Notes: Refer back to Crime for the Holidays if some of the things mentioned aren't familiar! XD
A shadow fell across Tristan and he started, looking up to find both Serenity and Joey there. "Uh, hi," he said with a weak smile, not having wanted Serenity to see Duke laying there on the floor. "Duke's . . . um . . . I guess he was tired and laid down for a nap. . . ."
Serenity just shook her head and knelt down, her whole body trembling. "Tristan . . . you're sweet, but . . . I know he wouldn't just be sleeping. . . ." Her hand brushed across the paperweight and her heart leaped into her throat. "Someone hit him with that, didn't they?!"
"Well, I don't know for sure," Tristan said lamely.
Joey looked about, his eyes narrowed. "You two stay with Duke. I'm gonna go make sure there isn't anyone still hangin' around," he declared.
"Joey, be careful!" Serenity cried, wringing her hands.
"Don't worry, sis. I'll be fine," Joey smiled. He gave Tristan a Don't try anything with my sister! look before running upstairs.
Tristan bent over Duke again, examining him for injuries. He found a bad bump on the other boy's head, as he was expecting to, but otherwise Duke seemed perfectly fine.
Unless he wasn't breathing. Tristan found that he couldn't tell.
"I'm gonna put him on that couch in the back," he decided, struggling to lift Duke's limp, lanky body. Unfortunately it wasn't very easy, since they were both about the same size. Before long they'd both toppled on the floor again.
"Tristan!" Serenity exclaimed, afraid that Tristan would hurt himself and Duke both.
"Everything's cool," Tristan replied with a sheepish grin before standing up and grabbing Duke under the arms to drag him into the other room.
****
Joey wandered around upstairs without finding anything until he came to Duke's office.
"Hmm," the Brooklyn boy smirked as he pushed the door open. "I've never been in here." He wondered what sorts of things he would find. And I would be lying if I didn't say he got a certain pleasure out of going through Duke's files.
"Man, Duke's got dirt dug up on about half the town!" Joey remarked to himself a few minutes later, deeply engrossed with the contents of one folder. "I wonder what he's plannin' to do with all this info! He could put a whole lot of people out of business for good! . . . Hey!" He couldn't help wondering if that was what Duke intended to do. "I hope the guy's okay . . . I've gotta ask him about this!"
Quickly Joey closed the folder and hid it under his shirt before continuing his search. He didn't find anything else of interest, however—nor any*one* at all—and soon headed back downstairs to the others.
Now Tristan had Duke successfully laid out on the couch. He had determined by now that Duke was definitely breathing and should wake up shortly.
"If he doesn't, I'll probably have to call some of Kaiba's doctors," the hazel-eyed boy sighed to himself, narrowing his eyes as Serenity leaned over Duke and tried to revive him.
Instantly Joey appeared and pulled Serenity away. "What do you think you're doing?!" he yelped indignantly.
"Joey, he's hurt!" Serenity retorted, narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah? Well you don't havta be fawning all over him!" Joey cried.
"I'm not fawning!!" Serenity was getting angry.
"Excuse me . . . but you're all yelling loud enough to wake the dead." Duke winced as he opened his eyes and sat up. "And loud enough to give the living headaches."
"Duke!" the squabbling teens all exclaimed in varying stages of relief.
"What happened to you??!" Tristan demanded to know.
Duke gingerly touched the bump on his head and closed his eyes as if it pained him. "What do you think?! Someone hit me over the head!! I wasn't laying on the floor with this bump for the fun of it!"
"Yeah? And did it happen 'cause of this?!" Joey pulled out the file and showed it to Duke, who took it while glaring at the blonde boy suspiciously.
"Where did you get this?" Duke asked. "Wait, don't tell me. You looked through my office!"
"Heck yeah, I did!" Joey agreed. "Hey, I was lookin' for intruders!"
"What is that file?" Tristan wondered, peering at it.
"It's mine!" Duke said defensively, closing it again.
"I've already looked in it," Joey said, crossing his arms. "Just what were you plannin' to do with the info in there? Huh?"
Duke glared at him. "I'm not some criminal here! Stop interrogating me!!" He went to stand up when a wave of dizziness came over him and he plopped back on the couch.
"Relax, Duke!" Tristan exclaimed. "No one's accusing you!"
Duke leaned against the back of the sofa, closing his eyes again. "The information I have I obtained through completely legal means. Most likely someone I dug up dirt on tried to retrieve the folders. And I'm sure they planned to kill me in the process."
"But they didn't," Serenity smiled.
