Notes: JP has been wantin' to get into one of my fics for a while, so here's to you, JP! ^_^ The radio station was his idea too :^)
Tea awoke slowly with the strange sensation that the ground was moving underneath her. As she returned to full awareness, she realized that it actually was. She also realized that she didn't remember what had happened before this.
"Where am I?!" she cried, sitting up and looking around frantically. It was dark all around her, and she could hear soft breathing nearby. "Who's here?!" she demanded, feeling around in the blackness. Her hand brushed against another hand—this one limp and cold—and a chill ran up her spine.
Quickly she bent forward, listening, and was relieved to discover that this person was the one she had heard breathing. He—she was sure it was a he—was alive, but he didn't seem to be conscious.
The other person moaned softly but didn't awaken. Tea gasped, blinking. "Kaiba?!" she exclaimed. It was so dark in here that she couldn't see a thing, but she recognized the voice. And then she remembered what had happened earlier. They had been shadowing someone in the railroad yard when Seto had disappeared and Tea herself had been attacked. . . . What if they'd both been abducted and thrown onto a train?! It was a horrifying thought . . . but it made sense, considering the feel of the moving floor.
"Kaiba, wake up!!" Tea pleaded, shaking the boy hard on the shoulder. "We're on a moving train!!" Upon not receiving an answer, Tea tried again, feeling desperate. "Oh please wake up!!" she wailed, but still to no avail. She leaned back, her heart racing. Something must be very wrong.
She bent down to check Seto's vital signs again. His pulse was normal and so was his breathing . . . so why couldn't she revive him? Tea didn't know what to do.
"Help," she prayed softly, looking around. This was very bad. She was lost somewhere in the country on what appeared to be a freight train car, and Seto could not be awakened. What was she going to do?
****
Meanwhile, the other teens gathered at Yugi's to try figuring things out.
"So . . . eh, where's Marik?" Joey asked, looking around.
"He's here," Yugi replied slowly. "He's been in the guest room ever since we got back from the museum. I think he's feeling pretty down."
"I can imagine," Bakura said quietly. "It must be terrible for him—not even being able to remember his own sister."
Yugi nodded. "But that's not all," he said. "I think Marik may be starting to remember something frightening that happened to him." Marik had explained to Yugi earlier that he had woken up in the hospital being told that he had been in a car crash, but he couldn't remember how that had happened.
And of course Yugi couldn't forget what his Yami had told him—that Marik knew a secret that affected the entire world. Yugi didn't want to burden Marik with that information, but he was worried. Very worried.
Joey clicked on the radio absent-mindedly.
"Hello, and welcome to KETY," the DJ was saying. "K-80's—Domino City's leader for all those classic tunes from the eighties! This hour we bring you our All-Request Line! Call in and request your favorite!"
Tristan sighed. "Man, everything is so confusin' around here," he said in frustration. "We have the mystery of what the heck happened to Marik. We've got the mystery of who's stalking us."
"And we have the mystery of where the heck Tea is," Joey remarked.
"Great Scott! Tea's missing?" Bakura gasped.
Yugi nodded. "Joey and I have been trying to call her, but she's not home," he said worriedly.
On the radio the deejay took another request. "Hello, you're on the air with Joltin' JP," he greeted. "What's on your mind?"
The caller gave a strange, muffled laugh and spoke in an obviously disguised voice. "I want to hear 'Every Breath You Take' by the Police and dedicate it to Yugi Muto," they announced.
Everyone turned to stare at the radio as if it had suddenly sprouted horns. "What did that weirdo just say?!" Joey cried.
"And I want to give him a message too," the caller continued. "I'm always watching you, Yugi Muto!!!" With an odd cackle they hung up.
"Well . . . that was . . . interesting," the deejay remarked slowly, trying to laugh. "I guess Yugi Muto has a secret admirer out there somewhere!"
"Secret admirer nothing!" Tristan said, shaking his head. "That was a warning!"
Yugi concurred.
****
Marik was sitting on his bed, staring out the window. Every few seconds, it seemed, he was getting an odd flash of memory—but the things he remembered weren't about his life . . . at least he didn't think they were.
