Malik: *be-bopping with headphones on, which are connected to WSJ's boom-box* We can be strong and do anything/ If we dare to dream!

Ryou: *sweatdrops* What's he listening to...?

WSJ: Jo Dee Messina's Burn album. "Dare to Dream" I think this song's called. *grins* I love JDM! Anyhoo, here's chapter nine! ^_^

Yami-Malik: *bounces through on a pogo-stick* I am Sailor Mini-Moon! Champion of love and justice!

WSJ: *twitching randomly* Aarg... Must... Kill... Mini-Moon! *pulls a mallet out of HammerSpace and begins to chase Yami-Malik around* Die evil pink-haired freakish person!

Yami-Malik: *high pitched scream* Noooooo! Pink Sugar Heart Attack!

Ryou: *sweatdrop* That's the last time I tell them where Bakura hid the Pixi Stix... WSJ don't own us. Owns Jonathon. Owns Kuroi (who's dead and probably won't be back). Owns Briar-Rose.

Malik: *squeaky and girlish-sounding, still singing along with JDM* Burn for meeeee!

()()()()()

Chapter 9 -- Bakura's Spell: Safe at Last

~Bakura's POV~ (Jeez, I'm practically writing the whole thing from his POV...)

At Pegasus's question, Kaiba turned to look at him and I noticed how, well, dead he looked. Around the eyes. It was like the lights were on, but no one was home. I cast a glance at Briar-Rose and saw her smirking, and I knew she was controlling Kaiba somehow.

The Duel Monsters holding Pegasus, Jonathon and I pulled us over to a wall where a line of metal rings were mounted to the wall about seven feet up. They produced chains from somewhere about their persons and chained us in a row, our hands above our heads.

Briar-Rose carried Ryou over to the alter and laid him down, chaining his hands and feet to the rings on the corners, dispite the fact he was unconcious and couldn't really go anywhere.

I strained against the chains holding my hands, but they wouldn't come loose.

Briar-Rose waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal and the Duel Monsters melted back into the shadows. She herself took a couple steps back, off the raised dais where the alter stood. I saw her nod at Kaiba, who took a step forward, his blank eyes fixed on my hikari. He slipped one hand into his robe and when he withdrew it I saw the glimmer of a knife.

To my left I heard Pegasus gasp. "They meant literally take his pure heart..."

On my other side Jonathon gulped. "Don't watch Bakura," he said, a bit of sympathy in his voice. "Don't watch."

"Like heck I won't," I muttered, but my eyes shut themselves tightly anyway. I found my mind drifting back over the past, what? It had been only twenty-four hours? Only a day? First me beating Ryou, and then having to go to school for him, which was torture in its own way, since I had no idea what any of the teachers were talking about, except for history because they'd been studying, of all things, ancient Egypt. (I noticed the text books had no mention of the Shadow Games or Millenium Items, which was probably just as well.) Then I'd come home to a slap from my "friend" Yami-Malik, and then Jonathon, or more accuratly, the demon Kuroi's, voice in my head. I'd figured it out soon after being sent to the Shadow Realm that I'd been duped and realised that I'd recognised the voice wrong. It was not that of my brother but of the Perssian prisinor that had been sentanced to the Shadow Realm right before Yami began the rituals that sealed me in the Ring. Even if you had no powers to begin with, several millenia in the Shadow Realm would allow you to soak up at least a little magic. Anyway, after that-

Wait a second, the voice in my head... Shadow Powers... The spell Kuroi used!

My eyes snapped open and focused in on Ryou. Both Kaiba and Briar-Rose were chanting something, and Kaiba's knife was mere inches from Ryou's flesh. I noted with chagrin that Ryou's shirt had already been ripped open, leaving his chest bare. I could see it rising and falling, but only minimally. He didn't have much time.

I closed my eyes again and consentrated, beginning some chanting of my own under my breath.

"Mornie alantie, mornie utulie..."

It would have been a lot easier had I been wearing the Ring, or had Ryou and I had our link firmly connected. But I wasn't, and we didn't, so I was forced to make do.

"Maka yushiii kappa..."

I felt Jonathon's and Pegasus's stares on me. "Brother, don't!" I heard Jonathon whisper feircly, but I ignored him, concentrating instead on the rise of magical energies I could feel inside of me.

"Lumm perrdo falleh!"

I completed the spell and released it, sensing it spread around the room and then ignite, like a thunderclap. I was glad I had my eyes closed as my world twisted and turned upsidedown, sending a slight feeling of vertigo over me. I kept my eyes closed and my breathing shallow, knowing that if either Kaiba or Briar-Rose noticed that "Ryou" suddenly seemed more alive, or that "I" was hanging limp from my chains on the wall, then Ryou and I were both dead.

I bit my tounge until blood filled my mouth, trying not to scream as the knife peirced my chest and dove toward my heart, though pure it most certainly was not.

