I want to have a purpose.

There are so many times I've just wanted to lay down and die. When I've wanted to give up. But always there was something to keep me going. Beautiful, wonderful things. I wanted to contribute something, to put a little bit of Elven beauty back into this beauty-starved Middle Earth, if I may take a little liberation.

So many things have touched me in many ways. Some were fanfics. Ranma Goes to War and it's sequels, by J. Austin Wilde. Mutilation and its sequel The Darkness Returns, by White Angel. The Magical Mystery Hibiki Tour, by Jaelle and Orla. Another Chance at Everything, by Brood Mayran. Black Death, by Elf. New Years Kiss, by Midii Une. The list goes on and on! Other things. The music of Enya (particularly the song "Lothlorien" from her album Shepherd Moons. It's the most beautiful peice of music I have ever heard). The fantastical novels of Anne McCaffrey and John White. The way my cat purrs.

I wanted to do something like that, to make a difference, even if it's only in one person's life. Like LeAnn Womack sings in her song "Something Worth Leaving Behind", "I may not go down in history / I just want someone / To remember me ... But if I was loved and I can find, / That I have touched another life, / Then that's something. / Something worth leaving behind."

And in the process of trying to find my place, my 'something worth leaving behind', both in my original novels and fanfictions, I've been touched yet again. By you.

You reviewers have been so kind to me! I remember back in the very beginning, almost a year and a half ago now, when I started out writing crappy little 500-word songfics for Digimon. Of course, at the time I didn't think they were crappy, but apparently everyone else did. I can't count how many times I got cussed out in my reviews back then!

But now, almost two-hundred fics later, I've come a long way. I've moved from sappy romance to, well, sappier romance. I've expanded from Digimon to Yu-Gi-Oh and Gundam Wing and Ranma. I've learned how to write angst and drama, sometimes the hard way. But you've all been there for me.

Maybe not technically. I can't think of a single person I'm in contact with now that I've known from the very beginning. But a lot of you have been really loyal to me, even just inside this trilogy of mine. Some of you have even stood up to the flamers! That makes me just sit back and go 'wow!'

And so I thank you. For everything you've done for me, I thank you. It hasn't been easy coming, but I'm really glad I'm here.

Okay, rant finished. I'm starting to tear up here, so let's just get on to the fic! I still don't own YGO, so take your lawyers and wander someplace else. :p Nyah nyah!

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Sacrifice of Shadows

Chapter 6 -- Fate, Hatred, Time, Death, Desire, War, Passion

Isis's eyes widened slightly, and suddenly three pairs of eyes were focused on Tea. "What's happened?"

Tea shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it! I was just going to check on them, and I noticed that for a minute, it looked like Yami was laying in the bed instead of Yugi. I just thought it was a trick of the light or something, but then it happened again. He was, I don't know, flickering back and forth. And when I tried to touch him, he was really cold, but the Puzzle burned me when I touched it!"

Shaadi and Isis frowned at this, and Tristan just looked puzzled. But before anyone could do or say anything more, the front door opened, and Shen Bakura, Ryou's father, stepped inside. He looked surprised at seeing his son's two friends and two people he'd never seen before in his livingroom, but then he just sighed.

"Okay, what have Ryou and Bakura gotten into this time?"

Isis and Shaadi exchanged looks. "Tea, Tristan," Isis said, "Would you please explain to Bakura-san while Shaadi and I go see about Yugi?"

Shen looked surprised again. "Yugi's here?"

Tea bit her lip and Tristan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Isis and Shaadi mounted the stairs. "Well," Tristan began, "Not exactly here, no..."

~*~

As soon as Isis and Shaadi stepped into the room, it seemed like the air had dropped thirty degrees. It was dark, despite the bedside lamp being on. Shaadi almost missed it the first time, but Isis's gasp clued him in. Yugi was, indeed, as Tea had described it, flickering.

"Look there," Shaadi said quietly, pointing to the matress on the floor. Isis stifled a scream. Now Malik and Ishtar were doing it too, whatever 'it' was. Shaadi left her there and ran to check on the others, but it seemed that only the Item Holders, Ryou and Bakura excluded, were affected. The others seemed to just be asleep, if they hadn't known better.

As he stepped back into Ryou's room, Isis was kneeling next to her brother. As Shaadi watched, she reached out to wipe some of the sweat off his brow, and then jerked back like she'd been stung. "He is cold!" she said. "Colder then death!"

Both of them realised what she'd just said, and Isis turned away from Malik with a muffled sob. "Never fear," Shaadi said quietly, kneeling next to her. "He is not gone yet. I have always known your brother and his yami to be a fighter. Bakura knows what he is doing, even if Joey and Ryou do not. They will not fail."

Isis turned back to face him, tears sparkling in her eyes. "But they will! They only barely survived last time! And even then it wasn't this bad, and they had all three yamis working together! I don't know if they'll have the strength to do it again!"

Shaadi looked at her severly. "This has happened before?"

Isis nodded, her eyes downcast. "Hai, about three months ago now. You did not feel the disturbence in the Shadow Realm? Not even with two Items at your call?"

Again Shaadi was absently rubbing his hand up and down the Scales, and his other hand drifted up to the Ankh. "I did, but it was nearly time for the Locking Rituals, so I paid it no heed."

Isis muffled a cry and tried to resist the erge to launch herself at the Guardian. "It was the Locking Rituals! They wanted Ryou-chan! And this time they're going after little Serenity Wheeler! You mean you've known about the Locking Rituals, and just let them happen?!"

