Chapter Two – Lonely Fears
Victoria was searching.
Searching for anything to do. It was Saturday, Mokuba was working on an assignment and she had nothing else to do. She was giving the Blue Eyes sketch a break for the moment and was going to do something different. She wandered into the living room and over to the large screen television. She sank to the carpeted floor in front of the cabinet under the television and opened one of the long draws, running a finger over the DVD titles. Finding nothing she wanted to watch she closed the drawer and opened another, skimming over the DVD titles again – and again she found nothing of interest to her. She sighed and closed that drawer only to open another one. Those were all documentaries and they were definitely of no interest so she simply closed it. She searched the side cupboard, opening the door to see some extra titles, but these were all different. They were almost like homemade DVDs which seemed a little pointless for the Kaiba's. Each was numbered and had a date on them. Some of the earlier ones were on the same days and others had months and months between them. And there were some DVDs that had dates from just the month before.
She picked up the earliest one and noticed that date would make herself fifteen when it was recorded. She placed the DVD into the player and turned the television on, walking back to the lounge opposite it and sat down. There was a long moment of time when the screen showed nothing but black, but then light shone out of the screen and the duel arena in the Kaiba Corp. building appeared and two people beginning a duel. There was no doubt that one of them was Seto, wearing the Domino High school uniform, but the other person was a complete mystery to her.
The whole duel seemed one sided for a long time, Seto was tearing though the opponents defences – and then Seto finally stated his name in the process of insulting and belittling him.
So that was Yugi Motou.
And then, with no warning what so ever, Yugi summoned Exodia. She couldn't believe it. Seto was completely washed away by the Exodia card – there was nothing he could do to prevent the attack. Whoever this Yugi person was, he was powerful.
She just had to learn more.
She searched for the next DVD which was a few months away from the first DVD and it read 'Battle City' on it along with the number. Victoria only knew that Battle City was a tournament that Seto had held three years ago. If her suspicions were right, each and every one of the DVDs in the cupboard were videos of duels that this Yugi person had fought – and obviously won or Seto wouldn't have bothered.
As she watched DVD after DVD she discovered that her theory was right – every one was of this Yugi person and after the Kaiba Corp. Grand Championship tournament final there were suddenly two of them. This startled her immensely.
"Uuum, Tori, what are you doing?"
Victoria jumped half way through the duel between Yugi – now being called Yami for some unexplained reason – and a random person at a tournament. "Oh, hi Mokuba. How are your assignments going?"
"Well. Why are you watching these?" Mokuba asked.
"I was bored." Victoria replied. "Who is this Yugi guy? Seto must be a little hung up on him." She said with a cheeky grin.
Mokuba sat down on the lounge beside her. "To an extent. Yugi is one of the only duellists that Seto has lost to. Over and over again. He made these DVDs so that he could study Yugi's strategies."
"Okay, I can get that. But after the DVD at the KC Grand Championships Final there are two Yugi's – I can get that he has a brother or something, but the guy that looks like the Yugi in the DVDs prior is suddenly being called 'Yami' and the smaller guy is being called 'Yugi'." Victoria stated. "How does that work?"
Mokuba made a face as he worked out how to reply. "I'm not sure on most of it – but apparently Yugi had two minds in his body for an amount of time."
Victoria stared at him disbelievingly.
"Yeah I know, I didn't believe it either – not until I witnessed the duel between the two Yugi's. One was the original, who is still being called Yugi the other was a Pharaoh who had been locked in the Millenium Puzzle for five thousand years until Yugi put the puzzle together and they were suddenly joined."
"Mokuba, that's really weird."
Mokuba nodded. "It's hard to explain. But after the duel, even though the Pharaoh side of Yugi – who called himself Yami – lost the duel as he was supposed to in order to go back to his time it was still too late." He explained. "But the priests of that time appeared and gave him a body of his own so that he could continue to live. That's what they said they did anyway." He paused and looked at her. She was still confused. "I wouldn't expect you to believe the words – but I witnessed it all and so did Seto. What matters is that there is Yugi and there is Yami. They used to share a body but Yami gained his own. Can you believe that much?"
