Part Two - Labyrinth

Yu-Gi-Oh! Kingdom Hearts
Part Two
Labyrinth

I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately…
Like…
Is any of this for real… or not…?

Someone somewhere up there in the heavens had to have no life to think that torturing tomb robbers was something worth doing.  Admittedly, though, Yami Bakura supposed he should have seen it coming, especially when Cid said he had a spare gummi ship that they could use.  The “ship” looked like a gummy too… it was the same colors as those annoying gummy bears Marik fed to his hikari one day.  Damn, sugar-high inducing gummy bears…

“Love you, yaaaaaamiiiiiiii!”

“Hikari, you’re sugar-drunk.  Go away before I kill Marik.”

Yami Bakura grinned slightly at the memory, before growling under his breath.  Look at him, turning into a sentimental fool; the people who knew him back in his thieving days in Egypt would be turning over in their graves… if they still had them.  With another snarl, he threw the pack of supplies he was carrying into the ship, before hopping up and sitting on the lip of the cockpit.

He was starting to question his sanity.  After all, he did not just go off and agree to help worlds he had never seen with two people – two strange people – he had met not three hours before.  Said strange people had gone off to the homes they had in Traverse Town, packing up their own belongings for a long trip.  Lucky for them that they had belongings; all Yami Bakura had on him were the cloths on his back and that annoying Keyblade that only seemed to appear when he willed it to appear, which just freaked him out to no end.

“Excuse me, mister!”

Yami Bakura nearly fell off of his perch, looking around in surprise.

“Down here, mister!”

The tomb robber looked down to see that he did have company, in the form of two small children, a boy and a girl.  They were both wearing odd little green tunics; one, the girl, had green hair the same color as her tunic, while the other, the boy, had sloppy blonde hair covered up slightly by a foppish green hat.  Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow.

“What do you want?” he asked, sounding like he really did not care.

“Can you help us, mister?” the girl asked.

Yami Bakura just gave them a sour look… before he sighed.  “What do you need?”

The boy shot him a stubborn look, but it was the girl that answered him, “When our world was destroyed, our fairy guardians were scattered all over the other worlds.  Could you find them for us?”

“Fairy guardians…” Yami Bakura repeated in a dull voice.  “Will I know what they look like?”

The girl nodded.  “They’re really hard to miss.  They look like little balls of light with wings.  Can you find them, mister?”

Yami Bakura sighed in frustration.  “Yeah, fine.”

The girl beamed up at him, while the boy just gave him a hard look.  Geeze, what was with that kid anyway?

“Thank you so much, mister!” she exclaimed, before grabbing the boy by the arm.  “C’mon, Link, lets go.”

She pulled him off down the street, leaving an exasperated tomb robber behind.  Yeah, like he was really going to waste his time looking for fairies.  Stupid kids; whatever world they were from, they must have been raised by idiot parents.

“Hey, ‘Kura!” another voice came from below.  “Is that you up there?”

Yami Bakura leaned over on his perch again to see this time it was Sora on the ground, grinning lopsidedly up at him.  The tomb robber smirked despite himself; this kid was all right with him.  Admittedly, he was a little weird looking with those baggy red pants and oversized shoes, but the kid was still pretty cool.  He kind of reminded the tomb robber of…

Dammit, there was that sentimental fool again.

“What’s up, Sora?” he asked.  “How come you and the menagerie haven’t left yet?”

Sora grinned, laughing slightly.  “Donald said he wanted to check out the magic shop, and Goofy wanted to stock up on supplies.  And… I’ve been bored.”

The boy scrunched his face up in displeasure at that, getting a bark of laughter out of the tomb robber.  He hopped back down to the ground, landing in a crouch in front of Sora, before standing up again.

“Join the club, kid,” he replied.  “Even back home, I wasn’t having a good time unless I was doing something…” He grinned.  “Mostly that ‘doing something’ consisted of torturing a spiky-haired pain-in-my-ass.”

Sora twined his fingers together behind his head.  “Do you miss it?  Your world I mean.”

Yami Bakura considered a moment, before he shrugged.  “The version of my world that I was used to disappeared into the sands of time three thousand years ago.  I’m not exactly used to the modern world; I’m still trying to figure out the purpose behind a toaster.”

Sora blinked up at him in confusion, and the tomb robber felt like smacking himself.  Why had he just admitted that?  He had not even told that to his hikari, so why would he just blurt it out to some kid he had just met?  Probably that sentimental fool’s fault again.  Damn thing, that…

“Anyway,” Yami Bakura continued, leaning down until him and Sora were face to face, “Rikku may have been watching me through that fight, but I was watching you.  You really haven’t had much fighting experience, have you?”

Sora blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head.  “Not really… just sparring with sticks on my island, that’s all.  Though, the Riku I know is quite good.  He’s knocked me flat more times than I care to remember…”

The tomb robber just smirked.  “Wanna be better than him?”

~.oOOo.~

Edward yawned as he approached the ship Cid had lent them to travel to other worlds.  Over his shoulder was a simple sack, carrying some extra potions, a change of clothes, and the small repair kit Winry had all but shoved down his throat prior to that last – futile – attack on the Heartless before his world was destroyed.  He sighed at the memory, wondering if she or Al or Colonel Mustang survived.  Hell, even Major Armstrong would be a welcome sight, and that guy freaked him out to no end.

He tossed his sack up into the ship, just as a clanging sound reached his ears.  Blinking in surprise, he walked a ways out of the hanger the gummi ship was docked in, to witness a sight that nearly made his jaw drop.

Sora and Bakura were sparring against one another, though if Ed did not know any better, he would have thought for sure that they were after each other’s blood.  The two of them were so focused that they did not even blink as they slashed at one another with their Keyblades, small sparks of energy zapping out into the open air each time they clanged together.  Bakura suddenly swept low in a deadly arc, aimed directly for Sora’s legs.  Ed nearly shouted in surprised, when the thief king slowed down his swing at the last moment, merely tapping the smaller boy’s legs.

