YuGiOh- Final Eclipse Ch1
Series:YuGiOh
Title: Final Eclipse Chapter One
Author: Fictatious
Character(s): Malik Ishtar, Izumi Ishtar, Rishid Ishtar, Bakura Ryou, Yami-Bakura, Yuugi Mutou
Rating: M
Warnings: Some swearing and general panic
Summary: Yuugi+ are having their little party in the Pharaoh's memory-world, meanwhile, outside, the Ishtars are waiting patiently when Malik discovers Bakura passed out on the stairs. Sequal to Interlude
Previous:
Delusions
Bad Religion
Interlude 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
“Yuugi,” Yuugi’s arm was caught as he stepped onto the escalator down to the luggage carousels. “How is Bakura?” Makik asked, his eyes wide and worried.
Yuugi’s stomach sank. “Um...” he mumbled, biting his lip and looking away.
Suddenly Malik’s hands were clamped around both of Yuugi’s arms and he was pushing him against the railing, looking frantic. “What the hell is ‘Um’?!” he demanded, shaking the smaller teen. “What did you do?! Did he remember?! Tell me!”
“Yes... He remembered, I guess...” Yuugi faltered. “I mean, he didn’t actually say he remembered, he just... kind of... screamed a lot...” Yuugi looked anywhere but at Malik and fidgeted. “That- that was what he did Thursday, anyway...”
Their shoes bumped up against the base of the escalator and someone behind them gave them a push and an annoyed grunt. Malik kept his vice-grip on Yuugi and dragged him off to the side to continue interrogating him. “Oh I just love how you qualified that with ‘Thursday’,” Malik spat, glaring. “So then tell me, Yuugi, what happened on Friday?!” he demanded.
Yuugi winced. “Well...”
“Spit it out!” Malik shouted, giving him a shake. “I don’t have time for your Japanese subtlety bullshit!”
“H-he stole the Millenium Ring back, or I guess he kind of un-stole it, but, um, then he put Ryuzaki and Haga into comas... and he said he wanted to open the gate to the underworld...” Yuugi picked at the hem of his shirt and looked vaguely in the direction of the baggage carousels. “But I don’t think it was Bakura-kun, and- um, it didn’t really seem like Other-Bakura either, because it was... really smiley... it- um- it made me think of that snake-thing Kujaku-san told me about...”
He glanced hesitantly back at Malik, who was wearing a painfully blank expression for a moment before suddenly Yuugi found himself being thrown down against the floor. Malik screamed something and Yuugi wasn’t even sure what language it was, but he was fairly confident that it was a pretty strong curse. He now looked utterly livid and was ranting in something- Arabic or French*, maybe?- and seemed to be readying to attack.
“Malik!” Ishizu’s voice was shrill and she ran to put herself between her brother and Yuugi, pressing her hands against his shoulders. “Calm down, my brother, calm down!” she admonished in the old language. “Go to Rishid,” she instructed and shook her head at Malik’s continued ranting in possibly multiple languages. “No. Go help Rishid. Now.”
Ishizu pushed her seething younger brother off towards the carousels and held out a hand to Yuugi to help him up off the floor. People around them were staring and looking interested and annoyed. “Pharaoh, I apologize for my brother’s behavior. He has been very anxious of late.”
“It-it’s... you don’t need to apologize, Ishizu-san,” Yuugi mumbled, taking her hand and climbing to his feet.
“You told him something upsetting about Bakura Ryou?” Ishizu asked, glancing over to where Malik was fuming, with his arms crossed, next to his guardian. “I understand if it is a private matter between friends, but if it is something that affects Pharaoh or the Millenium Items...”
“Yeah... probably,” Yuugi mumbled squirming uncomfortably. “Baku- Somebody in Bakura-kun’s body, I- I’m not really sure who it was now, they said that they were coming here too, to challenge the other me in ‘the world of his memories’ and play ‘the ultimate shadow-game’ or something...”
Ishizu frowned and nodded slowly. “I see. I can’t pretend that something like this is entirely unexpected. The spirit of the Millennium Ring does seem to be connected to the Nameless Pharaoh in some way,” she said quietly.
Yuugi nodded and bit his lip. “W-what was Malik saying to me a minute ago?” he asked, not really sure he wanted to know, but feeling like he needed to.
“He...” Ishizu looked a bit doubtful, as though trying to decide how to sensor her brother’s words. “He expressed concern that you had left Bakura alone during a bad time... But it seems likely to me that the spirit would indeed do as he said and come to Egypt as well...”
Yuugi nodded again.
...
Rishid and Ishizu parked the cars in the lee of an outcropping of rocks, near an empty cave where they were setting up camp. Malik dragged a foot-locker inside and dumped it on the floor before storming out to retrieve another. “Malik, will you please stop this sulking,” Ishizu called, carrying in a box of fire starters and a kerosene lamp. “I know you’re upset, but it is extremely important that we be ready for any unforeseen events that may complicate the Pharaoh’s journey.”
“Fuck him,” Malik muttered darkly, grabbing a second footlocker that Rishid handed up to him.
“Malik, I will ask you to be careful with your language until this is over,” Ishizu said sternly, climbing down the short bank to fetch bundles of linen from the cars. “Ritual purity extends beyond the physical body and I want you to be fit for ceremony, should the need arise.”
Malik didn’t offer a response, but just dragged the second footlocker over next to the first and dumped it. He paused, after he did, something tugging just slightly at his consciousness. Malik straightened up, inhaling slowly through his nose, and became sure that he smelled something odd. He pulled the keychain flashlight out of his pocket and shined it deeper into the cave, scanning over the rocks beyond where the sunlight penetrated.
“Malik, what is it?” Ishizu called up to him.
Malik glanced back at her momentarily before returning his attention to the cave. “I’m not sure...” he said and stepped a little deeper in, straining his eyes to see, now that he was out of the direct sun.
His flashlight beam skimmed over something dark and he quickly brought it back to focus on the object. Malik frowned softly and stepped closer, crouching down to see what was laying on the floor of the cave, looking so purposefully placed, right in the center. As he got close, his flashlight caught the edge of a piece of paper laying near the object that he had first spotted and he reached out to pick it up, before freezing, finally recognizing the smell that was coming from the small, dark heap on the ground.
Fresh blood.
