Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The not to distant future ❯ Into the shadows ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh!


The not to distant future
By Yami Kitsune
Chapter two: Into the shadows



The sun was shining brightly though the window as Yugi tried his best to block it out. He was in no mood to get out of bed today. He’d had a restless sleep and was still to tired to function. He had decided when he’d woken up again at two am, four am, and six am that there was no way he’d be opening the game shop that day. Yugi sighed deciding that fighting the sun was a loosing battle he looked over at his clock and frowned. It was nearly eleven thirty in the morning. Why did it not feel that late? Yugi wondered but rolled out of bed anyway.

He stumbled to the bathroom still half asleep and wishing he could sleep longer. A nice cold shower would wake him up. He was half way to the bathroom however when the phone started ringing. Yugi took the detour out to the living room.

“’ello?” Yugi answered the phone fighting a yawn.

“Hello Yugi.” Yugi nearly dropped the phone.

“Malik!?” Yugi yelped now fully awake. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard that voice. After Yami had left Yugi had lost touch with the people who lived in a different country. Yugi sat down on the stool next to the phone and leaned his back against the wall. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting it to be you.” Yugi said with a small sigh.

“I know Yugi. We don’t talk nearly as often as we should. After all we’ve been through.” Malik sighed as well. “But I thought it would be nice to call and say hello.” Malik said but his voice was drowned out by a rather loud sound that made Yugi sit up.

“Malik…where are you?” Yugi asked as he sat up strait.

“I am actually at the Domino air port. I tried calling before I left yesterday but there was no answer. Kaiba is coming to pick me up and I have a hotel near the game shop.” Malik said and Yugi for the second time felt his spirits lifting. Malik was in town. “I thought I’d also let you know.” Malik continued. “That Ryou should be here by tomorrow as well.”

“What?! Ryou’s coming here too!?” Yugi asked jumping out of his seat. Then he stopped as a thought struck him. Why was Ryou coming here? And why had Malik come here? Surly if they had just been coming to visit they would have called and planned it out with him and Jou since they were really the only people in Japan that the two boys knew.

“Malik, what’s going on?” Yugi asked. And could instantly tell his thoughts were right when Malik fell silent. The only sound coming through the phone were the planes landing and taking off. “Malik?”

“I can’t really explain Yugi…not over the phone at least. I’ll call you when I get to my hotel and get settled.” Malik said and Yugi nodded even though the blond Egyptian couldn’t see him.

“Alright…” He said. “I’ve got a few things I have to get done today…” Yugi lied.

“Alright Yugi, I have to go. Kaiba’s driver is here to pick me up.” Malik said. Yugi staid on the phone until he heard the soft ‘click’ and then the line go dead. He slowly hung up his hands shaking. He had a good feeling what Malik wanted to talk about.

“No…it was only a dream.” Yugi told himself firmly. What he’d seen last night could not have been real. He headed to the kitchen deciding to take his shower after he ate. Yugi spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon trying to convince himself that what he’d seen the night before was a dream. The shadow realm was sealed and could not be opened. All shadow magic was gone form the world. After all, wasn’t that the reason why Yami had left?

Yugi had decided to spend his day straitening up the game shop. It had been a while since he’d gone through everything. He got his pad of paper and pen to start taking inventory. As he did however, he noticed that a lot of the games the shop still carried were out dated. He’d have to fix that. He’d set a sale up in a couple weeks he decided and made a note of it so he wouldn’t forget. As he was just finishing up however he heard a loud crash from upstairs.

Yugi froze on the spot and stared at the ceiling. He looked out side, the sun was setting, but it was still fairly bright outside. //who would brake into a house when it’s still day light out?// Yugi asked as he set the pad of paper down and headed upstairs slowly. There was another crash and Yugi froze again. It sounded like whoever it was, was looking for something. Yugi continued on his way upstairs more slowly. He reached the living room and looked around, there was no one there. He turned to head towards the kitchen when he heard a third crash coming from inside his room. Yugi looked around before pulling his old baseball bat out of the closet. If he was going in there he wouldn’t be unarmed. Slowly making his way towards the door he put his hand on the handle but snatched it away quickly. It was cold, unnaturally so. He looked at the door again and felt as if all the warmth had been sucked out of the whole house. It was then he noticed the darkness that seemed to be leaking from the cracks around his door.

