Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ryou Bakura: Chaos Master ❯ Desbin, the City of Demons ( Chapter 15 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Takahashi does, and he wants to know just how Ryou physically disabled a train.

 

The fields they traveled through was by far the most desolate place Ryou felt he'd ever come to. The grass remained gray, and at first he'd thought it was just the darkness of the night. But when he bent down, he found that the grass was dead. It also explained the lack of wildlife, not that he expected to find much wildlife in this world, either. He honestly wasn't sure what he should've been expecting, but the feeling of loneliness floored him. It was as though all life within this world, save for them, had been sucked out long ago, leaving a scarred, barren wasteland of grass to greet any newcomers. It sent shudders up Ryou's spine just to think about.

 

When they reached halfway across the large plain, Sami looked up at the sky. Ryou noticed she was frowning, and looked up himself. The sky was starless; there wasn't even a flicker of light in the sky. There was no moon, and no wind to whistle through, rustling the grass beneath them. And the fine line of black was stretching as the minutes passed, finally coming to a full hour. Ryou wished he had a watch; he wanted to know how late it actually was. He felt tired, but he had no desire to rest until they found the city. For all he knew, they could be walking into something bad already. If they rested, it'd leave them nearly defenseless. Quietly, he glanced at Sami again. She didn't seem to be the least bit tired. Maybe it was due to the adrenaline of fighting the train.

 

“What's Desbin like?” Yugi asked her, as he let out a long yawn. Sami let her gaze in the sky drop slowly, and then looked at Yugi incredulously. He realized she had no actual idea and rephrased, “What do you think it's like? Have you read anything about it?” This caused a small smile to appear on the older woman's face. She nodded.

 

“It's fashioned within what cities used to look like in the medieval ages,” she replied slowly, “A structural analysis says there are a lot of older castles and manors in the heart of the city, and the outer perimeter is fairly small. My guess is a majority of the population are consisting of `higher' demons, which explains the number of elegant structures inside the city. But I don't know the ways or customs of anyone living there.” She looked at Yugi closely now, and suddenly stopped. A faint ray of moonlight speared through the blackness for just an instant, and she saw that something was very, very wrong. Had Yugi grown smaller since they left? At first, she had thought her eyes were just tired and seeing things oddly. But now… now it looked true.

 

“…what?” Yugi asked, noticing Sami was staring at him intently. She frowned, squinting her eyes. Yugi's height didn't change for her, but he was definitely smaller than he had been. That disturbed her now.

 

“You're over three inches smaller than you were when we left,” she replied flatly, deciding to give up on trying to figure out how to straighten her eyesight, “You… noticed this, right? It's not just me, is it?” Yugi blinked. At first, he wanted to pass off Sami's weird observation as exhaustion, too, but then he realized that she was right. Beforehand, just a few hours before, he could see her perfectly at eye level. But now, he had to tilt his head back to see her. He frowned as he realized this. So much for being normal height.

 

“I'm smaller!” Yugi cried in disbelief, as everyone else looked back at them, “And… and Ryou's smaller too! My god, so is Mokuba!!” Ryou glanced, and saw now why Yugi was panicking. Mokuba was smaller, his hair much longer now, and his clothes far too big for his body. Yugi had definitely shrunk as well; his coat was just two inches too long, and his pants dragged slightly on the floor. Likewise, Ryou himself noticed his coat fit too loosely, and as he looked in the reflection of Sami's sword, he saw his face was losing the lines it'd gained in the past two years; he was looking like he had before he even met Sami. The only ones who weren't affected were Joey, whose physique hadn't changed in the least in two years, Yami, who was a spirit and was immune to mundane magic, and Sami, who wasn't even human, and who probably lived through a variety of powers like this. But even Joey appeared terror-stricken now. Obviously, what just happened hardened his belief in magic. He looked at Sami seriously for the first time.

 

“Time flew backwards,” he said, “It's magic, isn't it!?” Sami hummed gravely, looking at her affected friends carefully. In truth, she didn't know what it could've possibly been. But she did know it wasn't natural. She nodded.

 

“It'd have to be,” she agreed darkly, “But why? Is it because we're in another world?” She looked at Yami. She didn't entirely expect an answer, but if anyone would help clarify what might have occurred, it was the old spirit. He had an understanding of magic she would have to rely on right now. He smiled weakly, crossing his arms as he looked and watched the ray of moonlight fade into the blackness again.

