A/N: Some of you have been asking "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO HOTARU!?!?!?", well, maybe not in that context, but still. Hotaru will show up, probably sooner than in my Rough Draft simply because she’s the main character and needs a bigger part. Anyways, I’d like to point out that she was taken by the very same people who’d been trying to kill her in the first place, in other words this universe’s guardians, (hint hint) so yes I’ll be writing more on what happened to her, in fact I plan on going into detail. As for Galaxia, remember she was sealed away in dark quartz, so yes she’s being held somewhere.

Lady Light brought up the fact that on a normal basis Mistress 9 would be disgusted with the way she was acting. My response is this: Yes she would be desgusted, if she wasn’t so busy patting herself on the back for how good an actress she is and how easily she’s been able to trick the gang, in other words she would be very repulsed by her own attitude if she wasn’t acting.

Alright, enough of that, enjoy the fic!!! (I’m running out of Nightwish songs! ;.;)

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#

Everything faded, gently, but still unexpectedly. Malik opened his eyes and his stomach lurched when he realized that it had just been a dream. But somehow, he felt comforted, like Hotaru really had forgiven him, but she just wasn’t acting like it in reality. Odd…

Well, it was just a dream, he told himself, and Hotaru hadn’t forgiven him, and he couldn’t lie to himself that she had, no matter how much it hurt. Yet still, it had felt just so real.

Confused, Malik got up and started to dress. He combed his hair a few times, just to keep it from getting too messy, and then went downstairs to breakfast.

Isis was there, and so were Yami and Anzu. It took a while for everyone to get up, seeing no real reason to really wake up since they weren’t going to school. (Isis had pulled a few strings to keep people from getting too suspicious…though if that castle got any more apparent it would be hard to keep it off the 7:00 news.) But eventually everyone was up and doing whatever. Mostly restless stuff like twiddling thumbs, watching TV, using stick-resembling objects to tap on any solid surface, stuff like that.

Finally something happened. Well, not something, more like someone. Malik didn’t know how or exactly when he had arrived, but around mid-afternoon Yami called everyone to the living-room, and there was Shadi.

At first there were questions and pouring explanations that lead to more questions. Everyone was talking at once, trying to ask him what he thought was going on and what was happening, that sort of thing. Finally, though, they all settled down and Shadi was able to explain himself.

"As you well know, there is powerful magic at work in the Tomoe residence, and at the rate it’s escalating, it’s hard not to notice, even in Egypt. There won’t be much time left before the rest of the world discovers its existence, but we can’t reveal what we know." He explained. "I came here because I felt the energy and wished to investigate. The Pharaoh has informed me that you believe the barrier around it to be Shadow Magic, unfortunately, this is incorrect. It is not Shadow Magic, but something else, another, more powerful force is at work." He explained.

"It has to be Kumiko." Anzu sighed.

"That #$%$!!! I can’t believe how nice she seemed!!!" Jou exclaimed. Hotaru’s head bowed, she seemed a little upset. "Oh, sorry Hotaru, I didn’t mean—"

"It’s okay." She mumbled, but she didn’t look up, she kept staring at her hands.

"If it isn’t Shadow Magic, what is it?" Yami asked.

Shadi shook his head, "I don’t know, it is so odd, I’ve never encountered anything like it, or any mention of it anywhere." He answered. "There’s also, I’m afraid, been a few…instances where human beings have been killed and…well…this power passed through them, turning them into monsters." He said.

"You mean…" Jou trailed off, wide-eyed.

Shadi nodded, knowing exactly what he was thinking, "Yes, the creature you and the Pharaoh saw at that house use to be a human." He stated.

"Holy crap!!!" Honda exclaimed.

"I don’t believe it! That’s, that’s just crazy!!!" Mai stood up. "People turning into monsters? How could that happen?! I mean—"

"It is very possible, Mai. Though not with Shadow Magic necessarily. There are certain types of power and magic that are able to turn humans into monsters. Though none in the manner that I beheld." He told them.