//No, this can NOT be happening!// Yugi told himself and to prove it he opened the door to his bedroom and froze in the door at what he saw. His room was engulfed in darkness, the same shadow figure he had seen the night before stood in the center, Yugi’s personal items flying around the room as the shadow turned towards him.

“Yugi” the shadow called in such a way that chilled Yugi to the bone. “Where is it?” The shadow sounded angry now and it was coming towards him. Yugi stepped back his voice frozen in his throat his mind screaming that this couldn’t possibly be real. The shadow was now reaching for Yugi. “Yugi.” It said again and Yugi backed up more. Reacting the only way he could he threw the bat at the shadow that just laughed as it passed right through him. Yugi turned and ran back down the stairs. He didn’t bother looking back to see if the shadow was following him. He ran out of the game and ran down the street as fast as he could. He didn’t know what that thing was, but he knew that it would not be safe to stay there and find out. He turned the corner ready to continue sprinting, but the body he ran into prevented him from doing that. Yugi looked up quickly half expecting to see the shadow standing there.

“Whoa! What’s the matter Yug? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!” Jou said holding his hand out to help Yugi up. Yugi took it his eyes drifting to the person standing next to Jou. Malik was looking at Yugi a very serious expression on his face.

“The shadow, you saw it.” It was more of a statement then a question, because the answer was written all over Yugi’s face. However Yugi still nodded.

“Yes! It…it was in my room, it was looking for something.” Yugi said ignoring the bewildered look Jou was giving the two of them. “It reached for me. The only thing I could think to do was run, so I did.” Yugi said. Malik nodded looking a little relived at that.

“You were lucky.” Malik said. “It actually did grab Ryou.”

“Ryou saw it too!?” Yugi asked eyes widening even more. Malik nodded and looked around.

“I think, we should go back to the hotel. Yugi, I don’t think you should go back to the game shop, and definitely not alone.” Yugi nodded and Malik made to turn and start back in the direction he and Jou had been coming from.

“You know, I thought now that you guys didn’t have the items any more I’d be able to actually follow a conversation for once.” He said following them.

“Sorry Jou.” Malik said giving him an apologetic smile. “I’ll explain what I know once we’re back at the hotel.” He looked at Yugi who was giving worried glances over his shoulder every few steps. “It won’t follow us. It can only appear in places where a strong power once existed.”

“But…why the game shop?”

“It’s where you first freed Yami isn’t it?” Malik asked and Yugi nodded, it made since, but it didn’t stop him from looking over his shoulder all the way to the hotel. Even when they reached it Yugi felt as if he hadn’t gotten far enough away from the shadow. Malik held the door open for them and Yugi walked into the penthouse and stopped.

“The penthouse?” He looked at Malik who shrugged.

“Okay, so I plan on actually staying for white a while…the hotel rooms they had here were to small. Not to mention they insisted on it. My sister is almost as well known as Kaiba is.” Malik said with a small grin. He closed the door and ran his hand over the back of it. Yugi watched hieroglyphs appear on the back of the door. “An…extra precaution.” Malik said turning back to Yugi and Jou.

“So, now do I get to know what’s going on?” Jou asked, Yugi nodded his agreement, although he’d just seen something his mind still insisted wasn’t possible, he was still fairly clueless about what was going on himself. But he could make an educated guess. Malik looked at the two of them and sighed, walking passed them he stared out the large window.

“Someone is trying to open the shadow realm.” Malik said.

“Wait, I thought Yami fixed all that” Jou said frowning.

“I thought he had too.” Malik looked at the two standing there and motioned for them to sit down. Jou chose the reclining chair and Yugi sat on the couch, well, more like fell on the couch. It was obvious he was still a little shaken up.

“I can’t explain everything that’s going on, just what I know.” Malik said and looked at Yugi. “That shadow you saw today. To my knowledge it is a shadow monster that was never given the chance to fully develop before it was cast into the shadow realm.” Yugi frowned and nodded. He hadn’t actually been witness to it first hand, but he had heard about what the millennium items had been used or back in Egypt.

