"So ya mean we're gonna have to stay here until the mechanics call?" Joey
drawled in disbelief. They were in Kaiba Mansion, where Kaiba was trying to
make some last attempts at transportations. He slammed the phone down.
"This is not working!" He growled as he laid a hand on his forehead,
as if he was taking his own temperature. Téa stared dejectedly outside the
window.
"What are you looking at, Téa?" Yugi asked, walking over to his
friend.
"It's raining." She answered dully, not turning away. "Just a week
ago, in the rain, we took Arielle to church. Yami had such a good time
telling Arielle and Mokuba about the Greek mystical flying horse. You
helped too, Yugi." A crystal teardrop trickled from her blue eyes. Yami
turned from his seat at the couch and saw the tear. He got up and walked
toward her. Kaiba's sharp eyes also caught the pearl droplet glistening on
Téa's pretty face.
"Liquid sunshine." He tried to cheer her up from what she had told
him earlier in the week. "It's all in your perspective, you know."
At this point, Téa released a stifled sob. She turned and buried her
face in Yami's chest.
"Oh, Téa." Yami rubbed her back soothingly.
"The whole point, Kaiba," she sobbed, clutching on to Yami for dear
life. "Is that this is my perspective." Joey and Tristan turned around and
walked over, trying to comfort their only female companion together.
"Come on, Téa, we'll get Arielle back." The Brooklyn boy hovered
around the group and tried to convince her earnestly, but his face told him
he doesn't have too much belief in himself.
"Yeah, Téa." Tristan brushed back a silky strand of Téa's nutmeg
hair. "Don't give up now. Especially you. You can't give up, Téa."
"Is everything alright down there?" A distinct, refined British voice
called down from the banister of the grand staircase. The sandy blonde
walked out to the foyer.
"Yeah, Ryou, we're all fine down here." Joey called up, his voice
hushed. "Get back to bed." Téa pushed herself away from Yami and hastily
brushing her tears away with her fingertips.
"Oh dear," she mumbled, sounding distressed. "I'm hideous and my
crying had probably upset Mokuba. Tristan! Stop it!"
"Aw," Tristan teases, swiping Téa into a hug. "No one is prettier than my
girl." He stated proudly. Joey narrowed his eyes.
"Watch it." He said warningly. Yami stared at Téa intently.
"You look great." He said sincerely as Téa attempted to improve her
self-image. She gave him a look. Yami gulped and said weakly, "Okay then,
how about you look fine."
"Kaiba?" Téa turned toward the tall willowy figure, who hadn't said a
word after Téa's perspective. "Are you okay?"
"Wha--oh," Kaiba quickly shook his head. "Nothing." He said quietly,
turning back to his papers and stared at it blankly. He looked up and
stared through the window to the rainy, misty afternoon. The group
exchanged knowing glances. Téa pulled herself away from Tristan's
comforting embrace.
"Kaiba." She said, approached toward the silent figure. Two steps
away from him, Kaiba turned away.
"Not now. I need time." Téa heard his voice say softly. Without
listening to any protest and ignoring all the eyes on his back, Kaiba
walked toward his study, his trenchcoat billowing out behind him, and shut
the door, the only passage and connection to the world.
