A/N: Another fic I'd forgotten about…dun really like it, it didn't come out like it was supposed to, but whatever…
Rating: PG-13 for some language and dark themes.
Disclaimer: Much to the relief of the world, Wookieebeta still does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!.
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Inferno
Thunder boomed as jagged lightning seared across an otherwise pitch-black sky.
Rain poured down in thick sheets, pounding the windshield and making it
impossible to see.
Which explained why Yuugi's hands were clenched so tightly on the steering
wheel, and why his face was drawn in concentration.
"Guys, be quiet!"
he said, exasperated. "I can't see in this rain, and your arguing isn't
helping any." In the backseat of the van, Jounouchi, Honda, and Otogi
suddenly looked very innocent. Mai just rolled her eyes.
"Should we pull
over?" Anzu asked, leaning forward so she could see the driver more
clearly. "I mean, it's pretty late, and there's no point in driving
through this rain if we don't have to."
Yuugi nodded. "I think
you're right. I don't like this rain, anyway."
"Then I'll call the
Kaibas. There's a little motel, just about half an hour away. We can stop
there. And yes, Jounouchi," she added with a significant glance,
"they serve dinner."
"What gives you the
idea that I was going to ask that?" the blonde asked indignantly.
"Couldn't possibly be
that look on your face," Mai responded sarcastically. "Or the fact
that all you think about is food."
------------------
"Sure," Mokuba Kaiba chirped into the cellphone. "I'll tell
Seto. We'll meet you there." He hung up, and turned to his older brother
Seto. "That was Anzu," he explained. "They're stopping for the
night at that motel just up the road."
Seto nodded. "Sounds
good to me," he said. "You know how much I just love driving in the
rain."
Minutes ticked by. The radio
murmured quietly as the windshield wipers snapped back and forth across the
windshield, flicking away gallons of water only to find even more there half a
second later. The small Kaiba car crested a relatively tall hill.
"Er, Seto?" Mokuba
asked. "Isn't this a one-way road?"
"Yes," Seto
answered, only half-listening. He was busy retuning the radio.
"Then why are there
headlights up there?"
The older Kaiba brother's attention was instantly back on the road, just in time to see a pair of brilliant headlights dip down into a little depression and disappear from view.
"Holy - call the others," he snapped, veering toward the side of the
road. He wasn't worried about his own safety - he never did - or even that of
his brother; they knew the other vehicle was there, they were prepared. But the
van was completely unaware, and he estimated that if the driver didn't figure
it out in about fifteen seconds or less there would be a head-on collision.
Mokuba's train of thought was identical, and he had dialed before his brother
finished speaking.
"They're not
answering," Mokuba said nervously.
Seto cursed and leaned on
the horn, flashing his lights on and off as rapidly as possible.
"They're still not
picking up!" Mokuba was definitely panicking now. "Big brother, isn't
there something we can do?"
"Not anymore,"
Seto said grimly. The car crested another shorter hill, and once again their
timing was perfect: Not so far ahead of them, red taillights blazed, and white
headlights created a fiery corona around the van's silhouette. There was a
squealing of brakes, and the van swerved ever so slightly, and then the huge
truck slammed into the van with the force of a hurricane and the sound of the
impact rolled over them like a peal of thunder.
----------------
Jounouchi blinked slowly, his vision blurred but coming back into focus. His
eyes stung. He coughed; the air was filled with a thick, foul-smelling smoke.
His seatbelt buckle was searing his skin.
The Brooklyn blonde's mind
snapped into gear instantly, and he ripped off the seatbelt, throwing it into
the luggage behind him. Looking around, he realized he was the only person
conscious. He stepped carefully over Otogi's unmoving but seemingly uninjured
form and grasped the doorhandle, ignoring the pain in his palms as he pulled
backward with all his might. The door didn't budge. He pulled again, and again,
and again. He coughed. The smoke was starting to make him dizzy, and he cursed.
He gave another mighty tug -
And nearly flew backwards as
the door slid back easily. Seto Kaiba's brown-haired head poked in and took a
quick survey of the carnage, then he climbed in and lifted Anzu and Mai in his
arms. In an instant he was gone, carrying both girls and moving like lightning.
Jounouchi managed to sling Otogi over his back and crawl out, coughing and
hacking the entire time.
"Mokuba, call an
ambulance," he heard the older Kaiba call. "They're all unconscious,
and it looks like Honda might be hurt pretty badly."
"Working on it,"
the dark-haired kid shouted back, sprinting across the road to the car and
disappearing inside. Jounouchi gave another weak cough and stumbled over to
where Seto was checking the girls' pulses.
"Chihuahua!" Seto
exclaimed, surprised. "I thought you were out cold."
"I'm not so easy,"
Jou growled, setting down his friend's unconscious body with considerably less
care than he meant to and nearly collapsing to his knees. He was still having
trouble breathing, and his side hurt terribly. He didn't even have the strength
to toss an insult Kaiba's direction.
