In a Mai Valentine vs. Bandit Keith duel, who do you think would win? I would be honored if you'd tell me your opinion on this, because I do NOT know.
This is a bad chapter, I admit, but if you want to see bad, you ought to see what I've started of Chapter Seven.
Chapter Six: How to meet your maker
15 August
He had one he had never had before; considering how long he had been in the dark with nothing to do besides kythe and dream, a new one was quite a novelty.
In this memory (most of his dreams were memories rehashed) he had been holding a sword for the first time. He'd never dreamed about that memory before; it was probably because he thought of it so much of the time, since it was his first one of Before, after all; and therefore there was nothing of that memory left hidden in his subconscious where dreams come from.
Ailill wasn't quite sure how old he was when he had that experience; he knew he had been a child then, younger than the age of just about all of the rest, and definitely older than the young dragon who was in the same deck as Black Jade. But in this memory there was nobody he could compare his size with. In memories he always felt the same size.
In this memory his clothing was several sizes too big, and he wore no armor. The only metal about him was the sword, which he swung from side to side. It was not the same sword that he had in seeing duels; it was smaller, rusted in several places. He had found it, and then he stood there swinging it as if he was trying out some new toy, which was what he had believed it to be. He remembered staring in fascination, running his fingers over the rusty part, even cutting his arm lightly with the shiny part of the blade.
His amusement had been cut short by a roar.
And as he turned with fear grabbing him worse than the dungeon worm or the different dark had ever done, he stopped remembering. He also stopped dreaming.
Ailill lay there for a while with his eyes shut, pulling himself out of the childish fear that lingered from the memory. Then he opened his eyes and assessed the situation.
He didn't remember ever falling prey to the likes of the Shadow Spell or Kunai Whip Chain- the Masters apparently had never thought it worthwhile to waste such useful traps on him, whose numbers were so low that they could generally just destroy him with no traps at all. So he had near nothing to compare his current predicament with, except maybe the different dark, but at least that had been quick.
Once again he was chained to a stone wall, but this time he was not in the body of another. And there was no way Gabriel was going to be able to release him again. The sword was gone, too, and he missed it. But did he really think they would let him keep it?
There were two sets of chains extending from the wall, of approximately the same length. One ended in cuffs around the general area of his ankles, the other around his wrists. He got up, ignoring the screaming in his legs, and started forward. The chains tightened halfway across the room. He returned to the wall and sat down, folding his legs in front of him and wrapping his arms around them.
He waited for something to happen. He didn't wait long.
***
Seto Kaiba groaned as he yanked himself out of a
highly unpleasant dream involving being throttled by a vengeful Blue Eyes
White Dragon. He yelped-
(like a dog yes just like a goddamn dog)
-as all his various injuries suddenly jumped up
and made themselves very, VERY clear.
Why had he done that to the fourth Blue Eyes? For
dramatic effect, he supposed. Also, there was no way he could have all
four Blue Eyes White Dragons in his deck, any more than he could have four
of any other card. The rules of the game were quite clear on that point.
Sold it? It would have fetched quite an amount…
but then again, he didn't need even more money. And the whole point of
getting hold of that card was to keep other people from using it against
him…
Or maybe he could have given it to Mokuba.
He cursed softly as he thought of it. Mokuba would
have been so happy to have a Blue Eyes White Dragon just like his big brother,
and it wasn't as if Mokuba would use it against him. But he'd never thought
of it. Stupid, stupid, stupid…
But now was not the time to think of that long lost
(regrettably) card. Now was the time to figure out how to get out of his
current situation.
Pegasus arrived before he could do much thinking.
Oh, how Seto longed to take him on in a fair fight,
Duel Monsters or physical, it didn't matter, just a duel where Pegasus
wasn't allowed to use his custom-made cards, where he didn't have that
goddamn eye, where Seto could beat him up big time. Where he could pay
him back for daring to strip a Blue Eyes White Dragon of his pride-
(but he at least never tore one in two)
-but he knew it was impossible.
And now here came that jerk he would call a monster
but that would be a grave indignity to the Blue Eyes White Dragons; he
was going to take the soul of Seto Kaiba once again, and this time it would
hurt all the more. And this time he couldn't expect anyone to save him,
couldn't expect anyone to try.
He felt himself instinctively pushing himself flat
against the wall in a futile attempt to become invisible, just like he
was a child again; he heard Pegasus laughing at this exertion-
(yes he's laughing at me acting like I'm a dog yes
that's what he thinks of me just like I thought of to someone else just
a goddamn dog)
-and knew the futility of it all, so he relaxed,
pretended this was just going to be a routine meeting, just like all the
ones he had had with those "employees"; he pretended he was sitting on
an office chair instead of cold hard stone gradually made warm but still
hard by his person against it; pretended that nothing bad was going to
happen, nothing out of the ordinary-
Still he sat there with his legs sprawled before
him, looking straight at Pegasus, daring himself not to be afraid.
But he was.
The eye began to glow. He reached out and grabbed
his ankles, right around the shackle; he hung on as if his life depended
on not letting go of his ankles. He forced himself to look straight at
that eye, to keep on doing it. And he waited for the end.
It didn't come.
Seto Kaiba looked at Pegasus. He looked at himself.
And he smiled.
Absolutely nothing had happened. His soul was right
where it should be.
***
"But how… how?"
Pegasus was pacing back and forth across a measured
distance down and up the hall. He clamped one hand over the Millennium
Eye, took it away, then went back to the cell door and stared at Kaiba
a little more.
