A/N: Hello, hello, hello again for another time! I finally changed the rating for the previous chapter, as well as this one, this time for violence. Well, of course, when I changed the rating I was afraid that I'd be kicked out, so I changed it quickly and I could find my story nowhere! My exams are still on hold, three subjects gone, other eight remain! Enjoy the story!
Chapter 10: Challenge of DebtsWhat had she just said? It couldn't get register in Joey's mind, it just couldn't! Irma should have, would have something to play! She couldn't… she couldn't just betray them, could she? What if she was a lie from the very start? A Gozaburo's puppet? No, that couldn't be the case; his friends had never betrayed him, he didn't recall any other occasion like that. Usually, the enemies were plainly obvious, and they were becoming their friends afterwards. Treason had never occurred…
Except in Mai's case…
Joey shook his head, no; this wasn't the time to think like this. He looked at Tea, whose eyes, full of hurt and sorrow, were constantly darting at Seto's helpless, violated form. Then Gozaburo, who had stopped caressing Seto's stomach, but he still had his hands upon the bare skin; Joey felt the urge to crash those damn fucking fingers in his fist, and he wouldn't regret a single bit. Irma was still exchanging smirks with him, but Joey knew she was just restraining her anger. And there was Seto…
Joey was immensely surprised to recognize the same proud man he had met four years before. Only that now, he was more… emotional, more… human. Joey felt a lump forming in his throat; if he had to see something like this to say that Seto Kaiba was human… Joey didn't knew for whom he was more sorry for: Kaiba – no, Seto – or himself.
And he was also beautiful, and sensual, Joey admitted quite reluctantly. Those blue eyes were glistening; he was holding back the tears. Joey wondered if it was just the fact that he knew for what Gozaburo wanted to use Seto, and it was just his impression. It was just a kid! He still is, in a matter of way! How dares, that bastard…
Gozaburo's voice snapped him out of his thoughts: "I can say I certainly didn't see the last part coming. What a surprise." He mocked. Joey sighed; Irma was in their side.
"Believe me, there are more surprises than this one…" Irma's patience suddenly came to an end; Her face changed in a mask of soulless rage. "What do you think, shall we surpass them all, and you'll hand Seto quietly over, and stop touching him you freak!!"
Gozaburo raised an eyebrow and continued tapping playfully Seto's stomach, who let a sound between a growl and a groan. Irma had started fuming; this was always her weaker spot. She couldn't control her emotions. Sure, she had learnt something over the years, but… same rule applies. If she wanted to save Seto, she would have to be composed.
Gozaburo looked amused with her inner struggle. "Fine, if you can answer me one question."
Irma didn't like that at all. "If you say something along the lines 'names and directions of people who died in Titanic', I swear I will…"
"No, not like that at all." Gozaburo answered more amused, and Seto groaned louder, and rolled his eyes. Titanic! Where had she lost her brains? The little brains she had, already! And what were those dorks waiting to set him free? Why was he keeping them, anyways!
Oh yes, they couldn't… They couldn't face God, this time. And… he wasn't keeping them. He was just shoving them away… To the hell with the conscience! If he could find someone to blame, it wouldn't be right, yet it would make him feel better… For some seconds.
Gozaburo spoke again: "Do you have any idea to who you are talking to, you dimwit doll?" Seto gritted his teeth; the only person that was to blame, was this bastard. Fine, let him have him. Rape didn't sound so terrifying now… Not compared to what Gozaburo could do to other three innocent souls. Ok, not so innocent maybe, but still. He looked at Tea. So she was the one who saved him…
"Obviously." Irma answered without any hesitation.
Now it was Gozaburo that was fuming, the nerve and the stupidity of that girl. But he didn't let show. "I don't think so."