Shaadi looked mournful. "My family had been Guardian of the Millenium Items ever since they were created five-thousand years ago. Yes, we have known that every two-hundred* years an innocent life must be sacrificed, and we have allowed it. But tell me something, Holder of Death," he gave the Tauk's element, instead of its name. "Would you rather have the Shadow Realm take over the entire world, as it tried to do through the previous incarnation of Seto Kaiba in Yami-Yuugi and Yami-Bakura's time?"

Isis was silent.

"I thought as much," Shaadi said, sighing. "Yes, we allow the Locking Rituals. To discontinue them would mean the end of the world. But we never liked it. And this? This is an outrage!"

Isis looked up to see the normally calm Shaadi shaking in anger, his fists clenched. "To think that they thought they could sacrifice an Item Holder... Not to even bring to light that they dared to mess with the Holder of Fate! It is no wonder that the Lady chose to protect her own!" Shaadi managed to calm himself, and looked kindly at Isis. "With Fate on Ryou's side, he will prevail, Isis Ishtar."

Isis was rather puzzled, to say the least. She brought her hand up to brush absently over the Tauk. "Just now, you called me the Holder of Death. And Ryou, the Holder of Fate. What do you mean?"

Shaadi's eyes got a rather far-away look in them. "Seven Millenium Items, each forged in the very essence of a different element. And we are not talking about wind, water, and fire, but of the more dire, raw elements. Seven Items, each with their own power, each with their own destined holder, each with their own designated element. Ring, Rod, Puzzle, Tauk, Eye, Scales, Ankh. Fate, Hatred, Time, Death, Desire, War, Passion.

"'Fate for the Millenium Ring, for the poor innocent was Fated to have it. Hatred for the Millenium Rod, for its Holder shows no love. Time for the Millenium Puzzle, because the Pharoah stands immortal. Death for the Millenium Tauk, for it can see into the future, past Death's hold. Desire for the Millenium Eye, for above all its holder desires a lost love. War for the Millenium Scales, for they were created to stop one. Passion for the Millenium Ankh, for its holder is passionate about what he must protect.' That is what is written in the Book of the Dead on the subject of the Millenium Items."

(WSJ: Yes, for those of you that took notice, that is what Lobsang quoted in chapter 5 of ASN)

Isis blinked, switching instantly into Egyptologist mode. "But I've studied the Book very thouroughly. It never said anything about that."

In a rare moment of humor, Shaadi winked at her. "Ah, but you could never presume that you have all the pages, can you, my dear Isis Ishtar?"

Isis bristled at this, but desided to let it pass. Instead she went on to her next question. "Okay then, why would you refer to Ryou's Ring as 'Lady'?"

"Not the Ring itself, my dear," Shaadi admonished gently. "Lady Fate herself. She allowed the Ring to be forged, and even helped the process, giving the Ring its statis as Item of Fate. She loves Ryou dearly, and would never allow harm to come to him."

"Then why allow him to be hurt so badly by Bakura?! Why allow him to be beated, mutilated, blinded by the Spirit of the Ring that she herself helped forge?!" Isis burst out. Malik and Ryou were very good friends, after all, and Isis was very fond of the little white-haired boy.

"That," Shaadi said in all solemnity, "Was Fated to happen."

"Aarrg!" Isis yelled, "You are so impossible sometimes!"

"That may be, but this time I am not kidding. Ryou has a part to play, and if things before had not happened, then things to come would not come. You of all people, as the holder of the Tauk, should know this, Isis Ishtar."

Isis was stopped from saying anything when a loud yell erupted from downstairs. "HE WHAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?!" Isis and Shaadi both winced, then chuckled.

"It seems, my dear Shaadi," Isis said, playing the Guardian's game, "That Bakura-san has found out from Tea and Tristan the Fate of his son."

Shaadi groaned slightly at the bad joke. "Let us go reassure him," He stood, and held his hand out to Isis.

After a moment of deliberation, she took it, and he pulled her to her feet. For a moment they were only inches apart, and Isis's breath caught as she stared into his eyes. Then she quickly stepped away, pulling her hand out of his and blushing lightly. "Let's."

She turned away quickly to go downstairs, and so did not see the hurt expression that flickered across Shaadi's face.

~*~

* The original text from VotH states that the Locking Rituals are only needed every two-thousand years, but I've changed that to two-hundred.

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WSJ: Okay, a few notes here. First off, I have no idea where the Isis/Shaadi hints developed from. It must be this overly-sweet iced tea I keep drinking. *shrugs* I may or may not make anything come of it. We'll have to see.

Second, sorry about no Shadow Realm action in this chapter. This was just some explaining that needed to be done. ^_~ You'll have to wait one more chapter for the battle with the Man-Eater Bug.

Oh yes, the name bit. When Isis and Shaadi (sometimes Kaiba too, but usually only those two, since they're the most formal out of the bunch) are talking about Shen Bakura, Ryou's dad, they call him Bakura-san. When talking about Bakura, ie, ex-Yami Bakura, they call him either just Bakura, Spirit of the Ring, or Bakura-kun. Ryou is either Ryou, Ryou-kun (Shaadi), or Ryou-chan (Isis).

Chapter 7: In the Shadow Realm, Joey and Bakura square off against the Man-Eater Bug. Ryou's idea goes off without a hitch, but Joey, Ryou, and Bakura discover some rather desturbing, frightening, and just plain maddening information in the process.

God bless minna-san!