Chapter 1
Fear coursed through my body as I ran through the woods. I had never experienced such a strong emotion in my life, and there was nothing else I could think about. It took effort to not run into trees. I did not know where I was going, just that I had to get out of there. After several minutes, my mind finally allowed me to think and reflect.
How had I let this happen? I had seen the signs. My mother had told me to listen to my intuition, but I had ignored it instead. Was that any way to honor her memory? Tears filling my eyes, I knew she would be disappointed in me.
But how could I have done anything different? Mom had not prepared me for the danger that lay ahead. She had not taught me how to control my 'powers.' I had no idea how to help Bakura, so I had acted like nothing was the matter. It seemed the only option at the time.
It all started a year ago the beginning of my last year in junior high school. Bakura attended a private school at the time, so we met at one of our house's every day after school. On this day, it was my turn to go over to his house.
"Samia!" he said brightly when he opened the door to let me inside. "Good to see you. Look at what my dad got me on his trip to Egypt!"
I recoiled as I felt dark energy coming from the object around his neck. It was gold and consisted of a circle with a pyramid that had an eye in the middle, and around the edges of the circle were sharp points that hung down. Up until then, I thought that my mother had been exaggerating when she had warned me against magic. I had only ever used my powers to sense others' emotions, but now I could clearly feel something form this object, and I did not like it. "What is that thing?!"
Bakura blinked, confused. "It's called the Millennium Ring. Is something wrong?"
"I – I feel something evil coming from it. You shouldn't have it!" I took a step back into the outdoors.
Bakura frowned. "What are you talking about? Oh, is this because it's from Egypt? I know that has bad memories for you, but not everything from Egypt is evil."
I shook my head. "That's not it. I – I don't really know how to explain it, but my powers are warning me against it."
"Your powers have never warned you against an object before."
"My mom said I can sense magic. This is the first time it's happened."
"Then maybe you're mistaken," Bakura said calmly. He was unruffled by my reaction. "How can you tell the difference between good and evil magic?"
I hesitated. "I guess I can't." Maybe I was overreacting. Could this be because of what happened to my parents in Egypt?
"It's a gift from my dad, so until something bad happens, I'm going to keep it."
I nodded. "O-ok." The feeling subsided as I entered the house, making me wonder if I had been imaging it all along.
I should have trusted my instincts. I should have made him get rid of the object, but I was afraid of disappointing him. As silly as it seemed now, I thought arguing might cause a rift between us. My whole life, all the friends I made ended up leaving me for one reason or another. Bakura was the only one who had stayed with me for so long, so I could not risk losing him.
That was only my first encounter with a Millennium item. While in class sometime the following fall, I felt a similar energy in the room like I had when I first saw the Millennium Ring. There was something slightly different about it, but I was not yet skilled enough in my abilities to be able to decipher the meaning of this.
My eyes landed on my classmate, Yugi Muto. He was talking with three other students, but it was what was around his neck that caught my attention. Like the Ring, it was gold and had an eye in the middle. This object, however, resembled an upside down pyramid.
I did not even realize I was walking towards him before I was standing in front of him. While the Ring has repelled me, there was something about this object, while retaining its danger, drew me in. Yugi looked up at me in surprise, but a second later, he smiled at me. "Hello. Samia, right?"
I nodded. "Y-yes. You're Yugi?" His friends stared at me oddly, making me subconscious. I was not behaving like myself, which scared me.
"That's right. Can I help you?"
"Did you get that from Egypt?" I pointed at the gold pyramid.
Yugi looked at me in surprise. "My Millennium Puzzle? Yes, my grandfather found it for me in Egypt. How did you know?"
"I have a friend who has something similar." I paused. I needed to give him a reason o not think I was a total creep. "And it's interesting because my grandmother was from Egypt."
Yugi smiled. "Really? That's cool!" His friends appeared impressed as well.
Something about him relaxed me. I had been teased a lot in the past for not being pure Japanese. Even adults seemed to have looked down at my mother and me. It was refreshing to find someone who thought my heritage was something positive. I glanced at the front of the class when it was time for the class to start and then back at Yugi.
"You better find your seat," Yugi said. "I'll talk to you later."
