Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Probationis Vitae ❯ Meetings ( Chapter 13 )

Meetings

AN: I am SO sorry that this took so long. If any of you all are wondering why then read the AN in "Back to Your Heart" which is the story I wrote kind of as an apology for taking so long.

And I want to thank all my loyal reviewers:

YYHgurl

Yugi Mutou

Yana5

Rutu

Nekostar2

And to Nekostar2 again because she's already reviewed "Back to Your Heart."

And here are the symbols:

/…../ is Yugi to Yami.

//…..// is Yami to Yugi.

\…..\ is Ryou to Bakura.

\\…..\\ is Bakura to Ryou.

^…..^ is Malik (hikari) to Marik (yami).

^^…..^^ is Marik to Malik.

"~…..~" is someone talking on the other end of a phone, walkie-talkie, etc.

~*~*~*~Last time~*~*~*~

When they opened the doors they saw a huge room. It was lighted by several torch looking ornaments and along the edge were several glass cylinders that they were unable to see into. However what drew their gaze was in the center of the room, lying on a stone table, was an unconscious Selene dressed in a white dress that had a solid body up to about three inches below her breasts at which point it became two scarf like pieces that crossed her chest, covering her breasts, and around her arms.

~*~*~*~On with the story~*~*~*~

"Selene!" Yugi said and ran to her, only to be blasted away about five feet away by a strange force field. Thankfully Yami saw this and managed to catch him or else there is a very good chance he could've cracked his head on the hard floor.

"Now, now, I wouldn't try that again if I were you," came a familiar voice out of the shadows. This was one voice they'd hope they would never have to hear again.

"Akuma," Damien spat with utter disgust coloring his tone.

"The one and only," the blond said as he stepped out of the shadows behind the platform on which Selene lay and into the force field, they could tell because of the slight change in the background as the shield dropped for a second.

"What the hell did you do to Selene?" Damien said, clearly pissed and, to anyone who really knew him, slightly afraid of what had happened to the one he loved.

Akuma just smirked and said, "Nothing that hasn't been done before. And only what I was asked to do by my employer. She is still alive if that's what you're asking. As pertaining to her health, physically she's perfectly fine. Mentally, well that's another story."

At this Damien, Yugi, and Yami's eyes widened, they all caught the tone in which he said it and couldn't stop the thought that he'd raped the currently unconscious girl. This made Damien practically growl in the back of his throat.

"Don't worry, I'm done with her. Only, now it's His turn to do what he wishes. I'm not sure exactly what that is, but I don't ask questions when they give me exactly what I want. All I had to do was set up the hidden guards in this room. And on that thought, I suggest you don't so much as breath funny if you don't want to be shot by one of my snipers hidden in the shadows." Akuma smirked an arrogant smirk at them.

/Yami, what do we do now? We can't get near her and gods only know where the others are./ Yugi said to his yami through their mind link.

//I'm not sure, aibou. For the moment just play along. Right now we need to find out who is behind all of this.// Yami replied.

"Now, my job of greeting the guests is done and my employer will be down in a minute. I'll see you later." And with that Akuma disappeared.

There was a moment of silence before a voice came from the shadows. "Very good, it seems that Akuma did his job and did it well. Welcome, Pharaoh, to my humble abode." And out of the shadows stepped a man who looked to be in his late thirties or early forties and had, strangely enough, pure white hair.

"So you're the one who's behind all of this," Yami said, drawing the man's attention from his hikari.

"Why yes I am. And how rude of me, I forgot the introduce myself. My name is Gekido." The man said and smiled a cold smile.

Yami's brows furrowed as he tried to remember where he remembered that name from. He knew he'd heard it before, but he couldn't remember exactly where.

"Ah, I see you don't remember me. Well, let me refresh your memory. You see, back in Egypt I was a great lord. I was also a trusted advisor of your fathers, and that's where all my fortune came from, however that all changed when you took the throne. You see, I helped assassinate you father when he realized that I had started to feed him false information and I had hoped that you might be more susceptible, however you proved stronger than I thought. I had to leave for three years and then I returned and attacked, accessing powers from another realm, much like the shadow realm. However, thanks to you and that forever-damned priestess, I was killed and the realm sealed and the knowledge stored in one book that was then guarded by your favorite monsters. The only good thing that came out of my death was the death of the priestess."