"Well, then perhaps I should explain." Irma scoffed, too pleased with the turn of the tables. "You are Gozaburo Kaiba, father of Noah Kaiba, who was killed in a car accident ten years ago, Jacqueline Missel Kaiba's husband, who died nine years ago, former owner of Kaiba Corporation, overthrown by his elder stepson Seto Kaiba, who you had abused brutally and even attempted rape to. Also former stepfather of Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's little brother, whom you used at his ignorance to make Seto do what you want…" Irma threw the last word with a face of utter disgust. "And now a virus into a computer system, manipulating 3000 souls to work for you from the outside. Smart people, but so focused on money, are they?"
"Attempted? How do you know I haven't done it already, what makes you think so?" Gozaburo had obviously stopped at this spot.
"Well, he may be a jackass but he's not a psycho…"
"…Yeah sure… you should ask me… have you ever heard that maniacal laugh he gives when he duels?" Joey couldn't restrain the words. He slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening.
"Thanks mutt, that's really helpful in the situation I'm currently in." Seto scowled at him, even if he had the slightest urge to smile. Joey was of the few things that could never change. What was this, bad or good? Seto decided that if it was the same, he liked it. Tea looked at Joey with a look that was saying even-a-last-drop-of-shame-hasn't-been-left-upon-you?
"…Plus, I have a friend who is a psychologist." Irma finished, referring to Taranee. Dance lessons weren't always enough to have that richly lifestyle of hers.
"You gave information about me to a psychologist?" Seto titled his head to glare at her.
"To a friend." She protested.
"So you were gossiping about me."
"No… I mean… Kaiba that's the least of your worries right now!" Irma almost hit her foot on the floor, her cheeks tainted red. Seto knew that, he didn't want her to remind him. He just wanted to mess with her a little. Even if it was for the last time. His smirk gave it away.
"So I see you're well informed." Gozaburo interrupted them once again. "I wonder from where."
"Industrial Illusions. With a tiny price."
"So you've met Maximilion Pegasus." Gozaburo smirked, them turned to Seto. "You heard that, son? An industrial spy. What a pity, isn't it? She's quite attractive. What a deceptive charm."
"I'M NO SPY!" Irma screamed with anger and horror. Before she could utter another word, Gozaburo was right in front of her. He grabbed her from the neck and lifted her up.
"STOP IT!" Joey and Tea run towards them, but with a Gozaburo's mere motion, they were lying flat on the floor, near Seto. Joey tried to stand up and approach Irma; his whole body was in ache. He couldn't move.
"Mutt… get on!" Seto whispered, trying not to attract Gozaburo's interest… he laughed ironically with the thought from the inside. Joey suppressed the urge to tell him off, his insides were burning. Tea was just lying where she had fallen.
"And what a price, may I ask? Except from spying, do you use to warm his bed as well?" Gozaburo continued, enjoying this immensely. How much would that hurt Seto! Not that he wanted to see his precious sapphires hurting too much, of course…
His fingers tightened their grip around the slender and delicate neck of the girl. He heard her weak cry; he saw the tears forming at the verge of her eyes. Beautiful sea-green eyes, he could tell they were competing Seto's blue's. They did have their depths, their charm, and their aura… But they would never have the soul. This soul belonged to the blue-eyed boy and nobody else. Nobody. But those emerald eyes… Gozaburo had a weird feeling for those eyes. Like this was the first of the many, many times he would see them at the future… he would see those eyes…
The abrupt and rather painful kick between his legs, snapped him into reality. For while his mind was up in the clouds, his head was lowering to sink his own gray eyes at the sea-green ones, searching for some truth, some information… Only that Irma didn't think of it as that. That bastard had tried to violate Seto. She wouldn't allow him to violate her as well. She kicked him rather unmercifully.
"Take that, you bastard!" She spat venomously, as she was trying to recollect herself. Gozaburo was forced to leave her.
"Now, now, don't get all too gutsy around me." He smiled, no matter his pain. "You won't like it at all."
"Oh, but I bet I will!" She almost screamed at him. "Gozaburo Kaiba, I'm challenging you to a duel!"
"What the hell are you saying?!" Joey yelled at her. What was she, crazy?