I nodded and turned to walk away. Maybe I should have talked to him after that. Maybe he knew something about these Millennium Items that could have helped Bakura. But I had become accustomed to the Millennium Ring and had convinced myself there was nothing bad about it. And I did not want to get involved with someone else who had a Millennium Item.
I was almost able to forget about the strange objects for awhile. Then I entered high school and found myself in the same class with Yugi and his friends once again. Bakura originally enrolled in a private school, but he had problems after a week, so he transferred to Domino High School. I was happy when he was placed in my class. There was even an empty seat next to my desk so we could be together every day!
I did feel something about strange that first day, and I looked at Bakura to see a small frown on his face. "What's wrong?" I whispered. Class had just started and I did not want to get us into trouble.
Bakura pulled his Millennium Ring out from under his shirt – he hid it there to accommodate me – and stared at it. "It looks like it's pointing at something."
Sure enough, two of the spikes around the ring were lifted in the air and pointing to the left. I followed the invisible path, and my eyes widened when they landed on Yugi. "Yugi Muto?" I said in confusion.
"What's that he's got?" Bakura said curiously.
My eyes fell on the Millennium Puzzle. "Oh. He's got a Millennium Item as well. Maybe yours is pointing to it?"
"Why would it do that?"
I shrugged. "Beats me."
We grew silent so that we could listen to the teacher lecture. When the class was finished and we had a small break, Bakura stood up. "Come on," he said. "Let's talk to him."
My eyes widened in alarm. "What? Bakura!" But he had already made his way over to Yugi's desk. Gritting my teeth, I had no choice but to follow him.
"Hello," Bakura greeted the small group gathered around Yugi's desk. "Is that Duel Monsters?" Joey, one of Yugi's friends, had pulled his chair to the other side of the desk, and the two of them had cards laid out.
"Yes, it is," Yugi said, smiling. "You're the new student, Bakura. I'm Yugi, and this is Joey, Tea, and Tristan."
"Nice to meet you," Tea said.
Yugi glanced at me. "Looks like you made a friend already."
"We've known each other for years," Bakura said. "Our dad used to work together."
"And now you're in the same class," said Tea. "That's nice."
I smiled weakly and said nothing.
"Do you two know how to play?" Joey said, motioning to the cards on the desk.
"I've recently started playing," Bakura said.
"I don't play," I said softly. That had been another area for a potential argument. Remembering my mom's warning about the cards, I had told Bakura not to play, but he insisted they were harmless. I could feel no energy for the cards, so I wondered if he was right.
"Maybe we could duel sometime," Yugi said.
Bakura smiled. "I'd like that."
We chatted for a bit longer before returning to our seats. I wondered why Bakura had not asked Yugi about the Puzzle, but I did not bring it up. At the end of the day, the two of us headed to my house.
"You really should consider learning how to play Duel Monsters," Bakura said as he walked. The weather was warming up, and the spring air felt nice on my skin. "We could all play together and make some new friends."
"I'm fine with the friends I have, but if you want to play with them, go ahead."
He looked at me with a small frown. "Is this about what your mother said?"
I nodded. "She swore there was something magical about these cards."
"But you can't sense anything?"
I shook my head.
"Well, as far as I know, no one has been harmed playing it. Here." He stopped walking and dug into the side pocket of his backpack. He pulled out his Duel Monsters deck and searched through it. "Just take one card and see what happens. I think this one suits you."
Curious, I took the card he held out to me. It had a picture of a purple haired girl with three pairs of wings wearing a gold dress and floated in the air. "Wingweaver." It was a fair card, and it said she was a six-winged fairy who prays for peace and hope. There was nothing evil or sinister about that.
"It's a powerful card, so it will come in handy if you do decide to play."
I gave him a small smile as I tucked the card into my pocket. "Thanks." I had no plans to start playing, but I appreciated his thoughtfulness.
Duel Monsters was not mentioned again until my brother Raiden decided to invite Bakura over to our house to watch the Regional Duel Monsters Championship. Despite my mother's warning, Raiden worked for KaibaCorp, which was involved heavily in the game. Both Raiden and Kenji enjoyed dueling. Tonight, even little Sakiko decided to watch the game with us. I sat between her and Bakura on the couch while my brothers sat on fluffy chairs.
"Why isn't Seto Kaiba in the tournament?" Sakiko asked. Because of Raiden, she had become friends with Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba.