“But…how did it get out of the shadow realm?” Yugi asked. Malik shook his head.

“If I knew that I wouldn’t be here…but I do know what he’s looking for.” He said sitting down in his own chair. Yugi stared at him.

“The Millennium items” Yugi said, he didn’t know how he knew. But It was really the only logical thing that anyone from the shadow realm would be looking for. Malik nodded.

“That is what I believe. But because they have been locked away again it’s not possible for anyone to get to them. There’s to much magic protecting them this time. And Shadi won’t let anyone else get them.”

“Shadi?” Jou asked. “Oh, that guy in the bathrobe. I remember him. Are you sure he’ll do his job? He didn’t seem to helpful when I met him.” Jou said frowning.

“I know Shadi won’t let anyone near the items. It’s his job to protect them. That is the job Ra himself appointed him for all eternity. And spirit or not, he fears the wrath of the gods.” Malik said. Malik glanced over when Yugi stood up and walked to the window and looked out.

“So Ryou’s coming here tomorrow?” Yugi asked. Malik nodded.

“He should be. Kaiba is sending a plane to go pick him up.” Malik said.

“How come Kaiba’s helping you out so much?” Jou asked frowning at Malik. “Last I checked he still wasn’t to happy that you ruined his battle city tournament.”

“He’s seen the shadow too. The last thing he wants is to get wrapped up in all this shadow realm stuff again. But this time around he was a little easier to convince.”

“After what happened last time I bet he would be.” Jou said grinning and leaning back in his chair. “So we have someone trying to open up the shadow realm, no idea who it is. Is there at least a way to stop him?” Jou asked. Malik sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t know, that is one reason me and Ryou are coming here, because the shadow seems to be targeting old item holders. And…” Malik trailed off looking down. “It hasn’t been in the news or anything, because no one is sure how it happened…but I went to visit Maximizing Pegasus. Because I knew he used to hold the millennium eye….and…” Malik stopped talking for a moment staring at his hands. Yugi had turned back to look at his old friend frowning.

“And what?” Yugi asked not sure he really wanted to know.

“He’s dead. That’s why I thought it would be safer for us if we were all together, where I can at least put a few old protection spells up. I just hope that Ryou gets here safely.” Malik said putting his head in his hands. Yugi looked back out the window and let his thoughts wonder. He wondered what would happen next. How long would they run from the shadow creature before it finally caught up with them? Would they be killed too? Yugi was so deep in thought that he nearly jumped five feet when he heard Malik’s cell phone ring.

“Hello?” Malik asked as he picked up the phone. “Oh, hey Ryou. Yeah Yugi’s here. Yeah, he saw it too. No he got away. How’s your arm? Don’t worry, we’ll see what we can do once you get here. I know, try and get some rest. Did you put up those spells I told you about? That should help keep the shadow out. Yeah I filled Yugi in. We’ll talk more when you get here. You just get some rest. Alright.” Malik hung up and looked over at Yugi who was staring at him. “I told you, you were lucky the shadow didn’t touch you. Ryou…wasn’t so lucky.” Malik put his phone away. “I haven’t seen his arm, he said it doesn’t look bad but he can’t move it at all.”

“He…he’s alright though. Isn’t he?” Yugi asked.

“He said he’s alright. But he’s still scared.” Yugi nodded understanding that. He could still feel the fear when he thought about the shadow. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if the thing had actually managed to grab him. Malik stood up and headed to the kitchen.