What he saw were vague shadows and what he heard was strange chanting. He couldn't make heads or tails out of any of it, but it kept filling his mind until it was the only thing he could think of. It seemed almost as if he had been propelled back into the scene and was in that dark chamber instead of in his room at the Muto's.
"What is happening to me?!" he cried, covering his ears and closing his eyes and trying in vain to block out the offensive sounds and images. "Stop!! Stop!!!" he yelled, falling off the bed and to the floor below.
Horrible images began filling his mind—images of people being tortured. The sounds of their screaming. What was this?!
"What's goin' on with Marik?!" Joey exclaimed in the living room. "He sounds like someone's attackin' him or somethin'!"
Yugi was already running to the door. "Marik, what's wrong?!" he called, knocking hard.
Marik didn't seem to hear him. "Stop!!" he screamed again. "I want no part of this!! Stop!!"
"Man," Tristan said, coming to the door, "he acts like he's gone totally mental!"
Yugi rushed in and knelt next to him. "Marik!" he cried, laying a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Do you know where you are?"
Marik struggled to get free. "Unhand me!! I won't be a part of your plan!" In his mind he was being taken captive by a guard who'd seen him watching the strange ritual and the torturing. "Let me go!!"
Bakura watched Marik fight against Yugi in horror, his soft brown eyes wide.
"Marik!! It's me—Yugi!" the violet-eyed boy exclaimed, trying to get Marik to calm down. "You're in my house, Marik! You're with friends!"
Marik stopped struggling and lay there on the floor, breathing hard. The illusions—the memories—stopped, and he slowly realized where he was.
"Marik? Are you okay?" Yugi asked worriedly.
Marik looked up at Yugi and the others and nodded. "I am alright," he said at last.
"Man, what the heck was goin' on with you?!" Joey burst out.
Marik shook his head. "I . . . I am not sure," he admitted, looking frightened. "I . . . I felt as though I had been transported somewhere else."
The other teens looked at him and then at each other, not sure what to make of that, but knowing it wasn't good.
****
Tea looked around in the darkness, feeling panicky. "Kaiba, why won't you wake up?!" she cried in despair. After examining him, she had discovered a bad bump on his head, but if that was the only reason he was unconscious, why hadn't he woken up when she'd shaken him?
Maybe he had a bad concussion, Tea worried now. But if he did, would his pulse be normal? She was so distressed at the moment that she couldn't remember what she had learned in her first aid course.
Of course Tea was also nervous about where they were going. Were they even in the same state? How long had they been on the train? Did the others realize that she and Seto were missing?
By now her eyes had adjusted dimly to the darkness, but she still couldn't see very well. "Kaiba, I'm worried about you!!" she burst out. "Please, can't you just wake up?!"
The boy remained almost deathly still, but Tea could hear his soft breathing. With a sigh of despair, she resigned herself to a longer wait.
****
After Marik was calm again, Yugi spoke to his Yami in concern.
~What do you think he saw, Yami?~ Yugi asked.
Yami Yugi was silent for a time, then finally replied, **He was recalling something that really happened to him, Yugi.**
~But what was it, Yami?~ Yugi was very worried.
**Remember what I told you, Yugi,** Yami Yugi said grimly. **Marik knows of deadly secrets. They have been locked away in his mind, and now he is starting to remember them.**
~I wonder what he saw,~ Yugi mused. ~He seemed so terrified. . . .~
**I do not know exactly what he saw,** Yami Yugi replied, **but it was ominous . . . strange . . . and horrific,** he finished.
Yugi shuddered.
"Hey, Yug, what's up?" Joey asked, startling the boy out of his mental conversation.
"Oh . . . I was talking to my Yami," Yugi explained, but didn't say more.
****
Marik slowly drank a cup of hot chocolate, trying desperately to block the images and sounds—screams—out of his mind. The blood . . . the torment . . . the agony. . . . The memories were scattered, but still potent enough to send Marik into fits of horror, and the tears fell from his eyes.
"Make it stop!" he wailed. "Please!" He clutched the mug so tightly that it was a miracle it didn't break. "I . . . I can't take it any longer!!" Why was he being bombarded with these terrible remembrances?! He wasn't the one who had ordered those people to be tortured, was he? No, no, that couldn't be true!
"You're next."