 

“I'm not sure, but my guess is it's magic. Not from this world, but from somewhere,” he replied calmly, “Sami, Mystics have their own world, right?”

 

“Yes, but from my understanding, only three people in the entire scope of Oblivion can control time itself,” she stated firmly, “It takes an incredible effort to do this and not split apart the very fabric of space. Time and space are non-linear, and if you have the power, you literally can create `pockets' that can serve primarily as holding cells for anything within a set timeline you need to keep. But to reverse time? Do you understand the drain it'd take on any one mortal to do this?” Yami's face paled. That much, he no longer understood. And by the looks of it, no one else knew what she was saying, either.

 

“…you mind running that by us again?” Rex asked bluntly. Sami's mouth slanted downward.

 

“To make it simple, I don't think this is just magic,” she replied, more carefully this time, “Think this through. To reverse time like this affects the whole of Oblivion. Even if this is magic we've encountered, everyone knows how badly this is going to turn out. Anything that happened in every world is going to be reversed, and the frame Oblivion sits in, and the barriers protecting our worlds from Oblivion's inter-dimensional current will become even thinner. The origin is magic, but this is stupidity. Whoever did this doesn't have the intelligence to understand what they just did.” That part, they did understand. That meant that everything good within their world would be no more, and everything bad would come back.

 

“But you're sure someone did this?” Rex asked, and Sami nodded, “Is it that same moron who sent us here!?” Sami just nodded again, but she didn't speak. This must've sent her speechless. Never before had she seen such a display of suddenness, of such stupidity. Time rifts weren't normal. They were always created by something. And she knew that the current keepers of time would never pull anything like this. She had no doubts that whoever reversed time, however stealthily, was the same person who threw them here at all. But the question she couldn't answer was what the true purpose was. The move was stupid, but there was a reason behind it. Sami just couldn't see it. Was it to make them powerless? It didn't even affect the strongest of them anyway. There had to be another reason for it.

 

The rest of the walk had been silent. Sami had taken to contemplating what had just happened, and no one felt the need to disrupt her from it, either. Ryou had decided to try and see if anything else existed, such as birds or crickets, but he found his efforts futile. The plain was as empty as his stomach now was. It growled hungrily, but only Rex took notice to it. Ryou shrugged it off, and they kept walking. But rather than following Sami, Ryou suddenly stopped again. Now he noticed that the temperature had dropped, and the grass went from dull gray to nearly black itself. His eyebrow quirked. That wasn't right. There was no cloud in the sky to cause that, and no wind to lower the temperature. He looked up, and saw the cause for the change. They were walking underneath a large shadow, far larger than anything he'd ever seen. It stretched onwards on either side of him, and looking further toward the north, he saw the city coming into view. They were walking under the shadow of the city. It was bordered with a great, stone wall, and he could barely see an open gate toward the front. Just looking at such an ominous figure made him tremble. They were nearing a city full of creatures he had never seen. Should he have been scared?

 

“W-what is that place?” he quivered, clutching Sami's arm in unadulterated terror. The city was looming high above them, and now Ryou wondered if the black shadows across the sky were simply coming from it. Even Sami seemed spooked by the structure of the city; she stepped backwards, and when Ryou clutched her arm, she stopped so abruptly that her glasses slid off her face.

 

“That's the most evil place I've ever seen!” Joey cried, eyes widened as he heard Mokuba shiver behind him, “Damn, Tristan's going to freak when I tell him that not even Silent Hill could compete with this.” Sami silently cursed. Unfortunately for her, without her glasses, all she saw was a mass of black, everywhere. She couldn't even distinguish the wall in front of them.

 

“So this is Desbin,” she breathed in awe, “Never… in my life have I felt such awesome power! Ryou… do you feel it?” Ryou didn't answer, though he did feel the power she was mentioning. It was like a shock dancing up and down his spine, an itch in his nose that wouldn't go away. Powerful creatures must live here if even Sami was impressed. There wasn't much in Ryou's world that could take her down. But clearly, Winbourne held different matters. He turned to her, and then heard a crunch underneath his foot. His eyes widened and his mouth turned to a frozen smile. He looked down, and watched as Sami picked up a bent frame, where red shards of glass fell onto the ground. He just broke her glasses.

