The Path of Vengeance

A/N: I know it's taken me forever to update this. Chalk it up to r/l. But here's 32 and I can assure you that 33 is well on its way to completion. Thanks for sticking around!

Oh yeah...don't own, don't sue.


Chapter 32

The night was as dark as any he’d ever seen, the heavy clouds blocking the moon, offering only brief moments of pale light to shine down. Ryou shoved his hands in his pockets and pressed on, determined to make it to Duke’s apartment before it got too late. The stop at his house had offered nothing but added stress and chaos as the voice of his father had cheerily informed him of his return from India that coming weekend. Ryou couldn’t even begin to imagine how he would be able to keep a normal front with his father, let alone account for the weeks he’d been out of school, his new hair color, and his haggard appearance. He’d erased the message with a sigh, along with over a dozen others from the school headmaster and various telemarketers.
On the way to the Black Clown Game Shop Ryou tried to regroup his thoughts. He knew without a doubt that if he did not find Yami there that Duke would be able to point him in the right direction. Again and again, much as he had done repeatedly since hearing Bakura’s tale, the raven-haired teen weighed and went over everything he had learned since finding his dark. On one hand he knew that his boyfriend as well as Bakura came from a time very unlike this one. But was that any excuse for Yami’s behavior? Or Bakura’s? Both were in the wrong yet their pasts, while not justifying their actions, offered some level of understanding for their choices.
It was a never ending fight. Ryou knew that Bakura was a part of him that he could never deny or part with. But in the past few weeks Yami had come to mean that much to him as well. Bakura had Marik. He wasn’t alone and never would be. But who did Yami have to turn to now that Yugi had denied him? Yami was alone in a world he never made bound to live a life of solitude based upon his ancient past.


Duke sat at his dining room table, reports and paperwork spread over every inch within arm’s length, when the doorbell rang. He knew it wasn’t Joey because his boyfriend had a key and would always let himself in. He moved to the door and peered curiously through the peephole. His eyes widened in surprise to see Ryou on the other side. Unlocking the deadbolt, he opened the door. “Ryou, come in. Why didn’t you call? I would have come to pick you up.”
Ryou offered his signature soft smile as he stepped inside. “I didn’t want to be a bother,” he replied in his usual selfless manner. “I just came by to see if you had heard from Yami.”
Duke nodded. “He’s in the guest room, asleep.”
A breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding blew past Ryou’s lips. “Thank the gods. May I see him?”
“Of course. Second door on the left.”
“Thank you.” Ryou stepped down the hallway and knocked softly on the door.
“Enter,” a groggy voice replied several seconds later.
The teen carefully pushed open the door and stepped into the complete darkness, closing it behind him. “Yami?” he said.
A pause. “Ryou?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” The sound of blankets rustling filled the room, temporarily breaking the silence as the former pharaoh rose into a sitting position. After a moment Ryou spoke again. “I, um, heard what happened. Yugi told me.”
Yami’s eyes closed briefly. He had fully expected that his lover would have heard the news already but it was still disheartening. “How is he?” he asked.
“Upset,” Ryou replied honestly. “But he is not alone. Malik is with him.” He purposefully did not disclose Marik and Bakura’s whereabouts.
“…and you?”
“I’ve been better,” the teen answered honestly.
“Ryou…”
“…yes?”
Yami cleared his throat. “Am I correct in assuming that Bakura has revealed what took place?”
“Yeah, he did,” Ryou whispered.
A tense moment passed as Yami struggled for the words, ANY words that would come to save him from his past. “I am not that person any longer, Ryou. I hate myself for what I’ve done. I understand if you hate me now as well.”
