Frozen by Your Side

By: Darkest Ember

Chapter 10: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Summary: Dani Devlin is Duke Devlin's estranged twin sister. When they were younger, their father had asked a local game shop owner, Solomon Muto, to teach him to be a game master. They end up playing a dangerous game that ages their father 50 years in one night. From that moment on, he becomes obsessed with vengeance and plans to use Duke as a means to that revenge. Unable to save them both, their mother escapes with Dani and moves to America. A few years later, Dani starts to see the negative changes in her brother and decides to move back to Domino during her junior year of high school to save him. There, she meets Yugi and the gang, who all share her love for Duel Monsters. She hopes that they can also help Duke return to his old self. And then there's Seto Kaiba. Dani doesn't exactly get off on the right foot with him, but perhaps he is the one who can change her for the better.

Takes place between the Duelist Kingdom and Dungeon Dice Monster arcs. Inspired by the manga storyline that shows "Mr. Clown" (Duke's dad) as the reason why Duke challenges Yugi.

Pairing: Kaiba x OC

Three shiny metallic dragon heads peered through the thick black fog. They let out a mighty roar before shooting a tri-colored lightning blast into the air. This attack briefly cleared some of the fog and allowed Dani to see her surroundings more clearly. She was in the middle of a desert - only there was no sun or scorching heat; instead, there was a chill in the shadowy air.

As the fog started to roll back in, Dani frantically glanced around. She knew the dragon was only a few feet in front of her, so she subconsciously took steps backward as she continued her survey. When those steps became more panicked, she became more clumsy and ended up tripping over something - or rather someone. A piercing scream echoed throughout the barren landscape as Dani realized she'd fallen over a desiccated Vampire Lord. Upon closer examination, she saw that the rest of the desert was covered in the corpses of her monsters.

The ground trembled as the dragon approached. Dani scrambled to get back on her feet and run. She definitely didn't want to become another corpse in this graveyard.

"There's only one thing left to destroy, Blue Eyes. Finish her!" Kaiba's booming voice echoed throughout the empty space. The sound of his voice caused Dani to freeze in her tracks. It was the last thing she'd heard before...before the explosion. Any contemplation vanished the moment the dragons opened their mouth to issue one last attack. The light reflecting from their metallic bodies was blinding compared to the surrounding darkness. Dani cried out as the Neutron Blast passed right through her and turned everything white…

A bracing gasp for air pulled Dani out of her nightmare and into an equally blinding white reality. She blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision and take in her surroundings. Am I...am I at the hospital? Flashes of her duel with Kaiba mixed with images from that nightmare she just had, and she was struggling to piece together what happened.

When she tried to sit up, a burning pain crept from her forehead, around the base of her skull, and all the way down her spine. She whimpered as she slowly lowered herself back into the pillows. Staring at the pure white ceiling and listening to the sounds of her ragged breathing and beeping machines didn't do much to console her. She craned her neck a little to get a better view of the rest of the room and was surprised to see she wasn't alone.

Kaiba was slumped in a chair at the end of the bed with his white trench coat draped over his body like a blanket. Despite surely being uncomfortable in such a position, Dani couldn't help but notice how peaceful he looked when he slept. His lips weren't curled in their usual condescending smirk, and there was an absence of arrogant scowls. A part of her wanted to believe that he had slept at the hospital all night because he was genuinely concerned about her...maybe he was even apologetic for attacking despite her warning. Yet, the more likely reason he was there was to prevent her from pressing charges the moment she regained consciousness.

"What are you staring at?" he mumbled.

Dani gasped and felt her cheeks burn bright red. "I...I didn't know you were awake," she said awkwardly.

"It's pretty hard to fall asleep when the other person in the room keeps crying and screaming in her sleep," he replied, narrowing his eyes at her over the curve of his collar before adjusting his position and closing his eyes again.

"I was….?" she whispered, cringing at the memory of her most recent nightmare. Not appreciating his tone, she shot back, "Good thing you're not a doctor. Your bedside manner sucks."