 

“I am so sorry,” he whispered, as Mokuba gasped and Rex snorted. Sami just blinked in disbelief. In that one second, one tiny little second, Ryou broke her glasses and rendered her sight highly inferior. And in the worst possible time, too. Could that day get any worse? Sighing, she pocketed the frames, ignoring the red shards on the ground.

 

“At least I can see,” she grumbled irritably, “Sort of.” Rex stopped laughing and stared at her apprehensively. No matter how humorous that was, her sight was actually pretty important if they wanted to win. Or at least live.

 

“What kind of crap is `sort of!?' Tell us you're not completely blind!” he cried in exasperation, “Wenchester, I want to live!” Sami's eyes narrowed flatly. She must've thought Rex was a complete idiot, and Ryou found he didn't blame her. Most people, save for Joey, thought Rex was a few cents too short of a dollar.

 

“First of all, jackass, we're perfectly fine. No one's going to kill us unless any of you does anything cosmically idiotic. Now, that's more than likely to happen, but I'll be nice right now,” she grumbled, “Second off, I can see. Right now, Ryou's crystal clear, but anything more than ten feet away, and everything gets blurry. Now, we can go on and on about the many ways I could inadvertently kill you because of this, but why don't we just go inside before I get so pissed off that I actually do it.” Rex shut his mouth at that. She was just insane enough to follow through with her threat. And no one was willing to argue with her, either.

 

The walk into the city was quiet, because no one wanted to test just how far Sami's patience was going. She already threatened someone within their groups once that day, and no one wanted to see how long it'd take for her to act. The gate was unguarded, something that made Ryou happy, but made Rex nervous; if Sami did kill him, no one except their friends would be the wiser about it. And their friends wouldn't report her, either. But as they passed, he saw she didn't move for her sword. That was a good sign. The inside of the city was as Sami explained, with every structure built from stone, some having metal or wooden supports to add to its construction. The roads were cobbled, and wrought-iron streetlamps dotted the roads, much like the lone lamp they had seen on the dark road from before. Though the sky above was dark and ominous, the city below was well-lit, the lamps providing soft, golden glows on the cobble. It looked almost like a normal city, with normal people. Except that normal people didn't have demonic wings or horns protruding from their heads. And normal cities didn't have such a horrid smell to them. Ryou's eyes widened as they walked down the road.

 

“…what on earth was that smell supposed to be?” he asked, as he noticed that the people they passed were staring at them. Sami, unfortunately, couldn't see this. But she smelled what he was speaking of. It smelled foul, as though someone had dead and had been left to rot in the middle of the street. And, knowing the kinds of monsters living here, Sami realized that was a definite possibility. But she wasn't the fastest talker.

 

“Demon shit,” Rex grumbled before the woman could even answer, “Or poison. Or a corpse. Take your pick, it could be every one of those.” He was apparently ignoring the glares he received for that. Sami just snorted. Looks like Rex actually thought like her after all. Maybe there was hope for the man… except that one Incubus took such offense at his statement that he kicked Rex over and stormed off, his black hair trailing down his bare back. Ryou watched in awe; the man looked marvelous, even with the red wings sprouting from his head. A hissing noise diverted his attention, causing him to jump. Yugi looked around to see a large, metal pipe boring into the side of a house. Steam was issuing from it.

 

“…steam pipes?” he inquired curiously. Sami looked to where he pointed, seeing a thick line of green against the stone of the house.

 

“Not all worlds are as technologically advanced as others,” she replied calmly, as another spout of steam hissed behind her, “Demons in general are magically constructed, so they don't have to rely on electricity to keep their cities running. Chances are, they use the power from Oblivion and convert it somehow if steam isn't enough.” Yugi nodded absently, backing away when the pipe hissed a third time. Sami just patted his shoulder.

 

“I hope they know Oblivion has a new tear in it,” Yami said worried. Sami silently nodded. She doubted they did know; not many were receptive to the faint traces Oblivion could give. Even Espers had a hard time tracking tears down, and they were experts at it. Sami sighed, looking at the people they passed. They all seemed to be oblivious to what was happening in Domino, or to Oblivion. They couldn't have known. One demon, a beautiful woman with black wings, smiled warmly as she passed Sami. She reminded them of Katt.

