Sometimes you have to through hell to get to heaven…
The phrase repeated in Tea's head like the pounding of ritual drums, keeping in perfect rhythm with her current goal— finding Seto.
She awoke with a start, practically knocking herself out as her forehead hit the glass container of the virtual world pod. She rubbed her smarting head as she tried to gain her bearings. After looking around, she felt a wave of confusion overcome her. Did she complete her mission? She didn't remember going through the hell that was the virtual world… Was heaven here all this time, just waiting for her to come back?
"Tea! You're awake! Welcome back!" Mokuba's shrills of excitement echoed throughout the pod as they came through the speakers, further increasing Tea's awareness.
Softly and with uncertainty, Tea questioned the young Kaiba, "Did I rescue him in time?" She gently cupped her face, touching her own flesh with just her fingertips to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"You aren't dreaming! He's back!" Mokuba eagerly shrieked, assaulting her eardrums yet again. Tea wondered if Mokuba could suddenly read her mind but smiled anyway once she realized it was finally all over. "I'm sending the doctor and some technicians down right now. They'll get you out of there ASAP!"
"Where's Seto? Is he safe? Is he alright?"
"He's in his office. We've all been waiting for you to get back."
Tea let out a sigh of relief. Thank God it was all over….
As the doctor and a few technicians approached, Tea noticed their faces held a blank expression. They quickly pulled out all of her medical tubes without so much as a word. Weren't they happy she made it out okay? Was something wrong? She tried asking questions but was instantly shushed the moment she opened her mouth. It was almost as if they knew she was questioning them. There was something about their actions that made Tea feel as if something wasn't quite right.
"Don't worry, my dear, everything's alright." A technician said flatly, almost as if she were replying to the question in Tea's mind. How did she know what Tea had been thinking? Woman's intuition, Tea guessed and continued to wait patiently for the doctor and technicians to finish working on her.
Once she stepped out of the pod, they all gave her a slight bow as if it were a coordinated affair. They held the door open for her and their blank expressions changed to small smiles. It was odd…
Tea felt like she was in some sort of dream sequence, like she was experiencing the ending of a romantic movie where everything was so well coordinated. The couple went through hell just to experience heaven at the very end. Did that mean Seto was her perfect ending? Would his back be facing her as he gazed out his office window? Would he be waiting for her until she entered the room? He'd turn and kiss her like they'd been apart for decades.
A rosy blush flooded her cheeks. As much as she'd want Seto to do that, she knew it wouldn't happen. Hopeless romantic wasn't the first word Tea would use to describe him. But a girl could daydream, right?
"Miss Gardner," a man Tea recognized as Roland, greeted her at the doorway. "If you would please come with me, Mr. Kaiba is waiting for you." He led her down a long and winding hallway until they reached a set of elevators. He scanned his corporate identification badge over a sensor on the wall and the elevator doors opened. He gestured for her to get inside before scanning his badge again, this time pressing a button on the inside.
"This will take you directly to Mr. Kaiba. The ride will take less than a minute." With that, he bowed his head— just like all the other employees had— and the doors shut.
Roland was right, the ride didn't take very long, but Tea wasn't expecting the elevator ride to lead her directly inside Seto's office.
The elevator doors opened up to reveal a vast room that appeared to glisten as a swell of sunlight illuminated off the silver floor. Everything was orderly. Not a single piece of paper out of place. The files on his desk looked organized and color coordinated. The place smelled like Windex, and if the smell wasn't any indication that the place was clean, then the floor-to-ceiling windows sparkled like they had just been wiped down and washed.
Tea was blinded by the bright sunlight, but she chose to fix her eyes on the tall silhouette of a thin man with his back facing her…. "Seto…" His name escaped her lips with a sound so airy that Tea didn't think he'd heard her at first. Would he be happy to see her, or would he be disappointed in her decision to follow him into the virtual world?
To her shock, he spun around and greeted her with a soft smile. He tore his hands from his pockets and stretched his arms out wide, "Tea… I've missed you."
Tears lined the corners of her eyes. She wouldn't let them fall. Her heart filled with immense joy at the sight of Seto greeting her in this loving way. Bursting into a sprint, she leaped into Seto's arms, embracing him with every ounce of her being. He hugged her back and gently rubbed her shoulders as she held him tightly.
"I'm so happy to see you!" She cried as she buried her face into his chest.
He sweetly smiled down at her, "As am I."
"You have no idea how much I missed you!" The tears began to fall.