The grim voice's meaning was clear—it was saying that Marik would be tortured as those in his visions had been. The utterance echoed throughout the room and Marik looked around wildly. "Who are you?!" he cried, but received no answer.
****
Tea wrung her hands nervously. How long had she been awake now? It seemed like ages ago that she had discovered that she and Seto were in this freight car.
Seto suddenly moaned and stirred, moving his hand across the floor.
Tea perked up, laying her hand over his. "Kaiba?" she said hopefully. "Oh, are you awake?"
Seto was awake, but he couldn't seem to figure out what was going on. He had a bad headache and his neck was hurting. And it was completely dark around him. "Huh?" he asked, blinking.
"Kaiba, you've been unconscious," Tea said shakily, "and we're on a moving train!"
Seto sat up slowly, "train" striking a memory in his mind. He remembered being hit over the head viciously out at the railroad station. Just as he'd been passing into oblivion, he had heard a voice saying, "I'll just give him a shot of this, too—it'll keep him out for a long time!" The boy's eyes narrowed. He'd been drugged. He remembered feeling the prick of the needle in his neck.
"If we're on a train, we should try finding a door," Seto remarked now, starting to stand up. Hurriedly Tea tried to assist him, but he gently brushed her hand away.
"Kaiba, I couldn't wake you up!" the girl cried in frustration. "You should let me help you. You might be hurt terribly!"
Seto grunted. He didn't especially want to tell Tea what he had remembered had happened to him.
"Kaiba, you might have a bad concussion!" Tea persisted, still trying to help him.
"I don't." Seto started to feel along the wall, searching for a door. "I was drugged, Tea. That's why you couldn't wake me." He found what seemed to be a handle and began to pull on it. "Stand back," he told Tea coldly, and the girl complied.
Soon Seto had managed to get the panel open, and fresh air rushed through the yawning gap. "What are you trying to do, Kaiba?!" Tea demanded, watching fields and trees fly past.
Seto's hair blew around in the wind, and Tea could see his deep blue eyes watching her seriously in the dim light from the moon outside. "If we've been abducted, there's no telling what they'll do to us when we reach our destination," he explained. "Our best chance is to jump."
Tea awoke slowly with the strange sensation that the ground was moving underneath her. As she returned to full awareness, she realized that it actually was. She also realized that she didn't remember what had happened before this.
"Where am I?!" she cried, sitting up and looking around frantically. It was dark all around her, and she could hear soft breathing nearby. "Who's here?!" she demanded, feeling around in the blackness. Her hand brushed against another hand—this one limp and cold—and a chill ran up her spine.
Quickly she bent forward, listening, and was relieved to discover that this person was the one she had heard breathing. He—she was sure it was a he—was alive, but he didn't seem to be conscious.
The other person moaned softly but didn't awaken. Tea gasped, blinking. "Kaiba?!" she exclaimed. It was so dark in here that she couldn't see a thing, but she recognized the voice. And then she remembered what had happened earlier. They had been shadowing someone in the railroad yard when Seto had disappeared and Tea herself had been attacked. . . . What if they'd both been abducted and thrown onto a train?! It was a horrifying thought . . . but it made sense, considering the feel of the moving floor.
"Kaiba, wake up!!" Tea pleaded, shaking the boy hard on the shoulder. "We're on a moving train!!" Upon not receiving an answer, Tea tried again, feeling desperate. "Oh please wake up!!" she wailed, but still to no avail. She leaned back, her heart racing. Something must be very wrong.
She bent down to check Seto's vital signs again. His pulse was normal and so was his breathing . . . so why couldn't she revive him? Tea didn't know what to do.
"Help," she prayed softly, looking around. This was very bad. She was lost somewhere in the country on what appeared to be a freight train car, and Seto could not be awakened. What was she going to do?
****
Meanwhile, the other teens gathered at Yugi's to try figuring things out.
"So . . . eh, where's Marik?" Joey asked, looking around.
"He's here," Yugi replied slowly. "He's been in the guest room ever since we got back from the museum. I think he's feeling pretty down."
"I can imagine," Bakura said quietly. "It must be terrible for him—not even being able to remember his own sister."