Ryou stepped closer, sitting gently on the mattress at Yami’s feet. All of the words, all of the pros and cons that came to his mind on the way to Duke’s house were suddenly nonexistent. He’d known Yami for a long time and never had the former pharaoh been anything but honest, caring, and trustworthy. But was lying by omission the same as lying outright? He found it impossible to put himself in either Bakura or Yami’s position due to the fact that he wasn’t an ancient Egyptian incarnate embodied in present time. “I don’t hate you Yami. I meant it when I said I love you.”
Yami lowered his head, unruly strands of hair covering his face. “I love you, Ryou.”
“I don’t know how I feel about everything now, Yami,” Ryou admitted, his voice cracking. “But I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything,” Yami replied, cut to the quick by his boyfriend’s honesty.
“Leave Bakura alone. He did what he did because he felt he had to. It was to get back at you, not Yugi.”
The pharaoh shivered, his eyes closing briefly. “I realize that. And you have my word. I’ll not touch Bakura.” The words, difficult before to say to Yugi, were even more complicated now. For now he had lost his light.
“I’m sorry about what happened with Yugi,” Ryou said. “I know he’ll come around eventually. He’s very confused right now.”
Yami sighed. “This whole situation is my fault. Somehow I’ve got to find a way to set things right again.”
Ryou knew that there was no way that his boyfriend would be able to reverse the damage caused both by Bakura and himself. Suddenly he was very tired. “I should probably be going,” he said, rising to his feet. “You need your rest.”
“Gods, I love you, Ryou,” the spirit said brokenly. “I completely understand if you don’t want anything more to do with me but I want you to know how much you mean to me.”
“Goodnight, Yami,” the teen replied, his tears barely held behind his eyelids. He stepped outside the door, pulling it closed softly behind him. A pale hand brushed away the wetness that slid down his cheeks as he made his way back into the living room.
Duke looked up as Ryou entered the room. “How’d it go?” he asked quietly.
Ryou shook his head. “Thank you for taking care of him,” he replied. “And please excuse me for coming over unannounced.”
A dark eyebrow rose. “Ryou, why the formalities?”
“I have to go,” the teen spoke. “Thank you again, Duke.”
Duke watched Ryou practically run to the door, a worried frown on his face. He knew that it was not his place to tell his friends how they should or should not interact with one another but sometimes he wished he could just take a two by four and give them a little assistance.


“So what now?” Marik asked, his teeth grazing Bakura’s neck as they lay side by side in Mr. Mutou’s bed.
“I take care of Kaiba,” Bakura replied, his hand toying absently through unruly blonde locks. “After that I really don’t care.”
“Can I watch?” Marik asked seriously.
“Watch what?”
“Watch you deal with Kaiba.”
Bakura raised an eyebrow. “Why in the seven hells would you want to see that?”
Marik brought his lips to the juncture of Bakura’s neck and shoulder, applying gentle suction as his hand traveled beneath the tomb robber’s shirt, eager for more contact. “I like seeing you in your element,” he replied. “And I despise that stuck up bastard.”
“My element?” the thief repeated, his other hand clenching into a fist in the quilt at Marik’s attention. The Egyptian nodded. “And just what do you picture to be my element?”
A slow smile graced Marik’s face, hidden from Bakura’s view. “How did you escape from your restraints on that plane?”
Bakura’s eyes narrowed. “I already told you how.”
Marik felt the tension overtake his lover’s body. Anyone with a fraction of an ounce of sense would have backed off, let the subject lie. But Marik wasn’t anyone. His fingers traced slow circles over Bakura’s nipple. “Tell me again. How many people did you kill to get free?”
The tone in the thief’s voice was deadly. “Three.”
A low moan escaped Marik’s lips as his fingers increased pressure. “Was it bloody?”
Bakura sat up, effectively cutting off Marik’s actions. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Marik laughed, the sound throaty and seductive. “I thought it was obvious…”
“Well I’m not in the mood. Go to sleep.”
The Egyptian’s eyebrow rose as he sat up to face Bakura. “Not in the mood? What exactly were you doing in the bathroom all that time?”