Ed blinked, dumbfounded, as the two of them started laughing.

“You’ve gotta work on protecting your legs more, kid,” Bakura said, grabbing Sora around the neck and mussing up his hair.  Sora flailed a bit, laughing the whole time, before the thief king let him go.

“Well, I should go and find Donald and Goofy now, ‘Kura,” Sora said, starting to walk off, waving back to him.  “See you again, and thanks for the practice.”

Bakura raised a hand in goodbye as well.  “Later kid.  Careful out there.”

Sora disappeared around the corner as Bakura walked back toward the hanger, his Keyblade slung over his shoulder.  He grinned as he passed Ed, who still had a befuddled expression on his face.

“What are you lookin’ at, shorty?” he asked, patting him on the head.

Ed just growled as Bakura laughed evilly.

~.oOOo.~

Atemu jumped, reaching out and just barely grabbing onto a small floating island as it passed.  He grunted as he pulled himself up, not wanting to even think of what would happen if he fell into that expanse of nothingness below.  Rolling over as soon as he pulled himself up all the way, he lay stretched out on his back, looking up at the empty sky above.  He had been climbing like this for what seemed like hours now, and he was nowhere near to finding anything that even remotely resembled civilization.  Hunger and thirst were starting to set in, and while he knew he could live without eating anything for a while, he also knew he would not last very long without water.  Right now, though, rest was a really good idea.

Blearily, he glanced around at the island he had ended up on.  It was just like all the others, except that this one had a gnarled, dead tree barely clinging to it.  On that tree, to the pharaoh’s great surprise, was the first sign of life he had seen on this desolate world.  It was an owl, a jet black owl, something he had never even heard of, not to mention see before.

As Atemu watched it, the owl hooted a few times, before taking off in a rustle of wings, leaving a feather behind…

~.oOOo.~

The meeting room was silent for once, as only the woman in the midnight robes was there, sitting on a throne that had once belonged to someone else.  She watched as, in a magical projection before her, the two Keyblade bearers went their separate ways; one, off to Wonderland, and the other… the other heading off to a place just as – if not, more so – confounding.  She smiled slightly, an action that brought a chill to the room, as her raven cawed softly.  If the three of them survived the perils of the Labyrinth, it would be a miracle indeed…

Just then, a black owl flew into the room, landing before her softly.  She looked down upon it, a delicate eyebrow raised.

“How goes things on your world, Zareth?”

The owl hooted once, before it suddenly started to change.  Wings became arms and hands, claws became legs and feet, and feathers smoothed out into skin paler than the moonlight as the owl became a man.  Feather-soft black hair surrounded an almost inhumanly handsome face.  He looked up to her from his kneeling position with mismatched eyes – one blue, one brown.

“Lady Maleficent,” Zareth began, “things are going better than expected.  My minions have already isolated the Lady Sarah from the Goblin King.  There is no doubt in my mind that she is one of the ones that you seek.”

Maleficent stood up from the throne, reaching out for Zareth to stand.  He did so, his leather cloak sweeping about his darkly clad form.

“I assure you, Zareth,” she said in a low, cruel voice.  “Once you deliver Sarah to me, you will be calling no one else on your world a king…”

~.oOOo.~

Yami Bakura sighed in relief, grateful to be back on solid ground after that treacherous ride though the space between worlds to get to the place they were at now.  He had not counted on the Heartless having their own gummi ships as well, and had to endure a ride that not only had his stomach flipping around and around, but joggled his brains as well.

“Where the hell did you learn to fly like that?” he demanded, shakily standing up from the spot on the ground he had landed on as Rikku walked up to him from the swirling green thing that had appeared.

“My father, Cid,” she replied, pouting a bit.  “He was… is a great airship pilot.”

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes as Ed joined them.  Geeze, did everyone have a sob story?

“Anyway,” he continued, nodding to the green light they had stumbled out of, “what the hell is that green thing?”

“That’s a Safe Point,” Ed replied.  “On worlds without docking bays, like this one, this’ll take us back to the ship.”

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes again.  “Right.  Okay,” he replied, before looking around at the world they had arrived in.

Behind them was a simple, Victorian style house, the kind one would have expected to find in America on the tomb robber’s world.  That was the only normal looking thing in sight, however.  Before them, beyond the high hill they stood on, was what could only be described as a labyrinth, with high walls crisscrossing, leading to dead ends or along a path to a forest.  Beyond the forest was a desolate junkyard, and beyond that was a barely visible city surrounding a castle.  Ed whistled, impressed.

“This is one hell’uva world…” he muttered.

“I’ll say,” Rikku agreed.

Yami Bakura’s gaze drifted away from the sight of the labyrinth, down to the entrance at the base of the hill.  There was something down there… something darkly colored…

“And it also has Heartless,” he stated, pulling his Keyblade out of nowhere before taking off at a run down the hill, Rikku and Ed not that far behind him.

The three of them plowed into the swarm of Shadow Heartless at the base of the hill.  Yami Bakura sliced through a collection of them just as the earth next to them spiked up suddenly.  He turned in surprise to see Ed a ways behind him, kneeling down with his hand pressed against the ground.  A soft light surrounded his hand, lancing out to the raised earth.  He did not have much longer to look, as another Shadow Heartless aimed for his head, but he had to admit… that kind of alchemy was impressive… in a good way.

It was not long before Rikku’s daggers sliced through the last of the Heartless.  Yami Bakura leaned against his Keyblade, wiping the sweat off his brow.  He had never fought his way through that many of anything, human or otherwise… okay, so he refused to admit he was out of practice…

“What were they after here?” Rikku asked, looking around.

Yami Bakura looked about as well.  Other than the large double doors off to the side that led into the labyrinth itself, there did not seem to be much of anything there…

There was a shout of surprise, followed by a loud thud.  The tomb robber and the blonde girl whipped around to see that a… something had landed on top of Ed, who had been leaning against a gnarled tree.  The creature was small and gnomish, and dressed in a simple white shirt, and brown pants and vest.  If the jewels that were dangling from the creature’s belt were any indication, it was probably some kind of troll, possibly the gatekeeper to the labyrinth.