Duke angrily pressed the "end call" button on his phone for what felt like the hundredth time this morning. He had tried texting her the previous night - first apologizing for their father's unexpected appearance, then attempting to coax Dani to come back for one last redemption round of arcade games. After his discussion with his father, Duke had every intention of keeping Dani as close as possible so she won't realize that she's actually helping him take down Yugi, but now it felt like she was somehow purposely avoiding him when he needed her most.

As he pulled into the school parking lot, Duke reminded himself that his plan will still work - with or without Dani's unknowing help. His father had this planned for years, but the timing and circumstances needed to be just right. After the world found out that Yugi supposedly defeated Pegasus, the Duel Monsters creator, Duke insisted that the time was right. His father agreed and pushed the final stages of construction for their game shop forward. That would be the other part of their vengeance; with a massive shop like the Black Clown, the Muto's insignificant Kame shop would be out of business in no time.

But as more and more texts went ignored and calls rang endlessly into voicemail, Duke's confidence was shifting into concern. Although they haven't lived together in a few years, Duke knew this his sister's temper, much like his own, could be downright terrifying at times - and it wasn't like her to pass up this opportunity to yell at him at the very least.

After one more failed attempt at reaching her, he tossed the phone in his backpack and got out of his car. She's probably already in homeroom with one of her new friends. I swear if she came to school with that Kaiba creep again, that guy's face is going to get rearranged, he thought, bitterly.

For the first time since transferring to Domino High, Duke completely ignored the crowds of girls that practically drooled over him in the halls and went straight to homeroom. When he turned the corner into the classroom, he felt equally disappointed and enraged. Even though some students were standing in clusters, Duke could tell that there were two desks that were definitely empty - Dani and Kaiba's.

It was tempting to just turn around and skip classes for the day, but with the game shop opening tomorrow, Duke couldn't risk getting detention. He walked back into the classroom with clenched fists and sat in his desk. While he tried to formulate a plan to find Dani, Yugi and his friends were sitting in their usual spot by the window. Duke couldn't hear the full extent of the conversation, but he could tell that Joey was making some dumb big-mouthed comment, which earned a reprimanding response from Téa. He stole a glance in their direction and almost immediately made eye contact with Yugi. The moment their eyes met, Yugi's laughter fell flat and he became solemn.

It didn't make any sense. Dani was in a huge bed, stacked with comfy pillows and heated blankets and Kaiba was slouched over in a cold, plastic chair with no pillow and a makeshift blanket - yet he looked far more comfortable than she felt. Didn't he feel racked with guilt for what happened? How could he sleep so soundly when every time she attempted to close her eyes it was nothing but nightmares?

Not wanting to sulk in her bed any longer, Dani drew in a sharp breath and then ripped the IV from her arm. A thick trail of blood dripped down her arm and stained the white sheet. Surprisingly, that didn't hurt nearly as much as the physical action of getting out of the bed. The moment her feet touched the ground, she doubled over in pain and clutched the bed's railing for support. Her skin felt like it was on fire as a dull pain started violently pulsating across her skull. Her vision blurred with tears. It took her a moment to realize it, but the shrieking sound she'd been hearing was her own screams.

It was becoming near impossible to grip the railing any longer with her sweaty palms. Just before she lost her grip, Kaiba appeared behind her and broke her fall. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he grunted, scooping her up in his arms and dropping her back onto the bed. "Now I'm going to have to tell the doctor to come back."

Dani scoffed. "So you run the Domino Hospital, too?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I have my own on-call doctor, who I sent home because I stupidly thought that there wouldn't be any further need for him here."

"Here?" she wondered aloud. There's no way Kaiba has his own medical wing in his house…

Kaiba looked at her with a confused expression - as though he were actually wondering if she'd suffered some brain damage from the explosion. "Yes, here. The Kaiba Mansion. Where else would we be?"

