Summary: Tragedy strikes. Joey Wheeler is gone forever. Or is he? Joey POV. Post Duelist Kingdom AU. Will eventually be Seto/Joey shounen-ai.
Author's Notes: Well, I thought I'd try writing a YuGiOh fic. And it's still going. And going
I've never gotten so many reviews before in my life. Thank you ^_^
YAMIGIRL: Magicks looks better than magics. That's the only reason I spelled it that way there. It's not exactly a typo *cough*.
Why was Yami so cold to Joey in Chap12? Here are some reasons; pick the one(s) you like the most: A) Yami was a pharaoh even if he doesn't remember, so he tends to suppress softer emotions so as not to show weakness. B) Most of Yami's niceness comes from Yuugi, so when they're not sharing a body, he's rather unpleasant. C) Yami has no people skills, so even though he's happy to see Joey, he doesn't know how to show it. D) Yami didn't beat Kaiba in a duel, he just got yelled at and called a liar by Yuugi, and some ghost just screamed in his face. Why would he be happy to see the source of his problems? E) Seeing Joey now means that Joey's soul is going to cease to exist. No more soul = no reincarnation = no more Joey anytime, anywhere. So Yami's not happy to see him.
I should probably mention that I don't know much about ancient Egyptian beliefs. I'm making up stuff that'll work in the fic. If I'm even close, it's by accident :P
Warnings: Character death (sort of), language, angst, eventual Seto/Joey.
Disclaimers: I don't own YuGiOh or any other brand names you might come across. No telephones were harmed in the making of this fic.
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Being Dead Ain't Easy
Chapter Thirteen: Sucks To Be Kaiba
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Well, here I am back at Kaiba Corp. I have a bit of trouble getting through the hallways 'cause it's getting late and everybody's in a rush to go home. I hate it when people walk through me. I just hate it. I make my way past the crowd and float up to the floor Kaiba's on. I hope he stayed put, but then again, he wasn't in any condition to be goin' anywhere when I left him. I hope he at least blinked.
He's sitting in his chair, flipping through a report or something, and doesn't even look when my head comes outta the carpet in front of his desk. No reaction. Don't tell me he can't see me again! Or maybe he has some sorta amnesia thing going? It's like I never messed him up in the first place.
"Yo, rich boy."
He glances up at me. Good. "I see you're back," he says oh so casually. He flips to the next page of his report.
I can't believe this guy. 'I see you're back'!? Less than two hours ago he was frozen solid in his chair, his arms stickin' out in front of him, and now he's fine, just doing his work? I know Yami 'Put your affairs in order' Yuugi said he's got a strong mind, but that's just... freaky. I walk up to his desk as he flips to the next page of his report and take a look at what he's reading. Stuff with numbers and words like 'budget', 'revenue', and 'profit'. Important stuff. Heavy stuff. CEO-ishy stuff.
And if I'm not mistaken, he's readin' it upside down and not even noticing.
Flip. Every movement under control. Not a hair outta place.
A great actor. Give the man an Oscar or something.
"So are you going to talk, puppy-boy? I don't have all day." Flip. Still pretending to read that report.
You wanna play it cool, Kaiba? Sure, we can do that.
I park my butt on the edge of his desk. I get the feeling that if he wasn't so busy being calm and collected, he'd chuck the report at my head.
It would probably be a good idea to start someplace easy and work my way back. Turtle Game Shop will do nicely. With some careful editing, of course. "I said 'hi' to Yuugi. Well, sort of."
"And the little Mutou said 'hi' back to you, I assume."
Why'd he think that? "Well, no, he didn't. But the other one did."
Kaiba blinks. "The old man?"
I roll my eyes. "I mean the other Yuugi. The one in the Puzzle. The dead Egyptian dude."
Blink. At least he's not 'reading' that report anymore.
I guess Yuugi never told Kaiba about his Millennium Puzzle. "That's the guy you've been dueling. We call him Yami Yuugi. He takes over Yuugi's body every now and then." Kaiba has a sorta 'oh!' look on his face. "What didja think was happening every time Yuugi went all weird?"