A graceful giggle escaped from his lips.
After the tears disappeared, she looked up at him with longing, meeting his blue eyes with her own. In typical Seto Kaiba fashion, a small smirk adorned his lips as he studied her face. All Tea wanted to do was take those lips and claim them as her own. But before she made a move, she felt like she needed an explanation. "How did we make it out of there?"
He cocked his head in confusion, "What? You don't remember?"
Shaking her head, she said, "Forgive me, but I don't. All I can remember is going into the virtual world pod and waking up in it."
Seto softly brushed away a few strands of stray hair from Tea's puzzled eyes. "We'll discuss it later… For now, just let me kiss that gorgeous face of yours." He took her head in his hands and stole her lips. The kiss felt so familiar to Tea… his lips melting into hers, the smoky aftertaste of his mouth, and yet for some reason the passion was missing. Seto Kaiba was a lot of things, and Tea may have established that he wasn't a hopeless romantic, but passionate was something he definitely was. It was one of the things Tea loved most about him. It didn't matter if Kaiba was focused on love or technology, he was all around passionate about everything he poured his heart into, and this kiss— it didn't feel right. Did Seto not love her anymore? Had she done something in the virtual world to upset him?
Tea pulled away, abruptly breaking apart the kiss.
"What's the matter, my love?" Seto asked.
My love? Since when did he use that kind of language?
Tea shook her head, "Nothing… it's just—"
Seto noticed her pause and followed her gaze that was fixed upon the windows behind him. "What's wrong?" His voice was stern, defensive even.
She continued to stare out the window for a few more moments before asking, "Seto, how long were we gone for?"
He tapped his chin with his pointer finger, "Well, let's see… It didn't take us very long to get out of there. Maybe an hour or two?"
An hour or TWO!? That made no sense. How could they have survived? Unless the power had suddenly come back on? Mokuba said it might, but there was a slim chance. And the storm… "What about the storm?"
"Storm?" Seto questioned. He genuinely looked confused. "What storm?"
What the hell? "The storm that got us into the mess in the first place!"
"I think you hit your head too hard on the glass." He reached out to rub her forehead, but she pulled away.
"How did you know I hit my head?"
"Roland told me."
But how? Tea thought. Roland wasn't in the room with me. He wouldn't have known…. And why would he take the time to call Seto about something so minuscule? Things weren't adding up and Tea was starting to get frustrated at Seto's round-about responses. She glanced out the window once more before questioning, "Why is the sun shining?"
Seto chuckled, "Well, that's a stupid question."
Tea narrowed her eyes and glared up and him, studying his features for a moment, trying to find something physically wrong with him. She found nothing but refused to quit questioning him until she got some answers. "If all of Domino City was under a weather evacuation emergency just a few hours ago, please tell me why it looks like the perfect day outside with not a single speck of storm damage?"
He didn't speak.
She continued her ranting, guiding him closer to the windows and pointing toward the ground, "If it only took us a few hours to get out of there, the storm should still be brewing, right? So, why are there people still here? Why are the trees still intact—"
In less than a second, she realized what was happening and looked down at her left leg. Not a single scratch… Oh no, this was not good. She shuttered as terror trickled down her spine like someone was slowly pouring a glass of cold water down her back.
A sudden pounding sound caught her attention. She noticed it coming from across the room. The only thing on the other side of Seto's office was a door. It had to be coming from there.
Tea looked back toward Seto. His expression had hardened, and his eyes appeared dark to the point of them almost being black. His voice sounded malicious when he growled, "Are you done asking pointless questions?"
A twinge of fear washed over her again, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. "One last thing" Her voice came out calm despite the panic pulsing through her veins. "What's over there?" She pointed to the door where she'd heard the pounding sound.
Seto replied without looking, keeping his venomous eyes locked on her. "It's a storage closet."
Matching his fearlessness, she toughened her stare and tested him, "And what's in there?"
The pounding started up again and Tea almost swore she heard a voice this time. It sounded muffled and panicked and oddly… familiar….
Terror struck her when she realized who she was talking to, who she had hugged, and who she had kissed. It wasn't Seto… It was Seto at all!
The face that this Seto sent her way made her blood run cold. "You said one last question."
Without warning, he lunged for her, attempting to grab her by the neck, but Tea was faster. She dropped to the floor swinging her left leg under his feet, causing him to lose his balance and topple onto her. She managed to wiggle her way out from under his weight and bolt for the closet door, begging to any higher power that what she sought was in this room all along.
