Lacuna
Lacuna (n.) a blank space, a missing part
The dark dead end alley was bare of any life when the court finally entered it. The group of fledglings the blond haired vampire had set on them had taken away the chance the court had of cornering Yugi Moto and the other Millennium wielder. Glancing around the crate filled alleyway Isis felt like she was walking through a dream.
In the last five thousand years she had never hoped that she would see her brother again. Blonde hair, kohl lined lavender eyes that flashed red in mischief, skin the color of clay, Malik had died in the war. Yet, here he was. Human. Another reincarnation she hadn’t been able to see.
As if reading her thoughts Shada turned his blue eyes on the only female member of the court. “Isis, the human with Malik’s looks…” He trailed off trying to think of a way to ask the question without angering the priestess.
“It’s him,” Isis stated staring at the last spot that had her brother’s scent; a pile of wooden pallets below an escape ladder.
Mahado stepped closer to her. His warmth seeping through her senses like a blanket. It took everything in Isis’s power not to curl up in Mahado’s arms.
They had never created a mating bond. Too loyal to their Pharaoh even after all these years. Yet, the need of physical comfort overrode conscious thought sometimes. Mahado and Isis knew each other better than they knew themselves. It was this that allowed Mahado to know just how much Isis wanted to breakdown and cry at the moment.
“Then it is possible that the boy our Pharaoh hunts is his reincarnation?” Kamin questioned lowly.
It wasn’t a thought any of them wanted to think. That he could have been reincarnated. Isis didn’t know what would be worse: the boy being his reincarnation or the boy not being his reincarnation. A shudder slithered down the priestess’s back. If this boy was his reincarnation then a terrible storm was on the horizon.
Looking around at her fellow priests Isis prayed to her name sake that the boy only be that. A human child that had somehow gotten the Millennium Puzzle and completed it, not the reincarnation of one of the world’s most blood bathed souls. Some things where better left buried in the past, forgotten from the world’s memory. He was one of them.
Forcefully Isis swallowed the lump in her throat. “It is a possibility.”
“Then what are we doing here?” Mahado hissed. “We should continue the search. If the boy really is him we can’t just let him be. Do you want a repeat of five thousand years ago?”
Shada shook his head. “I felt no evil from the boy. Even if the boy was his reincarnation we must remember that the boy is human. Meaning we do not have jurisdiction over him, especially in this country. Memories of past lives must be triggered. If this boy is his reincarnation then completing the puzzle would have awoken them and the evil that he was along with them.”
“So you’re saying that the boy isn’t him?” Kamin raised an eyebrow. “He’s running around with Bakura’s reincarnation and Malik’s. You do remember how close Bakura and he where, correct? They nearly destroyed Khemet before our Lord got involved!”
Isis allowed her fellow priests to continue their hushed argument. Memories of a long forgotten time rushed before her eyes and before she knew it Isis was in a vision.
Dusk was settling upon the red sands. Hiding three figures settled upon a rocky dune above a small camp. The fire below slowly flickering to life as the camps inhabitants settled in to a quite night in the desert.
Isis walked closer to the three figures. Noting how small they where, mere children really. Yet, it was the voices that she recognized.
“Is this wise?” Questioned one of the small hooded figures.
A soft snort came from the figure on the left. “We don’t have much choice. It’s them or us. Their hunting us, remember thief? Do you want to go back to that place?”
Isis crouched down next to the three. She couldn’t be seen in this vision. It was only that, a vision of the past. However, some habits die hard. It had been her brother’s voice asking those questions. No, her brother had never sounded like that even as a child. It was her brother’s reincarnation. Which meant…
Grey eyes glanced over at the other two children. The gleam of gold caught her attention. The one that had spoken first wore the Ring. Hidden as it was under cloak and tunic. Bakura’s reincarnation, Isis could not help but think. And settled in the center of the small group was his reincarnation.