"Y-you saw it happen?" Hotaru whispered, looking up at him timidly.

Shadi nodded grimly to her, "Unfortunately this…Kumiko isn’t the only one who had joined Marik. I saw…another woman there." He told them.

"What?!", "Who?!", "What’d she look like?!", "Was she a monster too?!", "What did she do?!", "How did she do it?!"

Shadi raised his hands up for silence. "I’ll spare you the details, but I believe the way she did it was she took the man’s soul out, as a millennium item might be able to, only using this new power, and then she planted a sort of seed into him. The man then became a monster. I couldn’t catch her before they disappeared." Shadi explained swiftly.

"Oh maaaaaaaaan! As if the Millennium Items weren’t bad enough!!! Now there are actual people who can take souls!" Jou exclaimed, messing up his hair in exasperation.

"But, I have more information. Something that might give you hope." He said. Everyone looked up and listened while he explained. "You may or may not know this, but there are other beings out there, aliens if you will. And they’re a lot like us, they even use magic at times. Each planet that supports this life has its own guardians, in this world the Millennium Barriers are the protectors. However, there is an organization called the Order of Lotus that watches over the entire universe, and sense help to separate planets in case they are having too much trouble with the darkness evading them. I have reason to believe that one of their warriors has already been here several times, and that soon they will contact us in order to help with this new problem." He explained.

"Uh, okay, um, explain that again, only this time a bit slower." Honda said.

Shadi then took a deep breath and went into a more detailed version of what he just said, explaining more about the life-holding stars of other solar systems, about how there are more types of magic than Shadow Magic, but that was what this planet used, and then explaining, very slowly for Jou and Honda, how the ‘guardian system’ worked.

Hm…Mistress 9 mused, So, it was this dimension’s guardians who took Hotaru. I wonder why they haven’t shown their faces already, I’m sure they know who I am if they tried so soon to off me. Too bad they took the wrong soul, I’ll have to thank them. She thought, mentally smirking to herself, while outside she fought with herself to keep her expression innocent and curious.

#

"Goodnight Hotaru." It was pointless, he knew, to say goodnight. But it couldn’t hurt, maybe if he kept trying she’d know how sorry he was and forgive him. Maybe they could still be friends, gods knew he needed one.

Hotaru paused for a moment, nodded hesitantly towards him and with a slightly rushed, "Goodnight" She disappeared into her room, closing the door. Malik stared at it for some time, imagining her putting on a cute lavender nightgown, snuggling up under the covers and falling asleep while the moonbeams from her window illuminated her pale skin and cast a peaceful scene for any who might happen to look.

Not that he was going to. He could just imagine what might happen if he were caught peeking into her room. And who’d believe ‘I just wanted to see her’. Hotaru especially might jump to conclusions and never forgive him.

Finally Malik sighed and made his way to his own room. He laid down on his bed, thinking about how much like an angel Hotaru probably looked while sleeping.

I thought he’d never leave! Mistress 9 hissed to herself. Is Hotaru the only thing he thinks about?! Pharaoh 90 help me! She thought. It was bad enough he kept staring longingly at her door, but she could feel the warmth coming from him, and it was having some odd effects on her. She didn’t like it…well, to be honest, she did like it, and that irritated her to no end.

Mistress 9 pulled off the clothes she had on and dressed her body in a nightgown. To be truthful, this was not the body she usually resided in, but one that she made to keep anyone from sensing her power, a fake one that seemed completely human in every way and mirrored Hotaru’s form to the slightest detail. Apparently she had been right in suspecting that there might be someone who could sense her, Shadi. He was going to be trouble, she could tell. He was probably one of the only ones who, had he met Hotaru before hand, would notice that she wasn’t the same person. Hopefully, he wouldn’t suspect anything. Well, how could he? This body wasn’t suppose to radiate anything abnormal, even with her soul inside of it.