A smirk tugged at Yami Bakura’s lips; he could not resist…

“Looks like everyone’s above you, shorty.”

Ed growled threateningly.  Rikku shook her head, muttering something in another language under her breath, before walking over and helping the troll get back to his feet.  The troll brushed her away once he was back on his feet, grumbling to himself.  He paused a moment, giving all three of them a critical look.

“What d’yeh want?” he demanded.

“You’re welcome,” Yami Bakura replied dryly.  Rikku pouted at him, before turning back to the troll.

“We’re here to help against the Heartless,” she answered.

The troll scoffed.  “We dinneah need any help against no Heartless,” he snapped, hobbling over to a small patch of grass.  He moved the grass about, revealing a small, shining key, which he picked up and dropped in his pocket.  “We have more importen’ things teh worry about.”

Yami Bakura shrugged as the troll hobbled over to the entrance to the labyrinth.  “You heard him.  They don’t need help, so lets go.”

Both Rikku and Ed gave him a nasty look.  Rikku stalked over to him, and before the tomb robber knew it, he was being dragged along the ground by his hair.  He struggled, swearing profusely as Ed followed the two of them, clutching his sides in an effort not to laugh out loud.

“Oui'na naymmo yh eteud, oui ghuf dryd, Bakura?” she asked, coming to a halt at the double doors, where the troll was trying to unlock them.

“Yeah, whatever you said,” Bakura grumbled as the troll fixed the three of them with an annoyed look.

“I thought yeh was goin’ home,” he stated.

Ed crossed his arms cockily.  “We said we were going to help, if not against the Heartless, then with whatever it is that is wrong.”

The troll glared at the three of them as Yami Bakura managed to get Rikku to let go of his hair.  He scrambled up to his feet as the creature’s expression finally broke; he slumped his shoulders slightly and leaned against the double doors.  If he were human, it probably would have looked like he aged a few years in those few short seconds.

“Aye, very well then,” he grumbled out.  “Better help from someone then expectin’ his highness to help find her.”

“Find who?” Rikku asked, crossing her arms behind her head.

“Miss Sarah.”

~.oOOo.~

Zareth growled under his breath, tightening his left glove about his hand and wishing he had something to break other than the irritating doorknockers he was standing near at the end of the Labyrinth’s twisted hedge maze.  Bad enough he had had to humiliate himself before that damned witch, but now upon coming home, he had to discover that his minions had made no progress in capturing Sarah?  It was beyond intolerable, and someone was going to die for it.  The thrall that had delivered the news to him seemed like a good candidate.  He grabbed the creature by the throat, lifting it up to his eye level and ignoring its plaintive cries.

“Where was she last seen?” he demanded in a low, cold voice.

The thrall’s eyes were wide with fright.  “Th-the wraiths think she took refuge with the fireys in their forest.”

Zareth scoffed, throwing the miserable creature away from him, before whirling on the rest of his dark creatures.  They all took a step back, fearful of his wrath, as well they should be.

“Is it so hard to deal with fireys?” he snapped.  “Just throw their heads away and they won’t bother you.  Now get moving!  I want that girl in my grasp before nightfall!”

The various minions of darkness scrambled, heading through the door with the knocker in its mouth and into the Firey Forest beyond, the door slamming closed behind them.  Zareth waited until they were all gone with strained patience, before he turned himself into a black-feathered owl and took to the air.

From behind one of the hedges that led to the end of the hedge maze, Ed and Rikku breathed a sigh of relief at not getting caught.  Yami Bakura just rolled his eyes before following the troll – who had identified himself as Hoggle on the way there – up to the two doors.  The tomb robber pressed his hand against the one the dark creatures had disappeared behind, trying to push it open, as Hoggle shook his head.

“Only Sarah would be crazy enough to get protection from those things,” he grumbled.

“Are they that bad?” Rikku asked as her and Ed joined them.

“Yes,” Hoggle replied, before glaring at Yami Bakura.  “Just knock.”

The tomb robber sweatdropped, grabbing the doorknocker.  “I knew that.”

Everyone rolled their eyes as the tomb robber knocked twice; the door swung open instantly, revealing a forest so thick and exotic, it looked more like a jungle.  The creatures that had disappeared through before were nowhere in sight as the four of them filed in, the door slamming shut and disappearing behind them.  Hoggle looked around twice, before motioning the humans forward, stepping cautiously and keeping one eye on the ground.

“Hoggle, who was that guy?” Rikku asked, her voice quavering slightly in fear as she looked about nervously.

Hoggle scoffed.  “That was Zareth, his majesty’s twin brother,” he replied sourly.

“What’s his damage?” Yami Bakura asked, sounding like he did not really care; but he had to admit, he was a bit curious.  Hoggle gave him a look, but responded anyway.

“He’s more powerful than ‘es brother, but more reckless an’ more of a hothead,” he explained bitterly.  “That’s why Jareth got the throne once their father pass’d on.  That dinneah set well with Zareth, and he tried to kill his majesty.”

“What happened?” Ed asked, looking around in slight trepidation.  Other than their conversation, it was far too quiet…

“He was caught, obviously,” Hoggle replied, pushing some ferns out of his way.  “Jareth didn’t wanna kill his own brother, so he exiled ‘em.  For years, things were okay, but then Zareth came back, and he brought hoards ‘a dark creatures as well as the Heartless with ‘em.”

Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes.  “He controls the Heartless?”

Hoggle just shook his head, however.  “It looks like they only listen to ‘em because it’s in their best interest ‘ta.”

Ed was about to ask him something else, when a wild shout came from above him, and before he knew it, he was eating dirt.  He raised his head, only to have it shoved down again as the whatever it was that had landed on him used it as leverage to vault back off of him.  The alchemist finally scrambled to his feet just as more of the creatures appeared.  They were bright red and lanky, almost as if a good gust of wind would make them fall to pieces.