"Oh I am so sorry, Kaiba. It's just that most people don't have their own mini hospital in their houses, so forgive me for assuming that we were in a hospital," she said with venomous sarcasm. "And speaking of forgiveness, aren't you going to apologize?"

"For what?" Kaiba asked dismissively.

"For THIS?!" she exclaimed, pointing to her bandaged forehead.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window. "I'm giving you whatever medical attention you need, free of charge, until you're fully recovered. Isn't that enough?"

"No," she said stubbornly. "Because if you had just listened to me, this never would've happened!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "And what was I supposed to do? Just never attack? Just stand there until one of us ran out of cards?"

"Wasn't that supposed to be a test to see what the duel disks were capable of? Weren't you curious to see what would happen if you were to pick up the projectors and move mid-duel?"

"I highly doubt that would ever need to happen."

"Well, it needed to happen last night."

"I wasn't just going to let the duel go on forever...and I certainly wasn't going to surrender."

"There are more important things in life than the outcome of a duel!" she said angrily.

"It's not just about the duel!" he shot back, approaching her bed. "It's about being the best, about being successful."

"There are also more important things than 'being the best,'" she replied, scooting further up the bed as he got closer.

He held onto the railing with one hand and placed another on the bed as he leaned down, effectively towering over her. "I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand," he said lowly.

Despite the discomfort she felt from his proximity, she managed to keep her voice calm and steady as she replied, "What do you mean - someone like me?"

His lip curled upward in a twisted smirk. "A loser."

Enraged, she found the strength to lift her arm and swing a punch in his direction. With him being so close, she was sure that even in her injured state she would make contact - but he grabbed her wrist just before she could. There was an intense, menacing glint in his eyes as he maintained eye contact with her. He held onto her wrist a moment longer before returning to his chair across the room.

After a few minutes of deafening silence, she said, "You know, Mokuba told me that you weren't always this way, that this wasn't the real you - but I don't believe that. You're just an egotistical asshole that can't face his own shortcomings, so you lash out at anyone who remotely cares about you."

"Not that I have to justify anything to you, but Mokuba isn't wrong. Things weren't always like this...I wasn't always like this. But sometimes things happen in life that you can't control, so you either deal with it or let it destroy you."

Dani's frown softened. She wanted to know more about his past - find out what he was like before he was adopted. "Besides the adoption, what else could've been so bad? Look at everything you have. People would kill for this lifestyle."

The manic look in his eyes had melted into sorrow when he looked back at her. Sighing, he relinquished his grip on the railing and and sat on the edge of the bed. "It might seem that way, but bad things keep happening and threatening to take away everything I care about. At the height of everything, I had taken over a multi-billion dollar company, created the holographic technology seen in dueling arenas today, and became the number one duelist in the world. But everything fell apart the day that Yugi and I dueled…"

It sounds like he was more upset from his loss against Yugi than all the cruelty his step-father subjected him to, Dani thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Okay, so you made it past the dark time in your life and now you're a freaking teenage billionaire. Don't tell me you're all bitter because Yugi beat you in a card game."

"It's about so much more than losing that game. After that loss, my brother was kidnapped, my company was nearly taken from me, and...according to Yugi and his pathetic gang of friends, I lost my soul." His strong words began trailing off at the mention of what happened in Duelist Kingdom. Regardless of whether he really did lose his soul or not, Kaiba preferred to not think about what happened on that island. "My brother has been saved and my company is still under my command, obviously. Pegasus was defeated. So there's only one thing left for me to do before I can truly put my past behind me. I have to beat Yugi and reclaim my rightful title as the world's best duelist."

Almost all of Dani's previously judgmental attitude had been cast aside in favor of sympathy. Maybe if I can keep making cracks in this shield he put up, I'll get to see the real Seto Kaiba. Without thinking, she reached out and placed her hand on his. They both looked down at their hands and then looked away with burning red cheeks.