"What's wrong?" Pegasus cooed. "Don't you want to give your dear godfather a hug? " Bakura didn't know what Arielle would think, after all, if he himself felt like throwing up, wouldn't Arielle be fainting by now? But Arielle was paralyzed with fear. Her eyes were dark and filled with horror. Bakura instinctively put a protective arm around Arielle. The girl flinched and recoiled at his touch. But if Pegasus saw that, he didn't back down. "Oh come now, darling." He smirked. "You precious godfather had missed you so much other these past two years. You're finally back with daddy." He walked toward them and before neither Arielle nor Bakura had time to react, Pegasus picked Arielle up. Arielle let out a whimper. "You've grown so big!" Pegasus exclaimed, cuddling the small creature against his chest. Bakura opened his mouth to protest, but never got his chance. Arielle was suddenly wild with rage. She cut loose a stream of words so foul that Bakura wouldn't believe a girl her age would have known. She screamed at Pegasus, and while she swore, she hammered frantically at his chest with balled up fists, scaring the man into dropping her onto the floor. And as soon as she touched the ground, she bounced up and ran. "Poor child." Pegasus shrugged and smirked. "Just simply couldn't take the truth." He dusted himself off and frowned at his hands and clothes, as if he had just had contact with some rare disease. He wrinkled his nose, obviously displeased. Bakura turned back to his rival, all thoughts about taking his Millennium Eye disappeared. All that was left was the fire in his brown eyes. "Pegasus," he said lowly. "What is this all about?" Pegasus turned around, and his face turned hostile. "I pay you to deliver her to me, not to ask questions!" He barked. "Go on, Croquet has your pay check." He gave a wave and turned back to his wine. Bakura growled and stormed out of the hall. Pegasus chuckled to himself as he took a sip of the crimson liquid that matched his eyes. "So everything is going according to plan. Let's make a toast, shall we?" He raised his glass up toward the balcony ledge, where the wind was blowing ferociously about, as if mourning and grieving with the little girl, who was lying in her bed, sobbing.
"Hot chocolate, anyone?" Téa said cheerfully, coming from Kaiba's kitchen with a tray of steaming chocolate. Their delicious fragrance haze swirled about the top of the mugs temptingly. "I've also got a bag of marshmallows." She added waving the bag around, trying to pull the guys out of their disheartened shape. "Who would have thought Kaiba would have these in his mansion?" She joked. All she got was several dispirited nods. Undaunted, Téa went around the circle, literally shoving the inviting drink under their noses. But even Joey didn't have the heart to enjoy a luscious hot chocolate. Finally, after the last refusal, Téa slammed the tray on the coffee table, startling the boys lounging in the living room. "Shape up!" She snapped, not meanly, but in a firm tone. "Don't just sit there like a bunch of dead human beings! Get up and do something! Eat! Talk! Plan! Just do something!" The last sentence almost came out as a plead. "What is there to do?" Tristan said dumbly, looking up. "Well, have you guys thought about what you're going to do once to get to Pegasus's?" Téa tapped her fingertips on her chin. "Or maybe what you're going to do if she happens to be not there?" "We're going to storm into the castle and demand our Arielle back." Joey drawled. "No Arielle, no leave." "You can't do that?" Téa said exasperatedly. "Pegasus's loons will throw you out!" "Well," Yami looked beat. "There really isn't anything we could do until we pay Pegasus a visit." "But what are we really planning on doing?" Yugi asked, frowning. "We can't just storm in there and demand for Arielle. That's just not right!" "Course we can," Joey contradicted. "If Pegasus thinks--" He was interrupted as the ring made them all jump. They all heard Kaiba snatch up the phone from his office and demanded, "Hello?" They strained to hear what he was saying. "But," they heard him say. "This is crazy!" They exchanged glances, then shook their head. A moment later, they heard his study door open. He glanced at all of them, then looked down and mumbled, "The technician called. They say they could have the helicopter done before noon tomorrow." "But--" Joey gawked, his eyes widened. "What if that's too late! What if Pegasus killed her already! What if he's abusing her! What if--" He blabbered, couldn't control himself. "Joey!" Tristan