Duke smirked. "No . . . they didn't." He was feeling so weak from the blow . . . all he wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep.
"You should rest now, pal," Tristan spoke up. "You've had a rough time of it—being bludgeoned and all."
"I don't need to rest," Duke retorted. The room looked strange to him, though—as if it was spinning. He knew he could pass out again if he wasn't careful.
****
Marik yawned, staring out the window. He was so tired, and yet he couldn't sleep. He wanted to, but he couldn't make his body obey him.
Abruptly something tore past the window and he looked up, wondering if it was the one who had placed the death threat on the porch. He couldn't see anything, however, and so he decided he must have been falling into a dream.
Perhaps I can go to sleep now, he hoped, and so he started to stand up and head for his bed.
That was when he saw the strange face staring at him through the glass.
The sleepy boy immediately started awake, crying out in surprise. It wasn't a human looking in—it was some sort of animal! With antlers!
"A deer?" he muttered, moving closer.
The deer backed up, snorting, and Marik noticed a collar of jingle bells around its neck. The boy rubbed his eyes and looked again. The creature was still there, and so was the collar. It almost looked like . . .
"No, that's impossible!" Marik muttered. "There's no such thing!"
The reindeer made another sound and then trotted off to the edge of the property, disappearing with the falling snow. Marik watched after it, shook his head in disbelief, and then collapsed on his bed, instantly lapsing into a deep sleep.
****
Seto wasted no time in getting to where the meeting place was. He kept very much alert and even had some of his security guards hidden nearby should something go wrong. Was he expecting something to go wrong? He wasn't sure what he expected any more.
A cold nose touched his hand and he instantly froze, slowly turning to see what had snuck up behind him. To his utter astonishment, it was a reindeer! A very familiar one at that. He could've sworn that the very same reindeer was the one that had run him down in the mall last year.
"Hello, Seto Kaiba!" a squeaky voice chirped and a little man stepped out from the brush.
Seto raised an eyebrow. "What the?!"
"You remember me, too, I trust?" The man crossed his arms and now looked slightly irritated. "You were supposed to meet me last year at the North Pole display."
Seto grunted. "It must have slipped my mind."
"But you remember Dancer here, I see." The man, who looked about the size of an elf, patted the reindeer's shaggy shoulder. The beast snorted in pleasure.
"Look, are you the one who emailed me?" Seto demanded. "My time is precious. I can't have it wasted with drivel."
"Yes, I did email you!" the elf cried. "Because I know the secret of the mall!"
"What secret?" Seto wanted to know. "And why would I be interested?!"
"Well, last year I had information on your case then," the elf said, "or at least, I thought I had. Turns out I'd made a mistake. So it was actually a good thing you didn't show up. But this time I know I have the facts right!"
"If you got them mixed up before, how can I believe you now?" Seto returned.
"Just trust me!" the elf said in irritation. "I know why Thorton's place was ransacked. It was because of the blackmail!"
"What blackmail??!" Seto felt like yelling. "And what does this have to do with a mall secret?!"
"You must ask Mr. Thorton yourself!" the little man scolded. "I'm not going to tell you everything!"
"As if Thorton would tell me if he was being blackmailed," Seto grunted.
"How will you know if you don't ask??!" The elf took hold of Dancer's reigns firmly. "Just do it, Seto Kaiba!"
****
Mokuba, who had snuck out of the house, was watching all of this from around a corner. Seto and some . . . elvish guy?! And a reindeer?! Nothing added up!! Christmas elves didn't exist! At least . . . Mokuba had been quite sure they didn't.
A cold hand was laid on his shoulder and the boy jumped. "Hey!! What's going on??!"
"I'm not going to hurt you," an unfamiliar voice said. "I only want to tell you to make certain to convince your brother to look into things if he doesn't have enough motivation on his own." The assailant was dressed entirely in black and had a ninja mask over his face.
"Yeah?! And what's gonna be happening to my brother?!" Mokuba hissed. "Is he gonna get hurt??!"
"Not if he does things right," the voice responded. "Just tell him!" With that the person fled into the shadows, leaving a very puzzled and confused Mokuba.
"That was . . . really weird," the raven-haired child muttered to himself.
Seeing that Seto's meeting with the elf seemed to be over and that the blue-eyed boy was heading back to the limo, Mokuba realized he'd have to hurry home before anyone realized he was missing. He knew he shouldn't have gone out of the house, but he'd had to make certain that Seto wasn't in any danger.
As he ran down the street he'd come, Mokuba was sure he saw a reindeer-shaped shadow fly over him—but when he looked up he couldn't see a thing.