"Holy crap, I didn't know about all of that," she murmured. "Look - it's okay to have goals, but you can't become obsessed. I'm sure you and Yugi will get the chance to have a rematch…"

And just like that, the moment of sentiment was gone. "Hmph," Kaiba scoffed, getting off the bed. He put his trench coat back on and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Dani asked, despising how needy she sounded.

"To call the doctor," he said flatly, pausing at the door. "You're bleeding through your bandages."

Seven times. Duke had sent a text seven times throughout the school day - once during each class. Yet when he checked his phone on his way out, there was still not a single response. What little concern he had left prompted him to take the longest route possible to the game shop so that he could scan the streets.

With any luck, he'd find her just wandering around Domino with a dead cell phone in her purse and a perfectly logical explanation for her absence. But after an hour of being foolishly hopeful, Duke decided to face reality. For whatever reason, his sister wanted to be alone and away from everyone. He had a game shop opening tomorrow that needed to be prepped for its grand opening. If she doesn't care about me, then why should I care about her? He thought bitterly, taking a sharp U-turn and speeding back to the Black Clown.

The sound of a familiar voice barking orders was not a welcoming sound as Duke walked through the double doors. Mr. Devlin's anger was quickly diverted from the squeamish squad of, in Mr. Devlin's opinion, inexperienced new employees to his son. "Why don't you all just take a break and we'll resume training in fifteen minutes. Go! Get out of my sight!"

"And YOU!" he barked at Duke. "Where the hell have you been, boy?"

Duke grimaced, knowing that his answer was probably going to upset his father even more. "Dani didn't show up at school today and she hasn't answered her phone either. I was worried, so I drove around town looking for her."

Mr. Devlin had been wearing his clown mask, but he decided it best to remove the mask so that his son could be reminded of the whole reason why they're seeking vengeance. "I understand that you care for her because she's your twin sister, but she doesn't care about you. How many damn times do I have to point that out to you? Your mother and sister abandoned us. They made their decision and we must live with that."

"But...Dani came back," Duke said softly. "And she's still useful to us like I explained yesterday."

"What good is she if she's not at school and not interacting with the Muto boy? This plan will not succeed if you're distracted, do you understand? The only thing on your mind right now should be how you're going to bring our enemy down...how you'll humiliate him...how you'll take what's most dear to him."

"I know, but-."

"Don't you dare say another word," Mr. Devlin seethed, limping toward Duke. "Your sole purpose in this life is to bring down Yugi Muto. It's not this shop - I've already picked up your slack - and it's definitely not your sister. If you fail tomorrow, there will be severe consequences."

After Kaiba left and she had nothing but silence to contemplate their conversation, Dani wanted nothing more than to get out of that godforsaken room. Fortunately, once the doctor re-treated her wound and checked her vitals, he agreed that it would be best for her to try walking around and regain her footing. As she walked past the window in the hall, she saw the limo pull into the circular driveway, which meant Mokuba was probably home now. At least he won't make me wonder if I want to cry or punch a wall…

Based on Mokuba's excitedly surprised expression, Dani realized that Kaiba hadn't informed his brother of what had happened last night. She told him about the duel, about his cool technology, and about how his final attack caused her injury. By the time she finished her recap, Mokuba's eyes were wide in disbelief. "I-I'm so sorry that you got hurt, Dani. But don't you worry, Seto will make sure you heal in no time," he said, grinning.

"Here's to hoping," she muttered.

Sensing that Dani wasn't nearly as optimistic as he was, Mokuba decided to try and cheer her up. "I have an idea! You can have whatever you want for dinner and our chef will make it for you," he said giddily. "Food always makes me feel better."

"Especially junk food," Kaiba teased.

Dani nearly jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him leaning casually against one of the pillars. "That's really sweet, Mokuba," she said, purposely ignoring the other person in the room. "But I think I just want to order a pizza or something."

"Are you kidding? Have you seen this kitchen? You gotta let us make something for you."

She shrugged. "Sorry, kiddo, I guess you could say that pizza is my comfort food."

Mokuba's crestfallen expression only lasted a few seconds as the wheels in his mind continued cranking out ideas. "Wait right here, let me go check on something."

