The Age of Shadows

7

The night passes slowly, and just as Ryou and Ishizu finish their ritual, a grotesque screeching can be heard from outside. This followed by an explosion, waking the entire apartment as dust clouds fill the air and wind whips around the buildings. "What the Hell?!" Bakura demands, throwing his jeans back on and standing up. Marik stares into space for a second, quickly scrambling to his feet, gripping his most powerful AR.

"They're attacking," Marik states gravely, standing to full height. "Bakura, gather all your arsenal and crouch at the window,"

"What the Hell is going on, Marik?!" He demands as Marik frantically rushes around, packing everything. Bakura follows suit, despite being absolutely confused. Somewhere in the distance, the town alarm sounds.

"They're Monsters!" Marik explains. "Someone's playing a shadow game, it's awoken the monsters!"

"You have Monsters here?!" Bakura asks, but he already knows the answer. Of course they do, this is where the shadow magic is most concentrated. Yugi bursts into the room with Jo, Duel disks poised on their arms.

"Come on!" He urges. "We have to get to the desert before this city becomes a disaster zone!"

"We'll be sitting ducks in the desert!" Marik objects.

"Not if we can 'elp it!" Jo brandished her duel disk like a weapon, Red Eyes Black Dragon poised between her fingers and ready to summon.

"Works for me," Bakura decides, grabbing Marik's hand and following them outside and into the street. Overhead, Monsters of all kinds fly, dragons shooting bursts of fire into buildings, reducing them to patches of dust. Giant stone structures walk, sentient as any creature as they flatten to town with crushing stomps. A small dragon spots them, screeches and swoops down to attack.

"Run!" Bakura calls, and as they run away in the direction of the desert, he mounts his own Duel Disk, drawing. Perfect. "I summon Dark Necrofear!"

From a dark, looming portal overhead emerges the sword-wielding demon. "Dark Necrofear, attack!"

The demon swoops down her spear and the dragon is impaled. "Wait, they die realistically?!" Bakura gasps, watching blood spurt from the wound. The dragon roars in agony, such a painful sight. It fills him with guilt, destroying this creature that actually has a life as it tumbles to the ground, crushing a structure anyway.

As they run, Yugi summons Celtic Guardian. "Celtic Guardian, hold them off!" The knight brandishes his sword and swings before the dragons, halting them as they roar at him. Dark Necrofear returns to Bakura's side, hovering with him.

They continue to hold off the monsters as they run through the desert, Jo, Yugi and Bakura with their decks and Marik, Tea and Ryou with pure firepower. They shoot to scare and to wound and thankfully, there're no more fatalities. Once they reach a secluded, open area and the monsters screams only sound in the distance, Bakura returns Dark Necrofear to his deck.

"Dammit," he hisses furiously, kicking up some sand, which just feels redundant as it rains down before him. Marik watches him, realising how bad he must feel. Like him, after Battle City. He may have improved and reconciled with his family and new friends, but he still felt to blame. He knew how much suffering he'd caused.

"Nobody blames you, Bakura," he says lowly, sincerely, and places a comforting hand on Bakura's shoulder. Suddenly Bakura slaps him away, hard. Leaving an angry red mark and a dying on his wrist.

"That's the problem!" Bakura growls loudly, and everyone stares at him. "I deserve to be blamed! It's my fault! It's..." tears flow freely down his face, and exhaustion crash's over him. He falls to his knees, gripping his sides and wailing loudly. Nobody moves, nobody knows what to do. Yugi is the most helpful one, and great at comforting people but hr doesn't know the first thing about Bakura! As for Ryou, he wants to help but hesitates because on some level, he agrees. He agrees that Bakura is to blame for what happened, and deserves his karmatic pain.