Darkest Powers


When they arrived at the Kaiba Manor, it was obvious that something was wrong, very wrong. The iron gate was wrought open, the bars pulled apart in a grotesque manner, as if a giant had punched the metal. Jounouchi took out his gun and cocked it. The manor was shrouded in darkness; the electricity had been cut. The front door stood wide open. No one was in sight. Where were the bodyguards? Kaiba had beefed up security after the attempt to kidnap his younger brother, hadn't he?

"What are you waiting for?" Jounouchi hissed at Mahaado, who took his time walking up to him. He calmly studied the footsteps on the stairs and the splintered wood of the front door, frowning at the mindless destruction.

"Can you make some light?" Jounouchi asked, keeping his voice low. "Do you have a wand or a staff or something, like Gandalf or Dumbledore?"

Mahaado looked at him, offended. "I told you, I am not a witch. I do not use a wand or a staff. I do not know Gandalf or Dumbledore, but I sure do pity them if they wield magic in this world." He opened his hands, palms up, and two large spheres appeared, illuminating the environment.

"Neat," Jounouchi mumbled. The light wasn't intrusive and it was soft yet strong enough to cast brightness all around. The spheres hovered in the air; one stayed at Mahaado's side and the second one floated towards Jounouchi, shining over his shoulder. The detective was sure it was only a matter of time before they would stumble upon the first dead body. He gritted his teeth. What had happened here? As if Mahaado was reading his mind, the magician said: "This is not Bakura's work. He hides in the shadows and emerges from them when necessary. Brutal violence is not his style."

"Well, it looks like they crashed this place with a tank," Jounouchi said. He entered the manor, ignoring the obvious destruction. He took a deep breath. A dark mass on the floor right in front of him - he recognized the outlines of a human body. Hurriedly, Mahaado went past Jounouchi and kneeled next to the body.

"There is nothing I can do for him," he said, voice numb. "Do you know him?" He rolled the corpse over. Jounouchi shook his head.

"It has to be one of Kaiba's new security guards. Someone took him down, effortlessly." Something else was bothering him. Why hadn't Kaiba's state-of-the-art electronic security system activated at the first sight of the intruders? Kaiba wouldn't have been so naive as to connect his system to the regular electrical grid?

"I know who did this." Mahaado's voice was low, gravely. His illuminating sphere shone upon the dead man's chest, and Jounouchi didn't need to look twice to see the myriad of stab wounds.

"Marik," he said.

"He is out of control. If he truly was here, causing all this death and violence, that means that Malik has lost his hold over him."

"You mean those two are also a light-dark combination, like the two Bakuras and Yuugi and the Pharaoh?"

"I thought you had already figured that out." Mahaado straightened himself, shaking his head in sorrow at the unknown's man death. "Malik had difficulties holding him back ever since Marik came into existence. After obtaining a physical body, it was only a matter of time before Marik would totally break free. We have to fear for Malik's and Isis' life."

"As soon as we find Yuugi, we'll go to the National Museum," Jounouchi decided. "That's the only place I can think of, where she can be."

Mahaado nodded and straightened himself. He wanted to continue, but Jounouchi stopped him.

"This manor is huge," he said. "If we have to go through each and every room, it's going to take us at least a week. I'm not exaggerating."

Mahaado looked sternly. "I can perform a search for the presence of human energy," he said. "I have to concentrate, and it is going to take some time... but at least not a week."

"Please do whatever you need to do." Jounouchi let the man's comment slide. "I'm going to take a look around."

"Very well." Mahaado crossed his arms in front of his chest, closed his eyes and sunk in thoughts. Jounouchi let him be. It wasn't like he knew how magic worked anyway. He was worried about Yuugi and opened a few doors here and there. The illuminating sphere followed him, shining over his shoulder. Jounouchi saw nothing but broken furniture, slashed paintings and pottery in a million shards. Forget about the tank, it looked like a tornado had traveled through the manor! What had Marik hoped to attain by all this senseless destruction? Jounouchi was tempted to holler both Yuugi's and Kaiba's names, but he decided against it. Maybe if he could locate the guest room...

"Jounouchi," Mahaado's voice was right behind him and he almost jumped out of his skin.

"Fuck! Don't ever do that again!" Jounouchi reaffirmed his grip on his gun.

"My apologies," Mahaado said, slightly sheepish. "I found a presence on the first floor. Follow me."