"Didn't you hear?" said Kenji. "He was beaten in a duel, and I think the guy who did it is in your class." He nodded at Bakura and me.
"Yugi," I said softly.
"Yeah, that's right."
"I'm worried, though," Raiden said with a frown. "It's been a long time since anyone's seen him, and apparently the same is true of Mokuba."
"I haven't been able to get a hold of him for days!" Sakiko said sadly.
"I wonder if something happened," Bakura said.
Raiden hesitated as if he was unsure if he should share the information he had. The worry coming from Sakiko was becoming almost too much for me, so I nodded him on. "There are rumors that Pegasus wants to take over KaibaCorp."
"Pegasus? The creator of Duel Monsters?" Bakura said in shock.
Raiden nodded. "That's the one."
"Why would he want to do that?"
"Power?" Kenji said. "Money? What else?"
I had a bad feeling about this that I could not shake. I said nothing as I watched the duel on the screen. In the end, Weevil Underwood defeated Rex Raptor. Pegasus gave Weevil the trophy, and then he whispered something to him. Following that was an announcement about a tournament on Duelist Kingdom that was invitation only.
"That looks like fun," Bakura said.
I shrugged. "I guess so."
I thought that would be the end of that discussion, but I was wrong. The day before the tournament, Bakura had an excited look on his face as we walked to his house together.
"You better pack, Samia," he said. "We're leaving for Duelist Kingdom tomorrow."
I looked at him in surprise. "You were invited?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Not exactly."
"Then how are we going to get on the ship?"
"We'll just have to sneak on."
I widened my eyes in surprise. "What? Why would we do that?" I could sense he was serious. I felt some nervousness, but there was another emotion I could not pinpoint.
"It would be fun. Besides, don't you want to find out if Pegasus has done something with the Kaiba brothers? You said something was off about this."
I frowned. "That's true, but what are we supposed to do about it?"
"We'll figure something out. Maybe your powers will point the way. And even if we can't do anything, we can still have a good time."
He stared at me eagerly, and I bit my lip as I thought about it. I was usually not impulsive or reckless. Bakura was not either, so why was he acting this way? His emotions were giving me no clues. I finally decided that I trusted him. He would never put me in danger, so he must have something good in mind. "Fine," I said. "But if we get caught, we're going straight home."
Bakura grinned. "Thanks, Samia. You'll have fun. I promise."
I felt uneasy about the whole ordeal, but I figured it was due to Pegasus and not Bakura's plan. I should have paid more attention to my intuition.
Somehow, we managed to sneak onto the ship. On the way, I found out that Yugi would be entering the tournament. This made sense since he had beaten Kaiba, but why was Joey with him? I did not have time to think about it, for Bakura and I had to find a place to hide. We ended up in a broom closet. The limited space caused me to tense and my heart to beat quickly, and I could sense the same reaction from Bakura.
We spent the time talking to each other like always, trying to ignore our precarious situation. Only when we could hear nothing outside to Bakura suggest we risk leaving our sanctuary.
"We better not get caught," I mumbled as I followed him to the side of the ship.
"Do you think they would throw us in the sea?" He leaned against the railing and stared into the water.
His calm demeanor put my heart at ease as I stood beside him. "No, but they'll probably send us back to the ship once we get to the island."
"Even if we do get caught, we've had a fun adventure." He beamed at me.
I could not help but smile back at him. His positive emotions were contagious. If he was not worried, then neither was I. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Let's find a place to eat and then call it a night."
I nodded. We found an area inside at the back of the ship that looked like it was being used for storage. We quickly consumed the rice balls I had made earlier. By that time, I was beat. I watched Bakura as he lay down on the floor.
"Come here," he said.
For some reason, this caused my pulse to quicken. I walked over to him and knelt on the floor. My eyes widened in surprise when he grabbed me and pulled me close to him.
"Relax," he whispered. "I'm not going to do anything to you."
My emotions were not allowing me to relax. However, by soaking up his calm feelings, I was able to get myself under control. I moved so that I was lying next to Bakura with my head in his chest. I dared not speak.
"The ground is hard," he said. "I want you to be comfortable."
"Oh. Thanks." Of course that was why he was doing this. My best friend did not have any feelings for me. I bit back my disappointment and closed my eyes. "Good night, Bakura."
"Good night, Samia."
