Story Title: Chains of Crystal
Chapter Title: Domination
Romance: Fubuki x Otogi
Timeline: Effectively AU season 1 of GX.
"So, we've looked over the entire school, all of the dorms, and in everywhere else that we could find." Manjoume stared over the map for what felt like the millionth time and marked off all the places where either they or some other student had looked. "And we haven't found anything."
"It is entirely possible that Otogi is concealing them somehow, and that we won't find them until we can find a way to break through that." Ryou suggested. Manjoume turned a quick blazing look on the older duelist.
"And how would you suggest we do that?"
"Guys, guys!" Juudai waved his hands quickly, trying to break in before anything got out of hand. "There's some way, we just don't know what it is yet! No need to start fighting!"
Manjoume grumped under his breath as he looked back at the map. He could almost swear that he saw this hideous thing in his sleep. It wasn't as if Otogi and Fujiwara were the only people missing anymore. Fubuki had vanished earlier that day. Some of the girls had seen him by the beach, and they reported he'd suddenly turned and run into the woods, and that was the last they'd seen of him.
If he's hurt… Various half-formed plans of retribution shot through his mind. He couldn't pick out which one he wanted to try first. There were too many of them.
"Has anyone seen Fubuki?" Asuka came up as she asked the question, and Manjoume shook his head quickly, sitting up a little straighter.
"I talked to a couple of the girls earlier," he answered, telling them what he'd been told. "We can go look for him if you like."
Asuka made a sort of non commital noise under her breath, and he held his own, hoping she at least wouldn't object to going there. Then her eyes flicked over behind him, and lit up with joy. "Fubuki! And Otogi!"
Everyone turned, and indeed those two were coming down from the woods. Manjoume frowned; there was something slightly odd about Fubuki, but he couldn't place it. For that matter, there was something different about Otogi, but he couldn't figure that out either. But they both looked all right, for the most part.
"Hey, guys! What happened?" Juudai bounced eagerly over as if they'd done nothing more dangerous than go for a walk on the beach. "Everything okay?"
"Yes. Everything's fine." Fubuki even sounded just a touch different, a little more serious perhaps. Manjoume didn't want to think that he sounded darker…or that his voice held an edge that he had heard in his own mind before.
No… There was no way that could happen, was there? He slowly got to his feet and started over there. Maybe he could come to an answer if they talked?
"Fubuki?" Asuka stepped over, one hand reaching out. "Are you sure you're all right? You sound a bit weird."
"Oh, I'm fine, Asuka. And so is Otogi. Aren't you?" Fubuki glanced over towards the djinn, who nodded a little.
"Well, glad to see that's over with. What happened to Yuusuke?" Juudai wondered. "Is he okay too? Did you take him to the infirmary or something?"
"No. He was able to finish his bargain and he vanished into the shadows." Fubuki didn't sound quite as upset about that as someone might have thought he would. Manjoume was almost certain he saw a tiny hint of a smile, and that was just wrong! Fubuki would never react like that, never!
But the other kept on talking. "I was able to find where he'd hid Otogi and the crystal and we got out of there. I wish…" There was something that was now a bit more like a frown, but it still was off, and Manjoume didn't trust it. The closer he got, every step he took, he could feel that something was wrong. His Ojamas were muttering in their cards, nothing coherent, but the fear was audible. He glanced briefly over to Hayato and Juudai, and was not surprised that both Hane Kuriboh and Des Koala looked as nervous as he was certain the Ojamas were.
"You wish what?" he asked suddenly, folding his arms across his chest. If this was really Fubuki, he'd forgive him in a heartbeat. But if it wasn't…
"I wish…" Fubuki dropped his gaze, then looked back up at them, and the cold mockery there was visible to all. "I wish you could all see how stupid you look right now!"
Everyone jumped some, even Manjoume. "What are you talking about?" Asuka asked, reaching for him again. Fubuki, or whoever it was, knocked her hand to the side. "Fubuki!"
"Wrong. There is no Fubuki here. There is only Darkness." He snapped his fingers at Otogi, who nodded slightly. At that, the usual uniform of a third year Obelisk Blue student melted away, replaced by an outfit of dark and shadows. Fubuki's face was now concealed by a black mask with a reddish jewel of some kind on the forehead and the eyes protected by what looked to be light blue glass.
"Nice outfit but don't you think the mask is a little too dramatic?" Juudai asked, the faintest hint of something a bit more serious in his voice. Manjoume still wanted to smack him for it. This was dangerous!
"Not at all." Fubuki, or Darkness, or whatever, smirked. "But as much fun as it is teasing all of you, I have something even more impressive to deal with." He crooked a finger at Otogi, who took a few steps closer to him. "As you may have noticed, my djinn is properly mine again. I went to far too much trouble once to get him, and I'm not going to let him get away again. So kindly get rid of all of those notions of saving him. He doesn't even want to leave me, do you, slave?"