"I know what I'm doing!" She reassured him.
"You don't know how to duel!"
"Oh, but I do." The last sentence was said to a low, determined whisper.
"I suppose you do. Pegasus didn't give you only information, did he." Gozaburo said with an evil smirk and let everyone know what he meant by that. Irma decided not to play his perverted game this time.
"Oh, you disappoint me, Gozaburo. I bet you'd be more farsighted. Would you really think that I would step so low as to sleep with a man in your age?" She laughed ironically. "But I was sure you'd see it this way. Because you don't bother yourself to understand how the mind of other people works. So, you underestimate them, and this shall be your greatest mistake. Really, will you never learn? You underestimated Seto dearly. Or so I thought. But that was only superficial, wasn't it?"
"Continue." Gozaburo said simply, totally composed.
"No, I won't. The rest in our duel."
"Oh, so you're so sure that we'll have our duel."
"I'd be more than surprised that the man who taught Seto Kaiba his philosophy, would step back from a challenge."
Gozaburo smirked, she wasn't that stupid. But she had made the mistake to show it. "I guess we both know the prize." He glanced towards Seto.
Seto blinked. Was he now the prize of a duel and its outcome? Hot rage engulfed him, what did they think he was, an object? Just meat and bones? He tried to clear his mind, but he couldn't, the things couldn't get any worse. Irma and… and… Pegasus? Since when! Pegasus had sucked his and his brother's souls out of them, just to bring his dead wife back. Had he moved on? Seto couldn't imagine him with Irma… why did his chest ache so much? Just to think of his precious emeralds with… with… No! No, she couldn't have done that! He knew her – or so he thought – she would never do something like that. Even if he had his doubts now about her persona, it wasn't at this field.
"But what makes you think I care?" Gozaburo continued. "I rule this world. With one of my movements, you'd be dead by now, girl. I could kill all of you, then have Seto, and then kill him too. Why should I care about a stupid challenge?"
"Gozaburo… if this is really the case… why haven't you done all those things yet? What are you waiting for?" Irma asked with innocent eyes.
Gozaburo didn't answer. Why? The answer was so simple. To make them suffer more. So then, why couldn't he answer?
"I thought so." Irma said quietly. "If we're going to duel, a duel disk please. And my deck."
"The terms? Since you are in my world, I have the courtesy to let you arrange the terms." His voice wasn't so full of sarcasm as Irma thought it would be, as he did what she asked.
Irma glanced towards the three of her friends, and she immediately remembered Yugi, Duke and the others. "Well, if I win, you'll let all the ten of us free. If you win… you decide."
"Lack of inspiration?" Gozaburo smirked. Irma didn't answer. It was time to duel.
Seto didn't bother to look at them. He noticed though that Irma was a fairly good-player. Where had she learnt playing? From Pegasus, sure… Seto drifted at his thoughts. Let's say she wasn't sleeping with him; thing he was sure that she could never do. Whatever happened, he knew how to judge a character, and he'd bet his head that she would prefer to die than do something like this. But why had she gone to him? How did she know so much about them? Did she know the story of all of them, equally? Or had she done research only for him? And again, why?
Maybe she was an industrial spy. She joined the group to try to get some of his ideas. But that didn't make sense, if it was so, she would constantly trying to seduce him, not to piss him off. In fact, she wasn't trying to get near him; she was constantly trying to hold herself away. Did she hate him? It was possible. But then, why was she fighting for him?
Seto turned his head to the other side. She wasn't fighting for him, but for her friends. He didn't think that she wouldn't give a damn if she left him at the hands of Gozaburo, but that wouldn't be because it was him and it mattered; it would be because he was a human. And he knew that this was the case and with the others, they had protected him not because he was who he was, but because he was a human being and they couldn't let anyone suffer. Friends, pfeh!
He remembered Mokuba, and vaguely wondered if he could see him ever again… Mokuba was the only person that really loved him… and he couldn't even remember what were his last words towards his little brother! Seto felt his eyes watering, but he knew that he would never cry.