"Only one?"

"Only one, unfortunately," the magician answered, implying that anyone else in the manor was dead. For a moment, Jounouchi feared that Kaiba was also dead, and despite everything, he wasn't that cruel to wish that upon anyone, not even the CEO. Mahaado set a firm pace and Jounouchi had to actually run to be able to keep up with him. The two illuminating spheres floated along with them nicely, so they wouldn't stumble or trip as they went up the stairs. Mahaado pointed at a door, smashed out of its hinges. On his command, the two spheres merged together into one, the light spreading across the room, completely in disarray. Jounouchi had his gun out, but quickly deduced it wasn't necessary. Mokuba was lying on his side on the bed, his night clothes torn to strips, his hands tied behind his back and his ankles tied together. His naked body showed scratches, bruises and deep cuts.

"Mokuba!" Jounouchi called out his name, but the other didn't react. He put his gun away and reached for his cell phone. He had Honda's number on speed dial and called it. This wasn't proper procedure: he should be calling captain Ushio, an ambulance and the forensic unit instead of his best friend - but this was their case, and Honda deserved to know. He didn't answer his phone though, and Jounouchi terminated the call. Mahaado stepped over the broken furniture and approached Mokuba on the bed carefully. He untied him and dropped the shredded clothing to the floor. The boy didn't react. In the back of his mind, Jounouchi realized that Mahaado unwillingly -or unknowingly- was destroying evidence, the way the magician checked Mokuba all over, but the young man's life was more important now. Jounouchi asked: "Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

"No. I can heal his physical wounds," Mahaado said, "but his mind... I am afraid my powers are not sufficient to mend his mental suffering."

"Do whatever you can." Jounouchi looked around the room. Where was Yuugi? He'd been staying at the Kaiba Manor, but where exactly? If this was Mokuba's room... but Mahaado had said that he had found only one presence of human energy... what did that mean for Yuugi? His question answered itself. In the corner of the room, Jounouchi noticed a familiar brown bag in the corner. He didn't need to pick it up and examine it to recognize it. This was the same brown bag Yuugi had brought with him. Yuugi had stayed in this room!

"Yuugi," he spoke the name of his best friend, and he felt the sensation of a terrible loss. He wanted to throw up. Mahaado moved his hands over Mokuba, a soft purplish glow enveloping him. The bruises, cuts and scrapes disappeared in front of Jounouchi's eyes. He was impressed, but on the other hand, Mahaado had healed a stab wound from a Sennen Item before, so a bruise or a scrape would probably be peanuts to him.

"We should take him to the Pharaoh," Mahaado said. "He is in shock, we cannot leave him here. I..." He abruptly stopped talking. His eyes were glued to something on the floor, something amidst the rubble. His hands trembled. Jounouchi followed the direction Mahaado was looking into and he saw a notebook on the floor, half-hidden under the broken desk chair, the crumpled pages showing some kind of hieroglyphs. He reached for it and pulled the notebook from under the chair.

"What is this? Who wrote this?" Mahaado demanded to know. Jounouchi recognized the neatly drawn hieroglyphs, the schematics and layout of the nameless Pharaoh' tomb. Bile rose up in his throat at the memory of Yuugi showing him this particular notebook vividly entered his mind. Yuugi. Where was he?

"His grandfather," he finally answered, his voice also trembling. "Yuugi's grandfather." This couldn't be a coincidence. This was fate at work, wasn't it? "He went to Egypt in his younger years, as an archaeologist..."

"This is my Pharaoh's resting place," Mahaado said, not noticing he used 'my' instead of 'the', as he tapped on the notebook. "This is a holy place! What else did his grandfather write down? Has he written down his name?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The Pharaoh's name! Has he written it down?"

"I don't think so," Jounouchi said, frantically leafing through the notebook. He broke out in a sweat; the look in Mahaado's eyes was borderline crazy, something he had never seen before. He tried to remember what Yuugi had said about his grandfather's notes. "He was pretty upset that the name of the Pharaoh had been left out, and that it was a great... mishap? That only bad Pharaohs had their names crossed out, and that it was a sign of utter disrespect or something?"

He watched Mahaado carefully and was surprised to see the other heaving a sigh of relief.

"Then we are still safe," the magician said.

"Is your Pharaoh a bad Pharaoh?" Jounouchi couldn't help but ask.

