Lion Heart

Eveil pharaoh atem: Wow *stares* that must be your longest review EVER! *claps* ghe, just kidding. Yup, Zorc has entered the field and is ready to destroy some things XD I’m tempted to cheer for him because wanton descruction sounds like fun *innocent smile* have fun with the chap!

Dragonlady222: Good, one of the points I was trying to get across with this fic is that Bakura isn’t all bad… he was turned evil by Zorc and it really isn’t all his fault. Feel forry for the guy… and Mariku, cuz Mariku is plain funny XD

Tavi: Yes, yes you are an idiot *nods* I will utterly agree with that. Then again, idiots are fun to hang out with, so I’d say you’re good XD let’s see how long it takes you to review this time ne?

Cosmic Tomato: Honeslty, I believe ‘Malik-pretty’ is one of those standard nicknames Mariku gives Malik *muses* oh well. You can’t honestly say ryou and Malik betrayed Yuugi and Atemu. I mean, they were about to kill a possessed guy that really isn’t that bad and a guy that is just too… cute in a twisted kind of way. Yes, Mariku like this is cute in a twisted way *nods* Oh, and you really need to be online more! Haven’t seen you in ages!

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Ugh, I just had my first 2 days of college… one of those days actually being today for which I had to get up at freaking 6am. °sighs° I need a college closer to home… like, in my backyard… Anyway, school’s rather boring to me sof ar. For those of you who are actually interested, I’m going translator English/Dutch, Dutch/English study. Dutch being my motherlanguage and English being the language I think in, I’d say I have a fair shot at it. I’m guessing I’m bored so far cuz they’re going over grammer and dude, I have never once applied a single grammer rule to my work. Somehow gut feeling is more accurate.

Well, enough of my rant and let’s get to what you actually wanna read. Holy crap it’s the second last chapter people! Yes, there is only one more chapter after this! Fear it! This chap was a bitch to write as well what with it having an actual fight scene – which I suck at – and all, so excuse me if it doesn’t live up to people’s expectations. The little bit of sanity I have was leaving me as I tried to write this and although I take great pleasure in being mostly insane, that little bit of sanity is needed to convince people I’m a cute helpless little girl which is rather handy from time to time. Well, have fun with the chapter and R&R folks!

P.S.: Ignore my title v.v I’m out of ideas for this chap so anyone who can think of a better one is welcome to suggest it.

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--: 15 :-
Endgame

// No… Way… // It was about the only coherent thing Hikari could bring himself to say. The thought that whatever it had been that had possessed Bakura might not have come from a different world was no where near his mind anymore. Something like this couldn’t have possibly come from the world they lived in.

Atemu stared at the being with a similar look of disbelief to what the entire group currently wore, before shaking himself out of the shock that had momentarily frozen him up, “Well, missing it will at least be hard.” He grumbled, still staring at the huge creature that seemed to smirk at that instant as if hearing him. To be honest it wouldn’t even surprise him; the creature’s ears were quite big so no doubt he could pick up on sounds very easily.

“I am Zorc, surrender now or I will annihilate those who oppose me.” Shadow magic emanated from the being in large waves, all the soldiers and thieves that had been trying to get as far away as possible falling to the ground in an instant, souls gone. The small group looked on in shock at the ease this was done, knowing for a very certain fact now that this creature was beyond powerful.

Hikari finally shook himself back into reality again and glared at the being before him. Big and powerful or not, this was the thing that was truly behind everything that had happened. He had been using Bakura and Mariku as puppets to get to their realm, and he’d be damned if he was going to stop fighting now. // Never! I’d rather die than give up! // he growled dangerously but it seemed to have no effect. Zorc merely gave a humourless laugh.

“Then prepare to die, foolish mortal.” Another wave of shadow magic cascaded over them and only because they themselves were capable of using the magic now being used against them were they able to resist the enormous power. Atemu glanced back at his Priests, using his own magic to make sure nothing would happen to them even if it would cost him more of his own magic that way. Aside from Seth and Mahaad, every one of his priests held a Millennium Item, but none but he himself used it often enough to be able to defend against this kind of power. He glared back at the creature, “What do you want with this world?!” he demanded, not particularly interested in the motives behind the being’s actions, but trying to stall for time as he searched for a possible weak spot.

Zorc gave him a malicious grin, “Because it’s more fun here. I come from the realm where your items belong to. Your father was the one to create those items out of greed for more power. The moment those items were created it gave me a chance to look into this world, to observe. That fool Bakura was the only survivor of the slaughter that needed to happen to create the items, and it was very easy to tell him anything I wanted him to believe once I gained enough strength for that.” He gave another humourless laugh, “Humans are so easy to manipulate when they’re alone and scared.”