Suddenly, he felt a cool hand brushing away the bangs on his forehead. He looked upwards, and saw Tea, soothing him and holding him sane.
Was she crying? He couldn't tell, but her eyes were surely wet. He felt his heart wrench. She had saved him. And he learnt it just now. Why hadn't she told him? Wouldn't he believe her?
He remembered what had happened after. She had met her the next day, stared oh so coldly at her cerulean eyes, and he'd told her to get lost from his sight. That he would never see her again. That she was worth only of his detest. Now he understood; she hadn't cry then, as he originally thought, her eyes were already red and puffy, and she accepted everything with just a nod. A week later, she moved away from the neighborhood.
He met her after four years, at High School. And he remembered also how she had looked at him when she saw him again. His stepfather was lost now, he had decided to go to the local High School; he couldn't stand any other tutors. She had approached with a 'Seto', when no one else was around, and he had replied with an 'it's Kaiba to you'. From then on, she stopped trying to approach him further. She had her friends.
And he remembered, also, that she had saved him in the Duelist Kingdom. She had yelled at him, but that didn't matter. She had still saved him. He remained indifferent, though.
Tea's face was leaning closer to his. "Can you ever forgive me?" She whispered weakly, guilt written in her face.
"I have forgiven you since I told you to run into your house." He responded, with a sad smile. "Tea… thank you… for throwing that rock."
"I… I wasn't sure I had saved you." She bit her bottom lip. "I learned that only today. These tears aren't only of sadness. I thought that it wouldn't stop him… or if it did, it would be like preventing the inevitable… or something that had already happened."
"Hush, now it doesn't matter." Seto couldn't find something else to say. He wanted to hold her hand and squeeze it… but the cuffs would never allow him to.
"Uh – uh!" Joey coughed discreetly. "May I interrupt?"
"You already did that, mutt." Seto sighed. "What?"
"I'm no mutt!! And spare a look: Irma is playing so well, it scares me! Where did she learn to?"
"I don't know and I don't give a damn." Seto turned his head to the other side.
"You don't even want to know what the score is? Our freedom depends on it!" Joey stared at his ex-rival in outmost disbelief.
"Don't be so naïve, Joey. Gozaburo can control everything here. Whether he wins or loses, he'd never hold the end of his bargain. Irma is just buying us some time to say goodbye, and she knows it."
Joey was so shocked with the thing that had just left Seto's mouth that he didn't comment about his first name. "Excuse me? Is this the same Seto Kaiba I met four years ago? How can you say something like that!! When did you give in? How, why the hell did you give in??"
"This is what I have mutt, okay? Take it or leave it!"
"I'm planning neither! Kaiba, you can't give in!" Joey, furious, grabbed both of Seto's arms, pinning him further onto the metallic slate. "Do it for Mokuba!"
"I've done plenty of things for Mokuba for the past sixteen years." Seto stated soullessly. "I'm sorry."
Joey shook his head sadly. "You had so much strength inside. Where did it go? I pity you."
That brought a reaction. "Why the hell don't you try undergoing what I have! You fucking mutt, you think I haven't fought?? I'm tired!! I'm human!! I'm TIRED!" Seto broke. The tears cascaded freely down his eyes, making them shimmering. "I've fought so hard, in all of my life! When I finally thought that I had done it, everything collapses!! And I'm rebuilding it! And it collapses again!! And I'm rebuilding it again! And again! And again!" Now he had started sobbing. "I'm sick, I'm so... so sick of all of this circles, I want it to end! I don't care anymore, I want it to end!"
He hadn't noticed that Gozaburo and Irma had stopped their duel. When he did, he lied again on his back, trying to suppress the tears, and wished for the Earth to open and swallow him. That was it. After this outburst, he was more than doomed.
"Well…" Gozaburo said. "It was a miracle he lasted that long."
Irma's Purple Mermaid destroyed his Soldier of Darkness. "He's not lost." She had to win, damn it!