But reindeer can't fly anyway, he thought, so it must've just been something else.
****
Brandon and Taylor were up late that night having fun with the snow, which was still falling.
"I can't believe that Mom didn't even notice we'd left the house!" Brandon chortled. "Man, she really is scatterbrained tonight!"
"Yeah, well, we did just move in," Taylor shrugged. "There's lots to do!" He rolled up another snowball. "Are we ready?"
"Of course." Brandon sneered. "Nothing like paying visits to our dear neighbors." He broke open a red paintball and dumped the contents over his own snowball, giving the impression of blood.
The two children crossed the street and snuck around to the back of Marik's house, where they assumed the bedrooms were. On the count of three, they both threw their weapons at the windows, hoping to attract attention. If anyone came to look, all they would see would be two very short Grim Reapers. Brandon and Taylor enjoyed dressing up in such costumes and trying to intimidate anyone they had taken a dislike to.
A snowball smashed against Ishizu's window and she snapped awake. Hurriedly putting her quilted robe on, she ran to the sill and raised the sash. "See here!" she said sternly. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"The end is near for all of you!" Taylor intoned from behind the mesh hood.
"Well, I don't think anyone will be dying here tonight." Ishizu was not amused or intimidated in the least. "Just pack up your snowballs and go home. And after Thanksgiving, I promise I will speak with your mother."
"Mother?" Brandon refused to admit to their identities, even though Ishizu obviously knew. "We don't have a mother. Only endless lost souls to capture!"
"Cease such talk!" Ishizu was growing infuriated. "Neither of you have any idea of the gravity of what you are saying!"
Taylor only cackled, grabbing one of Brandon's "bloodied" snowballs to throw.
It wound up hitting Rishid when he opened his own window to look out.
"Oh boy, you're in for it now!" Brandon whispered to his brother.
Rishid stood there, snow and red paint sliding down his face, before he wiped it off and glared down at the Grim Reapers.
Words were not necessary. Brandon and Taylor instantly fled for their lives, Rishid's sternness scaring them yet again.
****
Ishizu turned to look at Rishid, frustrated. "Are you alright, my brother?" she asked.
"Yes," Rishid sighed. "I am fine. But I am wondering if Marik could be right about those children taking a special dislike to us. And what's more. . . ." He trailed off, but he was starting to wonder if the boys *had* been the ones to send the death threat after all.
A shadow fell across Tristan and he started, looking up to find both Serenity and Joey there. "Uh, hi," he said with a weak smile, not having wanted Serenity to see Duke laying there on the floor. "Duke's . . . um . . . I guess he was tired and laid down for a nap. . . ."
Serenity just shook her head and knelt down, her whole body trembling. "Tristan . . . you're sweet, but . . . I know he wouldn't just be sleeping. . . ." Her hand brushed across the paperweight and her heart leaped into her throat. "Someone hit him with that, didn't they?!"
"Well, I don't know for sure," Tristan said lamely.
Joey looked about, his eyes narrowed. "You two stay with Duke. I'm gonna go make sure there isn't anyone still hangin' around," he declared.
"Joey, be careful!" Serenity cried, wringing her hands.
"Don't worry, sis. I'll be fine," Joey smiled. He gave Tristan a Don't try anything with my sister! look before running upstairs.
Tristan bent over Duke again, examining him for injuries. He found a bad bump on the other boy's head, as he was expecting to, but otherwise Duke seemed perfectly fine.
Unless he wasn't breathing. Tristan found that he couldn't tell.
"I'm gonna put him on that couch in the back," he decided, struggling to lift Duke's limp, lanky body. Unfortunately it wasn't very easy, since they were both about the same size. Before long they'd both toppled on the floor again.
"Tristan!" Serenity exclaimed, afraid that Tristan would hurt himself and Duke both.
"Everything's cool," Tristan replied with a sheepish grin before standing up and grabbing Duke under the arms to drag him into the other room.
****
Joey wandered around upstairs without finding anything until he came to Duke's office.
"Hmm," the Brooklyn boy smirked as he pushed the door open. "I've never been in here." He wondered what sorts of things he would find. And I would be lying if I didn't say he got a certain pleasure out of going through Duke's files.
"Man, Duke's got dirt dug up on about half the town!" Joey remarked to himself a few minutes later, deeply engrossed with the contents of one folder. "I wonder what he's plannin' to do with all this info! He could put a whole lot of people out of business for good! . . . Hey!" He couldn't help wondering if that was what Duke intended to do. "I hope the guy's okay . . . I've gotta ask him about this!"
