"Hmm, isn't Japan the other way Priest?" I asked watching the clouds fly by.
"We're heading to America," he answered and I grumbled.
"Oh joy," I rolled my eyes and Mokuba laughed.
"Seto's opening a theme park in America and we're going to oversee the final testing." Mokuba answered for me, "We might be there for a while though."
"Even better," I grumbled, I thought it was too low for the mic to pick up.
"I can send you back to Japan if that's what you want." Seto interjected and I smiled.
"You wouldn't even if I was the most annoying person in the world. You're possessive, if I were half-way around the world you'd either have someone following me at all times, or calling me every hour on the hour; when I don't answer my phone you're send out a State of Emergency till you know what was happening." I said and Mokuba laughed, "Besides, someone has to come along and keep you in line."
"Keep me in line? More like you, every time I leave you alone for more than an hour, you end up being kidnapped by some psycho."
"Once Seto, it happened once, and he didn't kidnap me, I went to him willingly, he just ended up messing with my head. Mind you, with the same Millennium Item you carried." I added and he grumbled. "On top of all that, I didn't see you doing everything could to get me back when I was dueling in the city."
"Careful Aura," Mokuba warned.
"That's not true, and you know it. You just managed to slip away every time anyone ever got close to you. Which reminds me," He growled, "Why did you take out the locator chip in your disk?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I tried searching for you, but your disk was offline, what happened?" He asked with more tenacity.
"I knew if I needed to separate from you and Mokuba, you would do whatever you could to object," I sighed crossing my legs and looking out the window still with my arms crossed. "I knew you would try and find me at whatever cost, I tried rewriting the software so that you wouldn't be able to find me even based on the cards I play. Unfortunately, the way it was coded, I couldn't rewrite it and hide it, the broken code would clearly show up, fail safes would fall into place and my disk would be unusable. So, late one night, I opened up my disk, and removed the locator chip, then rewired it just right so it would fly under the radar and you would never know." There was silence for a moment, "now that I think about it, I attempted writing a virus that would silently affect the programming, and when you tried searching my cards, it would crash the system. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to perfect it."
"Wait, that virus that effected the main frame Wednesday night," Mokuba muttered softly and I didn't answer; instead, I heard Seto chuckle softly.
"That was your virus, wasn't it? That explains why it said it came from the mainframe itself."
"I fixed it before it did any harm, cleaned up the aftermath before you even knew the damage it actually caused. Then, destroyed the original IP, also any remnants of the virus I created, which let me tell you, is hard when all you have is a Pad and the Duel Disk. Nevertheless, I still did it all in three minutes before Seto could even get to a computer that had information about the virus. I say that is a good accomplishment." I heard Seto chuckle again and he shook his head.
"You're something else."
"Not sure if that's a good thing, or bad." I laughed and so did Mokuba. "Still," I muttered softly and looked down. The same darkness that once tainted the Priest, also tainted Marik, that Millennium Item, the Rod, itself is tainted; that darkness, I wonder if it still taints Seto. I thought and narrowed my eyes, that memory, that pure darkness that consumed him I closed my eyes there was an explosion in my mind, an image of Obelisk and an evil struck Priest. I grunted softly and opened my eyes, trying to push my memory back. Such a pure darkness, I thought with a frown.
"Everything alright?" I heard Seto ask and I looked up to see he was glancing back, looking at me from the corner of his eyes and I only nodded simply, lying. I waited until he looked back forward before looking back down, that image burning a hole in my head. That darkness, I thought again and shuddered lightly. The memory played over in my head for what seemed like forever. "Mokuba," Seto said softly and I heard a click, looking over at a small screen to Seto's right, where three headset symbols were displayed, three were on when we took off, now only two. Meaning, Mokuba had shut off and removed his headset, I glanced up at Seto as silence filled the cockpit for a minute. "You aren't a good liar," he said and I was surprised for a moment, "What's wrong?"
I only smiled shaking my head, "Nothing."
"Aura," he said more sternly and I didn't look over at him.
"Seto, you wouldn't believe you even if I were to tell you." I said softly, "there are things that cannot just be understood, especially one who refuses to believe." I finished, wanting to leave his company more than ever before.
"Humor me," he said and I glanced up at him with a smirk.
Shaking my head I took a deep breath, "There is a darkness that surrounds you; it is the same darkness that caused the Priest to lose control of his abilities. The very darkness was infused with the Millennium Item the Priest carried; that Marik used had helped created his darker half. It surrounds you in such a way that you were basically born and raised with it. It is only brought out when the carrier is forced to live out an emotion related to anything bad, not just minor, but major events that consumes the carrier's life, forcing a change upon his character."
"What happened to Marik?"