The creatures were just about to pounce on them when a shout came from above them:

“No, stop!  Hoggle’s with them!”

Yami Bakura looked up as the creatures stopped in mid-pounce to see a young girl, probably no older than his hikari, slowly making her way down from a tree she had been hiding in.  She was dressed in a modernized poet’s shirt, beat up blue jeans, and sneakers that had seen better days.  Her long brown kept getting tangled in the branches, and when she stopped to untangle it, she lost her balance and fell.  The tomb robber raced forward, reaching out and grabbing her before she hit the ground.  He grunted under her weight – she was a lot heavier than she looked! – but managed to keep his own footing.

“You all right?” he asked, setting her on the ground.

“Yes, thank you,” she answered, brushing her shirt off, before rushing over to Hoggle.  She knelt down, enveloping the troll in a tight hug.  For his part, he seemed quite embarrassed, but patted her on the back anyway.

“Sarah, what’r yeh doing, hiding in with this lot?” he asked once they had parted, pointing rudely to the red creatures.  The creatures, which could only be the fireys, just gestured back just as rudely.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” she apologized, “but I couldn’t find you, or Sir Didymus, or Ludo.  I wasn’t about to go to Jareth, so I came here.”

“We’s protect’d her better dan you!” one of the fireys mocked.

“Oh, shut up!” Hoggle snapped, before turning up to Sarah.  “We best be going.  Zareth knows you’re here, and will prob’ly come any minute.”

Sarah nodded, standing up straight.  She patted one of the fireys on the arm, whispering a thank you, before the group of humans and Hoggle headed off.  The fireys shouted after them, waving and bopping their own heads off of their shoulders.

“You be’s careful, little lady!”

“Come an’ chilly down anytime!”

“Yeah!  An’ bring your friends too!”

Yami Bakura gave Ed and Rikku an exasperated look.  “I think I’ve seen everything.”

The two of them just grinned as they followed Sarah and Hoggle to the other end of the forest, where a high wall stood.  Neither of them saw the snowy white owl, perched up high on a tree, watching them intently…

~.oOOo.~

His knees buckling was his only clue before Atemu suddenly found himself eating dirt.  Coughing weakly against the dust, he turned his head about, only to see even more of the endless expanse around him.  Was there no end?  Had he escaped the destruction of his world, only to end up on a world that had already been destroyed?  It was not fair!

Somehow, he managed the gather the strength to steady his legs and return to his feet.  He looked down at the now useless Sennen Puzzle dangling from about his neck, swearing as he almost ended up on his face again; he needed to find some kind of civilization, and now.

As if in answer to his silent demand, the hazy mists before him cleared, revealing a large castle in the distance.  Atemu felt his heart leap in his chest; finally!  Where there was a castle, there had to be some kind of life within!  True, the broken heart symbol on the face of the castle did not look quite uninviting, but he did not care at that point.  He needed food and he needed rest.  Once he had those things, then he would worry about where he had ended up and what he was going to do from there.

Forcing his legs to cooperate, he sprinted forward, jumping and latching onto the next floating island on his way to the castle…

~.oOOo.~

Rikku and Ed reached out, both of them grabbing one of Yami Bakura hands and hauling him up over the edge of the wall.  He shot them a reprimanding look for helping him out like that, but they ignored it, not letting got of him until he was steady on the ground.  The tomb robber would have to chew their ears off for it later; he hated getting help for something he could do easily from anyone.  Right now, they had more pressing matters…

“Hey,” he began, shrugging the two of them off and following Sarah and Hoggle as they made their way to the other side of the wall, “where exactly are we going anyway?”

“To th’ Goblin Castle,” Hoggle answered.  Sarah gave him a betrayed look, and he quickly added, “It’s the only place ‘ere that hasn’t been touched by Zareth or Heartless.”

Ed suddenly made a strange noise of surprise, running in front of everyone.  Rikku followed his gaze, and ended up joining him at the other end of the wall, gazing out at the scenery below in surprise.

“Is that it?!” they asked at the same time, practically gawking.

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes, not even bothering to look.  Castle, palace, keep; you see one, you have seen them all.  At least this gave him an excuse to make fun of Ed…

“Oy, shorty, I’m surprised you’re tall enough to see out so far.”

Anger veins popped up all over the back of Ed’s head as Rikku sweatdropped, backing away from the impending explosion.  The vertically challenged alchemist whirled on Yami Bakura, gnashing his teeth in anger.  He took a threatening step toward the tomb robber, and he braced himself, waiting for the alchemist to attack him, but it never happened.  The angered look suddenly disappeared from Ed’s face, and he took a step back, his mouth open in surprise.

Yami Bakura whirled around as the others shouted their surprise as well, calling his Keyblade to his hand, only to have it knocked to the ground by a black blast of something.  The tomb robber held his hand in pain, looking up at the person that had been responsible for the attack.  Zareth stood on a thin overhanging tree branched, so easily balanced one would have thought he was standing on a wide sidewalk.  He smirked down at them, his focus lingering a bit on Sarah before turning fully on the tomb robber.

“I would have thought a group led by one of the ‘almighty Keyblade masters’ would have been better prepared then this,” he sneered, dropping onto the ground and cutting Yami Bakura off from his weapon.

The tomb robber grimaced; now what?  “The hell do you want?”

Zareth held out a hand toward Sarah in answer.  She was suddenly torn away from the tight grasp she had on Hoggle, and propelled toward the raven-haired man’s waiting arms by an unseen force.  He held onto her as one would a lover, ignoring her struggles to free herself.

“Hey, bastard!” Ed shouted, starting to run toward him.  “Let her go!”

Zareth grimaced as Rikku joined the alchemist.  “So noisy…” he muttered, and with a wave of his hand, the ground opened up under their feet.  Both Rikku, Ed, and Hoggle disappeared into the stone wall, their shouts echoing in the air the only thing left of them.