Yugi nodded. "But that's not all," he said. "I think Marik may be starting to remember something frightening that happened to him." Marik had explained to Yugi earlier that he had woken up in the hospital being told that he had been in a car crash, but he couldn't remember how that had happened.
And of course Yugi couldn't forget what his Yami had told him—that Marik knew a secret that affected the entire world. Yugi didn't want to burden Marik with that information, but he was worried. Very worried.
Joey clicked on the radio absent-mindedly.
"Hello, and welcome to KETY," the DJ was saying. "K-80's—Domino City's leader for all those classic tunes from the eighties! This hour we bring you our All-Request Line! Call in and request your favorite!"
Tristan sighed. "Man, everything is so confusin' around here," he said in frustration. "We have the mystery of what the heck happened to Marik. We've got the mystery of who's stalking us."
"And we have the mystery of where the heck Tea is," Joey remarked.
"Great Scott! Tea's missing?" Bakura gasped.
Yugi nodded. "Joey and I have been trying to call her, but she's not home," he said worriedly.
On the radio the deejay took another request. "Hello, you're on the air with Joltin' JP," he greeted. "What's on your mind?"
The caller gave a strange, muffled laugh and spoke in an obviously disguised voice. "I want to hear 'Every Breath You Take' by the Police and dedicate it to Yugi Muto," they announced.
Everyone turned to stare at the radio as if it had suddenly sprouted horns. "What did that weirdo just say?!" Joey cried.
"And I want to give him a message too," the caller continued. "I'm always watching you, Yugi Muto!!!" With an odd cackle they hung up.
"Well . . . that was . . . interesting," the deejay remarked slowly, trying to laugh. "I guess Yugi Muto has a secret admirer out there somewhere!"
"Secret admirer nothing!" Tristan said, shaking his head. "That was a warning!"
Yugi concurred.
****
Marik was sitting on his bed, staring out the window. Every few seconds, it seemed, he was getting an odd flash of memory—but the things he remembered weren't about his life . . . at least he didn't think they were.
What he saw were vague shadows and what he heard was strange chanting. He couldn't make heads or tails out of any of it, but it kept filling his mind until it was the only thing he could think of. It seemed almost as if he had been propelled back into the scene and was in that dark chamber instead of in his room at the Muto's.
"What is happening to me?!" he cried, covering his ears and closing his eyes and trying in vain to block out the offensive sounds and images. "Stop!! Stop!!!" he yelled, falling off the bed and to the floor below.
Horrible images began filling his mind—images of people being tortured. The sounds of their screaming. What was this?!
"What's goin' on with Marik?!" Joey exclaimed in the living room. "He sounds like someone's attackin' him or somethin'!"
Yugi was already running to the door. "Marik, what's wrong?!" he called, knocking hard.
Marik didn't seem to hear him. "Stop!!" he screamed again. "I want no part of this!! Stop!!"
"Man," Tristan said, coming to the door, "he acts like he's gone totally mental!"
Yugi rushed in and knelt next to him. "Marik!" he cried, laying a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Do you know where you are?"
Marik struggled to get free. "Unhand me!! I won't be a part of your plan!" In his mind he was being taken captive by a guard who'd seen him watching the strange ritual and the torturing. "Let me go!!"
Bakura watched Marik fight against Yugi in horror, his soft brown eyes wide.
"Marik!! It's me—Yugi!" the violet-eyed boy exclaimed, trying to get Marik to calm down. "You're in my house, Marik! You're with friends!"
Marik stopped struggling and lay there on the floor, breathing hard. The illusions—the memories—stopped, and he slowly realized where he was.
"Marik? Are you okay?" Yugi asked worriedly.
Marik looked up at Yugi and the others and nodded. "I am alright," he said at last.
"Man, what the heck was goin' on with you?!" Joey burst out.
Marik shook his head. "I . . . I am not sure," he admitted, looking frightened. "I . . . I felt as though I had been transported somewhere else."
The other teens looked at him and then at each other, not sure what to make of that, but knowing it wasn't good.
****
Tea looked around in the darkness, feeling panicky. "Kaiba, why won't you wake up?!" she cried in despair. After examining him, she had discovered a bad bump on his head, but if that was the only reason he was unconscious, why hadn't he woken up when she'd shaken him?