Everything was coming apart and falling right down
around the ears of Mr. Maximilian Pegasus. Yugi Motou and Joseph Wheeler
and their fan club had left the castle quite abruptly this morning, giving
absolutely no reason. The kitchen had run out of "fruit juice." Now Seto
Kaiba's soul refused to go back to the card.
And on top of all this, as King of Games he was
supposed to be in attendance at the duel of the two remaining finalists
this afternoon. Never mind that he'd much rather watch Funny Bunny.
"I hate my life," he mumbled, then brightened considerably
as he remembered that morning's event.
***
"What is this feeling I have?"
Mokuba (he'd introduced himself when Gabriel woke
up; Gabriel hadn't returned the courtesy) looked at him. "Depends on what
kind of feeling."
"I never had this one before. It is like… there
is something empty inside and the emptiness is multiplying to consume the
rest of me."
"You're hungry. Join the club." Mokuba looked back
at the castle. "At least Duel Monsters don't get hungry, I think. That
jerk has a lot of stuff to eat back there," he growled in a tone that Gabriel
associated more with people like Ailill. "Where's food for people who really
need it?
"Thanks for saving me and everything," he said,
turning back around, "um… can I call you anything else, 'sides Dark Magician?"
"… Gabriel, I suppose."
"Gabriel…" He spoke it as if trying it out. "Can
I call you Gabe?"
"It is 'may,' not can," Gabriel reminded him, suddenly
thinking of Black Jade. "I suppose that would suffice."
"All right," said Mokuba in a tone that made it
quite clear that he thought it wasn't the time for grammar lessons. "Gabe?"
"Yes?"
"Where're we going?"
(how should I know all I know is we can't go back)
It was awful to leave behind his loyal friend, but
if he went back they would be waiting. Probably they were already looking
for Gabriel and Mokuba, which meant the latter had to go even faster, leave
Ailill even faster.
(why did I do this in the first place)
"So, Yuge, where to now?"
Gabriel stiffened, then turned quite slowly in the
direction of the voice that had an uncanny resemblance to Black Jade's
kythe.
"I don't know, Joey…"
He began to run. He heard Mokuba shouting after
him, ignored it, focused on the trees rushing to meet him at ever-greater
speeds, focused on only one goal, which was getting away from that voice-
(oh master please don't don't DON'T)
-and he was sure that Master and his friends knew,
and he was good as back in the card, but still he ran, ran and hoped, the
same hope he had had when he prayed for Master to defeat his opponent who
cared about the virus, the same hope he had in his second seeing duel when
Ailill screamed and vanished and Master called on another. He hoped and
ran, hearing nothing, feeling nothing, and then, suddenly, seeing nothing.
***
Mokuba opened his mouth to scream as he saw Gabriel collapse, but then hands clamped over it, killing the sound. He began to struggle, then realized they were his own hands.
***
"It's a wonderful morning, isn't it, Celtic-boy?"
Ailill lifted his head quite slowly, then when he
had finished looked through the bars and tried not to be afraid, or at
least not to look afraid.
"I don't like it when people try and play dumb with
me." Ailill placed the voice- it was Master's opponent in his very first
seeing duel, the one who had that stupid Faceless Mage. "If you were just
a child in disguise you would have been screaming to be released a long
time ago. I take it you know who I am, then. Do you know what is going
to happen to you?"
Ailill just kept on staring, as if he intended to
memorize every detail of that person. He continued to hug his knees, forcing
himself to look straight, show no fear.
"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"
He kept silent. One word and he would begin to scream
and cry, and then he would break, leaving a useless shell. And he would
not give this creature that had made Gabriel do such a thing, who would
dare imprison a child, the satisfaction of taking yet another soul.
"I would order more official kinds of tests and
such, unfortunately, far too many awkward questions would be raised. I
suppose I'll have to do this informally, then." He stepped closer. "Who,
exactly, was your other friend? The one who was unwise enough to jump out
of a window that far up?"
"…"
"Speak up, I can't hear you."
(I wasn't speaking to begin with you idiot)
As much as he would like to say that just to see
the look on his face, he didn't. Pretending to be mute could be advantageous.
"I know you can speak, now speak!"
And there was no way he would tell this creature
who Gabriel was, that Gabriel wasn't dead.
"Speak!"
"…"
"You had your chance." The voice was quite calm,
cool, measured. "And you wasted it. A most foolish move, Celtic-boy."
The door to the cell swung open. Ailill continued
to stare directly into those eyes, and then his own widened involuntarily
as the blow connected and his head jerked to one side. He wanted to scream.
"Now, speak."
Instead he let out a short cry, then held it all
in, turning back and continuing to keep eye contact with a strange kind
of resolve-
(not going to do it not going to do it now not going
to have this as Master not ever)
-and he kept on doing it through two more sets of
blows and commands. When the retreating footsteps were no longer audible
even to his ears, then and only then did he cast his eyes down to his boots
and let them fill with tears.
***
Pegasus was frustrated, to say the least.
His first ever encounter with one of the Duel Monsters
whose original cards he had so carefully designed, and it had to be so…
uncooperative. No respect at all. He supposed it was used to worse than
the pain he had dared inflict.
And the Millennium Eye simply refused to work.
He had tried it on a random guard on the way, to
ascertain the problem was with the eye and not with some new aspect of
Kaiba-boy's soul. Not a thing had happened, besides confusing the guard.
He could only see through it what other people could see through their
eyes. He might as well have his original one, except for the fact that
it was gold and pretty darn impressive-looking, even if it didn't do much
now.
There were another few hours until the finalists'
duel. He sat down, reached for his current comic book, and flipped on the
screen.
He smiled as he saw what was taking place in the
cell after his departure. Maybe this wasn't such a bad day after all.