Zareth smirked and turned around, only to get a face full of Yami Bakura’s fist.  He let go of Sarah, landing on the stone hard and missing the hole he created by inches.  The tomb robber shook out the hand he had used to punch him – now he really did believe it when they said the bones in the face were stronger than the ones in the hand – using his good hand to help Sarah steady herself.

“Hurry,” he urged, pushing her toward the edge that they had just climbed up.  “Get out of here as quickly as you can and don’t look back.”

She looked like she wanted to protest, but a glare from him made her decide against it.  Sarah nodded once, before making her way back down the stone wall.  Once he was sure she was gone, Yami Bakura picked up his Keyblade again, watching in mild interest as Zareth got back to his feet, his mismatched eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

“Impressive,” Zareth commented, flicking off a trickle of blood that was escaping from his mouth, “for a child.”

Yami Bakura just smirked.  “I’m no child.”

The raven-haired man let out a bark of humorless laughter.  “If not a child, then what are you, boy?”

Yami Bakura’s expression turned outright sadistic.  “I am a thief and a reaper of souls, and have been for the past three thousand years,” he answered, settling into an attack stance.  “And now that the deadweight is gone, I can deal with you without any worries.”

If Zareth was concerned with his attitude, he did not show it, and that miniscule thing in the back of the tomb robber’s head – otherwise known as his common sense – was yelling at him, telling him that it was a trap because of it.  He listened to it for a brief moment, before ignoring it and charging directly for Zareth.

Perhaps it was that pause of hesitation that had cost the tomb robber.  Whatever it was, he would never know; but all he knew was that just before he was about to tear through Zareth with the Keyblade that he was suddenly forced to stop his charge.  The Keyblade fell from his hands again, clattering to the stone ground, as Yami Bakura was lifted up into the air.  He struggled against the invisible hold that kept him aloft, glaring down at Zareth.  The raven-haired man just smirked, holding an obsidian crystal in his outstretched hand.

“Well, ‘Reaper of Souls’,” he replied.  “I do believe you are out of work.”

All Yami Bakura could hear was Zareth’s mocking laugher as the darkness of that black crystal, and the promise of unending nightmares engulfed him…

~.oOOo.~

Ed never thought he would ever desire to risk transfiguring himself.  At that moment, however, he would give anything to have three hands: the one that was holding onto the strong vine growing out of the wall, the other that was holding onto Rikku (who had Hoggle clinging to her waist), and another hand to hold over his nose.  The smell that permeated the very air of the bog they had fallen into was worst than anything he had ever smelled in his life.  It was like… Major Armstrong after not taking a shower mixed with cow dung.  It was worse than that, actually, but that was the closest he could come to describing it.

Hoggle whimpered pitifully.  “No, not this place again!  Not th’ Bog of Eternal Stench!”

“The bog of what?!” Rikku exclaimed, crinkling her nose up in disgust.

The troll growled in frustration.  “Th’ Bog of Eternal Stench!  If yeh step one toe in that stuff, you’ll stink forever!”

Ed made a face.  Smelling like this forever was definitely not on his “To Do” list.

“All right, lets not panic here,” he said, trying not to inhale.  “Hoggle, there’s a ledge along this wall.  Climb up the two of us and start making your way along it.”

Hoggle grumbled slightly, but complied, making his way from around Rikku’s waist and up Ed’s back to the ledge the alchemist had indicated.  Rikku was next as the troll cautiously made his way off to the left, nearly slipping twice on the narrow surface.  Once she was steady, Rikku helped Ed onto the ledge as well, and before long, all three of them were making their way along it.  The alchemist grimaced as he looked down at the bog below.  Who the heck ever created this place had to have something seriously wrong with—

His thought was cut short as the section of the ledge he was standing on suddenly crumbled under his weight.  He easily lost his balance, and reached out frantically to Rikku and Hoggle in an effort to regain that balance, but he knew it was no use.  This was it, he was going to stink forever…

Something furry caught him just inches above the bog.  Ed dared to open his eyes, only to see the shaggy, yet oddly benevolent, face of a monster.  A small dog dressed in a knight’s attire sat on its shoulder, waving a staff energetically.

“Ludo, catch…” the monster said, beaming as it brought Ed over to the dry ground it was standing on.

“I say, well done, my brother!” the dog on its shoulder barked.

Ed sweatdropped before he could stop himself.  He hoped Bakura was having better luck than they were…

~.oOOo.~

Pain… it came in so many forms.  The pain of loss was his ultimate reality, and in a world of nightmares, that pain was increased ten fold.  He could see it again… the burning… the slaughter… and the aftermath…  It played over and over again in his head like a poorly done recording, unrelenting, making him curl up into a ball and beg for it to stop…

Sora to daichi sono aida ni chiisana watashi tatazunderu
Me ga samereba ashita mo asa ga otozureru koto hitori inotte ita

He stirred slightly.  This voice… this song… this was familiar…

Dare no tame ni... wakaranakunatte sou, kimi to deatta

This voice… this was something that promised to take away the pain…

Namida koraete kita mou namida koboshite mo ii no?
Nee nani ga okita to shite nee kimi wa sono mama kawarazu ni
Egao no mama de ite kureru...?

He opened his eyes… and instead of darkness found himself staring at… a blue shirt?

Matataku hoshi tsukiakari mo yoru ga aru kara kagayaiteru
Hitori nemurenai you na toki kimi no negao ga oshiete kureta no

He somehow found the strength to look up.  Was that… his hikari?  What was he doing here?

Yume ga sameru koto ga nai you ni ima, tsuyoku inotta—

“Ryou?”

Ryou Bakura stopped his singing mid-verse, before smiling down at his yami softly.  Yami Bakura looked about; there was still darkness around, but it seemed quite distant, repelled by the fact that his hikari was there.  Bakura was holding onto him, letting his head rest lightly against his shoulder.  Yami Bakura reached out, holding onto his other shoulder in surprise.

“Daijoubu, mou hitori no boku,” he whispered softly, hugging him as best he could from the position he was in.  “Everything will be okay now.”