Mahaado pursed his lips. "He is a wise man with strength beyond your belief," he said. "We cannot dawdle any longer. We have to go to the National Museum to find Isis."

"What about Yuugi? He was here! That's his bag!"

"It might be hard to believe, but he is safe for now. Bakura knows better than to kill the Pharaoh's light half."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Jounouchi said.

"I understand. He will be used as a bait, to lure the Pharaoh out of his safe, secured environment. Bakura has taken a great risk to get his hands on the Pharaoh's light. I am sure he has send Marik to do his dirty work, hence the destruction to the manor."

"I don't care! We have to find him!"

"Of course." Mahaado closed his eyes for a brief moment. "We have to find Isis first, though."

"Why? And what about Mokuba? We can't leave him here!"

"You asked me about flying," Mahaado said, with a devilish grin on his face that was so out of character that it almost scared Jounouchi. "So we will fly. Magus of Fantasy Illusion!"

Jounouchi should've known better by now, but he was still overwhelmed when magic was used. Bright light enveloped the room and gave birth to a humanoid creature that stared back at him as soon as it was spawned. Jounouchi's jaw went slack.

"What the hell is this!" he exclaimed, flabbergasted.

Mahaado snorted. "Please show some respect to my Kaa monster," he said. "Magus of Fantasy Illusion, obey my command!" The magus turned to Mahaado, carrying a staff indeed. Jounouchi was baffled and excited at the same time. "Now, focus on the National Museum, Jounouchi. Picture it clearly in your mind, so my Magus can take us there. Ready?"

"Ready," Jounouchi said and called up an image of the museum in his mind. The stairs leading to the entrance, the big, clunky building with the large window panes... and the next moment, his feet weren't standing on solid ground anymore. Tentatively, he opened his eyes and immediately cried out, not in fear, but in mind-blowing excitement. Domino City was under him, a night-lit city that looked pretty small from this height, and the wind blew through his unruly hair. His stomach went up and down, back and forth, but he couldn't help himself: he grinned like crazy and even spread his arms. He was flying! Next to him was Mahaado, much more controlled and calm, and above the two of them, the Magus of Fantasy Illusion, holding his staff alongside his body, the intricate tip pointing forward, as if it was indicating the direction. Far too soon, the building came into sight and they landed in front of the Museum. As soon as he hit solid ground again, Mahaado wavered and tripped over his own feet. Jounouchi was fast enough to catch him.

"Hey friend," he said, "take it easy. Are you all right?"

"It takes too much out of me," Mahaado mumbled. The Magus had disappeared. "I wish I was as strong as the Pharaoh, so I could summon a God to help me."

Even though he had just seen a summon first-hand, Jounouchi still couldn't believe that someone was capable of summoning a God. It wasn't important right now; they had other matters to attend to. The Magus had also transported Mokuba, the boy covered in bed linens, totally apathetic. "We have to find Isis fast and get back to the manor!"

"You go ahead," Mahaado said. "I need to catch my breath, and we cannot leave Mokuba behind."

"It's past business hours. I don't have the authority to go inside... if I do, I'll set the alarm off and then we'll be in trouble."

"Do not worry about the alarm," Mahaado said. "I detect a very faint presence inside the building. It has to be Isis, and she needs our help, Jounouchi. Please."

It was for the first time that he said 'please', and Jounouchi could see how exhausted the magician was. He took pity on him; despite everything, Jounouchi had started to regard him as a friend and he could see his frustration and fear, mirrored by his own.

"Stay here with Mokuba," he said. "I'll go and get Isis."

Mahaado nodded and sat down next to Mokuba. Jounouchi climbed up the stairs and just like at the Kaiba Manor, the entrance door was unhinged. He grunted. It had to be Marik's work, again. The crazed lunatic somehow had himself reined in; apart from the doors, nothing was destroyed or demolished. Jounouchi turned his head away at the sight of the body of the night guard. Such senseless killings, it made his stomach churn once more.

"Isis! Ishtar-san!" He called her name, startled by the loud echoing in the deserted museum. "Isis! If you can hear me, give me a sign!" Isis practically lived at the museum, and Mahaado had sensed a faint presence. Jounouchi agreed, it had to be Isis. But where could she be? The Ancient Egyptian exhibition, of course. Marik would've attacked her there, overwhelming her. If he had tortured her...! Jounouchi walked between the large displays. He didn't know his way around here, and it was a very large exhibition. Marik knew every nook and cranny, if he had stashed Isis somewhere in a far away corner... "Isis!" He cried out once more and stopped to listen. It was a chance of one in a million, but... he heard something. Very faint tapping. He heaved a sigh of relief. Now he only had to locate the source of the sound!

