Carly Carmine X Jack Atlas (in other words, The Reporter and The King of Games)
Chapter Seven: Meeting The Signers- Again
Ugh. Why do I have a splitting headache? Oh, right... It probably happened when I smacked into poor Yusei after that attack... I sat up sleepily, and looked about. There were a lot more people than I remembered were in here when I last looked. Akisa lay cuddled with Yusei on the floor, both being asleep. Crow was even in here curled up on the battered armchair. I looked down and saw Jack- lanky form spread out in the space between the coffee table and the couch I lay on. Our hands remained linked, and I smiled tenderly. Jack needed me so much right now... He must have been downright scared when that guy grabbed me.
Speaking of which... A frission of cold went down my spine as I remembered hearing half-demented howls of rage near the time I passed out. I also seemed to remember a lot of blood- or just my vision going red and dark for the briefest of seconds. And the dark memories the attack had brought in. Shuddering, with an effort, I pushed the dark feelings away in favor of looking around my house. I looked around, looking to see if the guy was tied up or something. Instead, I found myself looking straight into intense gray eyes framed by long blue-black hair. The morning sun, weak as it was, glinted off the blue and green tints to her hair. I startled a bit, my hold on Jack's hand tightening.
"Don't be scared. I won't hurt you Carly."
"H-how do you know my name?" Honestly, it was the first question that popped into my head. No matter how cheesy it sounded.
"I know about you from Crow and Yusei. They kept talking about you, but we never got the chance to come over before now. Apparently, it was destined to be so."
I blinked in bemusement. Why the talk about destiny?I promptly voiced my question.
"Because the Crimson Dragon foretold it. Through me."
Scoop of the century here Carly! "Psychic" girl gone nutso... Well, maybe she isn't crazy... She did mention that she knew the boys... Although that's not a solid claim to sanity in and of itself... I mean, look at Kalin...
"Carly?"
The girl's voice was a little awkward. Immediate sympathy filled me for someone who didn't know how to deal with people. Jack had been like that for a long time.
"Hehe, I'm okay. I just spaced out a little," I said, giggling. I quickly covered my mouth when I realized what I had done; hopefully that giggle hadn't woken any of the boys. Oops. The young woman was smiling at least.
Crow was the only one who stirred, it turned out. Sleepy grey eyes flickered from me to the girl. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but a yawn came out instead. I couldn't resist outright laughter at that one. I think the black-haired girl isn't the only one who's gone bonkers... I do wonder what her name is though...
"My name's Raeven by the way. Raeven Soong."
I blinked, startled, "Waitaminnute, canyoureadminds?"
Crow was the one to snicker quietly as he rubbed his eyes, "Nope. Raeven is just annoyingly good at reading faces."
"Annoyingly good," she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
He just laughed it off, which woke up Akisa. Yusei, on the other hand, slept through it. Jack too, although he shifted slightly and muttered something along the lines of, "Shut up Crow, a KING is trying to sleep… Ugh…."
"Wha.. Oh, Carly. You're awake," Akisa said, smiling sleepily. She sat up smoothly, in that graceful way I had always envied her for. She just rubbed the arm Yusei had wrapped possessively around her middle, and he loosened his grip enough to allow her to sit up properly.
"What went on here? Why are all of you here? I mean, at my apartment?"
Crow rolled his eyes, "I thought that was obvious, Carly. That idiot's here. We've found him after almost a year of looking."
"Oh," I said softly, feeling like an idiot for not calling them sooner. They must have been worried sick about Jack... Wait.
"Hey! Why haven't you told me that Jack might be in trouble?! I could have helped," I demanded, more than a little ticked off.
"My fault, Carly."
I looked at Raeven confusedly. How could this whole business be her fault? I mean, I barely knew her so no way was I going to blame her for whatever had happened to make the Signers distance themselves from me. I mean, Akisa had still visited over here once in a while, but we had just talked dueling and fashion. Nothing remotely connected to Jack- unless you counted Dueling.
"Hey! Who are you guys? Why are you in Carly's house!"
Uh-oh. Jack was up. He sat up, looking like a grouchy little kid as he rubbed his eyes.
"Don't you remember? I'm Crow! Crow Hogan! You know, the one you used to pick on before Yusei stepped in. The red-headed one."
Jack had an angry, mulish look in his eyes as he snapped, "No, I don't remember you! What's with people and expecting me to remember stuff I don't today!"
He instinctively pulled closer to me, glaring at everyone around him. I put a calming arm around his shoulder; this was the only time I could reach it.
"Jack, calm down. They're my friends, our friends."
"I don't remember them."
That statement didn't hold as much certainty as before. I sighed quietly.
"Let me explain, then."
I blinked in surprise as Yusei sat up. He yawned after he said it, and that was when I noticed his noticeably worse than usual bedhead. Jack, as always, didn't have a lick of bedhead, I also noticed with a faint flutter of pride. Wait, why do I feel pride in that again? It had been a hard couple of hours, in my opinion. The little things counted and all that.
Yusei gave Jack the short version of what had happened, up until Jack had gone away. I listened with only half an ear, watching how things had changed between my favorite people.
Akisa was closer to Yusei, as evidenced by them sleeping next to each other. OOOOO, Akisa had a bunch of things to catch me up on. I huffed softly. Moving on to Raeven and Crow. She was even tinier than he was, I realized belatedly. She looked pretty and delicate- nothing like me except for the black hair. Hers was even in a better cut than mine. She was cuddled close to Crow, and it was obvious she adored the redhead. It was irritating that I had been so wrapped up in my own life that I hadn't noticed so many changes in my friends' lives. Well, actually, I had been wrapped up in the last scoop, which had involved... Oh, right.