Otogi shook his head. "I belong to you, master." His voice was almost too calm, and held virtually no inflections at all, as if it were a robot of some kind speaking.
"What did you do to him?" Manjoume snapped, and thunder began to roll overhead. He scarcely noticed it. All that mattered was finding out what was wrong and fixing it as quickly as possible. "Tell me!"
"I doubt you'd understand it if I told you. Suffice it to say that he knows his place now." Darkness looked a touch thoughtful, or so Manjoume thought he did underneath the mask. "But that's all in the past. I have work to do, and it's time I got started. This place here will do for a beginning location." He glanced back at Otogi and motioned towards the volcano. "Reignite that. It'll get the attention I want quickly."
"What?" Every voice there except Otogi and Darkness's echoed the question, and the dark spirit smirked at the sound. He didn't even bother answering them, only looked at the enslaved djinn.
Otogi turned his attention towards the volcano. His eyes narrowed, and something that may have been a whiff of emerald sparkles whooshed over the mouth of the volcano before a low rumble sounded and the island began to shake. Black smoke started to pour from the volcano's mouth, and clouds gathered overhead, thicker and darker than any ever seen before there. Lightning crashed through the heavens, and thunder rolled, making it impossible to hear anything.
"What in the hell are you doing, Otogi?" Manjoume managed to scream when there were a few seconds of silence. Electricity almost appeared to sing along his veins at the crashing thunder and lightning, but he ignored it for the moment. There were far more important things to worry about than the special effects lighting up the sky.
The djinn gave no answer, only stood waiting, all of his attention taken up by Darkness. Manjoume tried to get closer, only to find he couldn't. Something stood in the way, as invisible as the air, but as impenetrable as stone.
"You don't really need to get this close to serve me," Darkness smirked at him. "But you should know that already, Manjoume. You're the one responsible for all of this. You're the one who handed over the crystal in the first place. Without that, none of this would be happening."
Manjoume stood, briefly stunned, then shook his head. He had enough guilt of his own for other things. He wasn't going to take this on. "Try your mind games somewhere else. I've quit playing with you."
"Perhaps." Darkness chuckled a little, but it wasn't a very nice sound at all. "I suppose you should all either leave, or start deciding what position you want when this world belongs to me. I might be generous enough to give it to you, if you can please me enough. But you'd better hurry. I don't have much patience, and it's already beginning to run out."
Manjoume growled, hating feeling as helpless as he did at the moment. There had to be a way to stop all of this and to free Otogi and to free Fubuki from that demon's invasion. Just because he didn't know it yet didn't mean that it didn't exist.
When he looked away from them, he could see people streaming down to the beach from the school, some screaming, some yelling, some silent but scared, and all of them wanting to know what was going on.
"Get out of Fubuki!" Juudai snapped suddenly, and Manjoume wanted only to groan. Sometimes if something wasn't shoved right into the other boy's face, he just couldn't realize it was a problem. Manjoume hoped that he'd get over that. Someday. "You don't belong in there! He didn't want you in there!"
"On the contrary, he did. It was the only way he could free my slave." Darkness smirked briefly. "Or so he thought. The fool never was the brightest, it seems."
Juudai stepped closer, his fists clenching, and eyes blazing. "Let's settle this the Duel Academy way: with a duel! I win, you leave his body. You win and you can…you can stay in it!"
"You call those stakes?" Darkness laughed even as a duel disk appeared on his arm. "When I win, you will become one of my slaves. I don't know what I can do with you just yet, but I'm certain I'll think of something. You can at least be ornamental, once my djinn is done with you, if nothing else."
"Do you even know how to duel?" Juudai snapped, presenting his own duel disk.
"Better than you can imagine," Darkness all but purred the words out. "If you're certain you want to do this."
Juudai was about to open his mouth when Manjoume's hand descended on it. "He's not going to duel you, Darkness. I am." He could feel everyone else staring at him and ignored them. This was what he needed to do. The guilt might not be his, but the responsibility was. He had been the one with Fubuki the day that they'd found the crystal, and it was his Ojamas who had pointed it out. So now it was up to him to set it all right. "You don't have any say in it, Juudai. This is my duel."
A crash of thunder and lightning right over their heads set the seal on his words, and Juudai stepped back. There was something in the back of his eyes as he looked at Manjoume, something that could have been friendship or respect or possibly a longing for some fried shrimp. Manjoume personally chose to take it as the longing for fried shrimp. Anything else would've been far too awkward at the moment.
He pulled out his deck and shuffled it quickly, shooting the occasional glare over to his opponent. Darkness shuffled a set of his own cards, and Manjoume wondered where he'd gotten them from, as he hadn't appeared to have them when he'd first shown up. But there were still other things to worry about.
"You will regret this." Darkness did not say it as a threat. He spoke the words as a promise of what was to come. Manjoume didn't care. The duel was what counted, and saving Fubuki and Otogi somehow.
"Let's do this," was all he said, and drew his first five cards.