barked. "Keep quiet! Do you want to wake--" "Big brother?" A scared voice called from upstairs. Tristan sighed. Kaiba shot Joey a death glare before heading out to the aula. "Mokuba?" He looked up the stairs. Mokuba's big frightened eyes were peering through bars of the banisters. "What happened, Seto?" Mokuba's whimper was heard in the living room. "Is Arielle dead? Is somebody abusing her? Is she ever going to come home again, big brother?" "Of course she's going to come home," they heard Kaiba console as he walked up the staircase. "Nothing happened. You need to get back to bed, kid." "But I'm scared. I miss Arielle." Mokuba said in a small voice as his brother picked him up and headed for his bedroom. "She use to come and sleep with me when we were both scared." "I'll stay with you." They heard Kaiba assure. "Why don't you sleep in my bed tonight?" In the delight from Mokuba's voice, they guessed that letting Mokuba sleep in his bed wasn't something Kaiba often did. "Really, Seto?" "Sure, kid. Now go to sleep. Ryou's next door and we're all downstairs, so don't be scared." "Okay, night, big brother." They heard Mokuba say drowsily. "Night, kid." "Isn't that so sweet?" Téa whispered proudly, as if proving something to her friends. "Kaiba does have a soft side. We just never saw it." "Yeah, yeah." Joey scowled and leaned back. "But if he keeps calling me a Chihuahua, there isn't going to be a soft nor hard side of him left." "Actually, Joey," Yugi turned to his friend, his large eyes mischievous. "I wouldn't be surprised if it went the other way. I mean, you just woke up Kaiba's darling little brother with your loud voice, scaring him out of his wits. I wouldn't be surprised if Kaiba comes down and kills you." "Ain't matter." Joey sniffed. "I can take him on any day. Just bring it on!" "Knowing Kaiba," Tristan joked. "He wouldn't waste his precious time fighting a dog. He'd probably just throw you a bone and kick you out of his house." Everyone laughed. "That probably would be correct." A deep voice said from behind them. Joey flinched at the voice behind him. "Okay, only one person could be this snobbish and so sure of himself-- " He muttered. "Don't forget how I beat you last time.Chihuahua." Kaiba turned to the rest of the group. "Since it's late, why don't you guys stay here tonight so we can get an early start tomorrow." "That's a good idea. It is pretty late." Yugi yawned as the rest stood up. They all said goodnight as they walked into their assigned bedrooms and closed the door. Kaiba went into his bedroom, like everyone else. He walked into the darkened bedroom and stopped still, listening to Mokuba's deep, peaceful breathing. He approached toward the bed and brushed back his little brother's wild bangs. Then he simply stood, watching him with tenderness in his eyes. Suddenly, he whirled around and walked out of the bedroom into his office, slammed the door shut, and did something Kaiba hasn't done ever since before his parents died--Seto Kaiba wept. He sank to the ground and buried himself in his arms, between his knee. Bitter and harsh sobs racked him, heaving and gagging sobs that left him weak and breathless, as if he had spent an eternity underwater.
Silvers clinked against glass, napkins dabbing against the lips, wineglasses sipped from and set down once again. There were no voices, there were no words. It was deafening noisy, yet the silence conquers. Everybody's minds have been saying the same thing from the past hour that reading minds were simply not fun anymore. Nobody wants to be here. "That's it!" Pegasus slammed down his goblet. "You," his slender digit pointed and beckoned at Bakura. "Who, me?" The silver haired spirit looked startled as he was all of a sudden called out from his own thoughts. "Yes, you." Pegasus folded his arms and said impatiently. "I didn't do anything." The evil spirit stated dully. Pegasus snapped his finger. "That's the whole problem. You wanted to stay here, so make yourself useful and start a conversation. Say something." "Uh." For once, Bakura looked like he had nothing to say. "Food is good." He started slowly. "Wine is absolutely irresistible. You, our delighted host, is entirely charming. Croquet, our thoughtful.uh.caretaker, is.uh, pleasing. This dining hall was decorated with taste. The silverware that we are eating with is utterly fascinating.um.interesting designs on the castle wall." He scratched his head, running out of things to say. "I did not tell you to grade and rate everything from the scale of one to ten, I wanted