A low snarl was heard and everyone glanced back to see Bakura glaring at the shadow creature in fury, russet eyes burning with anger, “You,” he didn’t seem to be able to say much more in his current anger, but both Atemu and Hikari decided in one glance at each other that for the time being, they were not enemies. Bakura seemed to be more angry at Zorc than he ever had been at either of them, so joining forces would probably be best for now.

“Bakura,” Atemu called out, the white-haired thief turning his furious gaze on the him, “I suggest a truce until we deal with this.”

There was a long pause where Bakura merely stared, before getting up, ignoring Ryou’s protest, “I don’t like you, and I doubt I ever will.” He spoke, his voice level and not betraying any of the anger he was so obviously feeling, “But I loathe that thing at the moment, so for now I’ll agree to that.” He gave one glance at Mariku, who grinned and nodded in agreement as well.

Atemu nodded once before turning back to Zorc, “Then I suggest we all work together.”

Zorc, obviously having heard them, laughed at their futile attempt to destroy him, “You puny mortals are no match for me! Die!”

In the next few moments a large blast of shadow magic was aimed at the group that quickly scattered to avoid the hit. Each tried to fire back, in an attempt to at least hurt the creature, but Zorc merely laughed, letting another wave of magic roll over them all. Most of the Priests, now unprotected by Atemu, fell to the ground in pain, though their experience with the magic kept their souls where they were, whereas anybody else’s would’ve been consumed by the shadows. Atemu growled, putting more power into his attack, but the only thing he accomplished was a slight scratch.

Hikari, who had quickly managed to get Ryou and Malik away from the first blast, directed his attention briefly to his two once more shocked friends. // You need to hide as fast as you can. I can’t keep protecting you like this. // He gave a pleading look at the two who nodded, quickly backing away. Hikari concentrated for a moment, forcing some of his own magic to form a barrier that would protect the two. They probably wouldn’t get very far right now, but at least like this they were out of immediate danger and protected from the waves of magic that rolled over them every so often.

He turned his attention back just in time to see another large blast coming his way. He easily dodged it, using his speed to get to where Atemu was standing and firing a blast together with the other. Still, not much more than a scratch was made and both doubted Zorc would be very bothered by it.

Another wave of magic, one much stronger than the ones before this times, knocked them to the round, this particular wave seemingly having been aimed at just them. A blast was aimed at them instant after that, though before it could be fired, Bakura and Mariku shot a blast of their own to stop it. With Atemu and Hikari knocked the ground it would’ve been hard to dodge that blast, and Bakura did know they would all have to work together to win, no matter how much he hated to admit it to even himself.

He gave Atemu a mocking look, “What’s wrong, Pharaoh, tired already?”

Atemu glared back at him and instantly got to his feet, Hikari following suit as they quickly dodged another blast. He suppressed the urge to punch Bakura for now; that could come at a later time.

The fight continued, wave after wave of shadow magic now aimed at particular people, knocking them to the ground before blasts of shadow magic were fired. The High Priests, not nearly as trained in the use of their items, could barely even hit Zorc, let alone do any actual damage. On top of that, the amount of magic they could use was far less as well, leaving them quickly exhausted. Atemu, Bakura, Hikari and Mariku were faring better, hitting Zorc on multiple occasions and after some time actually managing to make a decent hit while all working together, but the limit to Zorc’s power seemed to be non-existent and their own reserves had already been drained from the fight before.

Zorc, apparently getting bored with the fight after all that time, released another powerful wave of magic, this one aimed in all directions like the first ones had been. Atemu’s eyes widened, his attention instantly being drawn to the six people who would no longer be capable of resisting the pull of the shadows if the wave were to hit them.

In an instant he focused his magic to form a barrier to protect his friends, feeling Hikari react just as fast in the same way. The wave hit just before the shield could fully form and both watched in horror as both Shada and Karim were thrown back violently, the others falling unconscious as some of the magic still seeped through the shield. Not quite sure if he wanted to know for certain, Atemu tried to sense if they were okay, only to feel no souls in Karim and Shada’s bodies any longer, though the others seemed to relatively okay.

Two of the people who had counted on him to protect them, that had trusted him and had put their lives on the line for him were gone. True, he and Shada and Karim weren’t the closest friends he’d had on his counsel, but he still respected them greatly and didn’t want anything to happen to them. For the first time he knew remotely what Hikari must’ve gone through for the past weeks, though he knew he was only feeing a portion of what the other had felt.

