Gathering (Rei no Kaado)

[mugenginga]

Kaiba wasn't stupid. He knew precisely who they were referencing with that Zorc. However, he knew just as well that whatever had happened in that vision was not the things that had happened in Ancient Egypt. That past clone of himself had not held that woman in his arms as her spirit faded and he made it his own in that vision. That alone made it false. Pride? He huffed.

"Wouldn't that be because he screwed something up? It still isn't my problem," Kaiba stated.

Mokuba was more than a fair bit confused with where the conversation had gone. Had... his brother just admitted to accepting a lot of what had been told to him? Well, Atem did have his own body but that seemed a lot coming from Seto. Jounouchi glared at Kaiba. The guy was a jerk, but this was new levels. Was he running? Yuugi had seemed startled at first, but now seemed a fair bit angry at Kaiba's words. He respected that the much taller teenager had pride, but this... this was just too much. Anzu just wasn't sure what to do with the situation. Yuugi considered Kaiba a friend, and this seemed a bit stubborn even for him.

"That's what I thought," Kaiba stated, "Mokuba, we're going."

Mokuba gave an apologetic look towards the group as Kaiba made his way past. He'd rudely bump anyone that came even close to being in his way. It definently seemed like he was done here. Jounouchi looked ready to kill something. Atem hadn't moved since breaking eye contact with the brown haired teenager. It was Yuugi of all people who slipped to the back of the group, putting him at the front of them as he shouted at Kaiba.

"You're so willing to ignore the thing that destroyed your Blue Eyes, Ultimate Dragon?" There was a rather... Atem level of harshness in his voice, and the teenager arguably had a glare going on.

Kaiba stopped cold and growled without turning around, "What?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"Hey! Get back here and listen to us!"

Naoto put a hand on Kanji's shoulder, stopping him from blocking Kaiba. She shook her head. Kaiba was being too stubborn right now to listen to them. They'd have to ask him some other time. If he couldn't be convinced, they'd have to use some other option. Bakura still needed his body back; Anpu was still an option there, if they could even track him down.

Naoto and Kanji's eyes both widened as Yuugi spoke. What Yuugi had just said was rather atypical for him. If Atem hadn't been right next to Naoto, she would have mistaken Yuugi for him. It was times like this that reminded Naoto just how alike the two of them really were.

[mugenginga]

Anzu's eyes had widened at the voice, and she'd actuall done a double take. Jounouchi had been about to say something, but his jaw now hung slack. Honda rubbed the back of his head out of sheer surprise. That... had been Yuugi, right? Mokuba had turned in complete shock at the voice, surprised to see that by the position of things, it had to have been Yuugi who had spoken.

Atem had twitched and lifted his head at the voice, turning towards his Partner with a stunned look. There was a bit of a disturbing memory inherent in the way Yuugi had just put his foot down, and he couldn't stop his mind from remembering that space where he'd fought his Partner's soul. He'd once thought to himself that his Partner would surpass him in every way, but he hadn't... expected to be around him when that happened.

Yuugi swallowed, "You heard me, Kaiba-kun. Atem told me about what happened with Zorc in his memory world. You summoned Blue Eyes, Ultimate Dragon and Zorc defeated it. That could come back. All we're asking you to do is keep an eye on some of the Millenium Items."

"I'm not asking you to accept me as more than a coward. If that's what you want to think, I'm fine with it," Yuugi shook his head, "But Kaiba-kun, you can't defeat it! You can't want to deal with that again!"

Kaiba was smirking to himself. It wasn't visible due to his stance. Mokuba didn't know what they were talking about, but the smile on his older brother's face worried him. These days, only one thing caused that smile. He didn't want to even think about the other option. Kaiba turned around, the smirk dropping to merely overly prideful levels.

"What you're telling me is that if I don't want to deal with this 'Zorc', I just have to watch a few of those Items?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Naoto nodded. Something about Kaiba's expression bothered her. It was his normal expression, but coupled with the statement he had said... she wasn't sure how this situation would turn out; she hadn't been around Kaiba long enough to gauge what his reaction would likely be.

Kanji was still glaring at Kaiba as he asked his question. If Kaiba tried to pull anything funny...

[mugenginga]

Atem looked towards Kaiba's expression as he spoke. The former Pharaoh could only hope where he thought the situation was going was wrong. Jounouchi looked worried at Kaiba's expression. Honda glanced at Anzu, who seemed to be trying to figure it out. Kaiba's smirk widened a bit and there was a slight chuckle. It was fairly dark, and Mokuba looked very worried. He looked Yuugi straight in the eyes.

"There's no need for me to watch the Items then," Kaiba stated, "I have a score to settle."

"Kaiba-kun!" Yuugi stated.