"Keep tapping, Isis!" he encouraged her, while he tried to determine where the sound was coming from. She had to be locked up in something, but he couldn't find anything large enough to store a human body in. The baskets on display were far too small and the glass hadn't been tampered with, and the other crates and boxes he saw, weren't large enough either to... and then it dawned to him. What was it that people found most fascinating about the rich Ancient Egyptian culture and traditions? The mummies. How they had enveloped their dead in intricate linens and buried them in graves with treasures and all necessities for their travel to the Afterlife. As it was, this exhibition had mummies on display as well! Jounouchi raced back to the entrance of the exhibition, only to find a number of sarcophagi. "Isis?" he all but roared. Yes, the tapping came from here, but it was getting weaker. Jounouchi cursed in frustration. Which one was it? He was running out of time! Well, he would apologize to the museum's director and curators later if necessary, there was a life at stake here! Without further ado, Jounouchi shoved the lids off of the sarcophagi, one by one. He kept calling out Isis' name, just to let her know he was still here. The tapping had stopped. His heart raced and thumped against his chest.

"Isis! Hold on!" The fourth sarcophagus was the right one. As soon as Jounouchi removed the heavy lid, Isis shot upright, tears in her eyes, gasping and wheezing for breath, her eyes darting back and forth, panic written across her face. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, clawing at him. Jounouchi returned the awkward 'hug'. "It's all right, I'm here, you're safe," he said.

"Marik... we have to stop him!" She coughed, her voice raspy and barely audible. "He's going to kill Malik!"

"Let's get you out of here first," he said.

"No, no, you have to stop him!"

"Do you know where he went to?" Jounouchi asked. She looked at him and shook her head.

"No! What have I done? I should have stopped him when I had the chance... I watched him murder Rishid, our beloved brother... I watched him take his body for his own! He is a nightmare... all his life, I tried to keep him calm, to keep him silent, if only for Malik's sake..."

"This isn't the moment to blame yourself," Jounouchi said. "Come, get out of this horrible thing. We have to leave."

"Where are we going to?" Ishizu asked. She tried to climb out of the sarcophagus, but her strength failed her. She'd been locked up in the sarcophagus for who knew how long; it was a miracle that Marik hadn't killed her right away. Maybe he had taken pity on her, or this was his weird idea of showing her mercy: instead of killing her outright, he left her in a sarcophagus to slowly suffocate to death. Yeah, that was right up his alley. Jounouchi lifted Isis out of the sarcophagus and gently helped her to her feet. She clung to him, and didn't comment on the mess he had made.

"We'll go to the Pharaoh," Jounouchi said. "We have to hurry. There's another victim, just like you, Isis. Come on!"

She hooked her arm through his elbow to keep herself upright. Her hair was a mess, the black strands stuck to her sweaty face, and her dress was torn left and right. Fortunately, she hadn't been stabbed; there was no blood visible on the dress. Together, they hurried out of the museum, back to where Mahaado was keeping watch over Mokuba. As soon as he saw Jounouchi and Isis, he straightened himself. Isis stumbled and had fallen to the ground if Jounouchi hadn't supported her. Breathing heavily, she almost dragged him down. She looked at Mahaado as if she was seeing a ghost, and Jounouchi didn't understand what was going on. The magician-priest inclined his head in a greeting. "Isis," he said. "We have to hurry."

"No, no," Isis sounded frazzled. "I cannot face him, Mahaado. I failed him. I failed my brother, I failed for so long..."

"Nonsense," he said, curtly but not unfriendly. "The Pharaoh will be happy to see you again. We really have to hurry, Isis."

"I own a car," she said. "You look tired, Mahaado. You performed a summon, did you not?"

"I had to," Mahaado said. "This youngster... his brother has been taken."

"Set." Ishizu heaved a sigh. "It is even worse than I thought."

"Your car?" Jounouchi insisted.

"Yes, of course." She pointed towards the parking lot. "It is right over there. This way, detective."



-------------------


  Chapter 13 | Chapter 15 |