Reaching the door in record time, Tea turned the knob. Locked. She shook it. Still locked. Shit—
Her thoughts shattered the moment she felt an arm wrapping around her neck from behind.
"You thought you could get away from me, hmm?" His hot breath assaulted her ear as he spoke in low, snarled tones. "You're not going in there. A girl like you doesn't deserve to see him."
Him! That was it! That was all Tea needed to hear for her determination to take over.
In an ingenious move that she could only contribute to her countless years of ballet, Tea balanced herself on the impostures body, pushing her back into him and swinging her legs forward into the air. With a force like no other, Tea drop-kicked the doorknob, using her heels as leverage to rip the flimsy metal off its frame. The lock broke and the door cracked open. Even while being strangled half to death, Tea was concerned that no one had come barging out of the closet, happy that they were finally free.
"You think you can see him!?" The imitation Seto growled, whipping Tea to the floor. There was so much fury in his voice that she thought he'd blown out one of her eardrums. Before she could attempt to even pick herself up off the floor, he had brutally kicked her in the stomach, blocking off any chance Tea had of catching her breath. She coughed forcefully, trying and failing to retrieve air. Instead, she was gifted with drops of her own blood splattering across the floor. Again, he had mercilessly kicked her, and again, she coughed up blood. This had to stop. There was no way she was going down like this.
Getting ready to kick her again, Tea seized the moment when his leg was extended backward and rolled like a log underneath him, knocking the imposture off his feet once again. This time she hadn't been caught beneath him and was able to quickly get up, busting through the broken closet door like a mad woman.
The sight splayed out before her was unreal. In the back of her mind, she had expected Seto to be in here, but not like this. The poor man was laying on his side, hands, and feet tied up behind him, and mouth gagged with a bloodied cloth. To top it all off, his clothes were shredded and torn. In the areas where his skin was exposed, there were cuts, scrapes, and bruises. The sight was horrifying, and Tea was frozen with fear as she watched the broken man before her struggle against his bindings. She followed his wide eyes— filled with panic and fear— as he tried to scream at her about something. His struggling and shrieking increased when she finally noticed his eyes were no longer fixed on her but on what was behind her…
With seconds to spare, Tea whipped around, saw what appeared to be a wooden paddle of some sort in the impostor's hands, and evaded his attack. Moments later the paddle made contact with the door frame behind her and shattered. Tea covered her head and screamed as pieces of jagged wood darted into the air. As he pulled the wooden object away, a horrid realization hit her… that it had suddenly gone from paddle to sharp, piercing spear.
Wasting no time, the impostor began jabbing the spear at her. Tea dodged his attempts until she suddenly cried out in pain as the tip of the wood made contact with her arm, cutting its surface. She reached for it, comforting her bleeding appendage. Holding onto her arm made it difficult to dodge and keep her balance at the same time. Before she knew it, she was backed up against the wall. Shit! Now, what!?
Aiming for her face only a few feet away, he threw the spear like it was a harpoon. Ducking, Tea succeeded in escaping the facial assault, but not without her scalp and hair getting tangled up in the mess. The sound of her pain-filled shrills was diluted only by her own blood washing down her face and into her mouth, forcing her to gargle her own fluid.
"Well, well, well," the fake Seto's voice coiled like that of a snake's tail who delighted in just winning its prized prey, "I'm happy to see you've slowed down a little bit, eh?"
He moved toward her. His pace was deliberately slow— almost like he enjoyed watching this. Tea tried to maneuver her head from its hold, but her hair caught on the spear, ripping her scalp even more as she struggled to break free. Dammit, dammit, dammit!
Moving slowly toward her like a predator, the impostor bent down and took her chin in his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head up so she could face her captor. The slight movement made Tea shriek as she felt her hair being pulled even harder.
"Now, what should I do with you?" His thumb trailed across her cheek, bathing in her blood as it poured down her face. Removing his hand, he demonically licked her blood from his fingers, smirking the whole time.
Once again, Tea struggled to break free. She reached her hands up to the spot where the wood was keeping her in place, trying to pull the spear out. It was too deep and at this angle, she wouldn't be able to quickly dislodge it.
"There's no need to struggle, my dear. Your existence in this world is about to end," He touched her lips with his long, coiling fingers, "and then your pain will cease." It was eerie seeing Seto this way. It wasn't him but it was his face, his hair, his eyes, and his smile… Tea felt like she was fighting a demon possessing her lover.