It was surprisingly easy to fall asleep listening to his heartbeat. Despite the circumstances, I slept well that night.
I almost forgot where I was the following morning. My face heated when I realized I was lying on top of Bakura with his arm around me. I gently nudged him, and he woke up. We sat up at the same time.
"Good morning," he said sleepily. He stared at me and blinked. "Is something wrong?"
"No!" I said quickly. I grabbed a rice ball and shoved it at him. "Eat up."
We had a quick breakfast and then returned to our closet. It was not long after that we arrived at Duelist Kingdom. We decided to leave the ship with everyone else, hoping no one would notice us. Thankfully, the guards assumed we were duelists. I let out a breath of relief once we were in the large crowd.
"Let's get to the woods and come up with a plan," Bakura whispered.
I nodded and broke away from the group with him. We soon found the woods and walked in silence for a long time. Once we were far from everyone else, we found a nice grass spot to sit down across from each other, leaning against trees.
"So, what's your plan?" I asked.
"I haven't thought of anything yet?" Bakura said, smiling sheepishly. "I'm sure it will come to me."
"I bet the answers we seek are in the castle," I mused. Only finalists were allowed in the castle. I bet it would be harder to sneak inside there than it had been the ship.
"Maybe we could find a duelist who's won ten stars and get them to let us in.'
"That could work." Not that I was excited about that plan. I had a hard time dealing with strangers. Bakura knew this, and I wondered why he had dragged me here. There was still something off about the situation that I could not quite place.
"We can just hang out here for now. There's no need to rush."
So that was what we did. I gradually relaxed as we hung out like always. Lunchtime came and went. We both grew silent as we waited for something to happen.
"I wonder how Yugi is doing," Bakura murmured.
I glanced at him. I had that same feeling as before, and it was growing stronger. I finally decided I had to confront whatever this was. Even if I was just being paranoid... I had a hunch there was more to this than my friend was letting on. "Um, Bakura, why are we really here?"
He looked at me in surprise. "What do you mean?"
My intuition gave me an idea, and I decided to go with it. "Is this about Yugi? Did you bring your Ring?"
I gasped when the Millennium Ring appeared out of nowhere on his neck. The look on his face became darker, almost maniac. "Yes," he said in a deep voice I was unused to hearing from him.
I felt great power, danger, and darkness emanating from him. My intuition told me one thing. "You're not Bakura." I knew this with certainty. He felt like another person. A person coming from the Ring. A... "You're a spirit."
He smirked, sending a chill down my spine. "Smart girl. Too bad your powers won't help you out of this."
"W-ho are you? What do you want? What did you do with Bakura?" His presence was so overpowering, and it filled me with fear, making it hard to think rationally.
"I am an ancient spirit seeking the power of the seven Millennium Items. Bakura is still here. He is just... unavailable at the moment. I will let you see him again if you help me." He smiled wickedly.
I could hardly speak, but I was able to shake my head. My mother had warned me against spirits. I could see now she knew what she was talking about.
He sprang at me, causing me to flinch in surprise. I was frozen in fear as he stood right in front of me, his evil smile and aura causing my heartbeat to quicken. "No?" Then his hand was on my neck, and he squeezed gently. "Are you sure about that?"
If he thought this would make it easier for me to talk, he was mistaken. Yet, if I wanted to save myself I knew I had to say something. "Wh-what d-do you w-want me to d-do?"
"Find Yugi Muto," he hissed in my face. "Bring him to me. But don't make him suspicious."
My eyes widened, and my fear spiked. "Wh-what are you going to do with him?"
"I need the Millennium Puzzle. If you're good, I may spare him and his friends. Maybe." He then threw me to the ground, causing me to cry out. "Now go!"
My face was in the dirt, and I was trembling as I stood up. I did not have time to think or worry about my emotions. All I could feel was fear and the need to get out of there was fast as possible.
That's why I ran with no thoughts of turning back.
***
A/N: Hey, y'all. Sorry if this chapter feels a bit rushed. It's just a summary to lead up to the present situation. There will be much more action in the next chapter.
I tried hard to find a reliable timeline for the series, but there's a lot I could not find. Since this is my version of the story, I take liberty to choose things such as the current date and how fast time lapses between different arcs.
I hope you're enjoying it so far. I'll see you next time!