While they waited, Kaiba made his way further into the living room and sat on the couch. "Do you think you'll actually be able to keep those bandages on this time?"

"I'm sure I could - but that would go against my newest mission in life: to do whatever I can to annoy Seto Kaiba."

In response, she heard a small rumbling sound that sounded like a stifled laugh. But before he could make some typical side comment, Mokuba rushed into the room. "Good news, guys. Chef said that he found some pizza dough in the refridgerator! We can make our own pizza here."

"You two have fun with that. And try not to burn the house down," Kaiba said, attempting to make a quick retreat.

"It's fine, Mokuba. It'll taste better without h-his AHHHH," she cried, doubling over in pain as she tried to make her way to the kitchen.

Kaiba rushed over to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" She stole a glance at him through all the raven colored hair that had fallen across her face and was surprised to see shreds of genuine concern in his expression. Ah, so he does really care, she thought, laughing internally. "On second thought, I guess I will stay down here and supervise. With your luck, you'll end up accidentally burning your hand or something."

Successfully getting what she wanted, Dani stuck her tongue out and laughed at his confused expression as she leapt to her feet. "I'm all drugged up on painkillers right now," she laughed. "I can't feel a thing! You should've seen your face though."

"I'm really starting to hate you," he grumbled, walking into the kitchen.

Much to everyone's surprise, the pizza turned out perfectly. "This was a great idea, Mokuba," Dani said before chowing down.

"Nothing went wrong - consider me impressed," Kaiba added, giving as close as they'd ever get to a compliment from him.

They each carried their plates and drinks into the living room and watched TV. As Dani finished her second slice, she was about to return to the kitchen for another plateful, but froze when she saw a commercial for Duke's game shop.

Perhaps the painkillers were wearing off or maybe she was just given a jolt back to reality, but Dani suddenly felt physically and emotionally pained. "I...I need some fresh air," she murmured, leaving the plate on the coffee table and bolting for the door to the back patio.

As to be expected, most of Dani's focus during the day had been on her injury and last night's duel. She hadn't once thought about all the classes she missed today or what Duke planned on doing tomorrow. What if he already got to Yugi while she was absent today? At least I was able to give Yugi a warning so he'll be on his guard.

But even that thought wasn't enough to comfort her. Tears began rolling down her cheeks as she wondered why her brother had to be going down the same twisted path their father had walked. To make matters worse, she hadn't been able to help him see the light, despite being back in Japan for a couple months now. Maybe Kaiba was right...I am just a loser. Can't beat him in a duel, can't save my brother from our insane father, probably gonna flunk out of school at this rate.

Her string of self-hate and doubt would've gone on for at least another hour if the sound of the patio door opening hadn't interrupted her thoughts. "Dani, what are you doing out here? If you don't come back in, Seto might finish the pizza," Mokuba said, laughing.

"He can have it," she said softly. "I'm not feeling very hungry anymore."

"Is something wrong? You just came out here so suddenly."

"I guess the painkillers are wearing off," she said, half-honestly. "I feel like someone hit me in the back of the head with a bat." For good measure, she cradled her head in her hands as she leaned forward in the chair. "Don't worry about me, though. I'll be back inside soon."

"Okay...," Mokuba said, unconvinced. "Just let us know if you need anything."

"Give it a rest, Mokuba! I'm doing what I can to help her heal," Kaiba said, wanting to do anything but go out there and comfort her.

"...from an injury you technically caused. Look, she said it was physical pain that was causing her to cry, but I don't buy it."

Kaiba gave him a pointed look before continuing. "You're probably right, but I shouldn't have to cure her of whatever emotional drama she's dealing with now."

"Would it really kill you to just go out there and talk to her?"

The fact that Kaiba didn't immediately fire off a string of excuses seemed to be enough of an answer. As he walked toward the back patio, he paused and glanced at Mokuba over his shoulder. "You can't keep giving me these guilt trips every time she's here."

