It Was a Dark And Stormy Night

Body

Again, a big thank you to everyone who's taken the time to review *big hugs!* And yes, I completely forgot about Isis much the way none of us could remember Sneezy. (With my allergies sometimes, you'd think he'd be the one dwarf I would have remembered...)

BTW, this story is the prequel to another tale I've bworkworking on for awhile now - to quote Snoopy: "in chapter two, I tie all of this together!"

Warning for some choice language from Bakura - our favorite tomb robber does have a filthy mouth. Pegasus also paraphrases a Concrete Blonde song at one point. And the song at the end is "Baby Doll" from Dee Dee Ramone's solo album "Standing In The Spotlight." Dee Dee, Joey, we miss ya.......

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"Bakurait,ait," Ryou was saying. It was about an hour later. "You had the Eye when we got back from the island. What do you mean you lost it?"

Bakura gave his hikari a grumpy look but otherwise didn't reply. They were in the huge kitchen, talking. They weren't quite sure where Joey, Seto and Mokuba had gone. Jada was tending to the stricken Pegasus.

"You didn't really lose it, did you?" Yami added quietly.

"Bakura---" Ryou said softly. "This could be important."

"Technically, yes, I did lose it, pharaoh," Bakura retorted acidly. "To the one with the Scales and the Key. Weighing of the soul---" He snorted, holding up his middle finger to the sky. "Weigh this, whore of Anubis!" He hadn't wanted to admit to that in front of everyone, but, despite himself, he knew the pharaoh was right. It was important. Especially since it might turn out to be the way to get it back.

"Shadi?" Yami said, exchanging an apprehensive glance with Yugi. They both knew only too well what that man was capable of doing. "But he's the one who gave Pegasus the Eye in the first place. Why would he want it back?"

"How the fuck would I know?" Bakura retorted.

"And how did this other guy - Presidio? How did he get the Key?" Yugi added. "And if that's so, then why didn't he just take the Eye? Unless Shadi gave it to someone else. But why would he do that?"

"Fucking lapdog of Anubis. Who knows what that bastard would do?" Bakura grumbled.
ind ind how you speak of the gods," Yami warned the tomb robber.

"Guys, keep your voices down, please. He's asleep," Jada warned, coming in and getting a vanilla Coke out of the fridge. "Now will one of you fill me in on what exactly is going on here?"

It took close to forty minutes and several threats to duct-tape Bakura's mouth shut before they got through the whole story for her.

"Damn," she said when they finished. "This whole thing just keeps getting weirder and weirder." As she spoke, she found a teakettle in the cabinet under the sink, filled it and turned one of the gas burners on. At least the stove still lit with the electricity out. "Now what?"

"I think my aibou and I are going upstairs," Yami said. He was tired of talking about this, still feeling shaky from his near-drowning. "I have to find a way to thank him for what he did today."

"For once the pharaoh has a good idea," Bakura said after Yugi and Yami had left. "Bed sounds good."

"How can you possibly sleep with everything that's going on?" Ryou demanded.

"I said bed, hikari. Not sleep," Bakura pointed out as they left. Jada shook her head and waited for the kettle to whistle.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Jada returned to the living room, Pegasus was sitting up on the couch, holding the blanket tightly around himself and shivering.

"How are you feeling?" Jada said softly, sitting down by him and setting the cup on the coffeetable. "I brought you some tea."

"Thank you," he said softly, taking the cup. He had no idea how long it had been since he'd eaten, but he wasn't hungry. If anything, he felt slightly sick to his stomach. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until she'd brought the tea. "I didn't catch your name."

"Jada. Jada Mercury," she replied. "Pegasus is your last name?"

"Originally, no. My given name is Pegasus J. Crawford," he replied. "I switched it around. I thought Maximillion Pegasus sounded better."

She thought so, too, but didn't say as much. Instead, when he set the cup down, she got to her feet, putting her hands on his face and gently tilting his face up to hers, pushing is hair back to look at his damaged left eye. "Did the Millennium Eye they keep talking about do that?"

"No. My mother did. When I was about four or five," he said. "I -- displeased her. It was hardly the first time she'd hit me and it was far from the last, but one of the rings she wore had gotten turned around on her finger and the stone gouged my eye."

"That's horrible! What did your father do?" Jada exclaimed.

"He'd left long before that. I never even knew him," Pegasus sighed. "I can see a little bit out of it. Light and dark. Occasionally a blur of color." He closed his right eye, angling his head to look at her. "In this light, I can't see you at all. Maybe just a faint impression of white from your shirt." Abruptly, he looked away. "Forgive me."

"For what?" She sat down next to him again. "Pegasus? What happened to Cynthia? If you don't mind my asking."

"She died of a rare form of hepatitis that destroyed her liver," he replied, putting his hands back over his face. "The doctors tried everything to cure her. For four months they fought to save her, and for awhile it seemed to be working. She started putting some weight back on, started to feel better. Then she started saying she felt tired all the time. The doctors said it was normal. Three days later, I came home from work to find her pacing the living room, shaking and wrapped in a blanket, saying she couldn't get warm--" He broke off, choking on a sob. It was a moment before he could continue. "When I took her in my arms, she felt as if her soul had already left her body, that all I held was an empty shell. I could feel her slipping away from me. I panicked; I called for an ambulance, had her rushed to the hospital, but there was nothing anyone could do. Within four hours, she was gone---" He shuddered. "I remember the sky that night, full of stars and a waning moon, a poisonous garden --- I walked out under it and tried to tell myself it was for the best, it was merciful, that she was free and whole and nothing could harm her ever again. But inside I was dead. I was trapped in this shifting gray blankness, and nobody could have found me even had they cared to. I could have screamed for all eternity and nobody could have heard me. I wanted to die, but I couldn't raise my own hand to do it. Finally, I fled to Egypt, just trying to escape it, find my way out, and that was where I met the man who gave me the Eye. I thought I could bring her back with it, at least see her, be with her again somehow---"

"Oh no----" was all Jada could say. Tears had come to her own eyes.

"I could see her, but I couldn't talk to her, couldn't be with her," he said softly. "I kept thinking if I got more power --- then I didn't care. I just wanted to do something to hurt other people the way I was hurting, thinking it would make it go away if I did." He finally focused his one good eye on her again. It was lost, grief-stricken, full of tears. "Yami's right. You shouldn't help me. Not after what I've done."

"No, no, I can't--" she said, stumbling over her words. "Oh Pegasus, I'd anything to help you get her back if I could." His story had broken her heart. She reached over, taking his closest hand in both of hers, smiling softly at him even though her eyes were full of t. "I. "In the meantime, I'll be your friend."

"You---" He stared at her for a long moment, then broke down sobbing again, slumping into her arms. She just held him.

"You smiled at me and I sat down and cried
On that day all the evil in me died
I don't care what I used to do, that wasn't really me
How can I thank you?"