 

“…these people have wings and tails and horns like you do,” Rex commented as the woman passed on, “Are you a demon, Sami?” Sami's lips thinned, as she looked down for a minute. Were Espers demons? She didn't know. She shrugged.

 

“I never thought I was,” she replied slowly, “But they have magic, and I do have bat wings. I could be.” Ryou hummed. If she was, his whole idea of demons would have to change, then. She wasn't evil as he thought most demons were. A chuckle behind them, however, alerted them that one such demon had overheard them. Sami spun, her sword already in her hand. Its blade flashed purple as she eyed a particularly old demon with the head of a goat. Its horns had grown long and curved downward, and muscle ripped from its orange body. But its eyes portrayed a level of kindness. It seemed to be smiling at them.

 

“Many races are considered demons, my dear,” he said in an astonishingly young voice, “Yes, Espers are considered demonic in some worlds, but in no way are you evil. Rest assured of that.” Sami glanced at Ryou, and he blushed in embarrassment. That last part was aimed at him; briefly, Sami sensed he wondered about her true intentions. Her eyes hardened and she turned away. She didn't like being distrusted.

 

“That's comforting,” she replied flatly to the demon, “And you know this because…?” Ryou's eyes widened. Now wasn't the time for Sami to get difficult, especially with a demon. But the demon took it in stride. He chuckled, the ground underneath him trembling slightly at the sound. One short, rabbit-like creature scampered away at the tremors.

 

“I know much,” he simply explained, his voice clearly amused with her frustration, “We have similarities, each of us. Take Sinde over there.” He pointed to the Incubus who had kicked Rex previously, who was watching Sami with a hunger Ryou felt uncomfortable with, “He has wings similar to yours, dear. And he uses magic, as you do.” Sami blinked, thinking on that. No wonder magic had such a bad reputation, then. Then another thought came to her. What if the Mystic wasn't the one who opened the portal? It technically didn't make any sense why they'd end up in a world of demons, and she refused to believe any Mystic was that unskilled. By rights, that Mystic would've been executed, either by a stronger Mystic or by the ESB themselves. It was curious.

 

“So, can all demons use magic?” Rex asked as Sami continued with her line of thought. She looked up only briefly to hear what the demon had to say. And she was glad she did.

 

“We all have the ability to use magic, but as of late, our magic is decreasing,” the demon replied calmly, but there was a sadness that tugged at Ryou. Sami, however, only grew more attentive to that fact. That ruled out the possibility of their little moron being a demon, then. She frowned.

 

“Then it's not limited to Domino,” she concluded, though all it got her were confused stares, “Demon… when did this start? Was it recent?” Ryou blinked, wondering why Sami was asking these questions now and what connection she was forming. Then he caught it. Perhaps there was a reason they were in Winbourne, after all.

 

“Yes. Perhaps a year ago, perhaps two, I don't remember,” the demon told her gently, appearing none the wiser over her question, “There is little we can do, however. Winbourne is protected from many tears into Oblivion, and if our magic escapes into the voids, that same protection makes it difficult to regain without heading directly into Oblivion itself.” Sami just hummed. And grinned. Ryou didn't like that. It meant she figured out exactly why they were here. If what the demon said was true, then if Sami's power was exhausted, she wouldn't be able to get it back. It was the same with Yami, and with Ryou's sword. Cripple them here, they'd be defenseless when they went back to Domino. It was a good plan, except that Sami caught it.

 

“Wait… we can go into Oblivion!?” Rex exclaimed, and then smiled greedily, “Oh man, this case is going to get me promoted!”

 

“Idiot! We have more pressing matters!” Sami scolded angrily, brows creased as she turned back to the demon, “Ignore him. Tell me more of what happened.” Rex didn't particularly like being spoken down to, but Sami was getting them some information. If she weren't such a damn psycho, he'd have asked her to join his department. But something told him she'd decline anyway. She hated him as much as she hated Kaiba. And the feelings were mutual, too. The demon just smiled and explained what he could over the incident. And it wasn't much. No one had seen anyone suspicious; all that really alerted any of them to the problem at hand was a dramatic decrease in their stamina and the inability to recover it. Sami was growing frustrated now. That was very little help to her. The demon just frowned slightly, noticing this.