"Stay here," the
young CEO said, standing. "I've got to get the others. That van's going to
blow."
Jou's vision swam suddenly,
and by the time he was able to focus again the tall, slim figure was already
gone. In under a minute he was back, this time carrying Shizuka. Jou gasped;
she was bleeding from several deep gashes on her face, and her arm was bent at
an odd angle.
"Get over here and
help," Seto snapped. "We're running out of time!"
"Right," Jounouchi grunted, rising to unsteady feet and following the CEO back to the burning van. Kaiba disappeared into the back for Honda while Jounouchi pried open the front door, ignoring the huge rush of superheated air that nearly singed his bangs.
"Yuugi," he called
into the smoke. "Yuug! Hey, Yuug, answer me!"
"Jou...Jounouchi?"
a weak voice murmured.
"Yuugi!" The
Brooklyn blonde climbed back into the blazing hellhole, waving his hand in
front of his face in an ineffective attempt to clear the air. "C'mon,
little guy, it's time to get you out of here."
"Just...go,"
Yuugi's weak voice came again. Suddenly Jounouchi realized that that wasn't his
friend's voice; it was the former Pharaoh. He had never heard the Egyptian
spirit sound so tired or so forlorn. Jounouchi fanned away some of the smoke,
trying to get a better look at his friend.
He immediately wished he hadn't. Yuugi's seat had snapped off at the base and
thrown itself into the dashboard, pinning the teenager's small chest against
the seatback and the steering wheel with crushing force. To make matters worse,
the Sennen Puzzle was deeply embedded into Yuugi's ribs. Blood gushed steadily
from the gaping wound. Then it dawned on Jou that that wasn't the young
duelist's only wound; his left arm was almost totally severed.
"Gods, Yuugi," he
breathed.
"I told you, go,"
the spirit murmured again. "There's nothing you...can...ahhhhhhhhhh!
do...now."
"No, man! Hang in
there, Yuug! Don't let go yet! I'll get you out of here!" Seto's words
came back to him: "That van's going to blow..."
Suddenly there was a slight
change in the duelist's face. Crimson eyes faded to violet; hard lines in the
face melted into the more innocent visage of youth. Yuugi coughed up blood.
"Jou..." He had a
weak smile on his face.
"Yuugi! Hold on,
buddy!"
"Please, Jou...leave
me...no hope...." He coughed again, his small form wracked with painful
spasms. "Yami's already...gone...won't live anyway..."
"No! I won't leave
you!"
Yuugi's eyes fluttered open
and locked on Jounouchi's. They were filled with an immense pain, barely held
back, but they were pleading, begging. Jou felt as though his heart had been
shredded.
"No," he gasped,
tears coursing down his cheeks. His calloused hand found Yuugi's small,
lily-white, fragile, blood-stained one, and he squeezed it gently. There was no
way he was leaving his friend to die like this. He put his free hand against
the back of the chair and shoved it away from the dashboard, hoping to free his
friend, but it only moved a centimeter or two. Yuugi gave an anguished moan.
"Please, Jou!" he
whispered. His eyes were still clear and bright, and he still had that
half-smile on his face. So innocent, Jounouchi thought. He doesn't
deserve this. That should be me in that chair, dammit, not him! Not him!
A single crystalline tear
trickled down Yuugi's flawless cheek and splashed against the burning carpet of
the van. "Please," he begged again, voice weak and almost inaudible,
"save yourself...forget about me...gas...explode any second...live...Jou,
please, go, promise me...take care of...Shizuka and...Grampa...please?"
Yuugi's head lifted ever so slightly; his eyes were still pleading, glistening
with those perfect tears of his, and his hand was squeezing Jounouchi's. Then
his head fell gently forward, and his hand fell away from his friend's, and the
life slipped away from his perfect flawless face, and the fire reached the
engine and the heat flared all around Jounouchi, and two immensely strong arms
reached in through the deadly flames and grabbed the blonde by the shoulders
and yanked him away from the wreckage a split second before the van exploded in
a blazing inferno.
----------------
Drunk Truck Driver
Kills King of Games
- Domino City
Mouto Yuugi, Duel Monsters
Champion and King of Games, lost his life yesterday in a tragic head-on
collision. The driver of the other vehicle was drunk; he is in good condition
at the Domino Hospital. The other passengers in Mouto-san's van are all in stable
condition at the hospital, as well as Kaiba Seto, CEO of KaibaCorp and rescuer
of the surviving passengers. An exclusive interview with Kaiba Mokuba, younger
brother of Kaiba-san, has revealed that...
Jounouchi smoothed out the
ancient newspaper clipping, rubbing the creases flat and letting salt tears
spill down his face once more. Ten years later, five miles further down the
road, and he still couldn't forget his best friend....
Carefully, reverently, he
held the corner of the clipping to the flame of the lit candle and watched as
it flared brightly for a few seconds before crumbling to ash.
It was time to let go of the
past.