Yami's eyes widened, as Gekido told his story the memory had unfolded in his mind. Now he remembered the thrice-damned lord. He also remembered how the priestess had died after the battle because she had used the last of her energy to create the key to the spell book after placing the Wingweaver as one of the guardians. But, for some reason he couldn't remember exactly where Gekido had gotten his power.

"Now, I will call up the spirit of the priestess so she can call down her guardian monster from the book," Gekido said as the spell book they'd left at Yugi's house suddenly materialized in front of him.

"And what," Yami asked, "makes you think that she'll do that or that I'll call of the Dark Magician. You do need both of them called off to be able to access the information."

"Ah, you see I already came up with a solution for that minor detail," Gekido said. Suddenly the whole room lit up and they could see into the glass cylinders that lined the room. And all of the sudden they wished they couldn't. Trapped in each of them was one of their friends.

"And don't bother thinking about trying to break the glass. It's tempered, bullet-proof glass that I enchanted with my own brand of magic. And you see, I could easily send all of them to the Regnum Tumultuosorum Somniorun for the rest of eternity."

"The what?" Yami asked.

"It means the Realm of Nightmares. It's a Latin name." Damien said from his position beside the pair.

"Very good. Yes, that is exactly what it means. And when I send someone there they are forced to relive their worst nightmares for the rest of eternity. Imagine the horrors that they could possibly experience." Gekido said, a sadistic smirk on his features. "However, it you cooperate and call of the Dark Magician then I won't send them there. And don't think I wouldn't have enough time it you didn't because I've trained with it so much it hardly takes a first thought, much less a second thought, to send someone or a group of people there instantly. So I trust you will cooperate with me and the priestess will because despite the fact that she doesn't really know them, they are her reincarnation's close companions so she will call her guardian off."

"Damn it all," Yami muttered and Yugi looked at him, concerned. This was not good, not good at all.

"Now, I will summon the priestess and you all just stay where you are unless you want to risk getting shot." Gekido said before smirking and turning his back to them. They felt a sudden rise in power from his direction as he began the spell.

"Invoco spiritum manium

Resurgé, Sacerda, et adimé corpum novús ortús tuús

Advení ad Regnum Vivórum

Advení et efferre propositum meum"*

Suddenly Selene's body floated a few feet off the table and was surrounded by a bright glow. Then there was a flash and everyone had to cover their eyes as they were temporarily blinded by said flash. When they could finally see again they saw Selene now standing on the floor, only she seemed different. Her aura and stance was slightly different than what they were used to and her eyes, normally very expressive of her feelings, where closed off though you could see a hint of great wisdom behind the cold mask. It seemed that the summoning worked, the person now standing in Selene's body wasn't Selene and they could only assume that it was the High Priestess.

Then the High Priestess spoke, "I see that it has been many millennia since I last walked this earth. And it is time yet again to start the events that may save or destroy this earth." Her voice sounded different, more time worn. Almost like someone who has seen much and yet still perseveres and has gained great wisdom.

"Good day Priestess. I called you out so you could help me to open this book that you and the Pharaoh so conveniently sealed so long ago." Gekido said. "I assume you heard or know exactly what will happen should you refuse or try to trick me."

"Yes I heard," the Priestess said, "unfortunately for you it is not so simple to get the secrets of the book. Only the worthy may be deemed to see the contents and you must prove yourself to be so. That is how the seal was designed. You may be able to open the book and even see the pages, but until you prove yourself worthy you will never be able to read the pages."

"What?! I was never told of such a trial!" Gekido said, furious. "How do I know you are not lying to me?!"

"Try it and see. You were never informed because I incorporated it into the seal at the last moment and took the information to my grave. No one ever knew except myself." The Priestess said, a mocking look now gracing her face. Gekido's face was currently turning red with indignation.

"I will try," he ground out, "and if it turns out to be so you will deem me worthy of reading the information otherwise the Pharaoh and your reincarnations' companions will be sent to the Realm of Nightmares."

"We will see," she said.