Yami Bakura blinked.  “But… how did you get here?”

Bakura just smiled, a bit mysteriously, holding a hand over the tomb robber’s eyes, forcing them to close.

“My heart is always with you, ‘Kura…”

~.oOOo.~

Yami Bakura opened his eyes again to a twilight-tinged sky.  He sat up, looking out to see that the sun was starting to set over the mountains that sheltered the Labyrinth.  Behind him was the Victorian house on the hill before the confounding maze, and all around him where the shattered remains of the obsidian crystal that Zareth had captured him in.  What had happened, that…?

The tomb robber cut that thought off as he heard the hooting of an owl.  Spinning around, he saw an owl perched high up on a gnarled tree.  This was different from the bird that he had seen Zareth turn into, however.  This one was snowy white, with a few barely noticeable blotches of gray.  The creature blinked at him, flapping its wings restlessly, as if it were expecting him to do something.

The scream that ripped through the air a second later made the tomb robber spring to his feet.  In the tree, the owl hooted again, before taking off, heading for the Victorian house.  Not hesitating a moment, Yami Bakura followed, running up onto the porch of the house and trying to open the door.  Of course it was locked, and the tomb robber kicked at it in frustration, wishing that he at least had a hairpin on him.

He was about to kick it again, hoping that he could break it down, when a thought struck him.  Before they had left, Leon had told him that the Keyblade could lock and unlock various things – it was not called a Keyblade for nothing…

Seeing no other options, Yami Bakura called the Keyblade to his hand, before pointing it at the locked door.  The tip of the weapon glowed a moment, before there came the sound of a lock coming undone.  The tomb robber reached out to the doorknob, twisting it, only to have it swing open easily.

“Now, why couldn’t I have something like this in Khemet?” he asked no one in particular, his hand unconsciously drifting down to the deck holster at his side.  If it could lock and unlock doors, could it also…?

Another scream broke him out of his thoughts, and he followed the noise up the staircase in the pristine foyer room inside to a hallway upstairs.  There were several doors, but only one had a light shining underneath.  He raced over to that one, and his hand was just on the knob when there came one last scream before everything fell eerily silent.  Yami Bakura took a steadying breath, before forcing the door open.

The only person in the child-like room behind the door was Zareth, standing before a rapidly disappearing dark vortex.  The raven-haired man had his back to him, and therefore was not expecting it when Yami Bakura whacked him upside the head with the Keyblade.  Zareth stumbled, nearly falling on top of the now nearly miniscule vortex, before regaining his balance and whirling on him.

“Bloody persistent, aren’t you?” he snarled.

Yami Bakura just smirked, unperturbed.  “Tomb robbers like me have a problem with death, darkness, and destruction: we don’t like it unless we’re the ones dealing it out.”

Zareth growled under his breath, reaching behind him and pulling out another one of those obsidian crystals from seemingly nowhere.  Yami Bakura braced himself as the threw it, ready to try and repel whatever attack was coming, when a wooden wall suddenly sprung up between the two of them, the crystal impacting harmlessly against it.  The tomb robber blinked rapidly in surprise; how the…?

“Heh… great timing, eh?  Oh mighty king of thieves?”

Yami Bakura whirled around in surprise, only to see Ed and Rikku standing behind him.  The alchemist had his arms crossed, and a triumphant look on his face.

He could not resist.

“I’m surprised.  That hole looked too deep for you to climb out of, shorty.”

Several anger veins appeared on Ed’s forehead and his lip twitched, but he managed to keep himself from exploding.  Rikku pouted, before going over and clocking Yami Bakura over the head with her fist.

“Can’t you go two seconds without making fun of him?” she demanded.

The tomb robber glared at her, rubbing his head.  “No.”

Rikku’s exasperated sigh was cut off, as the wall Ed had erected came crashing down, revealing a positively steaming Zareth on the other side.  Not wasting a second, Yami Bakura grabbed his Keyblade with both hands, using it to push the raven-haired man back.  He stumbled, caught off guard by the unexpected assault and, with one final push from the tomb robber, ended up flying out the only window in the room.

Ed ran up to the window, peering cautiously outside, mindful of the glass around.

“Now what did you do that for?” he demanded as Yami Bakura started for the door.  “He’s going to get away!”

The tomb robber rolled his eyes.  “He’s not going anywhere, pint-sized.”

Ed gnashed his teeth together.  “How do you know that?!”

He whirled on the alchemist, glaring.  “Where would you rather stage a big fight?  In here, where you can easily be cornered, or out there, where there’s plenty of room?”

Ed looked around at the room, at the various toys and other such baubles littered about… and sweatdropped.  Okay, so the thief king had a valid point… for once.  He started to follow him out of the room, when he paused and turned.  Rikku was standing by the broken window, holding a small glowing sphere in her hands, and muttering in her own language.

“Ruf luimt ra ryja drec…?” she uttered, turning it over in her hands, before exclaiming, “Oh…!  Ymm so ehvunsydeuh uh ed ec kuha!”

“Rikku?” Ed asked.  “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him in surprise, as if she had not expected him to still be there.  Laughing, embarrassed, she just shook her head, and was about to reply when Yami Bakura’s annoyed voice came from the hallway.

“What are you two waiting for, Ra dammit?!  An open invitation?!”

~.oOOo.~

The owl watched, unblinking, as those that had come to the Underground fought their way through swarms of the Heartless creatures in their effort to reach Zareth.  They were a valiant lot, it had to agree to that, even if they had been too late to save Sarah from fate.  It hooted once, a sad note, before taking off from its perch on the tree branch it was on to get a better view of the impending battle…

~.oOOo.~

Blinking away the sweat in his eyes, Yami Bakura whirled about, slicing through one of the many Heartless that were blocking his path to Zareth.  Stupid things; he thought they only listen to Zareth because it was in their best interest to.  It certainly looked like he was outright controlling them now.  He decimated another of the Shadow Heartless, leaving his path to the raven-haired man clear.  His Keyblade pointed toward him, he charged forward…

“Bakura!” Ed shouted.  “Look out!”