He... hadn't expected that. Kaiba had just stated he wanted Zorc to come back, hadn't he? That he wanted to face him again? Kaiba turned, ignoring any verbal comments thrown his way. Mokuba spun around and headed after Kaiba. It seemed the conversation really was over this time...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Naoto's eyes widened at Kaiba's response. Dammit, that had been just what she'd expected. She kept a firm hold on Kanji's shoulder, keeping him from running after Kaiba like how he so desperately wanted to.

"Hey! Get back here, you bastard! Hey!" Kanji yelled. He finally stopped struggling against Naoto after Kaiba was out of sight.

"I suppose we should have expected that..." Naoto sighed. She turned and looked toward the others. "We need to find out what we're to do with the Items. We can't keep them together, but it's possible they might reject any of us who try to take them other than you, Atem."

[mugenginga]

Yuugi frowned. He'd never seen Kaiba as stupid, so he could only think the other teenager wasn't really accepting the events as real. It was more than a bit possible. He was pretty sure Kaiba accepted his past life to some degree and that Atem had once been Pharaoh, but even he couldn't ignore his track record. He was turning towards Atem as Naoto spoke to him.

"Atem, aren't you in charge of the Items?"

"Both you and I are accepted by their 'ruler', the Pendant, due to our connection. But I don't understand the Items well enough to run the risk of handing them off to anyone. They can kill those they don't accept, or worse," Atem didn't specify worse. There was a cringe from Anzu, Honda, and Jounouch over it, implying some kind of knowledge relating to their world, "Even now, their function is different then they were in Ancient Egypt."

"Yo, Atem-kun," Jounouchi said. Atem looked at him, "How exactly did these things get made anyways? Wouldn't that tell you how you could deal with them?"

Atem's eyes widened and he looked at Yuugi. That was right, that information had never really been told to the others. He'd learned the truth behind their creation due to Akhenaden's breakdown and the revelation that Set was his cousin. He shook his head.

"I only know roughly how they were made, and the spellbook listing the specifics is lost to the past of our homeworld. I just don't know anything beyond their purpose in the past and present," Atem looked towards where Kaiba had gone, "I wouldn't have thought he would be that stupid..."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Honda asked, "Kaiba aside, if the Items can't be kept together..."

(OOC: Come to think of it, have Naoto and Kanji ever been told how they were made? XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Naoto only listened to what the others were saying. Not knowing how the items were made, she couldn't ask how that would aid things. In any case, the conversation topic had changed yet again. She frowned.

"The only option I can think of is returning to what we had already been attempting before: returning the Ring to Anpu," Naoto said with a sigh. That would, of course, involve finding Anpu, which they hadn't been doing a rather good job at so far. This situation was just getting better and better...

"Hey, what about that Haytham guy? Can't he hang onto one of the items for us or something?" Kanji asked.

[mugenginga]

Atem crossed his arms and appeared to be in thought. Naoto was right, that seemed to be the best option. Anpu hadn't shown knowledge of the modern usage of the Items, either. He glanced towards Kanji as he spoke. There were a lot of unknowns going on here.

"Haytham is an option," he finally stated, "Even if he can't take the Items, I think he may be able to help. If Malik is the one awake, we might be able to get him to explain how he got the Ring taken from him. I don't want to leave the Ring with Anpu unless that's the last option. While he doesn't seem to know how the Items function in modern time yet, I don't want to risk him learning. Naoto, Kanji, neither of you have ever seen a Dark Game. That isn't something we want in Anpu's hands."

"Atem, will the Items accept Haytham-san?"

"I don't know. I do know that the three gods together weren't enough to take down Zorc. Haytham confirmed a suspicion I've had for a while, as well. The Items are demonic because they contain small pieces of Zorc's essence."

"Wait, hold up, stop!" Jounouchi said. The group from his world looked at him as he pointed at Yuugi, "Yuugi's wearing something with a piece of Zorc in it?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"Well, that's sure what it sounds like," Kanji said, somewhat oblivious to the fact that obviously bothered Jounouchi. He shrugged.

"That does sound a bit dangerous..." Naoto noted. "But Yuugi's been wearing it for a while with no ill effects. I think he'll be fine."

[mugenginga]

Yuugi had looked down at the Pendant and lifted it up a bit as Jounouchi spoke. He'd never really thought about that. He looked at Atem, who shook his head.

"The Items have dangerous potential, but they're safe by themselves. They were made out of a wish to keep my father's people safe, despite the method of creation."

"Atem, how did the items get made...?" Anzu asked.

"...a ritual involving the massacre of an entire remote village. The bodies of the villagers and soldiers who committed the massacre were melted into the gold used to make them, and the power of their souls were harnessed."
-----

Malik twitched. Haytham frowned and kept a close eye on the teenager's forehead. At least his dark side had an obvious trait.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Kanji looked a fair bit sickened at that description. Even Naoto seemed a bit bothered, flinching away a bit.