Yugi, Yami, and Damien stared at her curious as to what she was up to. They could sense that there was more to this than she was letting on.

Gekido suddenly pulled something from under his collar that they recognized as the crescent moon pendant that they'd left with the book. He placed the pendant into the keyhole and unlocked the cover before pulling it back.

"Wingweaver, grant passage to the one who now opens the book. Allow him to see the secret inside." The High Priestess suddenly said, startling them all. Then she turned to look at Yugi and said, "You must do the same or the Dark Magician will surely attack."

Yugi nodded and, feeling just a little bit foolish, said, "Dark Magician, grant passage to the one who now opens the book. Allow him to see the secret inside."

Once they finished the pages emitted a slight glow and the pictures on the front pages disappeared, only to return when their masters commanded. Gekido turned the page and after a few minutes said in a furious tone, "You were right, I cannot read it. However now you must deem me worthy."

"It is not that simple," the High Priestess said, a slight smirk now gracing her features as she coolly gazed at the red-faced man in front of her.

"What do you mean not that simple?" He asked in a menacing voice.

"As a safeguard against those who would use loved one against the person or people who could do so the person asking to be deemed worthy must pass a test. A rather old method, but one not yet unheard of. You see the person asking to be deemed worthy must prove themselves against those currently deemed worthy in a duel of Duel Monsters. Only now things are made more difficult with the advancement of the game since ancient times."

Everyone's eyes widened at her words. Well, this was certainly unexpected. Though Yugi, Yami, and Damien were very glad of the foresight of the High Priestess.

"Fine then, I will prove myself worthy by defeating both you and the Pharaoh's reincarnations in a duel." Gekido said, looking not just a little pissed at this turn of events.

"Good, then it will be Selene and Yugi against you, though because of your past treatment of her I will have to lend her strength and block those memories until this is over otherwise she would be unable to duel. And now we need a judge. James, if you would come out from where you're currently hiding it would be greatly appreciated." The High Priestess said, surprising everyone. However they were more shocked when James, the Vigil they'd met the week before, suddenly appeared kneeling before her.

"It would be my honor Priestess," he said, standing up. "However I'd of thought you'd want one of my superiors to do so."

The Priestess smiled benignly and said, "James, there is no need to be modest. I know of your powers though you were but a child when I last saw you. While those higher than you may be your superiors in wisdom and age, magically you surpass all of them even if you pretend you don't. That is the reason they sent you down here after all, they knew you'd be the only one who could get past all the guards and traps Gekido set to stop you." A blush graced James's features as he looked slightly embarrassed by the praise the woman in front of him was bestowing upon him.

"But how could he have been alive all those years ago?" Yugi suddenly asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but you lived five millennia ago and he looks to be about my age."

The Priestess smiled at him and said, "The Vigilis are all granted longer life spans. James here has lived those five millennia and then some up in the Vigilis' stronghold." Then she turned to Gekido and said, "Now if you would be so kind as to tell your men to back down for a while we could get on with the Duel."

Gekido waved his arm in the air, apparently signaling to his men to back down for the time being. Then the High Priestess smiled before closing her eyes. Her body emitted a slight glow before she collapsed. James caught her and handed her to Damien who, along with Yugi and Yami, had run over when he saw her collapse. When she opened her eyes a second later they saw that it was the old Selene again.

It wasn't long before Yugi and Selene had been equipped with Duel Disks (refer to the anime series during battle city if you want to know what I'm talking about) thanks to James and were standing across from Gekido, Selene equipped with her deck that Yugi had found and brought because of a feeling. It was time for the fate of the whole world to yet again be decided by a single duel.

"Combatants ready," James said, "duel!"

AN: So what do you think? Please read and review! And if anyone knows a site or something where I can get a list of all the cards in Yugi's deck on the show I'd be very grateful. I found something but I could always use more than one reference.

BTW:

Gekido means "wrath" in Japanese.

Aibou I believe means "partner" and it's what Yami calls Yugi in the Japanese version of the show.

Also the incantation the Gekido used should roughly translate into something like this:

"I call upon a spirit of the dead

Rise, Priestess, and take the body of your reincarnation

Come to the Realm of the Living

Come and carry out my will."