Well, there was one good side, now all of the Millennium Items were together, and now it was a matter of testing their power and then luring them, unsuspectingly, into the Dark Castle. Mistress 9 mused on all of this as she laid her body down to sleep and left it, becoming an astral projection as she did and fazing back into her other body, which was still seated upon her throne.

"Marik?" She called throughout the house, "Bakura, I have gathered some information, come to the throne room." She said.

"Master Marik and Master Bakura aren’t here, Messiah." Said Keolinite as she appeared in the fog. Mistress 9 stood up, her eyes leering.

"Where are they?" She asked. Keolinite pointed to the violet door with the Tou star on it. Mistress 9 transformed into her own form and then crossed the throne room to the door.

There was a commotion on the other side, Mistress 9 had to suppress a hiss of disapproval as she found herself in a huge room full of humans wearing deep violet cloaks, all standing around watching what was going on at the far wall where Marik sat in his own throne and was apparently torturing one of their fellows. One none of them obviously liked because they geared whenever he screamed.

Ugh, so many humans, are these the rare hunters Marik was talking about?! I’d have thought he’d have more sense than to recruit humans. She thought darkly, staying in the back behind the rare hunters, so far none of them had noticed her.

"Disloyalty is not tolerated in this game." Marik sneered at his minion, who trembled in fear and screamed once again as Marik raised his Rod and sent another string of torturous waves through his body.

Oh gods, they are his servants!!! Mistress 9 mentally hissed in disgust. Oh well, they did have a good amount of Daimon potential, though if Marik had kept them human he probably preferred their loose way of thinking for some odd reason. Great.

Mistress 9’s eyes searched for Bakura, but she found him fairly swiftly. He was watching from behind a pillar to the side of the throne. Well, she might as well do what she came here fore. Mistress 9 cleared her throat loudly, "Dear me I hope I’m not interrupting anything important." She said, letting her voice fill the throne room with a bit of irritation in its tone.

Marik’s eyes widened as he released his servant from his hold. He looked up to find her and bellowed, "DON’T JUST STAND THERE, LET HER THROUGH!!!" He yelled.

The rare hunters who had been staring at her jumped and moved out of her way, but still looking curiously at her. Mistress 9 smirked and glided past them, her hair moving ominously about her, inducing fear into the hearts of the humans around her for she gave off an appearance of power.

When she came to where the traitor knelt, she stopped and looked down at him in disgust, "Honestly, this is a waste! When your minion turns traitorous like this, it’s torture enough to become a lesser daimon! Why waste your energy?" She asked, moving her hand over the human. Suddenly he was unable to even kneel, he fell completely to the ground as his soul floated up into Mistress 9’s hand. She took it and continued walking towards Marik while the human started screaming and transforming into a lesser daimon.

Seeing her intent, Marik grudgingly moved aside to let her sit on the throne. Making it apparent to everyone the fact that she was in charge. "Too bad their souls are dark. They’d make good sacrifices to the Castle if they weren’t." Mistress 9 said, musing over the dim soul crystal in her hand. The Daimon was making a ruckus, so she decided to send him back to the Dark Castle with a wave of her hand.

"Why are you here?" He asked, hands on his hips. Making it apparent he’d have preferred her to have never shown her face at all.

But Mistress 9 just smirked, "To watch you squirm of course." She snickered leaning on the arm of the throne to emphasis her point, "And might I say that it is rather amusing too." It was true, he looked nervous. He was a prideful one, and didn’t like it that his Hunters were seeing him submit to a woman, even if she was the Messiah of Silence.

"How dare you speak that way to Master Marik!" Exclaimed one of the more foolish Hunters, who obviously didn’t get the point when she turned that traitor into a daimon. He and three others stepped forward.

"Master! This woman is speaking down to you! Allow us to make her suffer!" Said one of them.