"As you are aware I lived with the Ishtar family, Marik and I were good friends. The Ishtar family lives out a ritual, a family tradition if you will; the son biers the Pharaoh's legacy on his back; it was a ritual Marik wanted nothing to do with and fought against his father to receive. The ritual is given by extending the hidden dagger within the Rod, and carved into the son's back. I told Marik I was going to sneak into the ritual room and get him out of there, he begged me not too, but I did anyway. His father tried to kill me, so, Marik grabbed the Rod and protecting me with a massive amount of hatred for his father, killed him. The power of the Millennium Rod consumed him and it created his darker half, out of his pure hatred and loathing for his father."
"Me?"
"You grew up abused by your step-father, brought up in a world full of hate, living with a broken promise in the back of your mind, you became cold, sheltered. That darkness has become a part of you; it is who you are now. It's hard to say what would happen if you got a hold of the item now."
"That's not what I meant." He said and I looked over at him confused for a moment.
"The Priest," I muttered and he glanced back momentarily. "You were consumed by jealousy." I said simply, and added nothing more, my arms relaxed as I raised my hands up my arms rubbing gently.
"Doesn't seem to me that the Priest had anything to be jealous about, if the story is true; he had an engagement with the Pharaoh's daughter, power, was soon to be a Pharaoh himself. What, exactly did he have to be jealous about that would cause him that kind of strain?" He asked and I wasn't sure if he was curious, or if he was actually worried.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore," I said softly.
"Why? It's all a story isn't it?" I didn't say anything, remained silent and ended up turning off my headset taking it off. He seemed agitated but I ignored him and stared out the window until we landed at the American office just before sundown, ended up going straight to the hotel, which was an amazingly beautiful condo. Unfortunately, I didn't care about it, and ended up moving straight into a bedroom, shutting the door and locking it in Seto's face as he tried following me.
"What happened now?" Mokuba asked with a bit of a growl and Seto looked down at him, "You brought up some bad memory, didn't you?"
"It's a story, not a memory."
"Even worse Seto; you might see it as a story, but she doesn't, that's a part of her life. When it's emotional and you step on it, spit on it, it only makes the situation worse." Mokuba growled again and I smiled resting my back against the door, Thanks Moki, I thought. "Think about it Seto, imagine if someone came up to you and said that everything you experienced as a child was a lie, said that everything that happened at the orphanage didn't exist. Then ridiculed you for it?" he added and I heard something soft hit the door, I was sure it was Seto placing his hand against it. "You don't have to believe it, that's fine, she's not expecting you to believe it whether it be true or not. But, it's real to her, and that's all that matters." Seto was silent, but both Mokuba and I knew what he was thinking and it was good enough for the both of us, "apologize to her." I heard Seto growl softly.
"Aura," he said softly and he laid his forehead against the door; then only silence followed. Neither of us knew what to say, even what to do as I crossed my arms and looked down, still leaning against the door. "Can we talk about this?"
"What is there to talk about?" I almost choked on the words, I heard him sigh.
"Please," he said even softer and I looked back at the door, he was serious; maybe he truly did feel bad. A moment passed by and I stood upright, unlocking the door and walking from it, sitting on the edge of the bed. The door opened and he walked in, shutting and locking it behind him, but didn't move much further into the room.
"You remember in the virtual world," I said softly, I had slipped the item off and was now running my fingers slowly across it. "When I told you Marik had kissed me, how did that make you feel?" my eyes slowly caught his and we stared each other down for a moment. "Pissed, Jealous, Possessive, Enraged," I answered looking back down at my item. "Back then, there was only one person who stole me from you, only one person who made me believe I loved him more then you. But, as I've said, it is of no matter." Standing, I laid the item down on the table across the room and sighed rubbing my eyes. "Let me tell you a bed time story."
He still just stood there with his arms crossed and I stood upright walking towards him, stopping just out of arms reach, "A long, long time ago, in the sands of Egypt ruled a powerful, loving Pharaoh with his Daughter the Priestess and Princess, and her fiancé to be, the High Priest. Now, the Priest and Princess were very much in love, and the entire kingdom knew, the Pharaoh was overjoyed. While the Priest was on an important mission the Princess and her father planned a grand wedding for his return; but he never returned. She waited, watching out her balcony, as hours turned to days, days into weeks. She never ate, never spoke to anyone, she knew he was still alive, she could feel his essence. So, she ran away from the palace, stole a horse and decided to search for him herself, except she wasn't prepared for the dangers the desert had prepared for her. Weeks had gone by, she never stopped to rest, eat, or drink, and ended up passing out, hitting her head on a rather sharp rock, losing consciousness and memory."
