7 Gone
//I will make it go away//
//Can't be here no more//
//Seems this is the only way//
//I will soon be gone//
//These feelings will be gone//
//These feelings will be gone//
Korn—"Alone I Break"
Nemuriko Midian's father had abused him, but in a different way. Not physically; he called that way barbaric. Not even sexually; he wasn't that low. Nemuriko Akiro had abused him verbally...and mentally.
Day after day, he would tirelessly yell until Midian's temper got to the boiling point. Things would go on from there...
His father had tormented him in so many ways, and yet he still felt lost since he wasn't around...
*Please...come back...* For some reason, all his thoughts had been like a pleading child's since the funeral. He couldn't think...
He wanted to die.
****
Midian pulled his black sweatshirt hood over his head after putting on a baseball cap. This, the earring in his left ear, and his deadly expression made him look like a black-haired Eminem.
"Aren't you coming, Midian?" Campbell asked, stepping into her brother's room.
"I'm suspended from school, remember?" he muttered, obviously in a sour mood. "Besides, we're going to be leaving anyway."
"Leaving?"
"Or have you forgotten that Father's gone?" Midian brushed past his sister and out the door.
Campbell scowled, annoyed at his mood. "Just because Father's not here doesn't mean we're leaving this place!" she shouted. "Or did you forget that I'm taking his position at Kaiba Corp?"
"So you don't care if Father's dead or alive?" Midian's words bit painfully deep as he stormed from the mansion, slamming the door behind him.
****
Campbell slipped on the earphones of her CD player. She sighed. Ever since the girl could remember, she had always loved music. After all, it had given her the name "genius." In America, she had been the youngest deejay ever to mix a beat.
As the dark blond teenager climbed from the limousine and entered school, she found herself thinking of her older brother. *I miss Father too, Midian. It's just that...I didn't know him like you did.*
****
Midian was walking through the city without a specific direction in mind, but before he knew it, he found himself in the older section of Domino City.
The teenager looked up at the rundown buildings, thinking of the time when he had lived in one of them. It had only been five years ago.
Midian remembered how his whole life had changed that day six years ago when he had been hit by a car on the way home from school. Before the car accident, he and his sister had bickered incessantly. After it, they had become best friends. Prior to the accident, his parents hadn't argued. Following it, they had fought 24-7.
Now that he thought about it, Midian realized that none of the mess he was in would have happened if he hadn't been in the car accident. Guilt weighed his down as he turned down a narrow alley.
Suddenly, the teenager sensed someone watching his back. Before he could react, several gangsters blocked the alley's exits, snickering menacingly all the while. An icy chill of fear ran down his spine as he realized that he was surrounded.
Midian's eyes widened as he recognized the group's leader. "Norio!"
Meikai Norio was the meanest bully that Domino High had ever seen. "Yeah, it's me, Nemuriko," Norio replied with a smirk. "How come you ain't in school?"
"I was suspended," Midian allowed between clenched teeth. "For beating up that son of a bitch Amani. And you?"
Norio shrugged nonchalantly. "Just a little saboru. You know, skipping school." He gestured for the others to move in.
With a shout, the gang rushed onto Midian. If the teenager hadn't been expecting this, he would have been overpowered by their sheer numbers. But Midian had mastered karate, the art of the empty hand. Yelling fiercely, he met their attack, punches and kicks dealt with painful accuracy.
But Norio himself was no stranger to martial arts. Snatching up a stick like the ones he used in kendo, the bully spun into the brawl. He struck Midian hard on the back of his head. Momentarily stunned, the black-haired teenager froze. One of the thugs took advantage of his pause and shoved him to the ground.
As the teenager was off-balance, Midian jerked him down, hitting the other's head on the ground. He fell, unconscious.
Norio signaled for the others to back away, then he raised his stick, whacking Midian in the chest with all his strength. The black-haired teenager cried out, and blood spurted from his mouth. Norio smirked. "Now you see how it feels, Nemuriko," he hissed, twirling the stick in one hand. "You beat up my little brother, Meikai Ryumi in elementary school..."
"That...was five years ago," Midian gasped.
"And yesterday you beat up my cousin Haija Amani! He's still in intensive care, thanks to you!"
In spite of the pain, Midian smirked. "Really. They both got better than they deserved," he muttered sarcastically.
Norio slammed his steel fist into Midian's chest. The teenager clenched his teeth as bursts of torture exploded in his mind. Norio lashed out again and again, each blow more painful than the last. *Somebody kill me already...*
When Norio had exhausted his fury, he turned to the others. "Do your worst," he ordered.
Half an hour later, Midian lay on the ground, his tears mingling with the blood and dirt on his face.
"Aw, look at him cry," Norio mocked. "Tell me, Midian. How does it feel to be torn apart, to be cut down to size?" Midian swallowed hard, and didn't reply. Norio clenched his teeth, kicking the teenager so hard he almost screamed. "Answer me, you filthy bastard!"