Mistress 9 turned her head and looked at them with a dangerous expression on her face. Then she turned back to Marik, "This is the trouble with human servants, they have a tendency to be disloyal and sometimes you have to literally burn things into their minds." She hissed. Suddenly one of the four opposing her burst into a ball of fire, black fire. He screamed in pain and wreathed about the floor, trying to put out the fire. But it was no use, eventually he moved no more and was a pile of ash, then even that disappeared, leaving another soul crystal.

That was it, Marik ordered everyone to leave, and they did so all too gladly. When they were gone and the doors closed he turned back to Mistress 9, "You did not have to do that! I can handle them just fine!"

She just shrugged, "Why should I let you have all the fun? Anyways, the real reason I came was because I have some interesting information from a man named Shadi, have you heard of him?" She asked.

"Heard of him? I’ve met him. He has the Millennium Scales!" Marik answered.

"I figured that." She said, a smirk appeared on her face, "Which is fortunate for us considering that now all the Millennium Items are in one place." Her smirk then took on a look of sadistic pleasure, "I have also found out what happened to my dear sweet hikari."

Bakura blinked, "What do you mean, isn’t she still with you?" He asked.

"No." Mistress 9’s eyes flashed. She then took time out to explain to Bakura and Marik about the Order of Lotus, which included the whole planets-with-their-own-guardians thing. Thankfully she didn’t have to repeat herself like Shadi.

"Alright, two questions, is this anything we need to worry about and what does this have to do with your Hikari missing?" Bakura asked.

"No, we don’t have to worry, much. Sure they’ll probably be a nuisance, but," Mistress 9 smirked, "They’re obviously too scared, since I’m sure they know I’m here. As an answer to your second question, Hotaru Tomoe’s soul was removed by them, thereby unlocking me from my imprisonment. They thought it was Hotaru they had to worry about, when it was really me. And in taking her soul,"

"They awakened you." Marik finished, also smirking and enjoying the irony as well. "So now they have the wimp’s soul. And are probably getting chewed out by their superiors for making such a mistake."

"It was probably their superiors as well who made the mistake. You might not know this, but the name Messiah of Silence is feared, for Silence is the power destined for destruction over everything." She said, lifting her hand to her face to look at it.

"Didn’t you say your Hikari was more powerful?" Marik pointed out.

Mistress 9 sneered, "Power isn’t everything." She said, "It’s useless if you kill yourself in the process of using it!" she said hotly, regarding that little fact with a cold resentment.

"So what happens when this, Order of Lotus finds out they have the wrong soul?" Bakura asked.

"How should I know? I don’t know how they operate. I suppose they’ve already figured it out, and are, like I said, too scared to even try." She said, standing up. "Still, be on the lookout. I’m sure that once we’ve gathered enough souls to complete the Dark Castle nothing will be able to stand in our way, but still." She thought for a minute, pacing slightly, her hair flowing about her, as if helping her to glide so gracefully on the floor. Marik still couldn’t figure out how she was able to move so easily with that insanely long skirt, in fact he was starting to wonder whether or not she had legs at all.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Bakura spoke up.

"Bakura, Marik told me that you were a tomb robber in your past lifetime, and that you challenged the Pharaoh, but got sealed away in that ring, am I right?" She asked.

"Yes, why?"

"I was wondering, wasn’t there a time in Egypt when there was not a very strong barrier between the Shadow Realm and this earth?" She asked him.

"Yes, there was. But it was getting hard to control, so the Pharaoh made the Millennium Items in order to seal it away." He answered.

"Are you thinking of reopening it?" Marik asked.

"In a way, yes. If my guess is correct, the Shadow Realm was actually the threatening force for the earth, but somehow the Order of Lotus might have suppressed it. However the earth unlocked it so they could use it again, but sealed it back away when it got out of hand." She then smirked, "Apparently, this world has the weakest connection to it. If we unlock it, and unleash it, not only, upon this world, but all the others. Well, on mere star as oppose to all of them is hardly worth our time." She said. "The combination of Shadow Magic and Silence is a dangerous and powerful one indeed."