He stared down at the thing. It looked like a scrap of fabric, tied into a knot, and soaked through with congealing blood. “...Ishizu!” he called, a sickening feeling of dread creeping at the corners of his mind. “Ishizu, come look at this!”
“What is it?” Ishizu asked, coming up behind him and stopping to look at the bizarre talisman illuminated by Malik’s flashlight. “Malik, don’t touch that!” she exclaimed, sounding slightly panicked.
“I’m not stupid!” Malik protested indignantly, then he remembered the paper and moved his flashlight to find it again. It looked clean, totally free from the blood that soaked the talisman, and he reached out gingerly to pick it up.
“What is that?” Ishizu demanded as Malik straightened up.
“A note, I think,” Malik said, moving the flashlight to capture the messy scrawl of a ball-point pen across the sheet of otherwise pristine paper.
I have to admit that I did underestimate you, darling, but in the end, you only delayed the inevitable.
XOXO
Mot
Malik’s blood went cold as he stared at the note, frozen in place.
“Oh dear Ra!” Ishizu whispered beside him. “Rishid! Rishid, the hearth!” she shouted, turning around and running to the mouth of the cave. “I need to make a purifying fire right now! An underworlder has contaminated our cave!”
Malik boggled slightly that a damn cave seemed to be his sister’s highest priority right now. When Mot was around here somewhere? With a physical body that could write fucking notes to him? He let the note drop to the ground next to him and stared down at the demonic talisman on the floor. It must have been to get his attention, Mot had to know that Ishizu could easily take care of something like that.
That bastard was taunting him. And he was a part of this too? Malik gasped sharply, remembering Yuugi’s mention of a snake. “Oh God,” he whispered. “Oh God, Ryou!” Malik turned and started running out of the cave, jumping off the ledge into the sand below.
“Malik! Where are you going?!” Ishizu shouted at him.
“R-Ryou! He’s- Mot-” Malik stuttered, panicked. He didn’t know where he was going himself. To find Yuugi? He didn’t know where Ryou was any better than Malik did. But he couldn’t just sit still and wait for all Hell to break loose- literally.
At that moment, he was spared the trouble of having to admit that he didn’t know what to do by a sudden surge of power from the direction of the Tablet Chamber. The Pharaoh had activated the tablets. But a second burst of magical energy had followed the first almost immediately, like a shadow, cold and oppressively dark, tugging at his senses almost painfully.
He heard Ishizu gasp, and knew that his siblings had felt it too, the surge of wrongness that sheltered itself in the wake of the Pharaoh’s spell. Half a second later, Malik was running again, charging back across the sand towards the Tablet Chamber entrance. He vaguely heard Ishizu call his name.
He charged down the steps before his eyes had time to adjust. He could only see black ahead of him as he ran towards the chamber at the bottom, letting his feet guide him rather than his eyes. Suddenly his right foot caught under something and he was pitching forward involuntarily, plummeting into the darkness ahead of him. Malik yelped and brought up his hands to catch himself, trying desperately not to break any bones as he slammed down into the carved stone stairs.
Malik curled up in pain, whimpering to himself as he lay on the gritty, jagged sandstone steps. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, trying to take stock of his body. He didn’t think anything felt broken... After a few moments he carefully pushed himself up, his arms aching with bruises, but supporting his weight without difficulty, and he eased himself back onto his rear and glanced up the stairway.
The sunlight at the top was nearly blinding, and he shaded his eyes with his hands and cast around to find what had tripped him. In the semi-darkness he could barely make out a figure sprawled on the stairs just above him and he squinted, the form slowly resolving itself into the shape of a body. Malik bit down hard on his lip and reached into his pocket, finding his mini flashlight again and pulling it out, silently praying that it had also come through the fall unbroken.
He flicked it on and his eyes widened as the beam fell on white hair. “R-Ryou!” Malik gasped and scrambled closer, sliding a hand under the limp boy’s shoulders and pulling him partly into his lap, trying to dig his face out of all the tangled hair. “Ryou!” he begged helplessly, finding his hand and squeezing it.
“n... t... w...wat’r... ple...” Ryou mumbled hoarsely, his lips barely moving.
“Malik!” Ishizu’s voice echoed off the walls all around him.
“S-sister! It’s- it’s Ryou!” Malik wailed not looking away from Ryou. “He’s- he’s really bad!” He found a sob escaping from him and his voice came out panicky and strained as he called, “Help me!”
“Malik, move, let me take him,” Rishid said, next to him suddenly and gathering up Ryou’s limp body.
“C-careful,” Malik whimpered. “He a-asked for water.”
“We’ll get him back to camp,” Ishizu said, just above them on the steps. “I need light to check him over properly.”
...
“Oh shit, he’s all red,” Malik whined, pulling open a folding camp chair for Rishid to settle Ryou into. “He’s probably got heat-stroke.”
“Calm down, Malik. Get the washing water,” Ishizu instructed. “We should purify him quickly.”
“God damn it, Ishizu! He’s probably got second degree burns and you’re worried about his damn ritual purity?!” Malik exclaimed, trying to peal the coat away from Ryou’s sweaty, sticky skin.
“I’m worried about protecting him from another possession!” Ishizu shouted back. “Let me do that, get the water!”
“Ishizu! You’re a girl! Ryou would be mortified if you stripped him!”
“Fine! I don’t have time for this!” Ishizu snapped. “Get his clothes off, I’ll get the water!”
“I got it,” Rishid announced calmly, carrying a 10-galon plastic jug into the cave.
“Oh! Thank you, Rishid,” Ishizu said, calming down a bit. “I’ll get the washing things. Malik, how many changes of clothes did you bring?”
“Three,” Malik answered, hooking an arm under Ryou’s and lifting him up a few inches off the chair so that he could pull the jacket away. “This thing is leather! Who the hell wears a leather trench coat?!”
“I know. I’ll get the plastic bags too. What about his shoes?” Ishizu asked, hanging at the mouth of the cave.
“Maybe synthetic. I’m not sure.” Malik shook his head.
“All right, we’ll get rid of them too,” Ishizu decided before hopping down off the ledge and disappearing.
Malik carefully pulled the cord holding the Millennium Ring away from Ryou’s neck before lifting it over his head, but it still must have rubbed against the darkening skin because Ryou let out a small whimper of pain that made Malik wince sympathetically.