"I can handle it." Victoria replied and then looked back at the screen as the duel was continuing. "He's got such an incredible fighting spirit, doesn't he?"
"Yeah. He always says that it's his friends that help him to win. And the heart of the cards."
Victoria chuckled. "I noticed that – but I mean that he never gives up. It's absolutely admirable."
Mokuba shrugged. "He's a great duellist, not many people can continually defeat Seto after all."
"I'd love to duel him." Victoria admitted. "It would be a fantastic experience."
"I'm afraid I can't help you there." Mokuba informed her. "I haven't spoken to Yugi or Yami for nearly three years. You might have to ask Seto, but I seriously think you should consider avoiding that."
"He holds a grudge huh?"
Mokuba sighed. "Seto might be nicer then before and he certainly smiles more often, but he still can't accept that another person is a better duellist than he is." He shrugged. "He's just stubborn I guess."
Victoria caught her brother in a head lock. "You're not any better, Mokuba." She scolded playfully, rubbing her knuckles into the top of his head.
"Hey! OW!"
. : . : . : .
After they had eaten dinner that night, Victoria went to her studio and sat at her desk, moving the easel with the Blue Eyes sketch on it to make room for her A4 sized sketch pad. She turned to her computer and typed 'Yugi Motou' into a search engine. The images that appeared were of the smaller one. She ground her teeth together and changed the first name to 'Yami'. She was instantly provided with hundreds – if not millions – of photos of the duellist who appeared to be very popular among women – though a blog of a die-hard fan informed her that he seemed disinterested in finding romance. And on an official duellist site found that Yami Motou was the top duellist to beat since Yugi Motou retired from tournaments. Seto was in second place. She could only imagine that seeing such a list would stab deeply into Seto's pride – she immediately planned not to tell Seto about the research she was doing.
The rush of inspiration was like nothing she had ever felt before – she chose to draw some of Yami's signature monster cards, but it soon drew too late and she had to retire to bed.
But not without taking a spare sketch pad and pencil with her.
. : . : . : .
A long and tear bringing yawn broke through her lips.
She'd made the satisfying mistake of sketching very early into the morning – so long that her sight became blurred and when she woke she was sitting back against her pillows with the sketch pad in her lap and pencil in her hand. She laughed slightly at herself in amusement. It had been years since she'd stayed up so late – and it earned her a teasing from Mokuba that morning when he had dragged her out of bed.
Mokuba was back at work again, getting stuck into his almost finished assignments before he could take the whole afternoon off – as per the timetable Seto had made for him. Victoria had decided to set out for a long walk into the mall downtown, maybe find a good art supplies store and stock up on some items or maybe even a Duel Monsters card store before heading back to the mansion.
The store lined streets were surprisingly busy for a late Sunday morning – they were bustling with a whole variety of people. Being an artist she was a natural observer. She noticed just about everything she saw, smelled and heard in heightened clarity. The face of each person became temporarily imprinted in her mind each time she walked by them, there were completely clueless tourists, students enjoying their day off school, shop helpers handing out fliers to anyone who would stop long enough to listen, parents with insistent young children, elderly couples hobbling along the street, people walking their dogs – and all of it was accompanied by the continuous buzz of their chatter and conversations.
In addition to the conversations were voices being projected through speakers announcing the sales of stores where everything had to go, the windows of the stores were bright posters advertising the savings even further. Along with that was the hissing of coffee machines and clatter of cutlery in the cafés that she passed. Unfortunately, outside of the cafés were those who had the unhealthy habit of smoking and the breeze blew the horrific fumes towards her, causing her to cough and splutter.
Covering her mouth and nose she quickly passed the group of smokers and continued towards the art store. Once she was inside the regular sized store she was overjoyed to be encased in the aroma of paints, canvas and paper. She was immediately at home among the countless art supplies and she lost herself in the aisles – simply browsing as most of the supplies she would never use.