“I think I’ll make some dinner.” He said. Jou looked at Yugi who nodded. They both headed to the kitchen to help Malik. All of them silently hoping that they could find something else to talk about for a few hours.

~~~~~~~

Ryou looked at his phone as he hung up with Malik. He had hardly slept in two days since his attack, every time he closed his eyes he could still see that shadow. It’s voice still echoing in his ears. //Give it to me, and I will set him free.// Ryou shook his head. At first he didn’t know who the shadow had been talking about. Until Malik had clarified that the shadow was indeed from the shadow realm. The only person that Ryou knew that the shadow could also know about would be his yami. A lot of people would be confused if they found out that Ryou actually did miss Bakura. No one else had seen, or felt what was truly in Bakura’s heart.

Ryou had agreed to help Bakura find the millennium items, because Ryou had known that in the end Bakura would have truly been free. If he had had the choice to go through all that pain again to make sure that Bakura made it to the final duel with Yami, he would willingly do it all again. Though having his yami locked in the shadow realm wasn’t really his idea of ‘setting him free’. But at least he wasn’t being controlled by that shadow monster any more.

Ryou sighed and laid down on his bed clutching his injured arm to his chest. He couldn’t fight sleep forever, the spells were in place, the shadow couldn’t get to him. So a couple hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt. That was Ryou’s last thought before he fell into darkness.




Ryou opened his eyes to find himself standing in the shadows. It was cold, and dark here. “…h…hello?” He called weakly. His voice didn’t echo like he had expected it to. It was as if this place was truly nothingness. He shivered as he looked around trying to find something, anything. All he saw was darkness, and shadows. Only, the shadows seemed to be moving. This scared Ryou more then anything.

“hello?” He called again backing away from the shadows. As he backed away his foot connected with something and he fell over backwards. Looking down his eyes widened when he saw none other then Bakura laying there looking pale and cold. Ryou shifted around so he was now on his knees next to his yami shaking him.

“Bakura? Wake up, Bakura!” Bakura didn’t move at all. Ryou looked back at the shadows that seemed to be closing in around him. He looked back down quickly when he felt something grab onto his wrist. Bakura had woken up. However, it was not Bakura. It was the shadow, it had taken the form of Bakura and now had Ryou’s arm in it’s icy grip.

“Where is it?” The shadow asked, Bakura’s face melting away into shadows. “You know what I seek! Where is it!?” The shadow hissed it’s other hand coming up moving to touch Ryou’s chest. Ryou screamed, not from pain, but from fear. The next thing Ryou knew the screams from the shadows mixed with his as a blinding light filled the space. Ryou was now sitting on his bed looking around for the shadows that had just been there. They were all gone, and the light was still filled with that strange light. He looked down at his chest where it seemed to be coming from. What he saw nearly made him fall out of bed, there where it had hung for so long only two years ago, sat, once again, the millennium ring.

“Ryou.” A voice said. Ryou’s head snapped up. This time he really did fall out of bed. Standing there in his room was Yami. And next to him stood Bakura who really did look like he’d seen better days. “You have seen what is happening.” Yami said. Ryou nodded still staring from his new position on the floor.

“Am I still dreaming?” Ryou asked. Yami chuckled and shook his head.

“no, I’m afraid not.” Yami stepped forward and put his hand on Ryou’s arm. It was warm and comforting, the feeling seemed to spared through Ryou’s whole body. “The shadow realm is open. I no longer have a connection with Yugi, and I cannot use the puzzles power because he no longer has it.” Yami explained answering the questions that were going through Ryou’s head.

“But…the ring…”

“Yes, even though the holders of the items may give them up. Or may loose possession of them. The items only have one true owner. Making it possible to call the item to you, no matter where it is. You were in danger, the ring sensed the danger and came to you.” Yami said taking his hand away from Ryou’s arm now. “And in doing so, you also helped me find Bakura in the shadow realm.” Yami held up his hand when Ryou opened his mouth. “I do not have time to explain any more. Me and Bakura must go. There are still things we must do.” Yami said and stood up stepping back. Now it was Bakura’s turn to step forward. He still didn’t say anything as he looked down at Ryou.

“Bakura…?” Ryou stared up at him. Bakura held up a finger and touched it to Ryou’s forehead. “Forget this meeting little one.” He said. “It is not time for you, or the others to know yet.” He said. Ryou’s eyes went wide before rolling into the back of his head. He slumped over on the floor. Bakura continued to look at him.

“Someone will find him. Come Bakura.” Yami said and only smiled at the glare that Bakura gave him. The two of them vanished just as there was a knock on the door.

TBC>>>