Quickly Joey closed the folder and hid it under his shirt before continuing his search. He didn't find anything else of interest, however—nor any*one* at all—and soon headed back downstairs to the others.
Now Tristan had Duke successfully laid out on the couch. He had determined by now that Duke was definitely breathing and should wake up shortly.
"If he doesn't, I'll probably have to call some of Kaiba's doctors," the hazel-eyed boy sighed to himself, narrowing his eyes as Serenity leaned over Duke and tried to revive him.
Instantly Joey appeared and pulled Serenity away. "What do you think you're doing?!" he yelped indignantly.
"Joey, he's hurt!" Serenity retorted, narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah? Well you don't havta be fawning all over him!" Joey cried.
"I'm not fawning!!" Serenity was getting angry.
"Excuse me . . . but you're all yelling loud enough to wake the dead." Duke winced as he opened his eyes and sat up. "And loud enough to give the living headaches."
"Duke!" the squabbling teens all exclaimed in varying stages of relief.
"What happened to you??!" Tristan demanded to know.
Duke gingerly touched the bump on his head and closed his eyes as if it pained him. "What do you think?! Someone hit me over the head!! I wasn't laying on the floor with this bump for the fun of it!"
"Yeah? And did it happen 'cause of this?!" Joey pulled out the file and showed it to Duke, who took it while glaring at the blonde boy suspiciously.
"Where did you get this?" Duke asked. "Wait, don't tell me. You looked through my office!"
"Heck yeah, I did!" Joey agreed. "Hey, I was lookin' for intruders!"
"What is that file?" Tristan wondered, peering at it.
"It's mine!" Duke said defensively, closing it again.
"I've already looked in it," Joey said, crossing his arms. "Just what were you plannin' to do with the info in there? Huh?"
Duke glared at him. "I'm not some criminal here! Stop interrogating me!!" He went to stand up when a wave of dizziness came over him and he plopped back on the couch.
"Relax, Duke!" Tristan exclaimed. "No one's accusing you!"
Duke leaned against the back of the sofa, closing his eyes again. "The information I have I obtained through completely legal means. Most likely someone I dug up dirt on tried to retrieve the folders. And I'm sure they planned to kill me in the process."
"But they didn't," Serenity smiled.
Duke smirked. "No . . . they didn't." He was feeling so weak from the blow . . . all he wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep.
"You should rest now, pal," Tristan spoke up. "You've had a rough time of it—being bludgeoned and all."
"I don't need to rest," Duke retorted. The room looked strange to him, though—as if it was spinning. He knew he could pass out again if he wasn't careful.
****
Marik yawned, staring out the window. He was so tired, and yet he couldn't sleep. He wanted to, but he couldn't make his body obey him.
Abruptly something tore past the window and he looked up, wondering if it was the one who had placed the death threat on the porch. He couldn't see anything, however, and so he decided he must have been falling into a dream.
Perhaps I can go to sleep now, he hoped, and so he started to stand up and head for his bed.
That was when he saw the strange face staring at him through the glass.
The sleepy boy immediately started awake, crying out in surprise. It wasn't a human looking in—it was some sort of animal! With antlers!
"A deer?" he muttered, moving closer.
The deer backed up, snorting, and Marik noticed a collar of jingle bells around its neck. The boy rubbed his eyes and looked again. The creature was still there, and so was the collar. It almost looked like . . .
"No, that's impossible!" Marik muttered. "There's no such thing!"
The reindeer made another sound and then trotted off to the edge of the property, disappearing with the falling snow. Marik watched after it, shook his head in disbelief, and then collapsed on his bed, instantly lapsing into a deep sleep.
****
Seto wasted no time in getting to where the meeting place was. He kept very much alert and even had some of his security guards hidden nearby should something go wrong. Was he expecting something to go wrong? He wasn't sure what he expected any more.
A cold nose touched his hand and he instantly froze, slowly turning to see what had snuck up behind him. To his utter astonishment, it was a reindeer! A very familiar one at that. He could've sworn that the very same reindeer was the one that had run him down in the mall last year.
"Hello, Seto Kaiba!" a squeaky voice chirped and a little man stepped out from the brush.
Seto raised an eyebrow. "What the?!"
"You remember me, too, I trust?" The man crossed his arms and now looked slightly irritated. "You were supposed to meet me last year at the North Pole display."
Seto grunted. "It must have slipped my mind."
"But you remember Dancer here, I see." The man, who looked about the size of an elf, patted the reindeer's shaggy shoulder. The beast snorted in pleasure.
"Look, are you the one who emailed me?" Seto demanded. "My time is precious. I can't have it wasted with drivel."