She bought a set of colourfully decorated pencils with fun chains hanging from the tips and left the store, and was promptly startled as a balloon animal was shoved in front of her face. She yelped slightly in shock, clutching to the strap of her shoulder bag in fright as the grinning clown insisted that she take the badly made balloon animal. She gulped weakly – she'd always had an irrational fear of clowns. There was something about the way they were dressed and wore their makeup that unsettled the pit of her stomach. This guy was particularly creepy – he was clearly too old to be a regular clown, tall and lanky, but he looked as though he could easily keep her from running if she tried, his red expression makeup was set into a sleazy expression and the way he was smiling was really off. Not to mention the greasy hair that hung off his head.
"No thank you." Victoria said, her voice shaking a little. "Give it to a young kid, they'll appreciate it a little more than I will."
As she went to walk around him, his hand took a hold of her wrist and he roughly tugged her back, breathing his horrendous breath into her face. "You're not going anywhere, pretty girl."
Okay, not only was he a clown but he was a paedophile and a cradle robber. And his lips were getting way to close to hers.
She shut her eyes tightly, turning her head away. She wanted anyone but this guy to be her first kiss – and instantly Seto came to her desperate and scattered mind. "Let me go." Victoria stated, trying to find the strength in her fear to scream.
"Not this time." The old clown wheezed. "It's so crowded here that no one will notice you vanish."
She blanched. 'This time'? She shook that out of her head. She had no time to worry about a comment like that. "I have friends in high places; if you dare do anything to me you'll be facing more than you can deal with." Victoria warned him, deciding not to tell him she was legally related to the Kaiba's just yet.
"Oh I'll be in the wind long before anyone can do anything about your fate." He hissed.
"I think not!"
The clown suddenly doubled over, releasing Victoria's wrist as he held both hands around his stomach.
Victoria, being rather short to the point that even Mokuba was soon to tower over her, she looked up at the young woman who had just come to her aid. She was a brunette with her hair cropped neatly to her shoulders, brilliant blue eyes which were now glowering dangerously at the gasping clown.
"It seems I've knocked the wind out of you – oh and by the way, I've already notified some nearby security guards who will hold you until the police arrive to get rid of your sorry ass." Victoria's saviour stated, standing in front of Victoria defensively. "And take your sick little balloon friend with you."
As two security guards came over and took hold of the clown's upper arms to keep him in custody, the young woman turned to Victoria, her gaze softening.
"Are you okay?"
Victoria nodded. "Yes, thank you."
The young woman frowned sympathetically as she reached into her handbag and offered Victoria a light blue handkerchief. "Here, try your tears, it'll alright now."
Victoria started. She was crying? She raised a hand to her cheek and found the stream of a recently fallen tear. Without a word she accepted the handkerchief and wiped the tears away. "Thanks again. That was kinda scary."
"Hey, no worries." The young woman assured her. "I've handled weirder creeps before."
Victoria looked over at where the clown was being held, he was staring at her. "Can we go somewhere else?"
The young woman followed her gaze. "Yeah, sure. I know something that will make you feel heaps better. Come on." She said, leading Victoria further down the street. "My name is Téa by the way, what's yours?"
"I'm Victoria."
"It's nice to meet you, though the circumstances could have been better." Téa said.
"Yeah, I think my fear of clowns was just escalated."
"Clowns are pretty icky huh?" Téa asked. "So, what are you doing in town today?" She asked, swiftly changing the subject.
"Not much. I haven't had much of a chance to explore this part of town yet."
"Oh? Did you just move into Domino recently?" Téa asked.
Victoria nodded. "If you mean recently being two years?"
"That's pretty recent compared to me. I've lived in Domino my whole life."
"Wow, lucky."
Téa chuckled. "Yeah I guess. Where were you living before you moved to Domino?"
Victoria looked down. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. Forget I asked."
"Nah it's okay." Victoria assured her, smiling. "Just a place far away from here, that's all. I'm trying to forget about it."
"I guess there's a time when we have to run away from something, isn't there?"
Victoria nodded.
"Oh yes." Téa suddenly announced, dramatically changing the subject. "Smell that? We're getting close."