The other teenager clenched his teeth. Meikai Norio contented himself with a second and almost lethal kick. A scream was jerked from Midian's aching throat.
He shouldn't have done it...
****
"Meikai."
"Yes, sir."
"You see Nemuriko Midian there? See how he suffers? That's how I want Kaiba Seto! Do whatever it takes to prolong his suffering, to make his death all the more fun to inflict! And once he's gone, Kaiba Corporation will be mine! You hear me?"
"Yes...Master Kaiba...but what about his brother, Mokuba?"
"I have other plans for him; plans that I alone can execute." There was a pause. "Now! Where are Nonaka Shinya and Meikai Ryumi? We have a lot to do, starting with..."
****
When Midian opened his eyes, the first thing he was aware of was the numbing agony of his wounds. He was shivering and sweating, but his body was unbearably hot. Blood was caked in his black hair and stained his torn clothes. It was smeared over the ground.
Blood...he had lost too much blood...
No wonder he felt so weak...
Midian winced as he pulled himself to his feet. His chest and head hurt worse as he tried to catch his breath.
Glancing at the sun, the teenager figured that it was sometime in the afternoon. He winced as he stumbled from the alley, too weary to think of where to go. All that resided in his head was the incessant pounding...pounding...
When the teenager came to himself, he was standing before the Kaiba mansion. *Wh-what?! How the hell did I walk this far?!* He scowled, clutching his aching head with bruised hands. The world spun around him, and he didn't trust his weakening body to last much longer...
****
Takaishi Ran burst into the control room, obviously excited. The others looked up in surprise. What had gotten the usually laconic Takaishi so excited?
"Watch yourself, old man," Campbell muttered sarcastically. "You don't want to burst a blood vessel."
Takaishi didn't seem to hear her. "Kaiba-san gave me this," he began, his black eyes glowing with excitement. He held up a small CD.
"Looks like a regular old CD to me," muttered Kanbara, one of the younger technicians.
Takaishi gave him the look of death. "Your stupidity is immeasurable, Kanbara," he declared icily. "I hold here in my hand...the database...for quantum splicing!"
"Huh?"
"Is this like something from Power Rangers?" Maken inquired.
"Iie!" Takaishi shook his head. "It's beyond that. Like a sixth sense. Anyone who is fused with this will have the power..."
"Yes?" Everyone listened up.
"Er...we're not sure yet...
"Aw, c'mon!" The others sweatdropped.
The man headed for the door. "Start the splicing. I will return directly."
- "We've already successfully tested aisu (ice), kaki (fire), amakaze (wind) and erekiteru (electricity)," Campbell commented. "I don't see how this one will hurt." Obviously, she had hanged her mind about the splicing being "dangerous."
"Didn't you hear what Takaishi-san said?!" demanded Maken. "Even he doesn't know what it does! It could be lethal!"
Kanbara inserted the CD into the master computer. "Only one way to find out...!"
****
Darkness so hot...so damn sweltering...and shivering...freezing...hot and cold...
*Why...didn't...you...kill...me...before...why...* The words flashed across the jet-haired teenager's feverish mind, each one bringing more visions of confusion than the last.
The darkness seemed to shift, awakening his subconscious mind. He saw his mother...oh, he had never remembered her more vividly...
She was smiling.
*Don't look at me like that, Mom. I'm not...worth your happiness...*
The woman faded away. *No! Don't go, Mother!*
A gentle touch to his bruised chest, then explosions of torture tore at his body. He moaned.
"He's going to be all right...all right...all right..." Someone's voice echoed as if from far away...
The world around Midian slowly came into focus. He lay on a bed in a small room. The teenager dimly recognized one of the two people standing over him.
"Mokuba," he whispered.
"He's waking up," the other person said.
"Hai." Mokuba nodded.
"Where...am I?" Midian asked, wincing as flames of pain burned in his torso.
"My house," Mokuba replied. "Don't you remember?"
"Yeah..." He closed his eyes, recalling how he had collapsed.
The other man turned to Mokuba. "Would you mind giving us a minute?" Shaking his head, Mokuba left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Who are you?" Midian asked warily.
"Dr. Mazami." The man sat beside the bed. "How did this happen?"
Midian scowled fiercely and didn't reply.
"Was this, by any chance, the result of abuse?"
The teenager bit his lip." My parents are dead," he muttered harshly. "Why should you care?"
"Listen, Midian," the doctor began firmly. "I'm only trying to help-"
"I wish you wouldn't..." Midian drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
Dr. Mazami was silent for a long time. Then, with a nod of resignation, he got to his feet and quietly left the room.
Midian slowly lowered his head, his black hair drooping over his hurting face Tears burned his silvery-gray eyes.
****
"No! This can't be happening!" Kanbara almost screamed.
Campbell typed and retyped, but the screen had gone blank. "Dammit!"
"This can't be!" Maken stared at his computer in horror. "God, someone wake me up!"
"It's gone!" Takaishi pounded his hands on the keyboard.
Campbell echoed his mournful shout. "The quantum splicing's gone!"