Bakura sighed. “I didn’t want to wake you up so I went out to the living room,” he explained. “I’m just not comfortable here.”
Marik’s hand rested on his lover’s shoulder. “Because of the pharaoh?”
The thief shrugged. “That’s what I thought,” he said. “But while I was out there Yugi woke up. We talked for awhile.”
“Ugh. How’d that go?”
“Not so good.”
“Why not?”
Bakura leaned into Marik’s waiting embrace. “I don’t know,” he replied. He seemed on the verge of speaking again but shook his head, sitting back up and running a hand through his hair. “It’s this fucking place,” he stated.
Marik’s brow furrowed in thought. That was a bullshit line and he knew it. It was obvious that Bakura was struggling with something. “You sure?”
“Very.”


The early morning sun was well hidden behind a patch of dark clouds when Mokuba sat up. He’d lain awake for hours waiting for Kenji to nod off in the oversized chair in the corner of his room. Picking up the guard’s dry erase board from the nightstand he wrote a short note. WENT RIDING, BACK SOON. He knew damn well that Kenji would seek him out as soon as he awoke so he didn’t reveal his real destination. Moving carefully, he slipped out of bed and to the door, his eyes never leaving the older man’s face. He crept into the hallway and paused, waiting for Kenji, Tristan, or his brother to come bursting out. When that didn’t happen he moved silently down the stairs and out the back door.


What started as a quiet knocking at the front door quickly turned into full-force banging. Yugi sat up, his eyelids heavy with sleep. He looked down at Malik who had buried his head beneath a pile of pillows in an attempt to block out the offending sound. He untangled his legs from both the sheets and the blonde’s own before standing up and pulling on his bathrobe. He moved quickly, wanting to stop the source of the knocking before it awoke Bakura and Marik who he knew would not be pleased at the disturbance.
Once downstairs in the game shop he peeked through the blinds to see Mokuba banging on the wooden planks that covered the door with determination. He disarmed the alarm and opened the door. “Mokuba! What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
Mokuba held out his hand to stop Yugi’s speech and pointed to his own ears, shaking his head. “I can’t hear you,” he spoke quietly. “May I come in?”
Yugi’s eyebrow rose. He nodded, stepping back and allowing the boy access. He led the way upstairs and sat down on the sofa, gesturing for Mokuba to do the same. When they were both seated the boy spoke again.
“I need to see Yami,” he requested.
“Yami’s not here,” Yugi immediately replied, a bitter tone to his voice. Mokuba didn’t reply. “Oh…um…” He shrugged.
Mokuba held up his hands and made a gesture symbolizing a pen writing on paper.
Yugi’s eyes lit up and he nodded. He went back to his room to see Malik casually draped across the nest flipping through channels. Paper momentarily forgotten he smiled. “Good morning.”
“You know what time it is?” the Egyptian replied.
“Early,” Yugi groaned. “Why are you awake?”
“You weren’t here,” Malik replied simply.
A blush of pleasure crept over Yugi’s cheeks. “So that made you wake up?”
Malik nodded, seemingly annoyed. “I didn’t get shit for sleep the whole time I was gone. When I did sleep it was on the plane and not at all restful.”
“I’m sorry,” Yugi said. He knelt down and kissed the older boy.
When Yugi pulled away Malik smiled, pleased that he’d felt comfortable enough to initiate the contact. “So what are you doing up so early?”
“Mokuba’s here. He’s asking for Yami.”
The bronzed teen raised an eyebrow. “The pharaoh? Why?”
Yugi shrugged, rising to his feet again and digging through his bookbag for a notebook and pencil. “I dunno,” he replied.
Malik stood up, drawing Yugi’s eyes once again as he still wore only a pair of silk boxers. “Well let’s go find out.”