Victoria raised her head a little and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything."
"You will soon enough." Téa said. "It's the best way to forget about something bad. Well, I should say it's 'one of the best ways'."
Victoria tilted her head to the side, but willingly followed the woman who had saved her life.
"Yes, there's no line, come on, quickly. My treat." Téa said, running ahead.
Victoria quickly followed Téa to the nearby Corn on the Cob stand. She couldn't help but be utterly confused as Téa bought and paid for two corn cobs on long wooden skewers.
"Here."
Victoria raised an eye brow at the food and then at Téa. "Uum?"
"Trust me. It's warm and coated in butter – it's almost as good as a tub of triple chocolate ice cream."
Victoria giggled. Téa had a great sense of humour. She took a bite into the steaming corn and it squirted, much to her amusement, right up into her face. "Whoops." She muttered, wiping the oily substance off.
"That just means these are good ones." Téa explained. "So, what were your plans for today?"
"Well I was hoping to find a Duel Monster's store around here." Victoria admitted, she knew it was a little strange for a girl to be so into the game so she felt a little ridiculous.
"I know where one is near here. My friends go there all the time." Téa said. "Come on, I'll show you."
"Really? Thanks. My brother keeps getting packs for me so I've never bought any myself." This was partly a lie. She'd find the cards she needed online and Seto would get them for her. It wasn't cheating, it was getting the right cards for her strategy. But she wanted to get some surprises this time around so buying a pack or two would be a good investment.
"That's nice of him. Three of my best friends are into the game and they play all the time. I've played once or twice and I have a deck – but they've all played competitively while I'd rather cheer them on." Téa explained.
Victoria smiled. "I've only played against my brothers. My older one is brilliant, while I've become better than my younger brother." She wished she'd bit her tongue – she'd already said too much.
"A duelling family, huh? That's impressive."
"Thanks." Victoria muttered and focused on eating her corn.
After walking several yards down the mall street and finished their corn they came by a decorated shop with posters depicting various Duel Monsters slapped in the windows and the walls inside. It wasn't big and there weren't many people inside, but Téa happily led the way in. "Not many people know about this place, but it's one of the best places to get cards for a reasonable price." She said softly so the store owner couldn't hear her from his place standing at the counter.
Victoria barely heard when the store owner greeted them; she was too amazed by the sight of the store. She knew instantly that it was a safe place to be. She looked over the several shelves with figurines and different themed packs of cards.
She anxiously checked the time. "Ugh, I can't hang around for much longer."
"Oh?"
"I have a lift coming to get me in about ten minutes. I'll have to be fast." Victoria explained, searching for the theme of cards she needed and picked up one of the packs and ran up to the counter and quickly bought the pack with some of the spending cash Seto provided for her weekly.
As they exited the store the girls farewelled and thanked the store owner and then began to walk back the way they came.
"Which way are you headed?" Victoria asked as they reached a 'T' in their path.
"I need to head right, I'm meeting up with my friends." Téa replied.
"My lift is left." Victoria stated, a little sadly. She'd kind of wanted to talk to Téa more – she hadn't spoken to a female friend in a long time. "It was nice meeting you Téa."
"You too, Victoria. We might meet again, you never know."
Victoria nodded and they both went their separate ways.
. : . : . : .
She gasped awake.
It had only been a few days and the nightmares hadn't died away. The same creepy clown from that Sunday had become settled into her subconscious and haunted her no matter what she tried to do. Of course she hadn't told Mokuba any of it – not even about Téa.
It was better if she kept the whole day to herself so she wouldn't slip up in any way.
Turning to look at the time she groaned. It was way too early to be awake. Grumbling to herself and knowing that she wasn't going back to sleep any time soon she threw a jacket over her set of tank top and long pants and then slipped on some warm socks. October had bought cooler weather and being five in the morning didn't help with the temperature of the large mansion.
