twinpharaohs | [Locked: April, Bakura/Malik] Dominion Trip!

April was glad to be back in the real world. Though still wondered about the words that the Crawler had declared. Or the disappointment about their location from Yami.

"Does that happen a lot?"

"What? The Shadow Games ambushing me the moment I set foot in the Shadow Realm?" Yami asks. "Thankfully, no. Usually they're not so close at hand." He pushes a hand through his blond bangs, shaking his head. "It... worries me. What it said about Narmer..."

"I think your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather is the least of our problems," Yugi says quietly. "I'm more worried about what it said about Malik..."

April unfortunately didn't know who Narmer was, and only recalled a bit about Malik. "Should we address what it said?"

Yugi and Yami both nod, almost in unison. "Most of it is disconcerting," Yami said. "...Then again, I don't know why I thought it would be otherwise. We are talking about the Shadow Games, after all. They've pretty much always been out to destroy... Well. Not the world, but humanity, I suppose." He looks over at April. "If you have any questions about what went on in there, now's as good a time to ask as any."

"I really don't understand a thing about the Shadow Games. Or why those creatures were blaming you for their state. Any information you could provide to me would be nice."

Yami stops walking for a moment before beginning to pace back and forth a little.

"The Shadow Games..." he begins, trailing off before inhaling deeply and continuing, "They're... sort of a malevolent force, bent on destroying or corrupting humanity. They need people to use Their power. It makes Them stronger. They can... grant supernatural abilities to mortals. When I was alive—more specifically, when I was still a child—it was thought that the only people who had Shadow Powers were members of the royal family. Shortly before I became Pharaoh, we discovered otherwise. Eight people outside of the royal family manifested Shadow Powers.

"I knew then that Their influence was spreading, and quickly. I'd experienced the destruction They'd wrought first-hand: my best friend lost his father in one attack. My wife was orphaned during the same attack." He pauses. "That was before I married her, of course."

He resumes walking towards the Turtle Game Shop after a short silence. "As I said to the Crawler... the Shadow Games are a cancer. By the time I took the throne, it had spread far. My country and people were in danger. I vowed to find a way to end their influence. To... cut out the tumour, to return to the cancer metaphor."

A half-minute of silence later, he adds, "My efforts to do so are what killed me. I orchestrated the ritual that imprisoned the Shadow Games in that demi-plane we just visited. That's why They hate me, why They blame me... Why They wish to destroy me."

"I understand imprisoning bad things to another dimension. Clark had to banish The Scourge to a side-dimension, to protect me. And I am sure they still blame me."

"But why is their demi-plane so large? If it has been centuries since their last visits... they should be weak. Right?"

"Not just centuries. Millennia. As for the Shadow Realm, one of the reasons it's so large is because it's merged with the Spirit World. Malik figured that out shortly after he and Bakura came to Dominion. It's one of the reasons we can use it to travel from place to place quickly. Malik says geography in the Spirit World doesn't match up to geography in the real world, so it's a quick way to get places that are physically far apart from one another."

"The Shadow Powers, though," Yugi says, thoughtfully. "They travel in bloodlines. As long as people still manifest them, the Shadow Games have a way of drawing power. And with nine separate people manifesting them when Yami was alive, each of them with families... they'll have lots of descendants at this point."

Yami nods. "Including the Mutou family," he says, winking at Yugi. "Atanu probably manifested Shadow Powers when he was a teenager. After I died." He shrugs. "Bottom line, the Games had a way of drawing power, through the continued manifestation of their Powers in our bloodlines."

"Is there no way to prevent them from drawing power?" It sounded like a no-win situation to April.

Yami grimaces. "Not really. Keeping Them imprisoned is the only way to stop Them from spreading."

"It sounds so... hopeless." April fidgetted.

Yami smiles wryly and shakes his head. "It's not. That's part of the reason myself and the rest of the Millennium Spirits are back in the modern time. We're here to keep Them in check. So far, we've had only a few problems."

Yugi smiles for a moment also, but it fades quickly. "The Crawler said that They had already taken Their revenge against Malik. That's... kind of scaring me."

Yami arches an eyebrow. "Why...?"

"Because it could mean They've literally destroyed him," Yugi answers. "As in, killed Bakura."

Yami's eyes widen. "Oh shit..." He swallows, somehow looking paler than he already does. "I... really hope not..."

Catching the worry in both their voices, April gently touched their arm. "Is there any way to check on your friend?"

Yugi looks up at her. "Actually... you might be able to help us with that, April," he says, brightening somewhat. "Remember when we first met, you found out where Bakura was by using his copy of The Lord of the Rings? We could take you to see Bakura-san, his father."

Yami catches on to Yugi's idea and nods. "Would it be possible for you to find someone through a direct relative of theirs?" he asks.

((OOC: I actually have a thought for this bit... Bakura's a Seer. He gets visions the same way Doyle and Cordelia did in Angel: flashes of images and information, accompanied by intense pain and a hangover migraine, though without the same catch of needing to be half-demon. Since, in a way, he and April are both Clairvoyants, they might actually be able to speak directly to one another this time around. I can only say this is a possibility from Bakura's end, though. What about from April's end?))

"It should be. My visions tend to be clearer if I have a connection to the person in question."