Gozaburo revealed the trap-card Chains, which restrained the Mermaid. "Not yet. But I grew tired of this. Let's just end this, shall we? I activate Rebirth, and I bring my Soldier of Darkness back."
Now that Irma's Mermaid couldn't protect her, Irma cursed silently. But what the hell was he saying? Even with a straight attack, her life points couldn't go down to zero. She felt an irrational fear; it was more than met the eye…
When the Soldier's Sword slashed the air, she understood. A second later, it had slashed her flesh as well.
She screamed, and held her thigh, where the Soldier had hit her. There was a deep, long cut there, which had ripped her jeans and she was sure that it has reached the bone. Its length was from the knee to her upper thigh, and the blood was now cascading and covering the rest of her leg. She fought not to scream again, but she couldn't help it. She stumbled weakly.
"What, Miss Lair? Can't you take a little pain?" Gozaburo mocked in a perverse satisfaction. She was losing blood rather quickly, and her vision was starting to get blurry.
Irma tried to reach a hand to her deck. This card, this card was the only thing she had left! She glanced at her friend's side: Joey and Tea were now trying to break Seto's cuffs. They were succeeding, why Gozaburo wouldn't stop them? She couldn't think straight, it hurt too much… Come on, girl! She tried to encourage herself, but unsuccessfully. If she drew that card, everything would end… But did she really want to risk it? Seto would haunt her for the rest of her life if he learned that she had that card… Heck, he'd be able even to hurt her for this; she didn't trust him at all!
"I'm sorry, you're too late." Gozaburo informed her evilly. "It took you too long to draw a card. Your turn is over."
Her protest died at her throat, when the Soldier slashed her waist. She stumbled, and then she fell at her knees.
"STOP IT!" Whose was that voice? The sound was nice… but scared.
"Why, son? Can't you see that she's falling apart for you?" Another harsh voice. Irma felt herself drifting away.
"I'm sorry… Seto…" Was the only thing she could whisper. She felt herself leaning frontward. Then two warm arms around hers, and then nothing.
"NO! NO! IRMA, WAKE UP!" Seto screamed at the unconscious girl in his arms, and then proceeded to shake her. "Wake up… wake up…" He sobbed, his tears falling from his eyes to hers, now, closed. "Please, wake up…" Joey and Tea had freed him exactly when Gozaburo slashed her the first time. Now they were restrained behind an invisible wall, watching what was happening, but unable to interfere. Tea was crying, and Joey was punching madly at the barrier. Seto couldn't even hear them.
"She won't wake up." His stepfather informed him with a cold voice. "She's lost too much blood. Even if she's alive now, she'll stop being in a few minutes."
I can kill… I can torment… I can heal…"Then heal her, damn it! I know you can!" Seto whipped away his tears and tried to sound composed and determined. "Heal her!"
"Why?" Gozaburo asked, and Seto gritted his teeth. He knew where this was going.
"Because then, I'll behave." He stated soullessly, his eyes looking blankly the dying girl in his arms. "Do it."
"Do I have your word?"
"Absolutely." With nothing more than a flash, Irma's injures were gone, without even a scar. Her eyes were still closed though. Seto thought the worst for a moment, but then she snuggled into him. She was… sleeping? It seemed so. He squeezed her even more tightly in his arms.
"Here. In front of your friends." Said Gozaburo, grabbing Seto from the shoulder. Seto didn't have the courage to protest anymore. Joey started punching the barrier more madly. "I may have your blond friend do it for me." Gozaburo smirked. "Wouldn't that be better? He would be gentler than me, don't you think? I can easily do that, I have his sister here…"
A blue lightning flashed through Seto's eyes. A dragon roared, and then, everything went black.
A/N: And I decided to cut it here, because I'll have to, unfortunately, write algebra tomorrow. Can you guess Irma's card? I'll tell you two words: MOVIE SPOILER! Is it okay, or did I make Irma annoying, like the most OCS? Please, tell me what you think. REVIEW! See ya! : D