Maybe he had a bad concussion, Tea worried now. But if he did, would his pulse be normal? She was so distressed at the moment that she couldn't remember what she had learned in her first aid course.
Of course Tea was also nervous about where they were going. Were they even in the same state? How long had they been on the train? Did the others realize that she and Seto were missing?
By now her eyes had adjusted dimly to the darkness, but she still couldn't see very well. "Kaiba, I'm worried about you!!" she burst out. "Please, can't you just wake up?!"
The boy remained almost deathly still, but Tea could hear his soft breathing. With a sigh of despair, she resigned herself to a longer wait.
****
After Marik was calm again, Yugi spoke to his Yami in concern.
~What do you think he saw, Yami?~ Yugi asked.
Yami Yugi was silent for a time, then finally replied, **He was recalling something that really happened to him, Yugi.**
~But what was it, Yami?~ Yugi was very worried.
**Remember what I told you, Yugi,** Yami Yugi said grimly. **Marik knows of deadly secrets. They have been locked away in his mind, and now he is starting to remember them.**
~I wonder what he saw,~ Yugi mused. ~He seemed so terrified. . . .~
**I do not know exactly what he saw,** Yami Yugi replied, **but it was ominous . . . strange . . . and horrific,** he finished.
Yugi shuddered.
"Hey, Yug, what's up?" Joey asked, startling the boy out of his mental conversation.
"Oh . . . I was talking to my Yami," Yugi explained, but didn't say more.
****
Marik slowly drank a cup of hot chocolate, trying desperately to block the images and sounds—screams—out of his mind. The blood . . . the torment . . . the agony. . . . The memories were scattered, but still potent enough to send Marik into fits of horror, and the tears fell from his eyes.
"Make it stop!" he wailed. "Please!" He clutched the mug so tightly that it was a miracle it didn't break. "I . . . I can't take it any longer!!" Why was he being bombarded with these terrible remembrances?! He wasn't the one who had ordered those people to be tortured, was he? No, no, that couldn't be true!
"You're next."
The grim voice's meaning was clear—it was saying that Marik would be tortured as those in his visions had been. The utterance echoed throughout the room and Marik looked around wildly. "Who are you?!" he cried, but received no answer.
****
Tea wrung her hands nervously. How long had she been awake now? It seemed like ages ago that she had discovered that she and Seto were in this freight car.
Seto suddenly moaned and stirred, moving his hand across the floor.
Tea perked up, laying her hand over his. "Kaiba?" she said hopefully. "Oh, are you awake?"
Seto was awake, but he couldn't seem to figure out what was going on. He had a bad headache and his neck was hurting. And it was completely dark around him. "Huh?" he asked, blinking.
"Kaiba, you've been unconscious," Tea said shakily, "and we're on a moving train!"
Seto sat up slowly, "train" striking a memory in his mind. He remembered being hit over the head viciously out at the railroad station. Just as he'd been passing into oblivion, he had heard a voice saying, "I'll just give him a shot of this, too—it'll keep him out for a long time!" The boy's eyes narrowed. He'd been drugged. He remembered feeling the prick of the needle in his neck.
"If we're on a train, we should try finding a door," Seto remarked now, starting to stand up. Hurriedly Tea tried to assist him, but he gently brushed her hand away.
"Kaiba, I couldn't wake you up!" the girl cried in frustration. "You should let me help you. You might be hurt terribly!"
Seto grunted. He didn't especially want to tell Tea what he had remembered had happened to him.
"Kaiba, you might have a bad concussion!" Tea persisted, still trying to help him.
"I don't." Seto started to feel along the wall, searching for a door. "I was drugged, Tea. That's why you couldn't wake me." He found what seemed to be a handle and began to pull on it. "Stand back," he told Tea coldly, and the girl complied.
Soon Seto had managed to get the panel open, and fresh air rushed through the yawning gap. "What are you trying to do, Kaiba?!" Tea demanded, watching fields and trees fly past.
Seto's hair blew around in the wind, and Tea could see his deep blue eyes watching her seriously in the dim light from the moon outside. "If we've been abducted, there's no telling what they'll do to us when we reach our destination," he explained. "Our best chance is to jump."