"I simply thought he had some sort of personality disorder. It was the puzzle all along?" he asks. I nod. He looks like he wants to ask some more questions about it, but he changes his mind. He looks like he's taking all of this really well. Is there anything this guy can't fake? "Interesting, but this 'Yami Yuugi' person is not important right now. Continue with your little story."
Okay. Sounds too much like an order to me, but okay. "So I talked to that 'Yami' guy. He's the only one I know who can see me, besides you." And talkin' about seeing me... "So how long've ya been pretending to be blind?"
And deaf, too. He's not answering me. Again.
This is getting so old. "Kaiba, if ya don't say anything, I'm gonna hafta hurt you."
He flips another page of his upside down report.
Alright, that's it. I'm trying to be all nice and understanding here, but I am this close to...
The phone on his desk rings and saves him from certain death. He picks it up while I glare at him. "Kaiba," he answers. The guy on the other end says a bunch of stuff I can't hear. Kaiba's knuckles go white on the receiver. Bad news? "No. You're lying," he says, voice flat.
The other guy says some more stuff.
He takes a deep breath. "Have you informed my brother?"
Some more stuff.
"Good. You're not totally useless." Another deep breath. "Now, what do the words 'maximum security' mean to you?"
More stuff.
"Such incompetence is intolerable!" he snarls. I start leanin' away from him. Kaiba's a scary guy. I'm glad I'm not the poor sucker on the phone.
Even more stuff.
Kaiba explodes. "I DON'T CARE!" he yells into the receiver. "HUNT DOWN AND KILL THAT DISGUSTING, BACKSTABBING EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING!"
I almost fall off the desk. Holy shit, did he hire a hitman!? I mean, I knew he was one cold bastard, but hiring guys to kill people!? And I don't mean bodyguards, either.
If Kaiba grips that receiver any harder, it's gonna break. I can hear it cracking. Strong hands.
"I." Crunch. "Don't." Crunch. "Care." Crunch. "What part of that don't you understand!? I want him DEAD!" Bits of plastic receiver casing land on the desk. He'll need a new phone.
A beat.
"See that you do so. Call me when you get him." Kaiba slams what's left of the receiver down on its cradle, gets outta his chair, and starts putting all his stuff back in his briefcase. His hands are shaking just a little. He grabs his trench coat and puts it on. "Come on, mutt, we're going home." He looks pretty pissed.
I get off his desk. Our conversation can wait. Not long, but I've still got at least a few days left in me. "Why? What's wrong?" And I'll let the 'mutt' thing slide for now.
He grabs his briefcase, opens the door and lets me out first. Locks the door. "Remember that ex-employee I told you about?"
The psycho bomber gunman who killed me? "Yeah. Kinda hard to forget something like that." I try my best, though. There's a huge stack of stuff I'm trying not to think about. It's probably the same for Kaiba. We leave the office and get into an elevator.
Kaiba jabs the button for the ground floor. The doors close and he watches the floor number count down while I watch him. Spill it, Kaiba. "He's escaped from prison and is currently at large," he says flatly.
The crazy nutcase who tried to kill Seto Kaiba is on the loose. And there's no way I can take the bullet for him this time. One wrong move and Kaiba's dead.
...Well, what can I say to that? Kaiba's already screamed it all out on the phone. And without swearing, too.
I'm not that classy. Everything I wanna say can be summed up in one neat little word. "Fuck."
"Yes." So we agree on something for once.
This is just perfect. If today were any more perfect, the sun would blow up.
There's a limo waiting outside for us. Kaiba checks it for explosives and tells me to keep an eye out for snipers. The sad thing is he's not being paranoid. We get in the limo once he's sure it's clean.
As we drive off, I ask him something. "Is the mansion gonna be safe enough?"
He leans back into the leather seat and closes his eyes. "It's a virtual fortress, Wheeler. I would hope that'd be more than enough to keep out some trigger-happy nobody."
I hope so too, Kaiba. I hope so, too.
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