you to start a conversation that the rest of us could follow." Pegasus snapped. "Oh," the white-haired devil opened his half-opened eyes lazily. "Okay then. Hum." He tapped his fingers against his chin, thinking. "I wanna go home." A little voice said unhappily at the end of the table. "Oh, but this is your home now, darling." Pegasus smiled and said in a syrupy sweet voice. "This is not home." Was the answer returned quietly. "Why, of course it is." Another fake sugary smile. "And you haven't even seen your playroom, yet. Don't you want to see what your Uncle Pegasus has gotten you?" without waiting, Pegasus began ticking off the things he's gotten. "There's rocking horse, a dollhouse, some dolls, a mini plastic--" "I don't want a playroom! I don't play with dolls and rocking horses. I play Duel Monsters!" Arielle's voice rose. "I want to go home! And you're NOT my uncle!" Without warning, the six-year-old did the only thing that a six-year-old would do to get even with this evil white haired man. She picked up a glob of something smothered in something sauce and threw it. It flew through the air and.plop! Pegasus gasped as he gaped at the creamy white sauce that now stained on his crimson suit. He stood up, his face red with rage. "You.you." Bakura watched with amusement, assuming that Pegasus couldn't think up a bad enough name to call Arielle. Pegasus looked like he was about to burst out crying to his mother bawling, "She ruined my suit!" He chuckled at the thought. "Go to your room!" Bakura thought his eardrums had burst as the roar reached his ear. He looked at Arielle. She certainly didn't have any trouble following that order, whether she was too scared.or too glad to get away, she sure fled fast. He watched as Pegasus sat back down, trying his hardest to regain his composure. His hand waved Croquet over. "Sir?" "Make sure she stays in her room. We shall begin the procedures in the morning. Meanwhile, gather a few securities to keep guard so I wouldn't have to see her face until then. Ugh, little kids give me headaches." He shuddered to himself. "Yes, Master Pegasus." Croquet gave a small nod before heading out the door. "And Croquet," the Millennium Eye owner called. "Yes, sir?" "Don't fail me. You know what would happen if you do." Croquet swallowed nervously. "Yes, sir."
"What's wrong?" Pegasus cooed. "Don't you want to give your dear godfather a hug? " Bakura didn't know what Arielle would think, after all, if he himself felt like throwing up, wouldn't Arielle be fainting by now? But Arielle was paralyzed with fear. Her eyes were dark and filled with horror. Bakura instinctively put a protective arm around Arielle. The girl flinched and recoiled at his touch. But if Pegasus saw that, he didn't back down. "Oh come now, darling." He smirked. "You precious godfather had missed you so much other these past two years. You're finally back with daddy." He walked toward them and before neither Arielle nor Bakura had time to react, Pegasus picked Arielle up. Arielle let out a whimper. "You've grown so big!" Pegasus exclaimed, cuddling the small creature against his chest. Bakura opened his mouth to protest, but never got his chance. Arielle was suddenly wild with rage. She cut loose a stream of words so foul that Bakura wouldn't believe a girl her age would have known. She screamed at Pegasus, and while she swore, she hammered frantically at his chest with balled up fists, scaring the man into dropping her onto the floor. And as soon as she touched the ground, she bounced up and ran. "Poor child." Pegasus shrugged and smirked. "Just simply couldn't take the truth." He dusted himself off and frowned at his hands and clothes, as if he had just had contact with some rare disease. He wrinkled his nose, obviously displeased. Bakura turned back to his rival, all thoughts about taking his Millennium Eye disappeared. All that was left was the fire in his brown eyes. "Pegasus," he said lowly. "What is this all about?" Pegasus turned around, and his face turned hostile. "I pay you to deliver her to me, not to ask questions!" He barked. "Go on, Croquet has your pay check." He gave a wave and turned back to his wine. Bakura growled and stormed out of the hall. Pegasus chuckled to himself as he took a sip of the crimson liquid that matched his eyes. "So everything is going according to plan. Let's make a toast, shall we?" He raised his glass up toward the balcony ledge, where the wind was blowing ferociously about, as if mourning and grieving with the little girl, who was lying in her bed, sobbing.
