A warning for those of you who do not handle loss well, and a warning for violence.
… you see I've got this soul, it's all fired up...
As the duel ended, a helicopter bearing the Industrial Illusions logo descended into the middle of the arena. Jude, enraged and impatient, jumped down from the chopper while it was still about six feet from the ground. When he landed, he looked up to see Kaiba ahead of him.
"You bastard!" he called out before briskly charging him. Seto, confused by this, looked to Jem to see if she knew why he was here, only to see her doubled over, the parasol open on the ground and water pooled around a bottle at her feet. This gave Jude the opportunity to get in the hit that Kaiba otherwise would have been able to evade. Mokuba cried out to his brother.
The hit temporarily crippled Seto, and Jude turned to where he had been looking. He saw his twin in her disarrayed state. He addressed Kaiba without taking his eyes off her, "What have you done to her?!"
Jude ran and jumped down from the field, rushing to his sister's side. He knelt before her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Jemmie! Jem! What happened? What's going on?"
She looked up finally, "Ju- Jude? Is that really you?" she panted. She was in bad shape.
"Yes, it's me, I'm here Jemmie. I'm here," he said hastily. She fell forward into her brother's arms. He guided her body safely to the ground, never letting go of her.
Once the chopper landed, a team of large men climbed out and headed straight for Kaiba, who was trying to reorient himself. He had turned to look to Jem and was overstimulated and overwhelmed with confusion. This made him notice the men too late, and only did as he heard Mokuba yell, "Seto, look out!"
Kaiba was able to fight off the first man, but there were too many of them. Two were able to grab him and another take a swing. Roland ran up, trying to help, but the largest man just elbowed him in the face.
Jem heard Mokuba's cries and turned to see Kaiba take the hit. "Seto!" she cried.
Jude tried to comfort her. "Don't worry, Jemmie. I'm not going to let him get away with what he's done to you. He'll be lucky if he survives this." What? she thought, terrified.
She saw Kaiba take another hit and fall to his knees. Then she saw Mauro hastily approach the group of goons and start to pull a weapon from within his coat. "Seto!" she cried again, trying to sit up, but her brother held her back, and Seto was left wide open for the attack. "NO!"
No one could believe what happened next.
As soon as her brother's hand had pushed her back, her pale blue eyes glowed. And then, a dragon rose from her body before her frame went limp. The spectators watched in shock. The dragon was light, with platinum scales and pale blue eyes. It rose upwards with its huge, triple hinged wings, carrying its slender body. It stopped and opened its wings to their full extent, then it looked down at the men and cooed. It started to dive.
The men, terrified, dropped everything and ran to the end of the pier. The dragon followed them, cooing and swooping as they plummeted into the ocean and started to swim for shore. Jude, in shock with the others, absent-mindedly loosened his hold on his sister, turning to follow the dragon in complete awe.
Kaiba, however, was not mesmerized like the others. After the men had fled, he had seen the dragon, but he had more pressing concerns. He quickly turned to Jem, only to see her still and limp on the ground, barely in her brother's arms. "Jem-" he whispered to himself. As the others continued to watch the dragon pursue the men, Seto ran and jumped down from the arena, dropping to one knee and easily taking her from her stunned brother's arms into his own.
"Jem!" he said sternly. She was limp and lifeless, and was no longer burning, but now freezing cold. "No-" He grasped her tightly in his arms and rested his ear on her bare chest. There was no heartbeat. He brought his face to hers and sensed no breath. Only the Pharaoh took notice as the others watched the men swim ashore.
The dragon cooed again, more aggressively this time, as it stretched out its wings to their full span and took in a breath. Then it exhaled blue embers, covering half the beach. When the flames disappeared, so had the men. All that was left was a massive sheet of glass.
Kaiba still paid no attention. "No, this isn't happening!" He closed his eyes and put his forehead against hers, gritting his teeth. Now several of the others started to notice.
"Oh no," Téa whispered when she saw what was happening.
Mokuba also noticed. "Seto-" he pleaded, looking for some assurance from his brother as tears came to his eyes. "Is she-"
But his brother did not answer him. He did not move or lessen his tight grasp around her.
Ishizu and Marik were the last of the few who noticed. "Kaiba, I warned you this would destroy her," Ishizu attested, while her brother watched silently and knowingly beside her.
"No! You're lying! I haven't lost her! I haven't lost!" Kaiba yelled in defiance. He held Jem close in his arms, burying his face in her silvery-vanilla hair. He tightened his grip around the lifeless girl, and for perhaps the first time in his life, tried to fight back tears. He whispered one last plea in her ear, "No, this can't be happening, I love you."
Yeah, I do think someone needs to die for Kaiba to openly admit he loves them, and to be honest, I'm still not entirely sold that it would even happen then. But for this, we're going to go with it. And yeah, sorry guys.
Next Chapter: Loss
…she was gone before I ever got to say, "lay here my love, you're the only shape I'll pray to"…