"...woah," Kanji breathed.

"....Well, I suppose that certainly qualifies that as a 'demonic' object, then," Naoto said a bit sarcastically.

[mugenginga]

"Wha....what?" Anzu said.

Honda's eyes were wide, "That... explains a lot."

Atem didn't respond to the reactions. Yuugi had looked down when he spoke, but his reaction made it clear he had known about it already. The former Pharaoh turned and began heading down the hall.

"Haytham said he'd watch Malik. Both of them might be able to shed some light on the situation," Atem stated.
-----

Malik wasn't quite awake, but he was trying to move. It was the fact that that he couldn't roll over that woke him up. He opened his eyes and jerked, realizing that his hands were bound by some kind of fabric as were both his feet.

<* "What the hell...!" *>

<* "You're awake, then?" ? *>

Malik's eyes widened and he jerked his head towards the voice. Arabic? His eyes widened as he saw someone unfamiliar.

<* "Who the hell are you!? Let me go!" *> Malik shouted. He felt a wrist slip ever so much, but he kept his glare fixed on the man. No need to give away he could pull his hand loose soon.

Haytham stood up, <* "For all your power hunger, you don't recognize me, do you? *?

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Naoto nodded and followed after Atem.

"Man, I hope so," Kanji said as he followed after Atem as well. "I'm tired of all this..."

[mugenginga]

Malik paused as Haytham addressed him. Recognize him? His mind ran through all the people he had tortured and sent to their death when he was in charge of the Ghouls. He couldn't come up with anyone that had looked like this man. Even those that had gotten away after the Ghouls were disbanded... none of them matched this man. So where had the power hunger line come from?

<* "Let me go," *> Malik ordered.

Haytham had been flaring his energy as much as he could without effecting his physical appearance. Malik hadn't seemed to catch it. Haytham's eyes didn't betray that he saw how Malik had loosened the jacket keeping this wrsits bound. The Egyptian man sat back down.

<* "I didn't tie you there, you know. Do you remember how you got here?" *>

Malik couldn't help but feel he was being taunted. Why was this man so calm? There was also the fact that it seemed rather odd he'd be in the presence of someone of his own ethnicity. It wasn't just the appearance, the man was speaking Arabic with native fluency. The teenager stopped rotating his wrist and rotated his feet to get a feel for how he was tied down there. That would be easier to slice with his dagger, but he had no way of knowing his kidnappers hadn't taken his weapons. He gave a quick glance around the room. A bedroom...?

He hesitated when the man asked if he knew how he got here. It was the first time he'd shown true surprise in the conversation. His mind replayed the events. He'd run into Bakura's dark side... no, the personality had been a bit off. The Dark Bakura he knew would have taken a more direct fight. He'd gotten into a Dark Game with someone claiming to be a god... he glared.

<* "Who are you?" *>

<* "My name is Haytham Sultan. Do you remember how you got here?" *>

<* "Do you know how I got here?" *>

Malik's voice had gotten dangerous. It was possible this man, who many not have tied him but may have had responsibility in getting him here, was trying to make him slip up. The blond's expression didn't change as he spoke, and his voice remained serious.

<* "The dark side of yourself manifested and the Pharaoh brought you here. You're restrained on the chance that the one who awoke was your hatred." *>

Malik's eyes widened as all the words sunk in. He'd started a Dark Game and then he'd felt himself pass out... and now he was here. He felt a bit of soreness in his right hand, although it seemed to be functioning fine. That much could be explained, and it was terrifying. What was worse is he had no idea why this person knew the Pharaoh... let alone about his other self.

<* What are you?" *> Malik glared.

Haytham opened his mouth to speak when he heard the front door open through the closed door of the bedroom. He turned towards it. The Pharaoh was back, then. He could feel the return of one of the Items. The mere fact that the former Pharaoh was coming back with it annoyed him. Had he not heeded his warning before? He took a sudden step backwards away from the door and sighed as passed where he'd been a second before. He slammed into the dresser, knocking various items off the top of it. He jumped to the back and to the side, his dagger brandished. Tied to his ankles were the pieces of two seperate pairs of pants he'd cut to get off the bed.
-----

There hadn't been much in the way of conversation on the way back. Anzu seemed a touch self-conscious about the bag she was holding, as her grip on it had tightened whenever anyone glanced in her direction. Most of her focus was on Yuugi and Atem though, and more on the former. Jounouchi looked irritated by the silence and Honda seemed to be in his own thoughts.

All that tense calm went away the moment Atem opened the door to the apartment due to the crash that could be heard from the bedroom. Atem and Yuugi exchanged glances before both of them were running towards the door.