"Hot chocolate, anyone?" Téa said cheerfully, coming from Kaiba's kitchen with a tray of steaming chocolate. Their delicious fragrance haze swirled about the top of the mugs temptingly. "I've also got a bag of marshmallows." She added waving the bag around, trying to pull the guys out of their disheartened shape. "Who would have thought Kaiba would have these in his mansion?" She joked. All she got was several dispirited nods. Undaunted, Téa went around the circle, literally shoving the inviting drink under their noses. But even Joey didn't have the heart to enjoy a luscious hot chocolate. Finally, after the last refusal, Téa slammed the tray on the coffee table, startling the boys lounging in the living room. "Shape up!" She snapped, not meanly, but in a firm tone. "Don't just sit there like a bunch of dead human beings! Get up and do something! Eat! Talk! Plan! Just do something!" The last sentence almost came out as a plead. "What is there to do?" Tristan said dumbly, looking up. "Well, have you guys thought about what you're going to do once to get to Pegasus's?" Téa tapped her fingertips on her chin. "Or maybe what you're going to do if she happens to be not there?" "We're going to storm into the castle and demand our Arielle back." Joey drawled. "No Arielle, no leave." "You can't do that?" Téa said exasperatedly. "Pegasus's loons will throw you out!" "Well," Yami looked beat. "There really isn't anything we could do until we pay Pegasus a visit." "But what are we really planning on doing?" Yugi asked, frowning. "We can't just storm in there and demand for Arielle. That's just not right!" "Course we can," Joey contradicted. "If Pegasus thinks--" He was interrupted as the ring made them all jump. They all heard Kaiba snatch up the phone from his office and demanded, "Hello?" They strained to hear what he was saying. "But," they heard him say. "This is crazy!" They exchanged glances, then shook their head. A moment later, they heard his study door open. He glanced at all of them, then looked down and mumbled, "The technician called. They say they could have the helicopter done before noon tomorrow." "But--" Joey gawked, his eyes widened. "What if that's too late! What if Pegasus killed her already! What if he's abusing her! What if--" He blabbered, couldn't control himself. "Joey!" Tristan barked. "Keep quiet! Do you want to wake--" "Big brother?" A scared voice called from upstairs. Tristan sighed. Kaiba shot Joey a death glare before heading out to the aula. "Mokuba?" He looked up the stairs. Mokuba's big frightened eyes were peering through bars of the banisters. "What happened, Seto?" Mokuba's whimper was heard in the living room. "Is Arielle dead? Is somebody abusing her? Is she ever going to come home again, big brother?" "Of course she's going to come home," they heard Kaiba console as he walked up the staircase. "Nothing happened. You need to get back to bed, kid." "But I'm scared. I miss Arielle." Mokuba said in a small voice as his brother picked him up and headed for his bedroom. "She use to come and sleep with me when we were both scared." "I'll stay with you." They heard Kaiba assure. "Why don't you sleep in my bed tonight?" In the delight from Mokuba's voice, they guessed that letting Mokuba sleep in his bed wasn't something Kaiba often did. "Really, Seto?" "Sure, kid. Now go to sleep. Ryou's next door and we're all downstairs, so don't be scared." "Okay, night, big brother." They heard Mokuba say drowsily. "Night, kid." "Isn't that so sweet?" Téa whispered proudly, as if proving something to her friends. "Kaiba does have a soft side. We just never saw it." "Yeah, yeah." Joey scowled and leaned back. "But if he keeps calling me a Chihuahua, there isn't going to be a soft nor hard side of him left." "Actually, Joey," Yugi turned to his friend, his large eyes mischievous. "I wouldn't be surprised if it went the other way. I mean, you just woke up Kaiba's darling little brother with your loud voice, scaring him out of his wits. I wouldn't be surprised if Kaiba comes down and kills you." "Ain't matter." Joey sniffed. "I can take him on any day. Just bring it on!" "Knowing Kaiba," Tristan joked. "He wouldn't waste his precious time fighting a dog. He'd probably just throw you a bone and kick you out of his house." Everyone laughed. "That probably would be correct." A deep voice said from behind them. Joey flinched at the voice behind him. "Okay, only one person could be this snobbish and so sure of himself-- " He muttered. "Don't forget how I beat you last time.Chihuahua." Kaiba turned to the rest of the group. "Since it's late, why don't you guys stay here tonight so we can get an early start tomorrow." "That's a good idea. It is pretty late." Yugi yawned as the rest stood up. They all said goodnight as they walked into their assigned bedrooms and closed the door. Kaiba went into his bedroom, like everyone else. He walked into the darkened bedroom and stopped still, listening to Mokuba's deep, peaceful breathing. He approached toward the bed and brushed back his little brother's wild bangs. Then he simply stood, watching him with tenderness in his eyes. Suddenly, he whirled around and walked out of the bedroom into his office, slammed the door shut, and did something Kaiba hasn't done ever since before his parents died--Seto Kaiba wept. He sank to the ground and buried himself in his arms, between his knee. Bitter and harsh sobs racked him, heaving and gagging sobs that left him weak and breathless, as if he had spent an eternity underwater.
