Light Amongst Shadows Part 2

It took the spirit of the Puzzle a while to recover from the sudden assault, and by the time her senses had stopped screaming at her the light had faded away and her friends were picking themselves up.

“What the hell?” Honda demanded as he picked himself out of the desks, wincing as he extricated himself gingerly.

“I dunno.” Jou’s voice echoed in her ears as she tried to pull herself together, “Oneesan?” He asked, then shifted slightly under her, concern becoming obvious as he spoke again, shaking her gently, “Oneesan? You alright?”

“F...Fine.” Oneesan spoke, opening her eyes and wincing against the headache that was forming. She moved carefully as she got to her feet, trying to work out why Imoto-chan’s mind was suddenly fortified with spells, ones that should only have activated if they were drawn into a Shadow Game.

“You sure?” Anzu asked, having pulled herself out of her own mess and helping her up.

“Yeah.” Oneesan reassured them, a horrible thought coming to mind as she registered the fact the electric lights were off and there was a dim glow coming from outside. Not sunlight but a tainted, almost omnipresent light that seemed to stretch across everything evenly.

She darted over to the window, a stream of invectives, most of which she had learned from Jou, pouring out as she worked out exactly why the spells she had cast to shield her little sister had activated.

“Okay, while it’s impressive that you not only know all those swear words, but can use all of them in a sentence,” Jou commented as he came over to look out the window, “You need to tell us what you’re seeing. We don’t have that freaky mage sight thing that the Puzzle gives you and Yuge.”

“Let me guess, you just see the sky.” Oneesan growled, frustration obvious.

“Perfect blue sky, same as it was... earlier.” Jou trailed off, noting how tense Oneesan seemed and the way something seemed to be pulsing in the air. “Oh, you’re kidding me. There’s no way...”

“Uhh guys, we have a problem.” Honda’s tone caused the pair to turn away from the window. Honda was knelt at the side of one of their classmates. Worryingly not a single one of them had stirred from where they had fallen, nor did they respond to Honda when he tried to wake them up.

“It’s that light, right?” Anzu asked, “That’s what’s caused this?” She gestured around the devastated classroom and their fallen classmates.

“It wasn’t just light.” Oneesan tried to explain, “There was magic in that wave.” She paused, confusion obvious, “I know how I resisted it, but how are you three awake?”

“Uhhh, I have no idea.” Jou glanced at the others who looked just as uncertain.

“Damn,” Oneesan tensed up as she wheeled around to face the door, where a certain white haired, brown eyed, smug looking teenager was leaning against the doorframe, “I was hoping this was all your fault.”

“Bakura no Oneesan.” Yugi’s older sister scowled at the other Millennium spirit, “I was just thinking the same thing.”

"If you're not at fault, then I don't have time to play your games today, your highness." the Thief King scowled, "Not with that," she gestured out of the windows, "going on." with that she turned to leave.

"Bakura." Oneesan winced and Bakura scowled as Yugi appeared out of thin air.

"What do you want?" Bakura asked, watching the girl carefully, wondering if she was aware of how uncomfortable it made Oneesan when the pair of them had a civil conversation.  

"You've been around a long time. I was just wondering if you've ever seen anything like that wave of magic before." Yugi replied, trying to ignore her elder sister's low growl as Bakura moved further into the room, pondering her question.

"No." Bakura admitted slowly, "But I can guess why we're standing and they," she signaled their class mates, "Aren't.”

“Oh?” Jou asked, not entirely sure if he trusted the spirit of the Millennium Ring. At times she was a dangerous adversary, while at others she could be a trusted ally. It all depended on her mood. She seemed to be on their side more often than not though, so he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. At least for now.

Bakura just shrugged and turned to Oneesan, “I don’t have time to play ‘what do I have in common with the twerps’ and neither do you. Whatever’s going on isn’t our fault, which means…”

“Someone else is controlling the Shadows.” Oneesan had already gotten to that point and nodded her agreement of the assessment, “But I thought you needed a Millennium Item to do that.”

“Not necessarily.” Bakura shook her head, “But again, I’m not gonna explain it to you. Just don’t get into trouble.”

“Bakura…” Before Yugi could finish her sentence the other item holder had left, leaving the group just as confused about what was going on as they had been before.

“Okay first off, this is creepy.” Honda looked around the classroom, “And secondly who thinks she’s hiding something?”

“Honda. One word.” Jou snorted, “Duh.”

“Well I’m going to find out what’s caused this.” Oneesan paused as Yugi let out a soft sigh and waved her hand in front of Jou’s face. When she got no reaction from her friend, she gave Oneesan a sheepish smile and vanished back into her soul room. “And if I have to chase Bakura halfway around the city to do so, so be it.”

“Well, I don’t know why we’re awake, but I don’t fancy sitting on my thumbs while you do all the work.” Jou smirked at her, “So lead the way.”

Oneesan opened her mouth, shut it again, shook her head in amused frustration, “No point even telling you guys to sit tight anymore, huh?”

“Nope. So let’s get going.” Honda snorted, “I’m supposed to have a date this evening and she needs to be awake for it.”

“Oh yeah.” Jou grinned as they followed Oneesan to the lockers and pulled on their outdoor shoes, “You finally talked Miho into going on a date with your mangy butt. I dunno, I think we’d be doing the girl a favour if we left her sleeping through it.”

“Hey!” Honda snapped, “Can we just get this latest crazy over with?”

“Yeah yeah.” Jou waved it off before looking at Oneesan, “So, oh fearless leader B, where’re we going?”

Oneesan’s eyebrows raised at the ‘B’ comment, but did not comment on it, instead gazing outside and scowling at the Shadows that seemed to encase the city, even if the others couldn’t see it. “I want to find out where that red light came from.” She informed the others, “Once we know what’s been cast, we might be able to break it.”

“And if we can’t, we beat up the bad guys till they fix it, right?” Jou asked, pounding his fist into his palm. Oneesan’s vindictive smirk was answer enough. “Well then, off we go.”