Both Marik and Bakura seemed to like this idea, "The entire universe?" Marik asked, unable to suppress the insanity in his smile.

"But of course. After all, Galaxia almost succeeded in ruling our own universe, if I can seal her away so easily, then of course we’ll be able to. It’s all a mater of empowering the Dark Castle and obtaining all the Millennium Items." She said. She turned about with grace, her hair making a swishing motion, and began to move back to the door.

"Galaxia?!" Both Marik and Bakura exclaimed.

Mistress 9 laughed, "I’ll tell you more about it later. By the way, Marik, if you want I can turn some of your Rare Hunters into Higher Daimons, like the Witches 5. Loyalty and strength won’t be an issue then." She said.

"I’ll keep that in mind." Marik nodded as she disappeared back through the door.

#######

We’ve made a dire mistake. A slender hand reached up, lighting a stick of incense on the burning silver candle in front of her. She used the stick to draw seemingly random pictures in the air, the smoke obediently staying still in the air for a moment while she finished the picture, and then disappeared into the alter she knelt in front of.

The hand then let the incense rest upon the silver bowl. "Please grant us mercy. Our err has caused great suffering." A deep, musical voice said aloud, the runes on the alter glowed slightly in response. The owner of the voice paused, looking at the alter, seeming to hear it speak. "We thought that by sealing the soul of the Messiah of Silence, we would be able to finally ride the cosmos of her presence. But…I see now that we were wrong. It seems that the soul we’ve obtained is the one meant to seal away the real messiah, and in taking it we have unleashed her." She said.

There was a pause as the runes glowed, changing colors now and again, and sometimes glowing brighter in one place than in another. Kaysha’s eyes widened, "But how can this be?" She asked. "You say we have the real Messiah, but she is a gentle soul. Her crystal is so bright and pure. Surely this is not the Angel of Destruction!" She exclaimed.

Kaysha gasped and shielded her eyes as the alter flared with bright, painful lights that seemed to lick at her skin. When they died down Kaysha bowed again to the alter, "Forgive me! You are right, we are ignorant and we beg mercy for our transgressions. But please, please tell me, is there a way we can mend what has been done? The elders are frightened, and no one is willing to fight against this other soul. Her power is unimaginable! How can we put the true Messiah’s soul back into the body!?" She pleaded.

The alter glowed softly, some runes brightened, sparkling in different colors. Kaysha nodded, "I understand. I accept this responsibility and am honored to be the one chosen to complete it….I will. Thank you." She said. All light that radiated from the alter then died down, and in the bowl appeared a shoot of crystallized gold, which Kaysha took up. She then left, the candle blowing itself out when she was no longer present in the room.

"Elder! Great Elder Reinef!" Kaysha exclaimed, calling to her superior in the hall.

The white robbed man, supporting a long silky white beard and ancient staff of runes tilted his head to the voice he heard. "Lady Kaysha, have you spoken with the Spirit?" He asked in anticipation.

"I have. And it has told me that the only way this new force can be defeated is by the true Messiah. And we are to give her soul this body immediately," She showed him the crystallized gold, "and also train her the way of the Shamanists so that she will be able to defeat her dark side." Kaysha answered, speaking swiftly because she wished to get started right away.

Thankfully Elder Reinef didn’t make her elaborate, he nodded his head, "Then you should go swiftly. Start as soon as possible, and let us pray the soul accepts the body." He said. Kaysha bowed respectfully to her elder and disappeared in a cloud of glitter to fulfill her duties.

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A/N: That might have been a bit short, but the next part’s gonna be a bit difficult to write and I wanted to get this chapter out already, considering how long I’ve been taking with it. I’M SOWWWY!!! Anyways, I’ve been feeling a bit stressed lately, and it’s summer break for crying out loud!!! But, the bad part about being home schooled is that you get to school in the summer as well --. BLRG!!! So, I’ve got this thing going where I’m messing around with KiSS dolls, making my own you know? And it’s really fun, as well as oddly relaxing. So, sorry about all that. Also, we just had to put my dog to sleep ;.;. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we raised him from when he was an itty bitty puppy too!!! IT’S NOT FAIR!!!!! Okay, I’m okay now. I think I’ll write some bloopers to cheer myself up.