He turned furious eyes onto Zorc, feeling Hikari do the same though since he had even less of a bond with the two, his anger was still controlled. It was probably a good thing too, since anger was an emotion that could easily throw the other’s magic off to a point where it would hurt him like it had done twice already.

“He’s going down.” Atemu growled lowly, eyes burning with an angry fire that could nearly match the one Bakura had held after waking up to Zorc’s words. He focused his power once more for another blast, vaguely sensing that Hikari, Bakura and Mariku did the same, before drawing power from reserves he didn’t he know he had and firing.

Four blasts combined and for a moment Zorc seemed surprised at the amount of power. The blasts hit together, actually managing to throw the huge being back a few steps as he lost his balance. Then he regained his balance, a trail of blood trickling from a small wound on his chest. He glared at the four still fighting, now angry that they had dared to make such a wound.

“How dare you mortals!” A violent wave of magic washed over them, throwing them all backwards as if they were nothing more than leaves in the wind. Zorc glared at the remaining people resisting him, deciding that instead of simply killing them and being done with it, he wanted them to suffer now. No one should even touch him, let alone wound him. These mortals had done both, so they would pay.

With one quick look around he spotted the two he’d wanted to use from the very moment they’d been captured. He knew at least three of the people opposing him would suffer greatly if anything happened to those two, and through Hikari, Atemu would definitely suffer as well. It was quite obvious the two were close, so if one hurt, that foolish bond would make sure the other would hurt.

With one quick motion, Zorc stood over where Malik and Ryou were hiding, a malicious grin on his face. Before the two could even start trying to get away, he grabbed the two in one hand, his grin widening at the protests coming from the two.

Bakura, Mariku and Hikari’s eyes widened in shock, instantly springing back to their feet and firing blasts at Zorc in an attempt to make him let go. Their shots were met with mocking laughing, Zorc barely being scratched by the scattered blasts.

“Because you dared to attack me, your friends will pay the price.” Pained screams came from Malik and Ryou as Zorc tightened his grip more, loving every cry that came from the two. He laughed maniacally, too busy enjoying his torment to notice the sudden increase in power as Bakura, Mariku and Hikari seethed in anger.

Bakura’s eyes narrowed in rage, russet turning darker as he gritted his teeth. Mariku had a similar reaction, his child-like composure completely changing to one of a seriousness he’d never shown before. Hikari growled dangerously, his posture tense and ready to attack at any time. His magic flared around him, the anger making it lash out, though with the object of his anger so close-by, it seemed the chaotic magic was focussing completely on hurting Zorc instead of hurting whatever was around.

Although all had different reasons, the same thought went through all their heads; no one touched either of those two and got away with it without going through an amount of pain that made Hell seem like a pleasant place.

Atemu rose to his feet as well, anger still surging through him and only increasing at the current sight. Hikari had gone through hell when Mariku and Bakura had kidnapped Ryou and Malik, and at that point he hadn’t even been certain if the two were being hurt or not. Seeing them in a position like this was definitely not something he wanted to put the other through.

Zorc, finally noticing the sudden increase in power, glanced away from his victims in shock. He could see the shadows around them moving chaotically at a speed that screamed of an enormous amount of power. His eyes widened as they fell on the small group below where the power seemed to come from, his grip slacking on the two he was holding.

Malik, shaking his head for a moment to shake the pain-induced haze, looked around blearily to see all the signs for a huge attack. He snapped out of the daze completely, also noticing that the grip Zorc had on him and Ryou had considerably loosened. He instantly started to struggle, hoping to every god he knew that Zorc would be too distracted to notice until he’d manage to get loose. Zorc had lowered his hand the instant he’d noticed the attack but even though jumping was probably not going to be the most pleasant experience, staying there would be far worse.

As Hikari, Atemu, Mariku and Bakura charged a huge attack and Zorc just stood in stunned shock, Malik managed to get loose, pulling Ryou with him and instantly jumped down without giving himself time to rethink the action and talk himself out of doing it.

Zorc snapped out of his shock as he felt the two he’d been holding getting away, looking down just as power surged from the small group on the ground, shadows moving even faster and more chaotically than before, before a blast was fired that even Zorc wouldn’t be able to stop. Zorc instantly switched his attention back to the blast, trying to hold it back with all the power he had, but the increase of power had simply been too much and the blast cut through every defence he put up.