Yami Bakura halted his charge, spinning around to see one of the airborne Heartless heading straight for him.  He tried to raise his Keyblade to defend himself, but he knew it would be too late…

Suddenly, the tip of a spear pierced through the flying creature, causing it to crash to the ground before disappearing into darkness.  The tomb robber breathed a sigh of relief, before the shout of surprise that followed made him realize something: Ed was defenseless now.  Swearing in Egyptian, he made to run to where a horde of Heartless had surrounded the alchemist, when there was the flash of an alchemic reaction and Heartless started flying in all directions.

Yami Bakura blinked in surprise as Ed spun about, easily decimating Heartless left and right with a small sword that seemed to be growing out of his hand.  Said hand did not look like a normal hand either.  It was all metal, with the joints reminding the tomb robber of the robots in some of the corny science fiction movies his hikari made him suffer through.

“Bakura!” Ed shouted, cutting through another creature.  “What are you waiting for!?  Get to Zareth already!”

Yami Bakura grumbled under his breath, before turning and continuing his run up the hill that Zareth was waiting on.  The man had his arms crossed with a confident smirk on his face, as if he dared him to try and hit him for a third time.  He was not about to disappoint either; when he was close enough, the tomb robber leapt into the air, opting to drop in on him instead of attacking him from the front.

Zareth seemed to have anticipated that.  He pulled an obsidian crystal from behind his back, and threw it right at him…

“Not this time!” Yami Bakura shouted, shifting his position in the air as he raised his Keyblade.  With a loud clang that echoed through the night air, he smacked the crystal right back toward its owner, only to have it explode at Zareth’s feet.

Zareth went tumbling down the other side of the hill as Yami Bakura landed easily on his feet.  Rikku and Ed ran up to join him shortly after, finally finished with the seemingly endless assault of Heartless.

“Did’ya get him?” Ed asked, walking forward as if to look over the hill.  His own question was answered as Zareth suddenly floated up into the air before them, suspended on a sparkling black cloud…

…and he looked pissed.

“Scary…” Rikku moaned, taking a step back to hide slightly behind Yami Bakura.

“I… think we’re in trouble,” Ed remarked.

Zareth just snarled in rage.  “I am not about to be out done by bloody children!”

Before either of them could respond, Zareth held his arms out.  A rain of the obsidian crystals poured down on them, exploding as they hit the ground and forcing the three of them to back off.  Yami Bakura winced against the explosions, his hand drifting down to his deck holster again.

Ra… let me be right about this…

He snapped open the holster, grabbed a card, and held it up so he could see.  Good; maybe a monster with two thousand attack power would be enough to at least distract Zareth.  He held the card out before him, tapping the Keyblade against it, before tossing it above his head.

“Ghost Duke!  Unlock!”

There came the sound of a lock being undone, and the darkness of the Shadow Realm swirled about the card in the air.  After a moment, the darkness disappeared, revealing the card had turned into a decaying zombie dressed in a nobleman’s cloths and holding a thin rapier in its hand.  Rikku screamed in surprise as it floated closer to the earth, before streaking toward Zareth at Yami Bakura’s command.

“Dryd drehk'c clynean dryh Zareth,” she muttered.

Yami Bakura’s eyebrow twitched.  “Speak a language we can understand, hunh?”

Rikku balled her fists at her sides, glaring at him.  “I said that thing’s scarier than Zareth!”

“Then why don’t you just—!”

The tomb robber and the impending argument were cut off as a shout of outrage came from above.  They looked up to see that the Ghost Duke had easily broken through Zareth’s offensive, and had landed a blow on his shoulder.  Even from the distance they were at, the three of them could easily see that the skin around the freely bleeding would was turning slightly green, as if from an infection.

“Whoa…” Ed muttered.  “Bakura, what’s that sword made out of?”

“Eh?” Yami Bakura replied, confused.  “Iron, I think…”

An inhuman cry came from above, and the tomb robber suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his chest that made him fall to his knees.  Zareth had blasted through his monster with the magic of his crystals, and while Yami Bakura had not used a Sennen Item to bring it into this reality, his still felt the pain from its destruction.

“Hurry!” he shouted through clenched teeth as the card floated back down to the ground.  “Attack him before he can recover!”

Ed nodded in agreement, before slapping his hands together and slamming his left hand – the one that was not half turned into a sword – against the ground.  There was a flash of alchemy, and Ed raised his hand again, bringing up a spear along with it.  This was different from spears he had created previously though; while the handle was still wooden, it was obvious that the blade was of a different kind of metal.

The alchemist raced forward, using his new spear as a pole to vault himself up to where Zareth was floating, still trying to recover from the Ghost Duke’s attack and the magic he had used to destroy it.  He spun the spear around, and managed to get a quick stab at the raven-haired man in before he landed back on the ground again.  Zareth howled in rage, raising his arms…

“Oh no you don’t!” Rikku shouted, throwing her daggers up at him.

Zareth turned in the air to deal with the new threat, as Rikku held her hands up over her face.  A strange grid-like pattern glowed to life on one of her sleeves.

“Dress Sphere change!  Black Mage!”

Yami Bakura briefly caught a glimpse of a small dot of light traveling from one point of the grid on her sleeve to another, before Rikku jumped up, back flipping in midair.  There was a burst of light, and she vanished.  The tomb robber looked around franticly, and could see Ed doing the same out of the corner of his eye.  Obviously, this was not something that had happened before…

Suddenly, a staff appeared out of nowhere, slamming into the ground where Rikku had been standing.  It was just a simple metallic blue and gold shaft, with a complicated blue and green pattern at the top, but it was definitely a mage’s staff.  This was made even more apparent when flames suddenly shot out around it in a circle.  With another burst of fire, Rikku reappeared, holding the staff.