((sounds good to me. gives her something to do to help))

Yugi beams at her. "Great! I was gonna take you to meet Grandpa first, but given the circumstances, we'll check on Bakura first." He stops, turning from the general southwestern direction they've been heading and instead veering back north. "Bakura's house is near the hospital, on the north end of town," he says. "When we're done, we head pretty much straight south to get to my place."

((OOC: That's the idea~! :D Also, I updated the map to show the location of Bakura's house and where April and Yugi/Yami came out of the Shadow Realm.

The journal I'll be using for Bakura is

twinviziers, just so you're forewarned :).))

"Is there anything you should tell me about him, before we enter his house?" Apri asked.

"You mean Bakura-san, or just Bakura?" Yugi asks. "Bakura prefers to go by his last name, except around his dad, in which case he goes by his given name, Ryou. He's one of the Millennium Item owners, which I told you already... the spirit sharing his body is Malik, who used to be Yami's Vizier."

Yami speaks up. "Just before he left, we found out Bakura was a Seer. He can see visions of the future. He had his first twelve visions, which every Seer gets around the age of fifteen over the space of seven days, a few weeks before he ran away. They're always about the Seer's own future, and afterwards, they never remember the visions. After that point, they'll get visions every now and then about someone else, but almost never about themselves. Malik is a Seer too, and he still gets visions, even in death. The power tends to run in families, and since Bakura is a lineal descendant of Malik, it didn't surprise me that Bakura turned out to be a Seer too."

Yugi nods and continues, "Uh... Bakura-san is Buddhist. And he's entirely aware of the fact that Bakura shares a body with Malik. He's 'clued' to the supernatural world, in other words, and also knows about Yami. He's also aware of the fact that Bakura was a Seer. After all, Bakura's first vision came right in front of his father."

"Malik is also a magic-user, and a fairly strong one," Yami concludes. "I don't know if it'll be relevant or not. He's not likely to have left any magical landmines or anything at the house, unless Bakura asked him to. Even then it's unlikely. Bakura and Malik don't have a very good relationship with one another."

"Unless Bakura was learning from him," Yugi contradicts. "If being a Seer runs in families... wouldn't the ability to use magic do so too?"

"...Yes," Yami admits. "Atskare could use magic too. That's where Malik got his talent. It's quite likely that Bakura inherited the talent from Malik as well. But we can't be sure of it."

"Relations don't always teach the young." April commented, thinking of her own mother. Who gave her up. And later attacked her. She thought over everything that Yami and Yugi had told her about Bakura and Bakura-san.

"Will Bakura-san know what I am?"

Yugi shakes his head. "Nope. He may be clued, but he's pure mortal, and Bakura's related to Malik through his mother's side of the family. His mom—sorry, 'mum'—was from Egypt, one of the last people left who was descended almost directly from one of the ancients. She died when Bakura was three..." Yugi shrugs. "Anyway, Bakura-san doesn't have any sort of supernatural senses, so don't worry about that."

"I never worry about people knowing at me. It helps at time to explore my visions." April is comfortable with who she is.

Yugi nods and is quiet for most of the rest of the way to the Bakura residence. Just as Yugi steps up the stoop and raises a hand to knock on the door, Yami halts in mid-step and draws in a sharp 'breath'.

"Well, now we know whether he was learning magic from Malik."

Yugi blinks. "We do?"

Yami nods. "There are wards around the house, anchored to its threshold. It's not Malik's work, his has a... very distinctive feel to it."

"Uh. They're not violent, are they?" Yugi asks.

Yami arches an eyebrow. "Would Bakura do that?" At an unamused look from Yugi, he says, "I'll check." He closes his eyes, the All-Seeing Eye appearing dimly on his forehead, opening them a moment later as the Eye disappears. "If we're invited in, then no."

Yugi exhales slowly, then knocks. It's a moment before someone comes to answer the door, but come to the door someone does. A man of average height, with shoulder-length, dark grey-violet hair, green eyes, and glasses answers it, smiling when he sees Yugi.

"Yugi-chan," he says. "And Yami-sama. What brings you here?"

"Bakura-san," Yugi answers. "May we come in?"

Bakura-san nods. "Hai. Of course. Come in." He opens the door and steps aside, allowing Yugi and Yami to enter. Yami pauses a bit as he crosses the threshold of the door, but only for a split second. Bakura-san tilts his head at April. "Who's your friend?" He asks.

April stares at the threshold. For the first time knowing the feeling her vampire Father and Mother would, balked by the magic runes. Needing an invitation.

"My name is April. May I join my friends inside your house?"

Bakura-san nods again. "Certainly. Come in." His voice is a light baritone, with an English accent.

Yugi seats himself in the living room, Yami taking a seat beside him. "April is the woman who found where Ryou was with his copy of Lord of the Rings," Yugi says, smiling a little and gesturing at her. "We... were kinda worried about him after a brief trip to the Shadow Realm."

"Something that was said by an Avatar of the Shadow Games gives us reason to worry," Yami continues. "It talked about having already taken Their revenge against my Vizier."

"Malik," Bakura-san says, sitting on the hearth of the fireplace. "You... think Ryou might be dead."

"We really hope not," Yugi answers. "April's clairvoyant. If Ryou's alive, we know Malik's okay. And if he's alive, she'll probably be able to find him."

"I just need a connection to him, to use my abilities." April explained, taking a seat on the couch too.

[Locked: April, Bakura/Malik] Dominion Trip!

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Explanation is WAY off from YGO! canon >.> But then, they are AU.

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