“I’m sorry, baby, your neck’s really burned...” Malik whispered, pausing in his task to put the Millennium Ring around his own neck and press his fingertips against it. He closed his eyes and tried to feel something, anything, but there was just empty, inanimate metal.
He shook his head, telling himself to forget about that for now, and pried the sweat-soaked T-shirt away from Ryou’s torso, dropping it to the floor before moving down to Ryou’s shoes. He glanced briefly up at Rishid, who was pouring water into a shallow bucket next to Ryou’s chair, while he undid the laces and pulled the shoes off. Malik cringed as he pulled back Ryou’s socks, finding them full of sand and the skin underneath chafed and raw.
Ishizu came back, setting down Malik’s duffle bag and a tupperwear box of bathing supplies, then she opened a bottle of drinking-water. She tilted Ryou’s head back and pushed his sweaty hair away. “Bakura, please drink some water,” she said softly, tilting the bottle to his mouth.
...
Malik stared at the watch in his hands, watching the seconds tick slowly by as he sat on the edge of the bedroll Ryou was passed-out on. Ten minutes finally passed and he dropped the watch and grabbed up the water-bottle next to him. “Ryou, Ryou time to drink again,” he said, sliding a hand under Ryou’s head and lifting it a little.
Ryou mumbled incoherently but swallowed when Malik poured water into his mouth. Malik lowered him back down gently and brushed his fingers through Ryou’s wet hair.
“How is he?” Ishizu asked, coming over after setting up the camp table, as Rishid was getting the kerosene lanterns placed before sun set.
“He’s coming around, I think,” Malik said quietly. “I think... he’s exhausted. It’s not just the sun, he probably hasn’t slept... If... If Mot was controlling him... It probably wouldn’t have let Ryou’s body have any time to sleep.”
Ishizu nodded slowly. “I’m going to start making supper now,” she said. “I’ll start a poultice for his sunburn too.”
“Thank you, Sister,” Malik said, picking up the watch again and checking it. Two minutes, 21 seconds, then he’d make Ryou drink some more water.
...
“Come on, time to drink again.”
Ryou groaned; he just wanted to sleep. His head was pulled up a bit and the lip of a cup was pressed to his mouth. He gagged in revulsion at the salty-sweet taste, like a bad sports-drink, and tried to pull away.
“No, Ryou! I know it’s not very good, but you need the electrolytes,” the voice above him scolded. The hand at the back of his neck moved and it felt like someone was scrubbing a wire brush across his skin.
“Gagh!” Ryou yelped, curling forward and bumping into the cup as he tried to get away from the sand-paper hand.
“Damn it! I’m sorry!” the voice exclaimed. The cup disappeared and the hand on his neck moved up into his hair, and another went under his shoulders. “Sister! Is that stuff ready yet?”
“It’s still too hot,” a feminine voice answered from further off. “I spread it out so it will cool faster.”
The desperate need to sleep had faded with the shock of pain and Ryou found himself coming more and more awake, becoming curious about his surroundings and trying to remember where he’d been before he fell asleep. He’d been in his soul-room. He’d been sitting quietly in the corner, waiting, because when he’d tried to take back his body before, Mot had sent crippling pain through his entire being and Ryou hadn’t even been able to move.
But judging by the particularly visceral feeling of the pain on his neck, he must be in control again. If one could call it that. It seemed to take all his strength to lever his eyelids slowly open and let in the dim light around him. A blur of warm colors suddenly pushed its way into his field of vision and Ryou blinked slowly, trying to focus.
“Ryou?” the voice above him asked in a nervous, agitated tone.
Ryou blinked a few more times and as the fuzzy colors started to resolve themselves into a face, his brain finally managed to recognize the voice that had been talking to him. “M-Malik?” he whispered, his throat feeling raw and abused.
Malik looked relieved and smiled down at him. “Yeah. Do you know where you are?”
Ryou frowned slightly, his mind still felt like it was filled with some viscous fluid, thick and hard to move through. “... Egypt...?” he asked. Mot had been chatty enough about how the apocalypse was about to be ushered in.
“Yeah, good,” Malik said, settling Ryou back down against a soft pillow and gently touching his hair. “Can you tell me what happened? I know Yuugi broke the seal the Pharaoh put on your memories, but after that, what happened? Why did you come here?”
“Yuugi...” Ryou whispered, the skin on his face feeling stiff and tight as he frowned. That night came flooding back to him abruptly, pushing away the fuzziness in his brain and he gasped, his hands moving to his chest, trying to find the Ring, his Ring, and touching only fabric. He started to panic.
“It’s here!” Malik assured him, grabbing the Millennium Ring up off the mattress next to Ryou’s pillow and holding it out to him. “It shouldn’t go on your neck because you’re really burned.” He explained as Ryou grabbed it out of his hands. Then Malik’s expression darkened, looking pained, “B-but, it- it’s...” he mumbled in a softer voice as Ryou held the Ring in front of him and stared at it.
“... It’s empty,” Ryou whispered, cold horror settling on him. “What’s wrong with it?! Where is he?!”
“Bakura,” a soft voice cut in and he looked up to see Ishizu stepping up behind her brother. “We believe that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring has accompanied the Pharaoh on his journey into the world of his memories,” she said calmly.
Ryou stared at her and then looked slowly back to Malik, who had his head lowered and was biting his lip. “B-but- He’s coming back, isn’t he?” Ryou blinked as he felt tears building in his eyes. “He’s not left me!”
“... He’s being manipulated, Ryou,” Malik whispered. “A demon is using him. The fact that it took his soul into the memory world, where it didn’t need a human as a host... It’s probably trying to use him as a spell component.”
“What does that mean?” Ryou breathed, and then demanded in a more frantic voice, “What does that mean?!”
“An underworlder cannot manifest itself in our world without the help of a human being. This Mot is likely using the Spirit to perform a spell that will allow it to come fully into our world,” Ishizu explained.
“It... It just wants him to do a spell?” Ryou asked, feeling a slight surge of hope.
Ishizu looked away, “It is impossible to predict what it would do if the spell were completed. At that point it is likely that the Spirit would be more valuable to it as a live sacrifice than a tool.”
“Ishizu! Shut up!” Malik exclaimed, looking horrified.
Ishizu straightened up, looking doubtful. “I- I’m sorry,” she whispered. “... I’ve made salve for your sunburns.” She walked away quickly.