Her outfit had changed, however.  Instead of the skimpy outfit that she had been wearing, she was now in a less revealing dress, though it was still rather short, with long and flamboyant sleeves.  Multicolored boots now covered her legs all the way up to mid thigh, and a large pointed hat covered most of her hair.  The overall colors of the outfit where magenta and black, though the boots also sported an odd lime green.

“Time to heat things up!” she exclaimed, holding her staff above her head.  Flames danced about the tip of the staff, before she waved it toward Zareth, and the flames lanced out at him in a giant plume.

Zareth seemed to have anticipated that she would try to cast a spell like that, however.  He threw one of his obsidian crystals right into the flames, parting them enough so that they would not harm him.  Rikku was not so fortunate; the flames had blocked the crystal from her until it was too late.  The object hit the ground and exploded, sending her flying back to impact painfully against a tree.  She slumped to the ground, her staff rolling away from her.

“Rikku!” Yami Bakura and Ed shouted.  They went to run toward her, when Zareth descended, blocking off their path.  He laughed evilly, holding out a hand that was slowly rotating two of his crystals.

“This is the last stand for you two,” he sneered.  “You’ve wasted my precious time long enough.”

Yami Bakura and Ed took a step back, raising their respective weapons.  The tomb robber caught something odd on the tip of his Keyblade as he did so, however.  It was faint, but there was a red glow at the tip, like… flames…  Could it be that the Keyblade could enable him to use the same spell that Rikku just cast…?

Of course!  As a Keyblade bearer, you have to have some magical power in you!

Yami Bakura blinked in surprise.  Okay… now he was hearing voices in his head.  He knew this “hero” thing was bad for his health.  The tomb robber cast a glance over to Ed, his expression telling him that he had a plan.  Ed blinked in confusion, but he seemed to get the idea.

“This is the end!” Zareth shouted, throwing the two crystals…

“Not today!” Yami Bakura replied, spinning his Keyblade around on his finger before pointing it directly at Zareth.  “FIRE!!!”

A burst of flame shot out at the raven-haired man, catching him off guard and melting the crystals he had thrown.  The blast engulfed him entirely, cutting him off from their view.

“Ed, now!”

Ed raced toward the flames, thrusting his spear in the general direction of where he had last seen Zareth.  There was a sickening thunk, as the blade of the weapon met with flesh.  The flames cleared a moment later to reveal a horrified Zareth staring down at the spear embedded deep in his chest.  He roared in outrage as a black light erupted from the wound, making Ed and Yami Bakura back off.  The light swallowed him whole, eating away at him until there was nothing left but an obsidian crystal hovering in mid air.  The crystal rotated around once, sparkling dangerously, before exploding into thousands of fine shards.

A brief moment passed where nothing happened, before Yami Bakura and Ed both fell over, plopping down on the ground in relief.

“I hate being a hero…” Yami Bakura groaned.

~.oOOo.~

Atemu pulled himself up, sighing in relief when he saw that he finally reached the large island that the castle stood on.  He weakly shambled up the long stretch of earth, to the large double doors that stood open invitingly.  A sense of dread seemed to pierce the very air, and got more pronounced as he came ever closer to the open doors.  He ignored it though; he was too tired to care.

Just before he reached the doors, he heard the call of a bird.  He looked up to see a raven perched on one of the castle battlements, staring down at him, as if judging him.  Freaked out, Atemu started toward the inside of the castle again, only to see that a woman was standing before him, cutting off his path.  He backed off, surprised, and a little unnerved.  The woman had an angular face that might have been beautiful if she was not so deathly pale.  Robes blacker than the depths of midnight shrouded her entire form, even her head, from which curved out two horns, like a dragon’s.

“Welcome, Atemu,” Maleficent said, her voice colder than ice.  “I’ve been expecting you…”

~.oO  End Part Two  Oo.~


~.oO  Jiminy Cricket’s Character Journal  Oo.~

Saria
A green haired Kokiri girl from the Lost Woods.  She grew up with Link, and always supported him no matter what.  Even when he was older, she lent him her power as the Sage of Forest to defeat Ganondorf.

Saria first appeared in “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1996)

Link
A hero that’s been reincarnated in many ways.  This particular hero was the hero of time… or rather, will be seven years from now.

This Link first played his ocarina for us in “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1996)

Zareth
An original character created by yours truly for what was, unfortunately, a self-insert fic.  Hey, we were all beginners once.
The twin brother of the Goblin King who was denied the throne despite his obviously more potent abilities.  After gaining the loyalty of the dark minions of the Underground, he went to claim what he felt was rightfully his.

Zareth first cast his spells in “Labyrinth: Where the Heart Is… Trilogy” (2002)

Maleficent
A sorceress of awesome power.  She leads the villains who seek to harness the power of the Heartless.  She also has a purpose for Atemu…

Maleficent first cast her curses in “Sleeping Beauty” (1959)

Hoggle
The trollish gatekeeper of the Labyrinth.  He was tricked by Sarah to accompany her through the Labyrinth, where he eventually learned that friendship was more important than the fear of his king.

Hoggle first led us through in “Labyrinth” (1986)

Sarah Williams
The girl who “said the words,” and found out that her dreams were not really what she wanted.  She made it through the Labyrinth within thirteen hours in order to save her little brother and defeat the Goblin King.

Sarah declared Jareth had no power over her in “Labyrinth” (1986)

Ludo
A big furry beast that really is just a giant softy.  He helped Sarah make it through the Goblin City so she could save her little brother.

Ludo first called the rocks in “Labyrinth” (1986)

Sir Didymus
A dog knight mounted on a dog.  Sir Didymus protected the exit from the Bog of Eternal Stench, until Sarah asked for his permission to pass.

Sir Didymus led us to battle in “Labyrinth” (1986)

Jareth
The Goblin King and master of the Labyrinth.  When Sarah spoke “The Words”, he came and took her brother away, but when she said she did not mean it, he made her run the Labyrinth within thirteen hours and confront him in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City before she could have him back.

Jareth first gave us a Magic Dance in “Labyrinth” (1986)