~Yugi's POV~

I blinked myself fully awake as Yami dumped Mokuba Kaiba onto my lap. Mokuba curled up into a ball and whimped, clutching at my shirt. With a jolt I remembered the news I'd gotten from my yami about Kaiba's death. I swallowed lightly and gently placed a hand on Mokuba's back, offering what little comfort I could.

"It has begun." Yami said quietly, sitting down next to me on the floor. Yami-Malik and Joey plopped down on his far side, Malik was already sitting next to me, holding the bundle of scrolls he'd found in his other's soulroom. I hadn't found anything.

"Is there anythin' we can do now?" Joey asked.

Yami-Malik frowned. "Maybe. If anyhing, the answers would be in these scrolls."

"Then lemme at 'em!" Joey grabbed a scroll from Malik and started to unroll it, then sweatdropped. "It's in hiroglyphs..."

Malik rolled his eyes. "Well duh Joey... These are ancient Egyptians spirits we're talking about, not your grandmother."

Yami and Yami-Malik snorted at the analogy, and I quickly ducked down behind Mokuba to hide my snicker. Joey pretended to pout, and handed the scroll to Yami. Yami-Malik and Malik each took one as well, and piled the rest in the center of our circle.

I had Mokuba on my lap, trying my best to comfort the whimpering boy, who had woken up again, but was delighted to find that I was the one holding him. I guess Joey felt that he wasn't being much use at the moment, because he got up and started to pace.

There was a knock on the door, causing all of us to jump, and since Joey was already up, he went to answer it. He blinked in surprise and I craned my neck to see who it was. Joey stepped aside to let them in, and my jaw dropped to see Tea, Tristan, and, of all people, Isis.

Apparently, Malik had the same reacion I did. "Isis?"

Isis ignored her brother for the moment and looked over at me. "You have the Tauk, right?"

I nodded. "In my desk drawer. Why?"

She frowned. "I'm not sure... I had a dream, and at first I thought it was the Tauk giving me a premonition..."

"What was the dream Isis?" Yami asked.

"It was in the Shadow Realm, I know that. It looked like Ryou was chained to an alter of some sort, and Kaiba had a knife, like he was about to gut him or something. Over on one wall Bakura, Pegasus and someone else, he looked a lot like Bakura, but not quite, were chained in a row. I couldn't figure it out."

Yami and Yami-Malik exchanged looks. "I think, Isis, that it wasn't a premonition, but what is happening in the Shadow Realm at this very moment. Although, I don't see how it could be Kaiba, since he's, er," He glanced over at Mokuba and I and I nodded, signaling that Mokuba was asleep again. Yami-Malik took a deep breath. "Seto Kaiba is dead," he said softly, almost exactly mimicing his hikari's words from earlier.

Three jaws dropped. "What?!?"

Joey and I did our best to explain as our yamis and Malik went back to the scrolls, knowing we were running out of time. Tea looked over at Ryou, her brow creased and tears of frustration and worry in her eyes. "Poor Ryou... Can't we do anything?"

"That's what Yami's trying to find out." I told her. "Malik found those scrolls in his yami's soulroom, so we're hoping that they might have something in them to help us."

Isis, hearing that the scrolls had been found in a soulroom and were in hiroglyphs, went over to help the other three. (I think Isis and Malik could probably read hiroglyphics, right?)

"So, Tea, Tristan, how come you guys are 'ere?" Joey asked.

Tea and Tristan looked at each other and shrugged. "I really don't know..." Tea said. "Something, a feeling." She placed a hand over her heart. "I felt you guys needed us here. I called Tristan, and he'd felt it too, so we came."

"It was sort of like what we felt when Yugi was dueling Pegasus in the Shadow Realm," Tristan explained to Joey. "Like a small voice telling you to be there for your friend."

Joey nodded. "Ahh... I see..."

"I've got something," Isis said suddenly, staring at the scroll in front of her. "I think it's a spell for pulling souls out of the Shadow Realm."

Yami leaned over to look over her shoulder. "You're right. A soul-release spell. That's what we need." Isis handed the scroll to him and he sat back, reading the spell more thouroughly. The farther he read the more worried he looked.

/Yami, what is it?/ I asked mentally.

//Just a moment aibou...//

After about a minute and a half he looked up at us, apology in his eyes. "The spell is limited. We can only pull out one person or risk releasing every soul that's ever been sealed in the Shadow Realm."

Joey blinked. "So what's the problem? Just grab Ryou and leave Bakura. The creep deserves it!"

Isis frowned. "That he may, but there's something else about my dream/vision I think you should know. I felt the beginnings of a spell right before I woke up, and I think it was Bakura casting it. But I don't know what it was."

Yami growled in frustration. "He may deserve to be stranded in the Shadow Realm, but I need to know what that spell was to be able to successfully cast this one. But the Shadow Realm has everyone and everything locked in and out."