"You were the one who fought that psychic duelist who did all that damage a few months ago, weren't you Raeven!"
Raven blinked, her grey eyes bemused for a sec. Then they darkened. The general mood darkened in the room. I was sooo confused... I normally didn't do stuff to make the room mood go like this. Crow put a protective arm around Raven, and she silently turned to him. The tense position of her back indicated a LOT of stress associated with the issue; he tried to relieve it by stroking the small of her back. How they supported each other brought an ache up to me. It used to be Jack bracing me; now the roles were reversed. He depended upon me for an anchor.
Yusei spoke first, "Carly, it... It's complex. We knew the duelist that was causing the trouble, and Raeven... Took it upon herself to fix the issue."
Something told me that this wasn't the time, but my newshound instincts were going into hyperdrive. Do I really want to pursue this? Do I want to push it while Jack's around to hear? It may not be a good idea to push it anyways... Raeven looks pretty upset.
I just nodded, "Alright, alright, I won't push it. Tell me at some point, though, will you?" I could always dig it up from the news sheets, but I wanted them to trust me again. Since apparently they didn't anymore. Akisa nodded.
Jack stood up abruptly. I looked over quickly. He looked like he had a headache he was trying to repress. I stood up, frowning worriedly. That was when I remembered I still had the camera jammies on. I blushed profusely, wanting to hide myself behind Jack's tall frame but sticking it out. He tugged me with him, and I uttered a yeep as he dragged me into my bedroom.
"You need to change, Carly."
His tone was semi-embaressed, semi... something else that I wasn't sure I wanted to look into. He turned away, and I realized he meant that change with him in here.
"Jack, we were over this. A girl doesn't change in front of guys!" No matter how much she likes them.
"And a girl shouldn't wear pjs in from of guys! Other guys anyways..." He mumbled, looking over his shoulder breifly.
Wait. If I didn't know better, i'd say Jack was being possessive. And all without memories. Interesting.
"You mean you like seeing me in pjs?"
His pale cheeks blushed so fast I wanted to giggle, if it weren't for the absurdity of the situation. Spluttering, he managed, "N-no! I mean yes! ARRRRGH!"
He was waving his fists, splutteringly trying to explain, when I started tugging at my shirt. Jack whipped around so fast I swear he gave himself a headache. He covered his eyes for good measure, and I grinned faintly. I wouldn't blame him for playing pervert; it gave me a small nosebleed to think about Jack Atlas (even memoryless) peeking on me of all people.
Changing into my regular outfit hurriedly, I was soon decent again. But my heart had been racing the whole time, wondering if Jack was looking at my rather unimpressive figure. I never had much time for working out, and my breasts weren't the biggest... Shaking my head, I swept those worries aside for later. Time to figure out what was going on with the rest of the Signers.
"I'm decent Jack."
He turned around, and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. To my slight surprise, he pulled me into a strong hug. I smiled, hugging back as I felt him bury his face in my hair and inhale. It was a little ritual of his, when we first woke up. It fellt good that he wanted to hold me, but I couldn't help but wonder if it would be like this when his memories returned. Probably not, I decided, so I'll enjoy this while it lasts. I snuggled into him, burying my face in his oversized white shirt. He had to borrow clothes from various neighbors when I had wash day with his two sets of clothing, and this was one of the days when he had chosen to wear the too-large in the middle white shirt.
I squeaked softly when I felt Jack nuzzle into my hair. That was oddly intimate, even for the little waking up ritual.
"Carly..."
His voice was soft and husky, different from the voice of the Jack I had known this past week. His hands caressed my hair, and I could feel something wet dribble onto my head. I froze. Jack never cried. He wasn't a crier; I was the crier in our whatever it was. But here he was, shaking with barely repressed noises and tears dripping onto my head. He sniffled quietly, shaking a little.
"J-Jack? What's wrong?"
In a rasping, slightly choked voice he mumbled, "You... You d-died... the Dark Signers... Killed you... I..."
I wanted to laugh, to show him that I wasn't dead, that I was safe and sound and he was holding me, but... something prevented me. Maybe it was the fact that I felt a ring of truth to his words. Maybe it was the faint, but there memory that fluttered into my mind at that statement. I had been Dueling... someone. A red-headed someone that wasn't Akisa. I knew that mostly because the person didn't have the requisite female parts, and then I realized there was the eye color diffrence. I lost the Duel... Of course, I thought, a little disgusted with myself. There was a blast, and then falling... Right then I drew a blank on what happened when I hit the ground. It was like a bad dream where if you didn't die during, you'd wake up afterwards in a cold sweat or something.
Shaking my head, I shoved aside the memory. Jack was still shaking- still frightened. I gently patted his back, trying to get loose. Eventually managing, I took his face in cupped hands.
"Jack."
He averted his eyes stubbornly, which weren't red yet with crying. He sniffed quietly.
"JACK."
That got his attention. Amethyst eyes swerved to meet my dark pair.
"Listen to me. You're a King, do you remember that? And Kings shouldn't cry where everyone and their brother sees." Unable to resist, his tears so confusingly moving, I added, "But it's okay to cry in front of your Queen."
The smile coming over his face was like a sunrise.
"Okay, my Queen," he said softly, smiling as he leaned in and did something that COMPLETELY threw me for a loop. Even more so than him calling me Queen. HIS Queen.
He kissed me. Not on the cheek, but on the lips...
Heyyy... ^^' I am SO sorry I took this long to update... My only excuse is that I had a horrid dry spell for this fic. Now, abruptly, it's fertile ground again. Please, please leave a review!
Happy 4th of July to those who live in America like me!
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-June