From the other side of the room, she heard the sounds of the real Seto, struggling and shrieking. He was still locked inside the closet and had no idea what was going on. For his sake, she had to live!
Before the fraud could make his next move, Tea spat her blood into his face. There was so much of it that she thought she may have temporarily blinded him.
"You bitch!" She heard him shout, and in the few spare seconds she had, Tea lifted her leg and kicked the spear out from above her. The piece of wood snapped and remarkably freed Tea from her spot on the wall with ease.
Despite the pain, Tea would keep on fighting. There was no way she was going to give up now. Not when she was so close to bringing him home, not to mention the little time she did have to bring him home.
Taking the broken, make-shift spear, Tea ran at the pretender, and just before he could comprehend what she was doing, she stabbed him square in the stomach. He screamed at the top of his lungs. The painful and agonizing cries of Seto coming from the fake's throat made Tea want to throw up. But there was no blood. No spillage of intestines. Not even a spec of spit left his mouth—only his excruciating screams.
For a minute, Tea almost thought she'd missed and he was just faking it. He'd been a good actor, she told herself, but suddenly there was a flash of white light, and the impostor's body began dissolving into tiny pieces of dichotomized computer code. After a few moments, he was completely gone.
Letting out a well-deserved sigh, Tea slumped her shoulders and dropped to the floor, breathing heavier than usual. She couldn't believe she'd actually done it. Virtual or not, fighting someone who's trying to end your existence was exhausting.
A few thumps and grumbles took Tea straight out of her rest. Whipping her head around to face the closet, she got up and dashed for it.
"Seto!" She shouted as she reached the threshold and practically jumped on top of him like a mother caring for her injured child. Tearing the shabby scrap of cloth from his mouth, she proceeded to drill him with questions while untying his bindings.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Tea."
"Wait… are you actually the real you? Should I be worried about the fake you coming back?"
"Tea…"
"Who was that guy anyway?"
"Tea."
"How do we get out of here?"
"Tea!"
"We only have a certain amount of time or else the power will—"
"TEA!" His stern shout took her by surprise, and she backed away, worried for a moment that she was once again dealing with an impostor. He caught the worried look upon her face and spoke softer, "Relax, okay? Just help me up and I'll get us out of here."
"You know the way out?"
"Of course I do."
She sent him a skeptical gaze, "How do I know you're not a fake?"
He was still lying on the floor, grumbling to himself and gritting his teeth. "I created this world. Don't you think I'd know how to get us out?"
She frowned but didn't reply.
He sighed, "The fake me wanted to keep you here for as long as possible, right? Well, I'm trying to get us out. Now help me up so I can do just that."
"You have legs." The response wasn't cruel or cold. It wasn't one of skepticism either. Tea was just doing what she needed to do to protect herself. How was she supposed to know he was the real deal?
Seto knit his brows so tight Tea could've sworn his face might stay like that. His voice came out so small and defeated that she refused to believe it belonged to him. How could the great Seto Kaiba be this vulnerable? If he was the real Seto Kaiba that is….
"I… I don't think I can walk…"
"Excuse me?" She said, more out of shock than lack of hearing.
His jaw stiffened, "I said, I don't think I can walk!"
Confused, she asked, "Why?"
"Because…" The words seemed hard for him to say as he looked like a child trying to fight back the urge to vomit, but he managed. "I think that poser broke my legs."
Aghast, Tea stood motionless just staring off into space. Images of her time in that dreadful wheelchair flashed in her mind. Oh, how she hated not being able to move. She hated the way everyone had coddled her. Except for Seto. Seto had helped her during that rough time, but he had also made fun of her.
"You know I'm not handicapped!"
Kaiba pulled back the tablecloth, glancing underneath the table. He came back up, smirking cockily at her, "I see a wheelchair underneath your ass. Pretty sure that constitutes as someone who is handicapped."
Her eyes ignited. It was the exact reaction he was looking for. "You know full well I wouldn't be in a wheelchair if it weren't for you!"
"Oh, you're blaming me for your coma?"
"No! I'm blaming your stupid technology for crippling me!"
Oh, how the tables had turned…
A/N: I promise you, all will be explained next chapter. I wanted to leave this here to build suspense. Hopefully, you enjoyed this one. It's much longer than the last chapter, so hopefully, ya'll feel a bit more fulfilled. Chapter 33 is halfway done, so a new update will be rolling out soon. Please let me know if you enjoyed this chapter. All thoughts/questions/comments/opinions are welcome! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