 

“Forgive me, my young friends,” he said, and gestured toward an inn, “Let us take rest there and I will explain further what has occurred. We have unwanted ears following.” Sami didn't object, and since she was silently considered the leader - mostly do to her overwhelming strength - everyone followed without question. They walked into the small building; it was more a tavern than an inn, and a rather comfortable one at that. The main room, the tavern, was a large, open, wooden room with a stone base. The bar was to the right, overlooking the three large windows that depicted the street outside. The fireplace provided exceptional heat and light, a stark contrast to the darkness outside, though the gray in the sky indicated that dawn was only a few hours away. There was a smaller room to the side, but as of yet, no one made a move for it. A staircase led to the upper floors, but Sami would explore that later. To their immediate right, a woman, not unlike Sinde, was behind the counter, polishing a glass. She looked up. Her face looked stern, her auburn hair paling her already white skin further.

 

“Well, if it isn't Belphegorus again,” she said, almost flatly, “More of those damned humans?” The demon that led them there nodded, but his smile was warm and calm.

 

“Good evening, Vaerd,” he replied, undisturbed by the woman's tone, “Yes. They boarded the train and came off here. They are investigating the power shortage we're suffering.” The woman put her cup down, her face looking even graver than before. Ryou trembled. The woman was startlingly beautiful, and he also felt an aura of danger to her, too. He glanced at Yugi and Joey. They were similarly affected, as well as Rex. Only Yami and Mokuba were unaffected, and Ryou guessed it was because one was a spirit, and one was a small boy again. Likewise, Sami wasn't affected for the obvious; she did seem relatively annoyed, though.

 

“About time someone from the ESB looked into this,” the woman grumbled, and looked to Sami, “You'd better be one of them, or I'm going to blow the last group of idiots back to Oblivion.” Ryou glanced at Sami again. He had never heard of the ESB before; at least, not in great detail. But Sami seemed relaxed. She held out a badge, and the woman looked it over. She seemed pleased enough.

 

“Inter-World Connections agent,” Sami told her, “Sent by Bahamut himself. What's the problem?” Ryou wanted to ask just where in hell she'd gotten the badge. Forget that. How did she actually fabricate that lie? He'd have to ask her later. Right then, the woman was convinced. Of course, the older demon wasn't. He was chuckling as Sami and Vaerd exchanged information. But he made no move to stop the young Chesier. This was far too amusing to him.

 

“Well, first off, our magic's leaking into Oblivion. We want you to fix this immediately,” Vaerd said, but gave no mention as to how Sami was expected to complete that, “Next, more of you disgusting humans bumbled their way here. We want them out! So go and get rid of them. Kill them if you have to.” Ryou thought that was a little overboard, but he knew Sami would actually do it. She had no true loyalty to humans. Ryou was the only saving grace his friends appeared to have. Sami just nodded, and with direction from Vaerd, walked into the side room they previously ignored. And she immediately saw why the woman asked for the humans to be killed. Right in front was Yaten Bakura, sitting nonchalantly as he sipped his coffee and spoke to the two next to him. What actually bugged her were the two others. One was Suguroku Mutou, who should've been long dead. But the other… was the blonde man. His good eye landed on Sami. Ryou stopped dead when he saw the man in question. Damn it again, there he was!

 

“You!” Ryou said angrily, pointing to the man, “You nearly killed Sami! What are you doing here!?” Sami just put a hand on Ryou's shoulder as the man merely snorted and turned away. Clearly, he was in no mood for Ryou. Yaten stood up and walked over, at first wondering if his son was actually with him. Then he laughed and hugged Ryou tightly. Ryou nearly burst into tears. His father hadn't died! He had been caught in Oblivion! But then… what of Suguroku?

 

“Ryou! Oh, my boy's finally fighting demons! I knew feeding you all those veggies would help you!” Yaten cried out in pride, and Ryou saw Sami roll her eyes. Likewise, so did Joey and Yugi, “Now, I know you're not good at it, but do you see how it's raised your character? You even have a real sword!” Ryou just blinked. As much as he loved his father and was glad to know he wasn't dead, there were times where he couldn't have wanted to punch a man more. And this was one of those times. Especially because his friends were there watching him.