“... Malik...?” Ryou whispered, turning his head towards the other teen, tears carving stinging trails across his sunburned cheeks.
“It’s not going to happen, Ryou,” Malik said firmly. “The Pharaoh is stronger than Mot. He- he defeated him before, when he saved my life. He can save Bakhura too.”
Ryou closed his eyes and shook. “That bastard wouldn’t lift a finger to save him,” he whispered. “Besides... There’s two of them now...”
“Two?” Malik breathed.
“The Snake... It’s different from Mot...” Ryou whispered. “The Snake has always been there... Mot is new.”
“... It’s gonna be okay, Ryou,” Malik whispered, and Ryou knew he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Ryou.
...
It was hours later, as the numbers on Malik’s digital watch approached midnight, when Ryou sat bolt upright on the bed-mat, screaming like he was being skinned alive. “NOOO!!!”
Malik jolted awake instantly and flailed in the blankets, having curled himself against Ryou’s side some time earlier. He rolled off the mat onto the floor, struggling with the blankets like a fish caught in a net, squawking “Gak- Ryou- what the hell?!” When he finally managed to sit up and look at the other teenager, Ryou was on his feet, with his arms flung wide, his hair and loose, linen pants flying wildly in a wind that shouldn’t have been there.
Malik stared, dumbstruck by the sight and the sound. Ryou was screaming wordlessly, but he was all but drown-out by the howling of unnatural wind whipping around him, like a tornado had somehow appeared inside of the cave. Malik tore his eyes away from Ryou to look around and spot his sister, shouting, her expression panicked in the light that Malik only just realized was as unlikely as the wind. Rishid’s hands were together, his expression serious and concentrating, he was chanting, even though it was completely inaudible over the cacophony.
Ryou’s arms suddenly swung inwards, making a grabbing motion and pulling towards his chest as his teeth slammed closed and his screaming cut off. The wind crescendoed and all the air in the cave seemed to surge towards Ryou all at once, before suddenly everything stopped. Half a second later, as Malik was blinking fast, blinded by the sudden return of darkness, he heard Ryou collapsing next to him.
“Ryou!” he shouted, grabbing blindly at the body beside him, finding Ryou’s shoulders and sliding a hand over his face.
“Oh God, oh God,” he could hear Ishizu’s panicked voice along with rattles and bumps of movement around the cave. “What did he do?!”
“What was it?!” Malik demanded, terrified, and then blinked and turned his face back towards Ryou in the darkness, feeling the other teen starting to shake violently. “Ryou? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know! It wasn’t a spell! It was wild! Completely unfocused!” his sister was saying, sounding almost hysterical.
Suddenly there was light again, from a kerosene lantern and Malik could see Ryou’s face all squished up, his eyes screwed shut, looking terrified and curling his arms and legs in protectively. “Ryou! Ryou what’s wrong? What did you do?” he asked frantically.
The other teenager just continued to shake and then started sobbing loudly.
“Ryou!” Malik demanded, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.
“No no! I did everything right! I did everything you wanted!” the words came out between loud, hysterical sobs and Malik stared down at the pinched, frightened, pained face. “I don’t want to disappear!”
He was speaking the old language, Malik realized suddenly, his eyes widening. “Thief?” he whispered, and then shook whoever he was looking at again, trying to break through and make the other notice his presence. “Bakhura! Bakhura! Calm down! You’re all right!”
The brown eyes finally snapped open, staring back up at Malik as the hysterical ranting turned to ragged, frightened gasping. “M-M-Malik-? But- No, he- No no! You don’t understand! It was Mot! He tried to kill me! Sek wouldn’t! Sek protects me!” Bakhura had focused on him only momentarily before being wrapped up in some dialogue Malik could only hear half of.
“The spirit of the Ring?” Ishizu asked, sounding thoroughly shocked. “How could he possibly retrieve it from another world?”
“The spell was set up months ago, they’re connected,” Malik explained quietly, gathering Bakhura into his arms as he shook and struggled weakly against nothing in particular.
“No! He protects me! He always protected me!” Bakhura wailed. “He still needs me! I can’t abandon him!” He jerked and recoiled suddenly, looking very much as though he’d been slapped and he became silent for a moment, his eyes very wide and shocked, before they misted over and he began wailing again. “You don’t understand!”
“Bakhura!” Malik called, trying to hold him steady while the thief squirmed against him. “Bakhura, it’s all right now! It’s going to be okay!”
“But he needs me!”
“No he doesn’t,” Ishizu’s voice cut through with a resounding finality that even made Bakhura pause, confused. “... They’ve already accomplished what they needed you for,” she said in a hollow sounding voice, her eyes distant.
And then Malik realized he could feel it too. A dreadful creeping coldness; not the night’s chill, not any natural quirk of the weather, but something horribly wrong and sinister. They were all silent for a while and there was no sound at all, no insects, no wind, the world around them seemed to have gone utterly still and lifeless.
“Malik,’ Ishizu said quietly, breaking the foreboding silence. “Prepare yourself for ritual.”
“Yes,” Malik said without any argument.
...
* I've decided that Malik speaks old Egyptian, Arabic, English, French and Japanese. Japanese only really being used for his interactions with Yuugi+, so it's his weakest. He learned old Egyptian as his primary language, Arabic because it's probably what he's going to be encountering most in modern Egypt, French because that's probably the next most useful thing for North Africa, and English because it's everywhere and seemed like necessity. Oh yay for home-schooled kids, academically advanced, socially stunted?
A/N: So I’ve finally gone off-script and broken from the canon timeline, because, well, fuck that ending! It’s crap! I hate those Peter Pan ‘And everything goes back to normal but now you have a more adult perspective on the world!’ endings! I’m fuckin’ staying in Neverland and nobody’s gonna make me leave! As for the name of this fic, I was debating for a long while, because I wanted it to be something to do with solar eclipses, because they’ve got that solar eclipse thing going on in memory-world and that’s also the big dastardly deed Apep was known for in AE, and Bakhura’s mind has kind of been eclipsed and on and on... but the word ‘Eclipse’ has been so terribly overused in recent years, and I also didn’t want people to be put in mind of the Twilight series as they scrolled past my new entry... But I’m just going to suck it up and stop worrying about sub-conscious social bullshit.
And here’s a shout-out to Erdbeerasche, because her comments reminded me to edit and post this chapter.