The smaller teen nodded, his mouth slightly agape. Shaking his head to clear it, he returned to the living room, the sleepy and suspicious Egyptian right behind him. “He can’t hear me,” he explained to Malik, who sat in the recliner facing the sofa. Yugi opened the notebook and wrote YAMI ISN’T HERE in large print before holding it up for Mokuba to see.
The boy was obviously upset at the news. “When will he be back?”
“What the hell happened to him?” Malik questioned.
“I don’t know,” Yugi answered. He wrote again. HE MOVED OUT. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?
Mokuba thought for a moment on which version of the story to tell. The motorcycle accident, Seto’s version of the truth, or his own. His anger at his brother chose for him. “Seto tried to shoot himself,” he said with as little emotion as possible. “I tried to stop him and the gun went off right next to me. It made me lose my hearing.”
Yugi’s eyes opened wide. ARE YOU OKAY?
“No,” Mokuba replied honestly. “I need Yami’s help.”
“Help with what?” Malik asked. Yugi wrote the question and held it up for the boy to read.
“Seto is different now,” Mokuba tried to explain. “I…I don’t trust him anymore…”
“What’s that got to do with the pharaoh?” Bakura asked from behind them.
Yugi jumped at the voice and spun around, the action causing Mokuba to do the same. “Bakura…I didn’t know you were awake…”
“I never slept. What’s going on?”
“The kid was there when Kaiba shot himself,” Malik said. “Made him lose his hearing.”
“Oh shit,” Bakura replied. He sat down on the arm of Malik’s chair.
Yugi picked up the notepad. HOW DOES YAMI FIT IN TO ALL OF THIS?
Mokuba’s eyes misted over. “I think he’s going to do it again. He’s having problems with Tristan. I’m not sure why but Tristan almost left him.” Yugi, Malik, and Bakura exchanged a glance. “I was hoping that Yami could help me find a way to get Noa back.”
“He doesn’t know,” Malik stated. “Kaiba and Tristan must have kept it from him.”
“With good reason,” Yugi said. “I would have done the same thing if it hadn’t been me.” He glanced up at Bakura.
“Who the hell is Noa?” Bakura asked, brushing off the current topic.
“Noa is Gozaburo’s biological son,” Yugi explained. “He died a long time ago and Gozaburo had his consciousness implanted into a computer program.” He wrote again. WHY NOA?
Mokuba looked down. “If Seto hurts himself again…if the press finds out…then I’ll have to go back into foster care.”
“I get it,” Malik said. “If Noa is here then the kid has his security back.”
Yugi shook his head. “I don’t know if it’s even possible.” He wrote this for Mokuba.
“Sure it is,” Bakura stated. “Pegasus had found a way to do it, remember? You read the freak’s diary.”
Yugi’s eyes widened. “I had forgotten about that.” He began scribbling furiously on the paper. Several minutes later Bakura raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, kid…do you still have the puzzle or did the pharaoh take it?”
The smaller teen looked up. “I have it. Why?”
“It can heal him. Fix him.” He nodded toward Mokuba.
“But…I wouldn’t know how…”
Bakura shrugged. “I do.”
Yugi looked to Malik who nodded slightly. He held up one finger for the benefit of Mokuba and went back to his room, pulling the puzzle from its resting place in the drawer of his nightstand. All of his willpower went into holding out the object to Bakura.
Sensing the teen’s apprehension Bakura shook his head. “Just hold it over him,” he instructed. Once the puzzle was in place, dangling above Mokuba, he stood up and moved to the sofa. “Malik, tell him not to move,” he instructed.
Malik picked up the paper and wrote. After several seconds of studying the scrawls on the page Mokuba nodded. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Bakura raised his hands, one hovering on either side of the puzzle. The room grew darker as Malik and Yugi watched on with interest. Malik could see the glow of the Millennium Ring beneath the thief’s t-shirt as he drew upon its power. Several long minutes later Mokuba inhaled sharply, his hands clenching into fists at his sides, his features contorted in pain.
“Bakura…” Yugi said hesitantly.