"Hopefully you'll just approach her on your own next time and I won't have to have these conversations with you, big brother."

"Hopefully there won't be a 'next time,'" he muttered. It was becoming more and more difficult for Kaiba to be around this girl without maintaining his normal and comfortable icy exterior. And that terrified him.

Once she presumed she'd be left alone for the rest of her time outside, Dani pulled her legs up to her chest and gently rested her chin on her knees. Now, instead of thinking about all the things she's done wrong, she was trying to think of how she'd make things right, but that was doing little more than adding a layer of stress that she really did not need right now. How will I recover enough to make it to school tomorrow? What will my excuse be when people ask where I was...why my head has a bandage wrapped around it? I know Duke will have a million questions for me and I feel bad for not responding to all his texts and calls, but I seriously don't know if I'll be able to talk to him either via phone or in person without going off on him.

"What else could possibly be wrong now?" Kaiba asked, not even bothering to disguise his utter disinterest in being out there.

This time his presence truly caught her off guard, and she jumped out of the chair, ending up a tangled mess on the floor. Before standing back up, she quickly wiped away any tear trails on her cheeks. "If you don't actually care, then why did you bother asking?" she shot back, sincerely not in the mood for his attitude.

"Because you weren't going to burden my little brother with all your drama, so I decided to give it a shot. Spill - what's wrong?" he asked. In the gleaming moonlight, Kaiba could see that her eyes were still watery. The pitiful sight certainly tugged at his heartstrings, just like he feared it would.

It felt like she'd been backed into a corner. She couldn't convince Kaiba that she was just crying because she was in pain, so it seemed unavoidable. She'd have to tell him about what's going on with Duke and his plans for revenge. Not wanting to bore him with details of previous years or freak him out with details of what happened when her father lost that 'penalty game,' she kept her story as concise as possible and was amazed to see that he was actually interested in the situation.

"So let me see if I've got this straight. Duke is getting revenge on your father's behalf by tricking Yugi into showing up at his game shop grand opening and broadcasting their duel for the whole town to see his humiliating defeat? Not bad. There's just two problems with that plan - one, I doubt your brother is skilled enough to take down the 'king of games,' and two, if anyone's going to publically defeat Yugi, it's going to be me."

"For once, I think I agree with you. Besides, if anyone's going to challenge Yugi, I'd rather it be you. At least your reasons aren't so...malevolent. But what am I supposed to do? I told Yugi I'd do what I can to protect him, but I can't do much from here…"

Kaiba stared at the sprawling backyard with a pensive expression. "I'm only helping you with this so that I can still get what I want in the end."

"Figured as much," Dani said.

"I will do what I can to help you survive the day at school tomorrow and prevent Duke's plan from succeeding. But after this, any debt that I owe to you for your injury will be fulfilled. Next week you will hold up your end of the wager by coming to my office each day after school to help me finalize my tournament plans, got it?"

"Yeah, I get it," she said, standing up and attempting to go back inside. He stood stubbornly in front of the door, mostly for the entertainment of watching her annoyance visibly grow. "Can you move? I just want to go to bed."

"You can't go back inside until you're done being depressed."

She tried to shove past him, but his body was firmly planted in place. "I am done being depressed," she said bitterly. "I just wish you'd learn that it's okay to help someone just for the sake of being their friend. There doesn't have to be some ulterior motive or benefit for you to get involved."

He smirked and stepped aside. "You're preaching to the wrong person."

"We'll see about that," she replied, feeling confident. "I think once I save my brother, you'll be my next target. Sweet dreams, future best friend!"

The disgusted look on Kaiba's face caused her to laugh all the way up the stairs.

A/N: Don't you just love the back-and-forth banter between Dani and Kaiba? XD The next chapter will take place during the first Dungeon Dice Monsters episode - but with a bit of a twist thanks to Dani and Kaiba's involvement. It should be interesting!

You guys rock! Thanks for getting the three comments in :) I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Let's do the same deal again - 3 comments for an update on/before New Year's lol