Smaller than even the other two Isis noted the unnaturally pale skin and bruising. Marks she recognized from far too many raids on Slavers. A quick glance at Bakura and her brother’s incarnations showed her that they two bore the marks of blood slaves.
Her lips pursed as Isis looked down upon the camp. No wonder the blond vampire had acted the way he had. They where fledglings, the three of them. Human in form maybe, but vampire in spirit. That was the only way that they would have been able to survive Slavers and escape. Fledglings where always to be protected.
Another thought passed Isis by as she listened to Malik and Bakura bicker quietly to one another. They would have regained their past memories if this was their childhood. Yet, there was nothing in their speech that revealed that they remembered. That they where reincarnations.
“’Kura says we need to make this quick. We won’t have enough energy to do this if we wait much longer.”
Isis jerked around as the words left Bakura’s lips. No. Not Bakura. Squinting Isis could faintly see the ghostly outline of the Tomb Robber standing behind the three children. Russet eyes keeping watch so that they would not be caught unawares.
What was this?
The spirit opened his mouth and this time Isis heard the long forgotten gruff tones of the Tomb Robber. “Tomb Keeper, Mini-Pharaoh, Little Thief.”
All three of the children’s heads turned sharply in his direction. None of them spoke, and Isis held her breath. Could it be that they were wrong? That none of the children where reincarnations?
No, that couldn’t be. She sensed her brother’s soul. At least one was a reincarnation.
“I know you three don’t want to do this.” The spirit of the Tomb Robber squatted down so he could be eye level with the children. “But it has to be done. Only two of you have awakened your shadows, and the puzzle hasn’t yet been completed. Meaning the Pharaoh can’t help us yet. Until his royal highness has been awakened you three are my responsibility. And I can’t help you three if I don’t have enough power.”
Bakura turned his attention on his younger look alike. “Ryou,” he said softly. “You can only feed me your energy for so long before you’ll run out. Even if you are only a fledgling, you’re my mate. I won’t allow you to die over something as simple as this. I only need to eat one, maybe two of them. Please let me do this.”
Ryou fiddled with the Ring. Swallowing slightly the young brit looked up. “What if you don’t give me back my body?”
“I’d never take your body,” Bakura said softly. “I swear on Ra I will give you back your body after this. I only need to eat two of them. Then I’ll return your body to you.”
Isis wanted to know exactly what the Tomb Robber’s spirit meant by return your body, but she never found out for she was pulled out of the vision and back to the conversation at hand.
The sudden change from crisp desert air to smog congested city nearly made Isis retch. But with an iron clad will she kept from throwing up the blood she had drank earlier. The noise surrounding her felt too loud, ringing in her ears until she was sure she was going to go deaf. None of her visions had ever had such an impact on her before.
A hiss escaped Isis’s lips as the puzzle flared white hot against her skin. The Millennium Necklace’s magik snapped and coiled around the vision she had just had. Locking it away and sealing off the connection to the four beings the vision had been about.
Isis couldn’t get another vision of the humans even if she tried. The Millennium Necklace had just blocked her from seeing their lives any more then she had moments before. The necklace could only do such a thing after a vision of the blocked persons had been seen. Meaning the necklace had shown her that portion of the humans lives just to lock her out.
No, it was more than that. That vision proved that neither the white haired human nor Yugi Moto was a reincarnation. But she couldn’t tell the other priests that. Not with the vision she just had locked within her memories by the necklace.
A gentle hand upon her shoulder brought Isis back to the real world. Mahada’s purple eyes asked if she was alright, even as he kept quiet. Smiling lightly at the magician in what Isis hoped wasn’t a grimace she explained.
“The necklace turned hot just now. It’s possibly because it’s finally been in close range with the puzzle after so many years.”
Kamin’s green eyes glinted as he touched the scales dangling from his belt. “With the puzzle and ring in one place it is not supprising the necklace reacted. The scales did the same.