“Don’t,” Malik warned. “Keep the puzzle still.”
The teen did as he was told, the cord holding the object growing cold.
Suddenly Malik bolted from his seat, colliding with his dark and tackling the frantic yami to the ground. “Stay still,” he ground out.
“What the fuck is going on?” Marik gasped, the wind knocked out of him from the impact. He’d been in a deep sleep when all of a sudden his senses were flooded with shadow energy, waking him immediately. It took about a half a second for him to notice Bakura missing before he’d bolted for the living room, only to be restrained by his light. He looked up to see Bakura standing over the younger Kaiba, a mass of shadow energy swirling around him and Mokuba as well as Yugi, who stood next to the pair dangling the puzzle over the boy.
“Just stay still and shut the fuck up,” Malik replied.


Miles away in Duke’s apartment Yami too was jarred from sleep by not only the faint scent of shadow energy but more so the knowledge that someone was drawing the energy from HIS puzzle. After a few seconds of sleep-induced disorientation he lunged for the door.
Both Duke and Joey were sitting at the kitchen table sharing breakfast before Duke went off to work when the former pharaoh burst frantically into the room. “Yami?” Joey said. “What’s wrong?”
“Yugi,” Yami managed. He ran for the front door and pulled it open only three inches before the chain lock stretched to its maximum. He tried again. “Let me out!” he yelled.
Duke snapped out of his shock and rushed to his friend’s side. “Yami,” he said gently, taking his arm and tugging gently but firmly. “Come on, sit down. Everything’s okay.”
“Let me go, Devlin,” Yami snapped. “Let me out.”
“Joey,” Duke called. “Help me get him to the couch.” The two were barely able to pry the Egyptian’s hand from the doorknob. Finally they wrestled him to the sofa, Joey behind him, pinning his arms back. “Yami, calm down,” Duke pleaded.
“Call the house,” Joey said, the strain of holding the pharaoh down evident in his voice. “Yami, Duke’s gonna call Yugi…you’ll see that everything is okay.”
That seemed to relax Yami in that he was no longer kicking but still fought against Joey’s hold.
Duke picked up the phone and dialed the Mutou household. The phone rang eight times with no answer. He braced himself as he cradled the receiver. “There was no answer,” he said.
Yami doubled his efforts. “Release me!” he commanded.
Duke knelt down next to the sofa, out of range of Yami’s kicking legs. “Listen,” he said. “You know that if you go over there it’s just going to cause more problems.”
“I don’t care,” Yami snapped. “Someone is using my puzzle.”
Joey’s eyes widened. He looked at Duke. He mouthed one word. Bakura.
Duke’s jaw tensed and he stood up. “Joey you stay here with him. I’m going to drive over to Yugi’s place on my way to work. I’ll call you.” He made it sound as casual as possible.
“See Yami,” Joey said. “Duke’s going to go over there. If anything were wrong, and I’m not saying there is, but if so he’ll call us from his cell phone and we can be there in less than five minutes.” Yami didn’t respond. “Go,” Joey said to his boyfriend. “And…call Ryou. Ask him to come over here. He’ll be able to calm him down.”
Duke nodded. “I’ll call as soon as I get there.” He picked up his briefcase and left the apartment, carefully locking the door behind him.


It took several minutes for Mokuba’s head to clear once Bakura had reclaimed his seat on the arm of the recliner. But once it did he was amazed to realize that he could hear again. Sounds that had for so long gone unnoticed were suddenly noted and appreciated for what they were. Bakura’s heavy breathing, Marik and Malik’s hushed conversation from the hallway, the sound of cars driving by in front of the game shop. “What did you do?” he asked in an awed whisper.
“Can you hear me?” Yugi asked gently.
Mokuba nodded. He looked up at Bakura, tears in his eyes. “Thank you,” he breathed.