Silvers clinked against glass, napkins dabbing against the lips, wineglasses sipped from and set down once again. There were no voices, there were no words. It was deafening noisy, yet the silence conquers. Everybody's minds have been saying the same thing from the past hour that reading minds were simply not fun anymore. Nobody wants to be here. "That's it!" Pegasus slammed down his goblet. "You," his slender digit pointed and beckoned at Bakura. "Who, me?" The silver haired spirit looked startled as he was all of a sudden called out from his own thoughts. "Yes, you." Pegasus folded his arms and said impatiently. "I didn't do anything." The evil spirit stated dully. Pegasus snapped his finger. "That's the whole problem. You wanted to stay here, so make yourself useful and start a conversation. Say something." "Uh." For once, Bakura looked like he had nothing to say. "Food is good." He started slowly. "Wine is absolutely irresistible. You, our delighted host, is entirely charming. Croquet, our thoughtful.uh.caretaker, is.uh, pleasing. This dining hall was decorated with taste. The silverware that we are eating with is utterly fascinating.um.interesting designs on the castle wall." He scratched his head, running out of things to say. "I did not tell you to grade and rate everything from the scale of one to ten, I wanted you to start a conversation that the rest of us could follow." Pegasus snapped. "Oh," the white-haired devil opened his half-opened eyes lazily. "Okay then. Hum." He tapped his fingers against his chin, thinking. "I wanna go home." A little voice said unhappily at the end of the table. "Oh, but this is your home now, darling." Pegasus smiled and said in a syrupy sweet voice. "This is not home." Was the answer returned quietly. "Why, of course it is." Another fake sugary smile. "And you haven't even seen your playroom, yet. Don't you want to see what your Uncle Pegasus has gotten you?" without waiting, Pegasus began ticking off the things he's gotten. "There's rocking horse, a dollhouse, some dolls, a mini plastic--" "I don't want a playroom! I don't play with dolls and rocking horses. I play Duel Monsters!" Arielle's voice rose. "I want to go home! And you're NOT my uncle!" Without warning, the six-year-old did the only thing that a six-year-old would do to get even with this evil white haired man. She picked up a glob of something smothered in something sauce and threw it. It flew through the air and.plop! Pegasus gasped as he gaped at the creamy white sauce that now stained on his crimson suit. He stood up, his face red with rage. "You.you." Bakura watched with amusement, assuming that Pegasus couldn't think up a bad enough name to call Arielle. Pegasus looked like he was about to burst out crying to his mother bawling, "She ruined my suit!" He chuckled at the thought. "Go to your room!" Bakura thought his eardrums had burst as the roar reached his ear. He looked at Arielle. She certainly didn't have any trouble following that order, whether she was too scared.or too glad to get away, she sure fled fast. He watched as Pegasus sat back down, trying his hardest to regain his composure. His hand waved Croquet over. "Sir?" "Make sure she stays in her room. We shall begin the procedures in the morning. Meanwhile, gather a few securities to keep guard so I wouldn't have to see her face until then. Ugh, little kids give me headaches." He shuddered to himself. "Yes, Master Pegasus." Croquet gave a small nod before heading out the door. "And Croquet," the Millennium Eye owner called. "Yes, sir?" "Don't fail me. You know what would happen if you do." Croquet swallowed nervously. "Yes, sir."