She'd been putting off working on Seto's present, though she was beginning to think about him constantly now – hoping for him to return as soon as he could. Maybe when he came back the nightmares would go away. With still groggy eyes, but a mind that was very wide awake, she walked to her studio, blindly wandering through her maze in the dark and quickly woke her computer up to illuminate the desk and the book seated on it.
From the pack of new cards she had gotten she had gotten a few useful monsters that would assist her strategy and would successfully confuse her opponent because they didn't match the theme of her deck at all. Hopefully she would be able to summon them in the first few rounds – if not they would still be helpful in some way. She'd also gained a few spell and trap cards that would also be put to use in her deck. During the week she'd been sketching the new monsters cards and when her mind wandered she would sketch a picture of Seto.
Which she would have to instantly put through the shredder to avoid them being discovered.
She was getting in way too deep and she knew it – he wasn't even in the state and she was having problems. Usually she could handle her feelings better when he was away, but that wasn't the case this time around.
She looked over at the sketch of the three Blue Eyes White Dragons and sighed. The way she was feeling now she would never get it finished. She was just feeling too low and no amount of sketching would be able to fix that problem. And on top of that there was still the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her the way she was feeling wasn't right.
And that only made her feel worse.
With the frustration and tiredness fuelling her, she picked up a pencil and began to sketch on the nearest sheet of blank paper.
. : . : . : .
By the time the sun had begun to rise she had drawn some of the ugliest monsters in the Duel Monster's card game. Each and every one of them staring darkly at her from the papers she had drawn them on. Usually she avoided sketching the monsters that she deemed ugly – though she was capable to sketching them – because she didn't like filling her pages with such angry looking beasts.
Gladly, their appearances had been the perfect way to channel some anger out of her head.
But it hadn't taken enough.
"Tori?"
At the sound of Mokuba's voice, Victoria turned, finding him standing in the doorway, still dressed in his pyjamas and rubbing one of his eyes with the side of his fist.
"What are you doing up so early?" He asked, he'd obviously just woken up.
"Oh, no reason. I just felt like drawing, that's all." Victoria replied.
"But you're crying."
Victoria was stunned and felt her cheeks. "Darn it." She muttered, turning away to wipe them away. "They're just watering, Mokuba. This always happens in the morning. It just looks like I'm crying that's all."
By the time she'd finished lying to him, he'd walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I miss Seto, too."
Shocked, she looked at him.
"I miss him every time he goes away – especially now that he won't take me with him anymore. I know it's because I have school work to do and I have you to keep me company…" He trailed off for a long moment and then sighed. "But he'll always come back, because he loves us." He reasoned.
Simple and easy. Mokuba had it all figured out.
Unable to believe herself, her bottom lip began to tremble and further tears leaked from her eyes. Crossing her arms over the images on her desk she slammed her head against them and began to sob. "Mokuba, I'm so confused. I don't know what to think anymore." She admitted. "For two years I thought I knew how I felt about everything in my life but now…I just don't know anymore."
"That will always happen. Nothing ever stays the same. Everything changes all the time. I mean, when Seto and I were kids, he used to smile all the time. And then when we were adopted he stopped smiling…at least the way he used to." Mokuba explained. "When he smiled it was because he had conquered another obstacle in business. And after he'd gotten to the top he basically never smiled. Ever. But I'm glad because he met Yugi and his friends and after a long while Seto began to smile again. He smiles more now than he ever did before we were adopted and I'm glad that you came into our lives – because you make him smile." He laughed lightly. "And you make me smile too."
Victoria sniffled and slowly sat up, embracing her little brother. "Thank you, Mokuba."
"Do you think you could make me pancakes?"
Victoria pulled back and looked at him. "You're unbelievable!"
"But no one makes pancakes like you do!" Mokuba reasoned.
Victoria laughed. He made her smile too. "Okay, fine. Get ready for school and I'll make pancakes."
Mokuba kissed her cheek. "Thank you~!" And then he practically pranced out of the room.
Victoria shook her head and looked back at the sketches on her desk. She knew another way to vent a little more frustration. She picked up the sketches she had done that morning and took them to the shredder and watched as the beasts vanished into indistinguishable long pieces of paper.
