Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Unbelievable Connections ❯ Explanations Wanted But None Given ( Chapter 12 )

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

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! However, I DO own Marissa, Keline, Symari, and Joseph.

Chapter 12------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------

Marissa stepped out of her portal and into what was clearly a bedroom. Moonlight poured in from the two open windows, curtains blowing in the cool night breeze. She glanced around the room, absorbing in all the feminine features. Still, past every photograph hanging on the wall, past every paper strewn about the desk, and past every sticker on the dresser, the peaceful figure asleep on the bed brought the most attention. Careful as to not make a sound, Marissa walked over to the bedside and sighed.

“Sorry, Téa…” she whispered into the night. Then, she lifted up the Ankh-shaped key and stuck it in the sleeping girl's forehead.

Magical energies mixed together, the lands of the real and the fake intertwined, and the white-haired, blue-eyed girl emerged in a different room than before. A much different room. She briefly glanced around the area before scowling at her reflection in the dance studio walls.

“Why does he make me do this?” On a velvet-lined couch lay two plain and simple frames. However, the photographs inside these frames were anything but plain and simple. Joey, Tristan, Yugi, Ryou, Mai, and the rest of Téa friends were in one picture; the other…

“How sweet!” Marissa mused, picking up the second photo: a profile one of Yami. Yet, her conscience told her to put it down and get to work. Closing her eyes, she mentally worked her way through the vast twists and turns of the mind to the chamber where one stores facts and figures. Facts such as addresses, dates, ages, and other things.

This was where her presence was required.

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Practically the same instance occurred in the soul rooms of Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor, although the surroundings varied quite differently. However, Yugi Mutou was another story. Marissa ventured into his mind, seeing not one, but two separate rooms. `Shadi warned me about this,' she reminded herself, diminishing the dilemma. Turning to the left, she calmly approached the open doorway.

But somebody stopped her.

“What are you doing here?” a familiar, urgent voice asked from behind. She twirled around to see Yugi's darker counterpart standing in the doorway of his maze-like pyramid of a soul room. She gulped. So did he - spotting the Key in her grasp. “I take it that's how you came here?” He indicated the Millennium Item.

“Y-yes,” she finally managed to sputter.

“I thought in belonged to a man named Shadi.” Gradually, his crimson eyes were hardening into a glare.

“It does.” Her azure orbs lost their worry and took on solidity. An unspoken question prompted her to continue. “He let me borrow it.” `More like forced me to,' she scowled to herself. A few long minutes were taken so Yami could sort out this oncoming information within his mind. `If she is telling the truth, then it sounds like she knows Shadi pretty well,' he contemplated. `But what if she's simply trying to deceive us…?' Meanwhile, Marissa desperately tried to formulate an escape plan.

“You never answered my question.” This sudden statement brought the girl out of her pensive state.

“Excuse me?”

“What are you doing here?” he asked again. This time, he wanted an answer.

“Nothing,” she replied lightly. `At least not anymore.' This was not any one of the multiple answers he was expecting. Her smile did nothing to reassure him. Yami raised an eyebrow, but instead of an explanation she provided a departure. Seeping into and from the ground - the familiar yet unwanted ooze of mystical sorts. He was left staring at a barren floor; the impact of tonight's surprise visit sinking in like thick water down a clogged drain.

Contrasting the turmoil of Yami's thoughts, Marissa left content and satisfied with her work. Well, as satisfied as one could be with an unwanted job. She returned to the Hieroglyphic-covered stone chamber in once again, complete darkness. Neither seeing nor sensing the robed figure of Shadi, she laid the Key over the neck of a nearby statue. With that done, she vacated the premises.

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Marik stepped into a darkened apartment room on level four of a Domino complex. On his way to the small living area, he briefly stopped to drop his keys on the kitchen counter. Save for the light emitted from the TV, the next room was just as dark as the first. A sleeping figure lay peacefully on a couch opposite the TV, remote still in hand. Marik quietly stepped closer and shook the slumbering boy.

“Keline. Wake up, Keline,” he said, taking a seat on the closest object - a glass coffee table. After a few moments, Keline slowly sat upright, averting his eyes from the other present.

“What is it?” he asked groggily. He placed a hand on his forehead as if it hurt.

“I wanted you to know that I found…a partner.”

“That has many connotations to it, you know.”

Marik chuckled lightly. “A business partner. An accomplice, if you will.”

“If that's the only reason you woke me up, then you should have let me sleep.” Keline turned to his father just in time to see him let out a short but joyful laugh. The teen couldn't help but smile inwardly.

“I couldn't let you sleep thinking you had failed me by loosing your place in the tournament.” He stood up and gently ruffled his son's brown hair. “So keep in mind, and tell Marissa, that everything's okay. I'll even return your duel disks to Kaiba, if you wish.” On his way out the living room door, Marik unexpectedly heard Keline's voice once more.

“Father?”

He looked back, but was unable to make eye contact. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.” There was no verbal reply. If there had been a facial one, the darkness blocked it from view. While Marik strolled down the hall, Keline laid his head back and fell into a relaxed sleep.

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The next morning, Yugi awoke to the bright light shinning in through his bedroom window. Rubbing his tired eyes, he sat up, wondering what Egyptian-related affairs were to transpire today. No one could ever be ready for what Marik had planned, but Yugi prepared the best he could.

“Yugi, could we drop by Marissa's house today?” asked Yami, standing in spirit form by the boy's bedside. “I have a few questions I want to ask her.”

“Okay, Yami,” Yugi answered affirmatively. “There's just one problem…” His creased eyebrows brought worry to the ancient spirit. “I don't seem to remember where she lives.”

That was when it hit him. Now Yami knew why Marissa had appeared the previous night. But why would she need to delete the memory of her address? Ah, yes. So Yugi couldn't come by and ask of what occurred yesterday. Unfortunately, Yami could not remember where she lived either. He slapped himself on the head mentally. He had fallen right into her trap - being distracted by meaningless conversation long enough for her to complete her mission.

But what of the others? This question was answered approximately an hour later when the group met up at the fountain near the center of Domino. Joey approached first, the other two comrades close behind, saying,

“Hey, Yugi, do you happen to remember where Marissa lives? It seems to have slipped our minds.” Yami shook his head. While Joey scratched his own in thought, Yami pulled Téa away from the crowd.

“You were right, Téa,” he informed her, as if admitting defeat.

“Uh…care to remind me exactly what I was right about?” she asked in reply.

“About Marissa having a connection with the Millennium Items. My trust in her is gradually decreasing.” Conversation paused for a moment before Téa responded.

“I can see why.”

“Still, I sure hope we see here around again,” Tristan cut in suddenly, surprising the two.

“Don't worry, I'm sure we will,” Yami commented. `Especially since we, or at least I, now know for certain she can use at least one Millennium Item,' he added to himself, `I wouldn't be surprised if that was the least she could do with magic.'