“Sure, kid.” He held out his hand to Marik. “Like we were saying,” he went on, eager to take the spotlight off of himself. “Pegasus found a way to bring his dead wife back using the Millennium Items and your brother’s technology.”
Mokuba’s eyes widened. “He did?” He looked at Yugi. “Would that work?”
“I don’t know,” Yugi replied.
The boy stood up, his mind reeling with possibilities. “Thank you,” he said. He turned to Bakura. “And you…thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Mokuba made a hasty exit, eager to get home. He jogged through the streets of Domino until he arrived at the estate. He punched his security code into the panel on the side of the guard station and the gate opened, allowing him access. When he opened the front door he could hear his brother arguing with Kenji.
“I assigned you one task. ONE. Keep constant watch on Mokuba!”
“Mr. Kaiba, he’s been through severe trauma. Rebellion is to be expected. He probably waited until he knew I was asleep and snuck out.”
“Don’t speak to me like I’m some commoner off the street. I want him found NOW. Your job depends on it.”
“Seto, stop.” Tristan’s voice was now in the mix.
“Don’t tell me how to act with my own staff,” Kaiba snapped back. “Find him, Kenji. Find him now or you’re fired.”
The sound of a door slamming shut was next. Then Tristan spoke again. “I’m sorry,” he said. “He’s just not himself lately.”
“I know, Mr. Taylor,” Kenji replied. “I’ll find Mokuba, don’t worry.”
The boy could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. He quickly ducked into the coat closet and remained there until the guard had left the mansion. He then crept from his hiding place and up the steps, coming to a stop outside of his brother’s room. He pressed his ear to the door.
“Seto, calm down.”
“I will NOT calm down. This is inexcusable. Do you realize that this makes the second time Mokuba has disappeared in the last few days? With his handicap anything could happen to him. He could be hit by a car, he could be abducted. No. I most certainly will not calm down.”
“Kenji has given up a lot to help us, Seto. Don’t take it out on him.”
“He knew what he was in for when he applied for the position.”
Tristan almost laughed. “He knew that his boss would shoot himself and permanently injure his brother forcing him to stay here night and day for weeks on end? He has a family too.”
Silence.
“I told you to stop bringing that up.”
Tristan exploded. “What the fuck do you expect? Hiding from it won’t make it go away!”
“I have no reason to hide from anything.”
“Oh, is that right? Well if you have no reason to hide then why did the six o’clock news announce that you were in a motorcycle accident?”
“Shut up, Tristan, before you say something else that you’ll be sorry for.”
Another break in the conversation ensued before the door was wrenched open, nearly causing the younger Kaiba to topple into the room.
“Mokuba!” Tristan cried. He pulled the boy into a fierce hug. After a deadly glance behind him at the CEO, Tristan led Mokuba into his room. He picked up the dry erase board and wrote. ARE YOU OKAY?
Mokuba very nearly answered him. Then thought better of it. There was something going on in his house. Something that neither his brother nor Tristan would admit to. Smiling, he nodded. “I’m sorry if I worried you. I just needed some time to think.”
Tristan wrote again. IT’S ALRIGHT. JUST PLEASE, LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU’RE LEAVING. I DON’T WANT TO FORCE YOU TO STAY HERE BUT I’D LIKE TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.
“Okay, Tristan.”
The teen offered him a tired smile. I’M GOING DOWNSTAIRS. ARE YOU HUNGRY?
“No,” Mokuba answered. “I think I just want to read for awhile.”
Tristan nodded. He gave the boy another hug before leaving the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
Mokuba wasted no time. He sat down at his desk and opened his laptop computer. Within only a few minutes he had the address of Maximillian Pegasus’ vacation villa where the latest news reports indicated that he was staying. Tucking the printout into his pocket, he stood up, closing the computer. He went downstairs to the kitchen. “I’m going to the library,” he stated.
Tristan sighed, replacing the coffee pot to the burner. He knew he couldn’t keep Mokuba at home forever. He nodded slowly.