"Yes, I did email you!" the elf cried. "Because I know the secret of the mall!"
"What secret?" Seto wanted to know. "And why would I be interested?!"
"Well, last year I had information on your case then," the elf said, "or at least, I thought I had. Turns out I'd made a mistake. So it was actually a good thing you didn't show up. But this time I know I have the facts right!"
"If you got them mixed up before, how can I believe you now?" Seto returned.
"Just trust me!" the elf said in irritation. "I know why Thorton's place was ransacked. It was because of the blackmail!"
"What blackmail??!" Seto felt like yelling. "And what does this have to do with a mall secret?!"
"You must ask Mr. Thorton yourself!" the little man scolded. "I'm not going to tell you everything!"
"As if Thorton would tell me if he was being blackmailed," Seto grunted.
"How will you know if you don't ask??!" The elf took hold of Dancer's reigns firmly. "Just do it, Seto Kaiba!"
****
Mokuba, who had snuck out of the house, was watching all of this from around a corner. Seto and some . . . elvish guy?! And a reindeer?! Nothing added up!! Christmas elves didn't exist! At least . . . Mokuba had been quite sure they didn't.
A cold hand was laid on his shoulder and the boy jumped. "Hey!! What's going on??!"
"I'm not going to hurt you," an unfamiliar voice said. "I only want to tell you to make certain to convince your brother to look into things if he doesn't have enough motivation on his own." The assailant was dressed entirely in black and had a ninja mask over his face.
"Yeah?! And what's gonna be happening to my brother?!" Mokuba hissed. "Is he gonna get hurt??!"
"Not if he does things right," the voice responded. "Just tell him!" With that the person fled into the shadows, leaving a very puzzled and confused Mokuba.
"That was . . . really weird," the raven-haired child muttered to himself.
Seeing that Seto's meeting with the elf seemed to be over and that the blue-eyed boy was heading back to the limo, Mokuba realized he'd have to hurry home before anyone realized he was missing. He knew he shouldn't have gone out of the house, but he'd had to make certain that Seto wasn't in any danger.
As he ran down the street he'd come, Mokuba was sure he saw a reindeer-shaped shadow fly over him—but when he looked up he couldn't see a thing.
But reindeer can't fly anyway, he thought, so it must've just been something else.
****
Brandon and Taylor were up late that night having fun with the snow, which was still falling.
"I can't believe that Mom didn't even notice we'd left the house!" Brandon chortled. "Man, she really is scatterbrained tonight!"
"Yeah, well, we did just move in," Taylor shrugged. "There's lots to do!" He rolled up another snowball. "Are we ready?"
"Of course." Brandon sneered. "Nothing like paying visits to our dear neighbors." He broke open a red paintball and dumped the contents over his own snowball, giving the impression of blood.
The two children crossed the street and snuck around to the back of Marik's house, where they assumed the bedrooms were. On the count of three, they both threw their weapons at the windows, hoping to attract attention. If anyone came to look, all they would see would be two very short Grim Reapers. Brandon and Taylor enjoyed dressing up in such costumes and trying to intimidate anyone they had taken a dislike to.
A snowball smashed against Ishizu's window and she snapped awake. Hurriedly putting her quilted robe on, she ran to the sill and raised the sash. "See here!" she said sternly. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"The end is near for all of you!" Taylor intoned from behind the mesh hood.
"Well, I don't think anyone will be dying here tonight." Ishizu was not amused or intimidated in the least. "Just pack up your snowballs and go home. And after Thanksgiving, I promise I will speak with your mother."
"Mother?" Brandon refused to admit to their identities, even though Ishizu obviously knew. "We don't have a mother. Only endless lost souls to capture!"
"Cease such talk!" Ishizu was growing infuriated. "Neither of you have any idea of the gravity of what you are saying!"
Taylor only cackled, grabbing one of Brandon's "bloodied" snowballs to throw.
It wound up hitting Rishid when he opened his own window to look out.
"Oh boy, you're in for it now!" Brandon whispered to his brother.
Rishid stood there, snow and red paint sliding down his face, before he wiped it off and glared down at the Grim Reapers.
Words were not necessary. Brandon and Taylor instantly fled for their lives, Rishid's sternness scaring them yet again.
****
Ishizu turned to look at Rishid, frustrated. "Are you alright, my brother?" she asked.
"Yes," Rishid sighed. "I am fine. But I am wondering if Marik could be right about those children taking a special dislike to us. And what's more. . . ." He trailed off, but he was starting to wonder if the boys *had* been the ones to send the death threat after all.