My eyes shifted down towards the ground as I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to my other foot. "A thief found the Princess, passed out in the desert, and took her into his home to bring her back to health. The thief knew the Princess well, they had been secret childhood friends, and he had always been in love with the Princess. When she finally woke, he convinced her that she loved him, and that she had lived with him the entire time; she had no memory to contradict so she figured it must be true for she was able to recognize the man. A long year passed by, and her memory never returned. But, one day, the house was overrun by the Pharaohs Guards; they stormed in the house and circled the couple, then through the door came the Priest. At first, she didn't know who he was, as he advanced, she retreated; he whispered her name and her memories returned. Collapsing in his arms, she cried, and convinced the Priest that the Thief had taken care of her, and truly didn't know who she was, even though both the Princess and Thief knew it was a lie. She returned to the palace with the Priest, never happier in the world. Only a couple of months passed before the Thief started his attack, and during this never ending onslaught, the truth was revealed to the Priest about what actually happened between the Thief and Princess. The Priest was overcome by extreme jealousy, anger and intense rage that he left the palace to find and kill the Thief, instead he ended up wiping out a whole town, and was only stopped because the Princess showed him that she loved him more than anything in the world. He fell in her arms and she never left his side until he woke."
I slowly looked back at him and he noticed the tears in my eyes, "Is there no happy ending?" he asked and I shook my head.
"The Priest and Princess never got married, they never even lived together happily, instead the Princess and Pharaoh sacrificed everything they were to lock the Shadows and powers away, leaving the Priest alone as Pharaoh for the rest of his mortal life. He died alone, and the Princess was forced to live within the Millennium Moon for five millennia; only to be reincarnated when the Priest and Pharaoh were also reincarnated, into a world that does not accept them; into a world where ancient traditions and stories are merely fairy tales and have no real bearing on who a person is now." I said with a slight hiss at the end. "The End," I growled and turned from him. "Take it for what it's worth, I don't care; to you, it's just a bed time story."
There was silence for a while, and I never heard him move; but realized he had when his arms wrapped around my waist pulling me back into him, "there's always a happy ending." He whispered softly in my ear, kissing the side of my face.
"The ending was foretold five millennia ago, the Priest and Princess, with all memories and powers restored would live a long happy life together, ruling an empire and the Pharaoh's Legacy would be laid to rest," I answered and didn't move, even as he began placing soft, slow kisses down my neck. Seeing he was getting no reaction, his nipped slightly, and still I didn't move or make a sound.
"Why does this all have to be based off of what happened then?" he asked and I remained silent, "why can't everything just be about this moment in time?"
"History will repeat itself if it is not learned," I answered softly and I heard felt him sigh as his breath rolled across my neck. "But, I don't care if you believe it or not anymore; I'm done fighting against you, I no longer care if the past comes back to bite you. I'll fight alone just as I did then." I pulled from his grasp and took a couple of steps forward.
"You won't," he said rather harshly and I stopped in my spot. "I haven't done all of this just to let you walk away now."
"What, pray tell, have you done exactly to help?" I hissed softly turning to look at him; "If you had believed in an ounce of your past—" I cut myself off and smiled shaking my head. "No, I'm not arguing with you anymore." Pushing past him I walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" he growled and I only opened the door slamming it shut, Mokuba was standing there and I paused looking at him.
"Are you leaving?" he asked, I could see the sadness in his eyes and I sighed softly.
"I'm going home; call me if you need anything Moki." I ruffled his hair and walked out of the condo. Once outside, I hailed a taxi cab and sat down in the back. "Is there an Industrial Illusion office in the city?" I asked.
"Yes ma'am," he said.
"Take me there please." I muttered and the taxi drove off, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello Croquet, is Pegasus around?"
"Yes, he's right here." He said and there was a moment of silence.
"Hello?"
"Hey dad," I said softly, "I know you're probably busy, but I need a favor."
"Anything, what is it?"
"I'm in American currently, near Orlando, Florida I believe and on route to your office here, you think you could arrange a flight for me home?"
"Home as in here?"
"Yes, Duelist Kingdom," I answered looking out the window.
"Of course, I'll give them a call now and have everything set up by the time you arrive. Just head to the main desk and tell them I sent you."
"Thanks, I appreciate it. Don't stay up for me either; it'll be early morning before I get there." I hung up slipping my phone away and sighed rubbing my eyes.
"So, you're the heir to Industrial Illusions we've heard so much about," the driver said glancing in his rear view mirror. I only nodded and he chuckled softly, "You must excuse my boldness, I'm curious by nature, but you're also the Silent Duelist right? One of the few people able to take down Seto Kaiba?" my eyes caught his in the mirror. "Sorry ma'am."