“That would only happen if the puzzle was in the possession of a shaow weilder.” Mahado pointed out, still settled next to Isis. “We all know that only pureblood vampires can use the shadows. These three are not vampires.”
“No, they’re not vampires.” Kamin agreed. “But they’re not normal humans either. At least one of them is a reincarnation.”
“There’s more to this then we know,” Shada growled. “Their human, yet they act far more like vampires.”
“Not to mention the way their friend reacted to the knowledge they were being stalked.” Mahado chimed in.
“We need to gather more information before we proceed.” Isis said softly. Raising one of her slender hands up to the millennium necklace Isis couldn’t help but think, I can’t see their past or futures. Is it because they are wielders of the millennium items? No, that can’t be it. Something is going on. Something the gods are not permitting me to see and these humans are right in the middle of it. “We can’t do any more here. Let us return to the manor and start contacting the courts spy network.”
Green eyes turned on Isis. “You cannot see the information we seek.”
The hand touching the millennium necklace lowered. “No. I cannot.”
On the other side of Domino Joey, Marik, Ryou and Yugi lay panting in the storage room of Kame Game Shop. The four of them had run through the underground all the way to Magnolia Antiques, one of the many back entrance for smugglers and thieves into the lower city. Luckily it was only a few short blocks from the game shop and freedom.
Solomon Moto, the owner of Kame Game Shop, didn’t say a thing when the three teenagers and vampire burst into his shop. He merely nodded in their direction and went back to helping his startled customers. Joey knew the store would be closed shortly. Solomon didn’t take any chances when it came to the Hikari. For bad or for worse Solomon would never let the events that took his grandson from him in the first place happen again.
Joey turned his hazel eyes onto the three teenagers slowly ketching their breath as he heard Solomon thank his last customer for shopping with him. “Do you think they could have been after you because of who you are? Or what you are?”
“There’s never been an inkling of doubt in my mind that one day we’d have to worry about Vampire’s finding out about us. Either from him or from something we accidently do.” Marik sat up and looked over at Joey. It seemed he had been made the spokes person of the group.
A frown settled on Joey’s lips as he tracked the elder human around the shop. It was worrying, knowing that the Pharaoh’s Court had gained an interest in the Hikari. If the Court had found the Hikari did that mean he might have found them as well? Moneybags had made sure that every angel had been covered when it came to keeping Marik, Ryou and Yugi safe, going so far as to adopt them into his family. No one in their right mind would hunt the three of them.
Yet, that was exactly what happened.
Hazel eyes glanced over the three Hikari. Noting the flashes of red in the two pale skinned humans eyes. A shiver ran down Joey’s back at the thought of what would have happened if the Nameless Pharaoh and the Tomb Robber had gotten involved. Everything Seto was working toward would have been shot to hell.
The Pharaoh and the Thief King would both have set their sights on Domino. If the people of Domino where lucky there would be a city for them to come back to. Neither the Pharaoh nor the Thief King would stop until they dealt with a perceived threat. Or, Joey couldn’t help but think, take Yugi and Ryou with them by force back to Khemet. But that was a lesser chance in the end. Hikari where Hikari, and the three of them would be perceived as a threat first, potential replacement mates second.
Something Marik had said finally registered in Joey’s 180 year old brain. Once more dousing the vampire in shards of worry.
“Yah think he might have tipped them off to flush you out?” Joey asked quietly. Solomon stood just outside the door listening intently to the conversation. There was no need for the vampire to talk any louder than he was. They didn’t need to tip off their enemies after all.
Marik brushes off Joey’s worry. “If he wanted us he would have came after us long before now. This is different,” Marik frowned, “I just don’t know why.”
“I’m still going to tell Seto about this.” Joey warned standing to take a walk around the house. His instincts where a bundled mess in his stomach and Joey didn’t like that. The last time his instincts had reacted in such a way he had met the Hikari, and the dozen rouges chasing after them like they were Christmas dinner.
Stepping out the door Joey became even more frightened when the three Hikari didn’t argue with him.