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Scene 1:

H/M9: Y-you saw it happen?

Shadi: Nods Unfortunately this…Kumiko isn’t the only one who had joined Marik. I saw…another woman there.

Jou: Was she hot?

Mai: !.!

Shadi: Depends, do you like red-heads? !.!, oh! I’m sorry Miss Rhea.

Rhea: Cut! Sighs That’s okay, it wasn’t your fault. JOU!!!

Mai: WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘WAS SHE HOT’?!?!?!?! YOU’RE TAKEN REMEMBER?!?!?!

Jou: Mutters It’s hard to forget.

Mai: What was that?!

Jou: Shrinks Nothing!

#

Scene 1:

Jou: Oh maaaaaaaan! As if the Millennium Items weren’t bad enough!!! Now there are psycho women on the loose who can take souls!!!

Rhea: Throws script book at Jou LEARN YOUR LINES!!!

Jou: But, but, that was a good line!!!

Keolinite: Psycho women? Raises eyebrow

Eudial: I’m not a psycho, I’m a pyro! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Takes out flamethrower and starts chasing a screaming Jou with it

Rhea: You know, working with the Witches 5 might not be that bad after all…that is if I can keep Mimete from flirting with the guys when she gets here. --‘ sigh.

#

Scene 2:

Malik: Goodnight Hotaru.

H/M9: Seductivly sweet voice Goodnight Maliiiiiik.

Malik: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Runs

Marik: BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Rhea: MISTRESS 9!!!!!

H/M9: What? I said my lines!

Scene 2 take 2:

Malik: Goodnight Hotaru…DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!

H/M9: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Rhea: CUT!!!! Bangs her head on the wall

Scene 2 take 3:

Malik: Goodnight Hotaru.

H/M9: Goodnight Malik. Smoooch!

Malik: !.! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rhea: MISTRESS 9!!!! Where in the script does it say that you kiss him?!?!?! NOWHERE!!! NOT IN THIS SCENE!!! NOT IN THIS CHAPTER!!!

Marik: You kissed him?!

H/M9: Just to see his reaction, and it’s rather funny too.

Malik: I’LL NEVER BE CLEAN AGAIN!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

Marik: Yeah, any other time I’d find this hysterical, but you kissed him?!?!?!

H/M9: What, you jealous now?

Rhea: Can you two, like, not have this conversation? Save it for the lunch break!

Scene 2 take 4:

Malik: Goodnight Ho—STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!

Rhea: Mistress 9!!!

H/M9: I did nothing!!! All I did was twitch!!! I swear!!!

Rhea: Rolls eyes Riiiiiight.

#

Scene 2:

M9: Dear me I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.

Rare Hunters: . !!!!!!!!!!! All run away

Rhea: Smacks her head MISTRESS 9!!!! Have you been torturing the minor cast again?!?!?!?!

Marik & Bakura: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

M9: Looks up at Rhea innocently What makes you say that?

Rhea: Well the fact that they ran away screaming bloody murder when they saw you is a rather big hint!!! Sighs Cut!

#

Scene 2:

M9: Answering Marik To watch you squirm of course. And might I say that it is rather amusing too.

Random Rare Hunter: How dare you speak that way to Master Marik.

M9: I’ll speak to him any way I want, foolish mortal!

RRH: Shrinks and runs away screaming bloody murder

Rhea: YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE AFRAID OF HER YET!!! ARGH!!! Hits herself in the head with a script book I swear, by the end of this I will have hair the color of Bakura’s.

Bakura: And this is a bad thing?

Rhea: It is when it’s caused by STRESS!!!

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