"Oh gimme that!" Yami-Malik grabbed the scroll and quickly read the spell to himself. "I'll fix it to grab two people no problem! I used to rig spells all the time."

Yami rolled his eyes. "Yes, and they almost always went wrong. I'm not exactly Bakura's best friend, but even I wouldn't wish getting turned into a penguin on him."

Joey and Tea stifled a laugh, and I did as well.

"It's the only way!" Malik said firmly. "Can you think of anything better?" Nobody could, so Yami-Malik took a deep breath and began to read from the scroll in smooth Egyptian I couldn't understand.

~Pegasus's POV~

Just as Kaiba drove the knife into Bakura the air around us seemed to thicken. It felt almost fuzzy. Kaiba and Briar-Rose both felt the signs of a gathering spell and stopped chanting.

Kaiba scowled and jerked the knife out of Bakura, causing him to whimper, a sound I never thought I'd hear coming from him. Blood already covered the alter, and his hair was soaked in it, staining it scarlet.

With a snap the spell took hold. Bakura and Ryou vanished, and suddenly Jonathon and I were unchained from the wall. Bakura's twin started to run, but I grabbed ahold of the back of his collar to stall him.

"Look at Kaiba!" I yelled over the rushing wind that seemed to have filled the room. "For the love of little green apples, look at Kaiba!"

Said CEO was blinking and looking around, like he wasn't quite sure where he was or why. I gathered that he was now free of Brair-Rose's control. "Thank Ra for soul-release spells!" I muttered. Running back to the alter I grabbed his sleeve and pulled, hissing into his ear at the same time, "Come on Kaiba-boy, we'll explain when we're safe."

He stared at me and blinked owlishly, so I gave his sleeve an extra tug. "Come on Kaiba, Brar-Rose is hopping mad!" His mouth framed the question 'who?', but I didn't give it time. I turned and ran back to Jonathon, and after a moment Kaiba followed. We sprinted from the room and into the endless corridors of the Shadow Realm, leaving the ranting Brair-Rose blessedly far behind.

When we finally slowed down, then stopped, the first words out of Kaiba's mouth were "Am I dead?"

I frowned slightly and rolled my eye. "Not as far as I know. This is the Shadow Realm Kaiba-boy."

He gave me an annoyed look. "But you're dead Pegsy, and I got thrown out of a ten-story building. Who says we're not dead?"

I sighed. "Look, I'm not dead. I mean, my body probably is, but Bakura sent me to the Shadow Realm after stealing the Eye. He didn't kill my soul. The same thing probably happened to you."

Kaiba furrowed his brow in thought. "Maybe... Kuroi said something about getting revenge for sealing him in the Shadow Realm, so maybe for his revenge he sent me here."

"Trapped you here." I said, nodding.

He looked startled. "Trapped?"

I gave him a patient look. "Yes Kaiba-boy, trapped. Or would you like to re-attach your soul to a body that's most likely in several peices and/or six feet underground?"

He winced. "I see your point..." He turned around, and came face to face with Jonathon. "Um... Bakura? Ryou? No, as far as I know they don't have green eyes. Or dress like that." He eyed Jonathon's ancient Egyptian garments, moodily plucking at his own blue preist's robes.

Jonathon smiled at him. "My name's Jonathon. Bakura's my brother. He sent me here something around 5000 years ago."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "So we're all three stuck?"

"Basicly, unless you can find a soulless body to put yourself into, or someone who's willing to tolerate two souls in one body, like a sort of yami-hikari set up." I said.

Kaiba sighed. "Right..."

I opened my mouth to say something else, but my single still-seeing eye caught the edge of a soft gold glow. I stooped down to pick whatever-it-was up, and my jaw dropped. Behind me I heard Jonathon choke and Kaiba gasp.

In my hand I held the precious Millenium Ring.

()()()()()

WSJ: ^_^ Ok, maybe not quite as cliff-hangerish as some of the others, but stll pretty good, right? And long too. ^__^ Kaiba's back!

Kaiba: *dully* Whoopie...

WSJ: ^_^ Ohhh, just wait Kaiba-boy! It gets so much better. *giggles evilly*

Kaiba: -_-; Oh joy...

WSJ: Ok, the reason Kaiba got out of Briar-Rose's mind control, and Pegasus and Jonathon got out of the chains was because of the soul-release spell. Yami-Malik's tampering caused slight "side effects" and released them from whatever held them, namely the chains and Briar-Rose's spell. ^_^

Chapter 10: Bakura and Ryou arrive back at Ryou's house, mostly intact. Ryou's still blind and Bakura still has a gaping hole in his chest. *sweatdrops* Oops? Meanwhile, Pegasus, Jonathon and Kaiba try to figure out what to do with the Ring. Briar-Rose melts into the shadows, planning her revenge. The Locking Rituals still haven't been completed...

God bless minna-san!