Title: Final Eclipse Chapter One
Author: Fictatious
Character(s): Malik Ishtar, Izumi Ishtar, Rishid Ishtar, Bakura Ryou, Yami-Bakura, Yuugi Mutou
Rating: M
Warnings: Some swearing and general panic
Summary: Yuugi+ are having their little party in the Pharaoh's memory-world, meanwhile, outside, the Ishtars are waiting patiently when Malik discovers Bakura passed out on the stairs. Sequal to Interlude
Previous:
Delusions
Bad Religion
Interlude 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
“Yuugi,” Yuugi’s arm was caught as he stepped onto the escalator down to the luggage carousels. “How is Bakura?” Makik asked, his eyes wide and worried.
Yuugi’s stomach sank. “Um...” he mumbled, biting his lip and looking away.
Suddenly Malik’s hands were clamped around both of Yuugi’s arms and he was pushing him against the railing, looking frantic. “What the hell is ‘Um’?!” he demanded, shaking the smaller teen. “What did you do?! Did he remember?! Tell me!”
“Yes... He remembered, I guess...” Yuugi faltered. “I mean, he didn’t actually say he remembered, he just... kind of... screamed a lot...” Yuugi looked anywhere but at Malik and fidgeted. “That- that was what he did Thursday, anyway...”
Their shoes bumped up against the base of the escalator and someone behind them gave them a push and an annoyed grunt. Malik kept his vice-grip on Yuugi and dragged him off to the side to continue interrogating him. “Oh I just love how you qualified that with ‘Thursday’,” Malik spat, glaring. “So then tell me, Yuugi, what happened on Friday?!” he demanded.
Yuugi winced. “Well...”
“Spit it out!” Malik shouted, giving him a shake. “I don’t have time for your Japanese subtlety bullshit!”
“H-he stole the Millenium Ring back, or I guess he kind of un-stole it, but, um, then he put Ryuzaki and Haga into comas... and he said he wanted to open the gate to the underworld...” Yuugi picked at the hem of his shirt and looked vaguely in the direction of the baggage carousels. “But I don’t think it was Bakura-kun, and- um, it didn’t really seem like Other-Bakura either, because it was... really smiley... it- um- it made me think of that snake-thing Kujaku-san told me about...”
He glanced hesitantly back at Malik, who was wearing a painfully blank expression for a moment before suddenly Yuugi found himself being thrown down against the floor. Malik screamed something and Yuugi wasn’t even sure what language it was, but he was fairly confident that it was a pretty strong curse. He now looked utterly livid and was ranting in something- Arabic or French*, maybe?- and seemed to be readying to attack.
“Malik!” Ishizu’s voice was shrill and she ran to put herself between her brother and Yuugi, pressing her hands against his shoulders. “Calm down, my brother, calm down!” she admonished in the old language. “Go to Rishid,” she instructed and shook her head at Malik’s continued ranting in possibly multiple languages. “No. Go help Rishid. Now.”
Ishizu pushed her seething younger brother off towards the carousels and held out a hand to Yuugi to help him up off the floor. People around them were staring and looking interested and annoyed. “Pharaoh, I apologize for my brother’s behavior. He has been very anxious of late.”
“It-it’s... you don’t need to apologize, Ishizu-san,” Yuugi mumbled, taking her hand and climbing to his feet.
“You told him something upsetting about Bakura Ryou?” Ishizu asked, glancing over to where Malik was fuming, with his arms crossed, next to his guardian. “I understand if it is a private matter between friends, but if it is something that affects Pharaoh or the Millenium Items...”
“Yeah... probably,” Yuugi mumbled squirming uncomfortably. “Baku- Somebody in Bakura-kun’s body, I- I’m not really sure who it was now, they said that they were coming here too, to challenge the other me in ‘the world of his memories’ and play ‘the ultimate shadow-game’ or something...”
Ishizu frowned and nodded slowly. “I see. I can’t pretend that something like this is entirely unexpected. The spirit of the Millennium Ring does seem to be connected to the Nameless Pharaoh in some way,” she said quietly.
Yuugi nodded and bit his lip. “W-what was Malik saying to me a minute ago?” he asked, not really sure he wanted to know, but feeling like he needed to.
“He...” Ishizu looked a bit doubtful, as though trying to decide how to sensor her brother’s words. “He expressed concern that you had left Bakura alone during a bad time... But it seems likely to me that the spirit would indeed do as he said and come to Egypt as well...”
Yuugi nodded again.
...
Rishid and Ishizu parked the cars in the lee of an outcropping of rocks, near an empty cave where they were setting up camp. Malik dragged a foot-locker inside and dumped it on the floor before storming out to retrieve another. “Malik, will you please stop this sulking,” Ishizu called, carrying in a box of fire starters and a kerosene lamp. “I know you’re upset, but it is extremely important that we be ready for any unforeseen events that may complicate the Pharaoh’s journey.”
“Fuck him,” Malik muttered darkly, grabbing a second footlocker that Rishid handed up to him.
“Malik, I will ask you to be careful with your language until this is over,” Ishizu said sternly, climbing down the short bank to fetch bundles of linen from the cars. “Ritual purity extends beyond the physical body and I want you to be fit for ceremony, should the need arise.”
Malik didn’t offer a response, but just dragged the second footlocker over next to the first and dumped it. He paused, after he did, something tugging just slightly at his consciousness. Malik straightened up, inhaling slowly through his nose, and became sure that he smelled something odd. He pulled the keychain flashlight out of his pocket and shined it deeper into the cave, scanning over the rocks beyond where the sunlight penetrated.
“Malik, what is it?” Ishizu called up to him.
Malik glanced back at her momentarily before returning his attention to the cave. “I’m not sure...” he said and stepped a little deeper in, straining his eyes to see, now that he was out of the direct sun.
His flashlight beam skimmed over something dark and he quickly brought it back to focus on the object. Malik frowned softly and stepped closer, crouching down to see what was laying on the floor of the cave, looking so purposefully placed, right in the center. As he got close, his flashlight caught the edge of a piece of paper laying near the object that he had first spotted and he reached out to pick it up, before freezing, finally recognizing the smell that was coming from the small, dark heap on the ground.
Fresh blood.