With one big explosion everyone was thrown back to the ground harshly, smoke enveloping the battle field. Everyone coughed, trying to see through the smoke what had happened through the smoke. As it lifted, the shadows around them became thinner, quickly seeming to vaporize into nothingness. As the smoke completely cleared and sunlight once more spread over the battle field, there was no longer any sign of Zorc, the giant creature having completely disappeared together with the shadows he’d brought with him. Atemu looked around, making sure the blue demon was really gone and hadn’t just found a way to hide himself. “I… think he’s gone…” he slowly rose to his feet, still glancing around.

Hikari groaned for a moment before getting up too, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness he felt before quickly looking around in slight panic, // Where are Malik and Ryou?! Are they okay?! // he winced slightly as the leftover emotions made his magic lash at him, though with his magic as drained as it was there wasn’t much it could do.

“They better be.” Bakura got to his feet too, “If that thing hurt Ryou I swear I’ll follow him to wherever he just went and do far worse to him than what we did just now.”

“And Malik-pretty too!” Mariku jumped up, looking around in a similar panic as Hikari, “Malik-pretty can’t be hurt!”

Atemu and Hikari gave a slightly confused look, before shaking it off as well as they could. Atemu glanced at the fallen Priests, sensing if they were okay and gave a slight sigh of relief at finding them still unconscious, but otherwise fine. He looked over at Hikari with a smile, “We saw them jump, go look for them while I check on them.” He pointed over to the Priests. Hikari gave a nod before rushing off, Mariku close behind him and Bakura following at a more leisure pace. Atemu shook his head before walking over to Seth, who was just waking up. Although his cousin had no item of his own, he spend so much time around him that his defence against Shadow Magic was probably better than any of the other Priests’

“You do realize you’re lucky to still have a soul, right?” Atemu crouched down next to the other who gave him a slight glare, “Way to thank me for coming to help you.”

“And a big help you were.” Atemu rolled his eyes before grimacing, “Karim and Shada didn’t make it.”

Seth’s eyes widened as he pushed himself up, wincing slightly at the pain the action caused, before looking over to find the two Priests in question. He grit his teeth in anger as he saw them, “And that thing?”

“Gone, though I doubt we killed him. I think we just hurt him enough to send him back to the shadow realm. He’ll need to start all over getting here again.”

Seth gave a stiff nod, eyes still trained on the two bodies, “Good.” There was a pause before he looked back at Atemu, “We’ll… need new members on the council, “ he scowled at his own words.

There was another pause before Atemu glanced back in the direction Hikari had taken off in, “I might… have an idea for that.” He watched as Hikari and Mariku stopped and crouched down, no doubt having found Malik and Ryou, though he couldn’t see a reaction. Bakura joined them not long after.

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Hikari bolted over to his two friends the instant he finally caught sight of them, Mariku following right behind him. He gave a concerned look as he stopped right in front of the two, // Guys? //

Malik let out a grown, “My body… hurts.” He looked up at Hikari, “Please tell me that magic of yours can heal?” Ryou just gave a groan that seemed awfully pleading to Hikari’s ears, and the lion let out a sigh.

// Sorry guys, it only helps to heal me faster but I’m sure Atemu won’t mind if you stay at the palace. He can have his healers take care of you. //

Mariku pouted, “But Mariku wants to take care of Malik-pretty!” He received a swat to his head as Bakura arrived.

“idiot, we live in the middle of the desert. How exactly were you planning on taking care of anything? Besides, you let any pet you have die within no time.” He smirked slightly at the sulk he gained as a reply before crouching down next to Ryou, “Are you alright?”

Ryou nodded slowly, “Yes, though I’m staying away from Malik from now on.”

At the protest Malik gave Hikari smiled, knowing that if his friend could loudly yell at someone he wasn’t that hurt. The protests only grew louder as Mariku ignored everything that had so far been said and pulled Malik into his arms, grinning happily as Malik tried to get away but failed miserably.

“Damnit! How many times do I have to tell you not to do this!” Malik scowled at his look-alike but Mariku merely gave him an innocent grin.

“Until you actually mean it.” Malik opened his mouth to protest again before catching the somewhat pointed look Ryou threw at him and sighing, stopping his struggling, “I hate all of you.” He sulked, nonetheless somewhat reluctantly leaning against Mariku. Mariku’s grin widened happily as he cuddled Malik closer.

Hikari looked hesitantly between his two friends before sighing, // Okay, so Malik really is in love with the guy who kidnapped him… What am I going to do with you guys?”

Malik grinned, “Love us, feed us, never leave us.”

