spine is, it would only result in paralysis of the lower body. He didn't die of blood loss despite the amount of laceration found on his body. There are no wounds to any of his vital organs. I must say I'm stumped once again."

Ryou watched as the man bent over to carefully extract the spinal cord from its crevice. "This is really bad."

His mentor nodded in agreement. "It's really strange. I hear from the coroner that he came in dressed in a strange robe. They didn't find any identification on him and his fingerprints have turned up nothing. They did find a piece of wood clenched in his right hand. He held onto it even in death."

Ryou stared at his mentor. "A piece of wood?"

Monday, 2001 July 9
10:02 PM, GMT +9:00
Domino City, Japan

They managed to arrive at the concert just in time. Ashes to Ashes was a new and vastly popular rock band from England. While Jounouchi and Honda found their music okay, Mai and Miho absolutely loved them. When they each managed to get a pair of tickets to the band's concert in Domino, they just had to drag their boyfriends along for the ride. There was a lot of standing room as teenagers all around them danced to the sound of the opening act. It was an interesting mix of a concert and clubbing.

Mai threw a death glare at the girl who had danced just a centimeter too close to her man. Jounouchi simply laughed off her jealousy. Mai found that she was quite prone to this jealously ever since she and Jounouchi had started dated about a year ago. That was also about the same time Jounouchi started working for Kaiba.

She suppressed the urge to scowl at the thought. She knew Jounouchi was a freelance photographer and still worked for magazines and other medias on the side. She knew that Kaiba sent him out on various assignments. Yes, Kaiba did pay quite well and that pay helped to provide for the nicely furnished apartment she and Jounouchi both shared. She, however, never knew or learned of the nature of these assignments. These jobs sometimes called for long hours and Jounouchi came home with various scrapes and cuts. She still remember that time he was hospitalized for a broken leg after jumping from three stories up.

It was strange how Jounouchi started to tolerate Kaiba in their senior year. Then again, that was also the year when Shizuka managed to convince Kaiba to go on several dates with her. Needless to say, it went nowhere. Mai did not like sharing with others, certainly not her boyfriend. It was just strange how she was jealous of Jounouchi being near Kaiba. It sounded ridiculous. It truly did.

Jounouchi grabbed her hand and dipped her suddenly. She found herself laughing soon. She really didn't have anything to worry about. She really shouldn't worry over trivial matters like that.

"They're about to start!" screamed Miho as she jumped up and down to see over the crowd. Her hand was ensconced in Honda's grip.

Smoke rolled across the stage and Mai turned to say something to Jounouchi. Her words became caught in her throat as she saw the strange expression on his face.

"What is it?"

Jounouchi continued to stare at the stage. "I don't know. It's just a gut feeling. Something's not right here."

The smoke cleared to reveal a strange sight. The members of the band were lying motionless on the floor, wide-eyed and staring at the audience below. A confused murmur rose from the crowd. A single hooded figure stood at the center of the stage, a strange white mask covered the face. He spoke in English and everyone knew instantly this figure was male. His voice echoed through the hall but he wasn't speaking through the microphone. Mai guessed he had one clipped to his robes.

"Ashes to Ashes. Dust to dust."

The stranger pointed a wooden stick at the lead singer of the band. A foreign word boomed through the air. Mai shivered as a slow feeling of power crept over her, slight but powerful none the less. This must have been what Jounouchi felt.

The man switched to Japanese. "Death to all Mudoburoodo! [1] The Dark Lord has risen once more!"

Green light swarmed at the end of the branch. Mai found herself trembling. The color reminded her far too much of the light the Orichalcos omitted. Nausea swarmed her and her vision began to darken. Jounouchi wrapped his shaking arms around her. She knew he felt the sickly magic too. They had been exposed to too much magic over the years not to.

Another strange word of power escaped the man's lips. The lead singer had been trying to rise to his feet. He too pulled a branch from somewhere. A slight bluish aura enveloped the singer but was consumed by the sickly green light. Crack, like the sound of a snapping whip! And another magical word resonated through Mai's bones. When the display of colors died, the man in the robes was gone and the singer lay still on the floor with wide unseeing eyes. The other band members were finally freed of whatever held them captivated. The guitarist moved to check the pulse of the lead singer.

It started as a slight murmured shock toward the beginning of the hall before it swept through the crowd like a deluge. He was dead! He's dead! The green mist that lingered about the stage swarmed upwards suddenly and formed a ghostly image. It was the image of a gaping skull with a snake coming out the mouth. Someone screamed somewhere and panic ensued.

"He'll kill us all! The Dark Lord! He'll kill us all!"

Mai leaned against Jounouchi for support. Honda looked just as sickly as they did and was trying to support a frightened and shocked Miho. Mai looked up at Jounouchi. Both of them had no idea what to say. The crowd surged around them.

[1] This is the Japanese romanization of a certain word. It's really not that hard to translate back into English.

Kyouju- "professor." I noticed Yugi likes to address Arthur Hopkins with this honorfic in the KC Grand Pix arc.

Ok, so I took a lot of cheap shots at America in this chapter. Hey, I'm American too! Face it, we are not the most liked people in the world.

The plotline of this was planned before the ending of YGO manga. Although I always had the feeling Atemu would leave at the end, I had the feeling that it would not go well with most fanfic readers. Okay, it would have been cool if Atemu did stick around for a bit but for the sake of art (yes, art), Atemu should leave canon-wise. In other words, Atemu will be sticking around. You may cheer now.

Yes... Black-kyouju... And no, I'm not going to reincarnate Sirius as a female. She could be related to Sirius or she could be not. You'll just have to wait and see.

My thoughts on characters' occupations:
Yugi- Ok, his was a result of an Iron Chef overdose. I had no idea there were that many Japanese chefs into French cuisine before watching that show.
Anzu- She loves to dance. She studied ballet. She and Yugi are meant to be together. Answer? A French ballet troupe.
Jounouchi- Face it, freelance photography is a pretty good career-area for Jounouchi. It doesn't require a lot of education but you need to be able to act quickly and think on your feet.
Kaiba- Now where would Kaiba be without his company? xD
Honda- I just thought mechanic would fit him.
Bakura (there is no Yami Bakura)- I have a thing with getting Bakura a MD. Bakura is studying to be a forensics pathologist aka medical examiner. He does need a medical degree for that.
Malik- Okay, I have the feeling most people can't even see Malik working. He wanted to be with Bakura and Isis helped him to come up with a solution. So he's working for the British Museum.

Chapter 3 - Untitled at the moment
Bakura and Malik are introduced to a world they never knew existed. They have been asked to aid the endangered wizarding world with their knowledge of Egyptian magic. Harry and his friends strive to hold their own in this war and Ginny takes a somewhat unexpected but courageous step. McGonagall contacts an overseas operant of the Order of Phoenix for more information and Severus is not happy about it at all.