He stared down at the thing. It looked like a scrap of fabric, tied into a knot, and soaked through with congealing blood. “...Ishizu!” he called, a sickening feeling of dread creeping at the corners of his mind. “Ishizu, come look at this!”
“What is it?” Ishizu asked, coming up behind him and stopping to look at the bizarre talisman illuminated by Malik’s flashlight. “Malik, don’t touch that!” she exclaimed, sounding slightly panicked.
“I’m not stupid!” Malik protested indignantly, then he remembered the paper and moved his flashlight to find it again. It looked clean, totally free from the blood that soaked the talisman, and he reached out gingerly to pick it up.
“What is that?” Ishizu demanded as Malik straightened up.
“A note, I think,” Malik said, moving the flashlight to capture the messy scrawl of a ball-point pen across the sheet of otherwise pristine paper.
I have to admit that I did underestimate you, darling, but in the end, you only delayed the inevitable.
XOXO
Mot
Malik’s blood went cold as he stared at the note, frozen in place.
“Oh dear Ra!” Ishizu whispered beside him. “Rishid! Rishid, the hearth!” she shouted, turning around and running to the mouth of the cave. “I need to make a purifying fire right now! An underworlder has contaminated our cave!”
Malik boggled slightly that a damn cave seemed to be his sister’s highest priority right now. When Mot was around here somewhere? With a physical body that could write fucking notes to him? He let the note drop to the ground next to him and stared down at the demonic talisman on the floor. It must have been to get his attention, Mot had to know that Ishizu could easily take care of something like that.
That bastard was taunting him. And he was a part of this too? Malik gasped sharply, remembering Yuugi’s mention of a snake. “Oh God,” he whispered. “Oh God, Ryou!” Malik turned and started running out of the cave, jumping off the ledge into the sand below.
“Malik! Where are you going?!” Ishizu shouted at him.
“R-Ryou! He’s- Mot-” Malik stuttered, panicked. He didn’t know where he was going himself. To find Yuugi? He didn’t know where Ryou was any better than Malik did. But he couldn’t just sit still and wait for all Hell to break loose- literally.
At that moment, he was spared the trouble of having to admit that he didn’t know what to do by a sudden surge of power from the direction of the Tablet Chamber. The Pharaoh had activated the tablets. But a second burst of magical energy had followed the first almost immediately, like a shadow, cold and oppressively dark, tugging at his senses almost painfully.
He heard Ishizu gasp, and knew that his siblings had felt it too, the surge of wrongness that sheltered itself in the wake of the Pharaoh’s spell. Half a second later, Malik was running again, charging back across the sand towards the Tablet Chamber entrance. He vaguely heard Ishizu call his name.
He charged down the steps before his eyes had time to adjust. He could only see black ahead of him as he ran towards the chamber at the bottom, letting his feet guide him rather than his eyes. Suddenly his right foot caught under something and he was pitching forward involuntarily, plummeting into the darkness ahead of him. Malik yelped and brought up his hands to catch himself, trying desperately not to break any bones as he slammed down into the carved stone stairs.
Malik curled up in pain, whimpering to himself as he lay on the gritty, jagged sandstone steps. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, trying to take stock of his body. He didn’t think anything felt broken... After a few moments he carefully pushed himself up, his arms aching with bruises, but supporting his weight without difficulty, and he eased himself back onto his rear and glanced up the stairway.
The sunlight at the top was nearly blinding, and he shaded his eyes with his hands and cast around to find what had tripped him. In the semi-darkness he could barely make out a figure sprawled on the stairs just above him and he squinted, the form slowly resolving itself into the shape of a body. Malik bit down hard on his lip and reached into his pocket, finding his mini flashlight again and pulling it out, silently praying that it had also come through the fall unbroken.
He flicked it on and his eyes widened as the beam fell on white hair. “R-Ryou!” Malik gasped and scrambled closer, sliding a hand under the limp boy’s shoulders and pulling him partly into his lap, trying to dig his face out of all the tangled hair. “Ryou!” he begged helplessly, finding his hand and squeezing it.
“n... t... w...wat’r... ple...” Ryou mumbled hoarsely, his lips barely moving.
“Malik!” Ishizu’s voice echoed off the walls all around him.
“S-sister! It’s- it’s Ryou!” Malik wailed not looking away from Ryou. “He’s- he’s really bad!” He found a sob escaping from him and his voice came out panicky and strained as he called, “Help me!”
“Malik, move, let me take him,” Rishid said, next to him suddenly and gathering up Ryou’s limp body.
“C-careful,” Malik whimpered. “He a-asked for water.”
“We’ll get him back to camp,” Ishizu said, just above them on the steps. “I need light to check him over properly.”
...
“Oh shit, he’s all red,” Malik whined, pulling open a folding camp chair for Rishid to settle Ryou into. “He’s probably got heat-stroke.”
“Calm down, Malik. Get the washing water,” Ishizu instructed. “We should purify him quickly.”
“God damn it, Ishizu! He’s probably got second degree burns and you’re worried about his damn ritual purity?!” Malik exclaimed, trying to peal the coat away from Ryou’s sweaty, sticky skin.
“I’m worried about protecting him from another possession!” Ishizu shouted back. “Let me do that, get the water!”
“Ishizu! You’re a girl! Ryou would be mortified if you stripped him!”
“Fine! I don’t have time for this!” Ishizu snapped. “Get his clothes off, I’ll get the water!”
“I got it,” Rishid announced calmly, carrying a 10-galon plastic jug into the cave.
“Oh! Thank you, Rishid,” Ishizu said, calming down a bit. “I’ll get the washing things. Malik, how many changes of clothes did you bring?”
“Three,” Malik answered, hooking an arm under Ryou’s and lifting him up a few inches off the chair so that he could pull the jacket away. “This thing is leather! Who the hell wears a leather trench coat?!”
“I know. I’ll get the plastic bags too. What about his shoes?” Ishizu asked, hanging at the mouth of the cave.
“Maybe synthetic. I’m not sure.” Malik shook his head.
“All right, we’ll get rid of them too,” Ishizu decided before hopping down off the ledge and disappearing.
Malik carefully pulled the cord holding the Millennium Ring away from Ryou’s neck before lifting it over his head, but it still must have rubbed against the darkening skin because Ryou let out a small whimper of pain that made Malik wince sympathetically.