// You do realize you’re in love with the guy that’s tried to kill me multiple times and will possibly continue that, right? //

Malik paused, glancing over at Mariku for a moment before hesitantly answering, “Ryou’s right, that huge blue thing was influencing him.” he then gave his look-alike a glare, “And he’ll stop trying to kill you if he intends to keep me here.”

Mariku nodded all too happily before pausing and cocking his head as he looked at Bakura. “Are we?”

Bakura stayed silent for a moment, glancing at Ryou, then at Atemu who was approaching. He got to his feet as Atemu arrived, giving the other a look-over. Atemu raised his eyebrow at the sudden piercing look but stayed silent until Bakura spoke. “Do you plan on ruling Egypt like your father did?” His gaze stayed searching as if looking for any kind of lie when Atemu would speak.

Atemu narrowed his eyes at the other, “My father was a power hungry tyrant. I have never and will never be like him. Whatever Zorc’s been telling you over the past few years is most likely all a lie except for the fact that my father ordered the attack on Kul Elna, which I guess was your village.”

Another silence fell as Bakura obviously tried to determine whether or not Atemu was lying or not, before giving a grudging nod, “Fine, I’m probably never going to like you one bit, but I’ll stop attacking.”

Atemu gave a nod, “Good, because I have a proposal for you in light of new events, and you still wanting to kill me would be a very bad thing.” He glanced back at the priests in the distance, seeing Seth trying to wake up the three still unconscious, “Karim and Shada, two of my High Priests, got hit by a wave of Shadow Magic when they weren’t able to protect themselves anymore.” He grimaced, anger once more showing on his face, “They’re soulless and nearly dead.” He let out a sigh and looked back seriously, “Which means that I need two replacements that know how Egypt works.”

Bakura rose an eyebrow, “And you want me and Mariku?” He gave a sceptical look, “Why would you want us; we’ve been trying to kill you.”

Atemu rolled his eyes, “For one, the people of Egypt trust you. Most of them wanted you to win this war. That’s the main reason I’m asking; if you two replace them it’ll be like there’s someone the people trust keeping an eye on me. The second would be that you have a good understanding of what the people actually want. A third is your knowledge of Shadow Magic. There really are more than enough reasons, and although I have no doubt that we’re going to clash a lot, politically it’s my best choice. On top of that, I’m sure it’ll set your own mind at ease if you can influence what happens to Egypt .”

There was another pause as Bakura briefly glanced at Mariku, the other shrugging and then happily continuing to cuddle with Malik, who was grudgingly enjoying the attention. The white-haired thief looked back at Atemu before smirking, “Deal, making your life hard at the palace will be fun no doubt.”

Atemu scowled, “I had a feeling you were going to say that.” He sighed before looking at Hikari, who was looking quite a bit hesitant about the latest development. He simply smiled at the other, crouching down to run his hands through the other’s manes, “Come on, let’s go back to the palace. I doubt you’ll be able to keep that transformation up much longer with the amount of shadow magic you’ve used.”

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And that’s that XD Only an epilogue to go and we’re all done folks. I have some loose ends to tie up after all before I can actually finish this *cough*Teana*cough* As a side note, this story was partly written cuz I there seem to be people who find Bakura an utter jerk and evil dude, but he really was just a little kid that saw the pharaoh’s soldiers kill everyone he knew. Then the only… well thing that would help him happened to be Zorc, and there we have jerk Bakura. Hope everyone got that part being practically taken from the anime.

Well, I’m off to go sleep because I only had 4 hours of sleep… tip to everyone: don’t stay up until 2am watching a movie when you have to get up at 6am ^^; not even if you’ve been waiting for that movie to be freaking dubbed for months already *glares at Death note Live Action movie* … yeah, still worth staying up for but not really advisable to pull off anyway. Yeah, I’ll just stp ranting now and let you guys get to the preview, and hopefully Reviewing!

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Preview:

“Shouldn’t she be gone by now?” Bakura commented casually towards Atemu, still distrustful of the other but for now putting that aside for some fun.

Atemu rose an eyebrow at the comment, “And why is that, Bakura?” he glanced at Teana who’s eyes had widened at Bakura’s words, her eyes seeming to plead for something he didn’t know. He frowned at that.

Bakura rose his eyebrow as if surprised, “Well I thought traitors, even if they are princesses, would be at least be banished… or given the death penalty even.”

The hall went silent and all the Priests that had already passed Atemu looked around in shock at what the thief was saying. Atemu narrowed his eyes.

“And how, pray tell, did she betray me?” The fact that Teana was looking desperate at the moment was a clear sign that Bakura wasn’t making this up.