 

“I'm fine, dad,” Ryou grumbled, as Yaten let go, “But why're you here? What happened?”

 

“Actually… I don't remember,” Yaten replied, after a moment of thought, “It's all kind of fuzzy, but it feels like I've been here forever. But my watch says it's still 2006.” Ryou glanced at Sami. They both knew what the other was thinking. That proved that time had been corrected. Ryou rushed to create a believable lie. And because this was his father, that wasn't too hard to do.

 

“Your watch must've stopped,” Ryou lied, and because he was such a nice, considerate boy, Yaten believed every word he said, “What's the last thing you do remember?” Yaten hummed, trying to think of that. Because it technically wasn't 2006, he just couldn't. His last action was supposed to be over two years old. But he just grinned that dumb grin of his. Sami wanted nothing more than to smack it off. Ryou silently wished she would.

 

“Oh! I remember that I was paying Sami for cleaning out the gutters,” he replied, “And that I wanted to talk to you about your eating habits. I don't approve of the two cupcakes you ate last night, son. I don't want you putting on seventy pounds because you can't control yourself.” Ryou just growled. He didn't even eat those cupcakes. Bakura had. But because the two looked so similar, Yaten just assumed it was Ryou. Not to mention it happened two years ago. Quickly, Ryou spun on his heel and dragged Sami to a far corner as Suguroku went to speak with Yugi and Joey. Yaten continued to sit and chat, this time trying to engage the blonde man. He failed entirely; the blonde man's gaze was solely on Sami. Ryou snuck a glare toward him, but he simply grinned, never leaving Sami.

 

“Tell me there's a plan here,” he mumbled, ignoring the blonde man now. Sami just frowned. In honesty, she had no idea what they could do now. Time really did reverse, it seemed. And she was no master of time. Not that her magic could do anything here; she guessed it'd slip right into the voids and be lost forever.

 

“Afraid not,” she replied simply, not even afraid of that fact, “We're at a loss, kiddo. Until something happens that puts us on another lead, we're sitting ducks.” Ryou just scowled. He wanted to ask what she was thinking when Belphegorus was speaking, but right as he opened his mouth, a voice he so recognized stopped him.

 

`I wouldn't argue. She's right,' it was Bakura, `There's not a damn you can do now, so just wait it out.' He stepped out of the shadows, and everyone turned when his shoe hit a chair. He silently cursed. He wanted a quiet entrance. Sami immediately scowled furiously. This was no time for the thief's antics.

 

“What the hell are you doing here!?” she demanded hotly. But rather than instill the usual terror she had, Bakura just laughed. She was flustered. This really must've been pissing her off.

 

“Relax, my dear. I'm on your side,” he replied easily, taking a seat next to Yaten, “As to my being here? Well, why else would I be with Ryou?” Sami's eyes just narrowed and she grumbled, turning away. There were many reasons she could give as to why Bakura would possibly be there, but she didn't feel anyone needed to hear half of them. So she didn't speak. Ryou, however, caught her thoughts as they spun wildly through her head. Most of them made him laugh, too. He turned to Bakura.

 

“Because you're annoying,” he said in Sami's stead. Bakura just raised an amused brow at his younger counterpart. If that was supposed to actually hurt him, Ryou was going to be sourly disappointed. Yaten, however, just looked at Bakura. He never liked the old spirit, and Bakura turned to the man, feeling that fully.

 

“Listen, you, I tolerate you eating me out of house and home, but stop bothering my son,” he stated, and Bakura just snorted, “He hasn't dealt with bullies and I don't want him wetting the bed again. I don't pay my maid enough to deal with that.” The blonde man actually laughed now, and both Sami and Ryou stared, completely flabbergasted. None of that was even true! Sami slammed her fist onto the table, nearly destroying it.

 

“EXCUSE ME!?” she shrieked furiously, “Your maid!? How DARE you imply I have any subservient attitude to you!”