“I’m sorry, baby, your neck’s really burned...” Malik whispered, pausing in his task to put the Millennium Ring around his own neck and press his fingertips against it. He closed his eyes and tried to feel something, anything, but there was just empty, inanimate metal.
He shook his head, telling himself to forget about that for now, and pried the sweat-soaked T-shirt away from Ryou’s torso, dropping it to the floor before moving down to Ryou’s shoes. He glanced briefly up at Rishid, who was pouring water into a shallow bucket next to Ryou’s chair, while he undid the laces and pulled the shoes off. Malik cringed as he pulled back Ryou’s socks, finding them full of sand and the skin underneath chafed and raw.
Ishizu came back, setting down Malik’s duffle bag and a tupperwear box of bathing supplies, then she opened a bottle of drinking-water. She tilted Ryou’s head back and pushed his sweaty hair away. “Bakura, please drink some water,” she said softly, tilting the bottle to his mouth.
...
Malik stared at the watch in his hands, watching the seconds tick slowly by as he sat on the edge of the bedroll Ryou was passed-out on. Ten minutes finally passed and he dropped the watch and grabbed up the water-bottle next to him. “Ryou, Ryou time to drink again,” he said, sliding a hand under Ryou’s head and lifting it a little.
Ryou mumbled incoherently but swallowed when Malik poured water into his mouth. Malik lowered him back down gently and brushed his fingers through Ryou’s wet hair.
“How is he?” Ishizu asked, coming over after setting up the camp table, as Rishid was getting the kerosene lanterns placed before sun set.
“He’s coming around, I think,” Malik said quietly. “I think... he’s exhausted. It’s not just the sun, he probably hasn’t slept... If... If Mot was controlling him... It probably wouldn’t have let Ryou’s body have any time to sleep.”
Ishizu nodded slowly. “I’m going to start making supper now,” she said. “I’ll start a poultice for his sunburn too.”
“Thank you, Sister,” Malik said, picking up the watch again and checking it. Two minutes, 21 seconds, then he’d make Ryou drink some more water.
...
“Come on, time to drink again.”
Ryou groaned; he just wanted to sleep. His head was pulled up a bit and the lip of a cup was pressed to his mouth. He gagged in revulsion at the salty-sweet taste, like a bad sports-drink, and tried to pull away.
“No, Ryou! I know it’s not very good, but you need the electrolytes,” the voice above him scolded. The hand at the back of his neck moved and it felt like someone was scrubbing a wire brush across his skin.
“Gagh!” Ryou yelped, curling forward and bumping into the cup as he tried to get away from the sand-paper hand.
“Damn it! I’m sorry!” the voice exclaimed. The cup disappeared and the hand on his neck moved up into his hair, and another went under his shoulders. “Sister! Is that stuff ready yet?”
“It’s still too hot,” a feminine voice answered from further off. “I spread it out so it will cool faster.”
The desperate need to sleep had faded with the shock of pain and Ryou found himself coming more and more awake, becoming curious about his surroundings and trying to remember where he’d been before he fell asleep. He’d been in his soul-room. He’d been sitting quietly in the corner, waiting, because when he’d tried to take back his body before, Mot had sent crippling pain through his entire being and Ryou hadn’t even been able to move.
But judging by the particularly visceral feeling of the pain on his neck, he must be in control again. If one could call it that. It seemed to take all his strength to lever his eyelids slowly open and let in the dim light around him. A blur of warm colors suddenly pushed its way into his field of vision and Ryou blinked slowly, trying to focus.
“Ryou?” the voice above him asked in a nervous, agitated tone.
Ryou blinked a few more times and as the fuzzy colors started to resolve themselves into a face, his brain finally managed to recognize the voice that had been talking to him. “M-Malik?” he whispered, his throat feeling raw and abused.
Malik looked relieved and smiled down at him. “Yeah. Do you know where you are?”
Ryou frowned slightly, his mind still felt like it was filled with some viscous fluid, thick and hard to move through. “... Egypt...?” he asked. Mot had been chatty enough about how the apocalypse was about to be ushered in.
“Yeah, good,” Malik said, settling Ryou back down against a soft pillow and gently touching his hair. “Can you tell me what happened? I know Yuugi broke the seal the Pharaoh put on your memories, but after that, what happened? Why did you come here?”
“Yuugi...” Ryou whispered, the skin on his face feeling stiff and tight as he frowned. That night came flooding back to him abruptly, pushing away the fuzziness in his brain and he gasped, his hands moving to his chest, trying to find the Ring, his Ring, and touching only fabric. He started to panic.
“It’s here!” Malik assured him, grabbing the Millennium Ring up off the mattress next to Ryou’s pillow and holding it out to him. “It shouldn’t go on your neck because you’re really burned.” He explained as Ryou grabbed it out of his hands. Then Malik’s expression darkened, looking pained, “B-but, it- it’s...” he mumbled in a softer voice as Ryou held the Ring in front of him and stared at it.
“... It’s empty,” Ryou whispered, cold horror settling on him. “What’s wrong with it?! Where is he?!”
“Bakura,” a soft voice cut in and he looked up to see Ishizu stepping up behind her brother. “We believe that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring has accompanied the Pharaoh on his journey into the world of his memories,” she said calmly.
Ryou stared at her and then looked slowly back to Malik, who had his head lowered and was biting his lip. “B-but- He’s coming back, isn’t he?” Ryou blinked as he felt tears building in his eyes. “He’s not left me!”
“... He’s being manipulated, Ryou,” Malik whispered. “A demon is using him. The fact that it took his soul into the memory world, where it didn’t need a human as a host... It’s probably trying to use him as a spell component.”
“What does that mean?” Ryou breathed, and then demanded in a more frantic voice, “What does that mean?!”
“An underworlder cannot manifest itself in our world without the help of a human being. This Mot is likely using the Spirit to perform a spell that will allow it to come fully into our world,” Ishizu explained.
“It... It just wants him to do a spell?” Ryou asked, feeling a slight surge of hope.
Ishizu looked away, “It is impossible to predict what it would do if the spell were completed. At that point it is likely that the Spirit would be more valuable to it as a live sacrifice than a tool.”
“Ishizu! Shut up!” Malik exclaimed, looking horrified.
Ishizu straightened up, looking doubtful. “I- I’m sorry,” she whispered. “... I’ve made salve for your sunburns.” She walked away quickly.
