Jonouchi had been saving up for months and months and months. What little money he had that wasn't going towards his own debt or bills was put away in a shoebox underneath his bed. He knew by the time he'd saved up enough for the first model about four more would probably have been released, but he didn't care. He just knew that he had to have one. Even though he wasn't too fond of buying Kaiba Corporation products, there was no real way around it. Especially not in this city.
It was a new invention, sort of. Jonouchi had been skeptical about it at first. Really all Kaiba had done was take his virtual reality pods and shrunk them down to simple visors. Ones that were for personal use. The news had been humming about it for a long time, especially after they'd been released. They were supposedly safe, unlike his first few ventures with Kaiba's VR technology. Then again, he supposed Kaiba wouldn't do anything as stupid to release things like this to the public that had the potential to kill them.
Still, even at KaibaLand where the pods were, at least people had staff to watch over them. If anything went wrong they could shut off the program, or whatever it was they did, and pull people out. If you were sitting at home with these goggles strapped to your face and something went wrong… who would help you out then?
It put Jonouchi off for a long while, but eventually he couldn't help himself. So he started saving. He was envious of the kids who could just buy them right off the shelves and ditch their old models in their closets when the newer ones came out. But finally his day came. His day came when the first generation model went on sale due to being three lines behind. And that was when he had enough. He stopped by a shop after work, unfortunately not Yuugi's. He was almost a little embarrassed about buying one.
So he went elsewhere, spent his money, took his bag and ran the rest of the way home. The instructions weren't too complicated, not that he read their entire length. He really didn't have time for that. He read the most important parts, the ones in bold. Warnings and the like. He was most upset about having to let it charge for an hour before actually using it. He'd expected it to work right out of the box. For that entire hour he paced around his apartment, grumbling to himself how lame Kaiba Corp technology was and how stupid he'd been for wasting money of this stupid thing.
Once the hour was up, though, he sat right down on his bed, unplugged it from the wall and set it down over his eyes. A knot of anxiety settled in his chest but he set the darkened lenses up, laid down, and felt himself relax. It was a weird feeling- the visors were forcing his body to keep still. He wasn't sure how these things actually worked. He thought he remembered the news saying they triggered some sort of sleep state, so it was all natural. But he had his doubts.
How could anything that went into your head and sucked up your memories for you to play around in be natural? The disconnect was sharper than he thought it would be. And from there it all went to hell.
He felt like he'd been in darkness for a long time. His limbs were heavy. When he finally mustered up enough energy to open his eyes everything was black. He was lying on a cold floor. Worst of all, he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. Hadn't he just been doing something? There was a phantom feeling, something that he thought he should have remembered, but when he grasped at it it fled from him. It ended up giving him a headache after two more times so he gave it up.
Sitting up he heard chains clatter around his ankles. Fear spiraled through him as he realized he was tied up. Ground to the floor. And when he reached forward to try and figure out his surroundings he felt metal bars. Locked up, too. Who would have done something like this?
A creaky loud door burst open, sending light right into his eyes, getting him to recoil against it. He fought through it to the best of his ability, almost challenging whatever dirtbag would dare do this to him. Two sets of rough hands came down on his shoulders after his cell was opened, unlocking his chains and forcing him to his feet. They then kept him pinned and forced him to walk forward.
Where he thought his cell had been cold and dark he was being shoved into a blistering white heat. He had to shut his eyes tight, hissing in pain. Once he regained himself, however, his struggles renewed. The two bodies holding him seemed relentless, though, but he refused to give up. At least he would have but soon he found himself being hung by his wrists in a courtyard. What was happening? And why?
He looked out onto a sea of shadowy faces only seconds before he was forced to cringe. Angry screams that mingled into something that sounded like angry bees bombarded his ears- along with waves of small pebbles and sharp edged rocks. He pulled at the ropes binding him, rubbing his wrists raw. There was no way out of here.
"Pummel the dog." A hard, cold voice just off to his side spoke up. When he tried to see who it was all he saw were flashes of gold and blue. It reminded him of… someone he hated.
He wasn't sure how much longer he could take this treatment. His throat felt raw. Had he been shouting this whole time? Just when he thought he could hear his own voice, everything died.
"That's enough." A calm wave amongst the riots. It even eased Jonouchi's bruised and battered body. He hung a little limply against his restraints, eyes raising up to see a figure parting the crowd through presence alone.
As the man got closer he finally thought he understood who it was. The other Yuugi?
No. Not anymore. Not that for a long time. He was dressed as his name suited him, too. Atem. He remembered now. Pharaoh Atem, and he was coming closer. Jonouchi's brown eyes searched the red ones easing him through gaze alone, letting him know that everything was alright. Everything was going to be fine now.
As the Pharaoh smiled at him, reaching towards him to cup his face in his palm he closed his eyes, leaning towards it. "Little late, aren't you?" A dry, spluttering laugh left his bloodied, cracked lips.
"Unfortunately." Strong as Jonouchi remembered as the Pharaoh reached up, releasing his wrists.
He collapsed into a warm embrace, something he hadn't realized he was missing. Hadn't Atem left a long time ago? Was he dead now too? Was that what had happened? He felt weak. Tired. Still angry but growing softer now that he was leaning on Atem's strength. "I'll let it go just this once. Next time you'll owe me for sure." He joked.
It warmed him when he heard Atem laugh. Had he always felt this way?
"There won't be a next time." A promise that Jonouchi knew he could count on.
Gratefully, too. "Heh. Damn right."
He opened his eyes, realizing Atem had sat with him on the stage he'd been poised on. Everyone had left. They were the only ones remaining. Atem was smiling at him and he took his opportunity to smile back. But still none of it made sense, and that shadowy spot in his brain was growing bigger. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"
Atem's hands cupped the sides of his face, running his lips across Jonouchi's sweat stained brow. Jonouchi found himself easing, a weird feeling fluttering in his chest. They'd never been this close before. But he couldn't find it in himself to stop it. Not now when he was so battered and tired. It felt right. Like it belonged. Like it was what he'd been missing.
"I'm sorry." Atem's voice sounded so far away.
"Sorry?" He didn't understand. "Sorry for wha-"
There was a spark across his brain getting him to jolt in the dark of his room. He reached up, ripping the visors off his face and letting them fly from his hand to the furthest corner of his room. His breathing was shallow. He had no idea how long he'd been in there- in… his own mind? Was that something made up by him? The visors couldn't have had any idea about all of that…
Was that really all him?
His hands ran up through his hair, pulling lightly at the strands, trying to wake himself up. He then ran the back of his hand across his forehead, feeling sweat, and missing the feeling of those lips. The thought repelled him and he shook his head.
"Waste of money." He looked up, though unable to see in the darkness, glaring at where he thought the glasses had landed. "What a waste.." Reiterating to no one, if only to make himself feel better. There would be no sleep after that. Instead he'd stay up all night, grumbling angrily to himself, since there would be no one else he could tell this story to.