 

“DAD!” Ryou screamed at around the same exact time, “I do not wet the bed! I'm not three anymore!” He glared at the blonde man, who continued laughing even as Sami mouthed for him to shut up. Ryou wished he had his sword out; he could've silenced the man forever with one swipe. And he could take his father out, too. Except that he loved his dad, no matter how humiliating he was to be around. But Sami didn't, and she had a sword that actually thirsted for the blood of others. Yaten seemed to completely ignore that, though.

 

“First of all, son, don't talk back to me. That's bad character,” Yaten said sternly, and then to Sami, he said, “Second, you work for me to pay for your rent. If I fire you, you're on the street. Which means no more friendship with Ryou.” Ryou just grumbled in displeasure, but he noted with extreme worry that the blonde man seemed unusually interested in that threat. His frown became a dark scowl. He knew exactly what that man wanted.

 

“She's not leaving,” he assured the man grimly. The blonde man just raised a slender brow, his good eye following from Ryou, to Sami. She said nothing, and that just made his smile grow. And it made Ryou's scowl deepen.

 

An explosion outside caused them all to jump, with Yugi and Mokuba screaming as the window shattered. There were screams of terror outside, and the innkeeper, Vaerd, was already working to throw her doors open for the people to take refuge. Sami, Bakura, Yami, and the blonde man rose immediately, and ran to the window to see just what had happened. The explosion was apparent; it wiped out half the buildings and reduced them to half. The other buildings were barely standing. Fire had erupted from those buildings, and it caused the normally dark sky to become saturated with a deep, red hue. Orange mist flowed from the ground. And the worst part was, Sami smelled the darkest traces of magic. Oblivion itself had been used to cause this. Her fists clenched.

 

“What the hell was that?” Bakura demanded, as Ryou walked over to look. Sami's face had gone grave, her skin going white at the sight of the destruction. Fear rarely colored her eyes, but it did so now. Ryou noticed she was looking at something just a bit toward the right of the main destruction.

 

“Amber,” she growled. Ryou and Yami turned to her. Both recognized the name; it was the same name as her co-worker.

 

“Are you sure!?” Ryou exclaimed, turning to her in terror. She didn't even glance at him. He knew she was sure she had seen the girl.

 

“Absolutely,” she replied, unshaken confidence strengthening her resolve, “Damn it! I'm not sure whether to be surprised or absolutely pissed. Amber is behind this!?”

 

“If I found you any faster, I'd have told you,” the blonde man said grimly, “Sith, this is bad. Amber's not just a human. She's half-Mystic.” Sami's eyes narrowed as she considered that. She'd never heard of such a unity before; Mystics were renowned for their hatred of all other races. She just smirked, watching as one large building finally tumbled, sending sprays of ash and embers outward as demons and humans alike ran in terror from the decay.

 

“Half-breed, eh?” she asked, and laughed, “No wonder her work is sloppy. I doubt she has the skill she needs to pull this off.” Then, taking the blonde man's arm, they jumped out the window. Ryou watched, not even believing that Sami called this sloppy. The city was destroyed! Then it hit him that she just ran out there. He jumped out as well, with Yugi following as everyone else tried to protest and get them back inside. But they didn't listen. Sami was throwing herself into the fire, literally.

 

“Sami, stop! You're going to get yourself killed!” Ryou called, “Sami!! Damn it!” He slowed a little. This wasn't going to help either of them. He had to figure out just where she was heading. Weaving through random streets would definitely get her killed before he found her. Yugi ran up to him, and patted his back as the pale boy gasped for the air to continue his frantic pursuit. Then he closed his eyes, trying to single out her energy. It wasn't hard; hers was the strongest in the city, with the blonde man's being just slightly less. He pointed and said, “There.”

 

“Let's go before she gets shot again,” Yugi said, “I don't think she'll live through another bullet like that.” Ryou didn't disagree, and they ran down the designated street. As strong as Sami was, she had made it clear she was still very mortal. And Ryou felt her mortality was going to be tested if she actually managed to catch Amber. He didn't want to know what the outcome could be.

 

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

 

After finding that his father, and the blonde man, are both safe from danger, Ryou discovers that, to his dismay, Sami's co-worker is indeed involved and connected to what's happening. And now, with Sami off in hot pursuit, Ryou must stop them both before a devastating battle of magic is waged in the ruined city. But, will he be enough to calm down his very-much inhuman friend? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!