“... Malik...?” Ryou whispered, turning his head towards the other teen, tears carving stinging trails across his sunburned cheeks.
“It’s not going to happen, Ryou,” Malik said firmly. “The Pharaoh is stronger than Mot. He- he defeated him before, when he saved my life. He can save Bakhura too.”
Ryou closed his eyes and shook. “That bastard wouldn’t lift a finger to save him,” he whispered. “Besides... There’s two of them now...”
“Two?” Malik breathed.
“The Snake... It’s different from Mot...” Ryou whispered. “The Snake has always been there... Mot is new.”
“... It’s gonna be okay, Ryou,” Malik whispered, and Ryou knew he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Ryou.
...
It was hours later, as the numbers on Malik’s digital watch approached midnight, when Ryou sat bolt upright on the bed-mat, screaming like he was being skinned alive. “NOOO!!!”
Malik jolted awake instantly and flailed in the blankets, having curled himself against Ryou’s side some time earlier. He rolled off the mat onto the floor, struggling with the blankets like a fish caught in a net, squawking “Gak- Ryou- what the hell?!” When he finally managed to sit up and look at the other teenager, Ryou was on his feet, with his arms flung wide, his hair and loose, linen pants flying wildly in a wind that shouldn’t have been there.
Malik stared, dumbstruck by the sight and the sound. Ryou was screaming wordlessly, but he was all but drown-out by the howling of unnatural wind whipping around him, like a tornado had somehow appeared inside of the cave. Malik tore his eyes away from Ryou to look around and spot his sister, shouting, her expression panicked in the light that Malik only just realized was as unlikely as the wind. Rishid’s hands were together, his expression serious and concentrating, he was chanting, even though it was completely inaudible over the cacophony.
Ryou’s arms suddenly swung inwards, making a grabbing motion and pulling towards his chest as his teeth slammed closed and his screaming cut off. The wind crescendoed and all the air in the cave seemed to surge towards Ryou all at once, before suddenly everything stopped. Half a second later, as Malik was blinking fast, blinded by the sudden return of darkness, he heard Ryou collapsing next to him.
“Ryou!” he shouted, grabbing blindly at the body beside him, finding Ryou’s shoulders and sliding a hand over his face.
“Oh God, oh God,” he could hear Ishizu’s panicked voice along with rattles and bumps of movement around the cave. “What did he do?!”
“What was it?!” Malik demanded, terrified, and then blinked and turned his face back towards Ryou in the darkness, feeling the other teen starting to shake violently. “Ryou? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know! It wasn’t a spell! It was wild! Completely unfocused!” his sister was saying, sounding almost hysterical.
Suddenly there was light again, from a kerosene lantern and Malik could see Ryou’s face all squished up, his eyes screwed shut, looking terrified and curling his arms and legs in protectively. “Ryou! Ryou what’s wrong? What did you do?” he asked frantically.
The other teenager just continued to shake and then started sobbing loudly.
“Ryou!” Malik demanded, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.
“No no! I did everything right! I did everything you wanted!” the words came out between loud, hysterical sobs and Malik stared down at the pinched, frightened, pained face. “I don’t want to disappear!”
He was speaking the old language, Malik realized suddenly, his eyes widening. “Thief?” he whispered, and then shook whoever he was looking at again, trying to break through and make the other notice his presence. “Bakhura! Bakhura! Calm down! You’re all right!”
The brown eyes finally snapped open, staring back up at Malik as the hysterical ranting turned to ragged, frightened gasping. “M-M-Malik-? But- No, he- No no! You don’t understand! It was Mot! He tried to kill me! Sek wouldn’t! Sek protects me!” Bakhura had focused on him only momentarily before being wrapped up in some dialogue Malik could only hear half of.
“The spirit of the Ring?” Ishizu asked, sounding thoroughly shocked. “How could he possibly retrieve it from another world?”
“The spell was set up months ago, they’re connected,” Malik explained quietly, gathering Bakhura into his arms as he shook and struggled weakly against nothing in particular.
“No! He protects me! He always protected me!” Bakhura wailed. “He still needs me! I can’t abandon him!” He jerked and recoiled suddenly, looking very much as though he’d been slapped and he became silent for a moment, his eyes very wide and shocked, before they misted over and he began wailing again. “You don’t understand!”
“Bakhura!” Malik called, trying to hold him steady while the thief squirmed against him. “Bakhura, it’s all right now! It’s going to be okay!”
“But he needs me!”
“No he doesn’t,” Ishizu’s voice cut through with a resounding finality that even made Bakhura pause, confused. “... They’ve already accomplished what they needed you for,” she said in a hollow sounding voice, her eyes distant.
And then Malik realized he could feel it too. A dreadful creeping coldness; not the night’s chill, not any natural quirk of the weather, but something horribly wrong and sinister. They were all silent for a while and there was no sound at all, no insects, no wind, the world around them seemed to have gone utterly still and lifeless.
“Malik,’ Ishizu said quietly, breaking the foreboding silence. “Prepare yourself for ritual.”
“Yes,” Malik said without any argument.
...
* I've decided that Malik speaks old Egyptian, Arabic, English, French and Japanese. Japanese only really being used for his interactions with Yuugi+, so it's his weakest. He learned old Egyptian as his primary language, Arabic because it's probably what he's going to be encountering most in modern Egypt, French because that's probably the next most useful thing for North Africa, and English because it's everywhere and seemed like necessity. Oh yay for home-schooled kids, academically advanced, socially stunted?
A/N: So I’ve finally gone off-script and broken from the canon timeline, because, well, fuck that ending! It’s crap! I hate those Peter Pan ‘And everything goes back to normal but now you have a more adult perspective on the world!’ endings! I’m fuckin’ staying in Neverland and nobody’s gonna make me leave! As for the name of this fic, I was debating for a long while, because I wanted it to be something to do with solar eclipses, because they’ve got that solar eclipse thing going on in memory-world and that’s also the big dastardly deed Apep was known for in AE, and Bakhura’s mind has kind of been eclipsed and on and on... but the word ‘Eclipse’ has been so terribly overused in recent years, and I also didn’t want people to be put in mind of the Twilight series as they scrolled past my new entry... But I’m just going to suck it up and stop worrying about sub-conscious social bullshit.
And here’s a shout-out to Erdbeerasche, because her comments reminded me to edit and post this chapter.