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 whoa, still going. But it'll be over soon!
Wow... you folks are amazing. Thanks for staying around for 30+ chapters!
:P: When I said all reviews are good, I didn't mean 'please say I suck and don't tell me why' o_O. As for me not having anything better to do and having no life... well, you can't judge a person by how they write, any more than you can judge a person by how well they act on TV. Spend a week getting to know me, and *then* call me names. If you would like to leave some sort of pen name, I'd be more than happy to search the 'net for your fics. I can't seem to find any authors called ':P' on ff.net.
Asahi Taiga: Yup! Bwahaha!
bigfuzzydiceperson: Is that the kid with glasses who has a whole bunch of persocons?
Dove: Writing lemons is hard! I've never managed it. This is a lot easier ^_^
elz: I'm really flattered! Sure, go ahead and translate it if you really, really want to... You really like it that much? Tell me how it goes ^_^ BTW, you might want to wait until I finish it, first. There are a few chapters I sort of want to edit just a little bit.
Funny Bunny: I think seeing your name did something to this chapter...
JKJ: No cure in sight!
Jou-pup: She knew he wasn't Mokuba, but he was just so harmless and cute-looking she couldn't say no.
Katsumi-chan(Hitara): Maybe next time! Though fluff might not be the right word. Hmmm...
Kimmie: It's physics, but quantum. And now it's Kaiba's turn to get rescued. Whee! At 1000, I'll give out the whole chocolate factory ^_^
NoDa-chan: Thanks! 5 or less chapters left to go, sorry... The shounen-ai is... errr... well, if you squint... And the radar's in Joey, so you'll have to kidnap him ^_^
Beware, soul room strangeness!
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 flying pigs were harmed in the making of this fic.
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Being Dead Ain't Easy
Chapter Thirty-Three: Why Can't Kaiba Be Normal Like Me?
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The card spits me out through a soul room door and it slams shut behind me. When I can see straight again, I turn around and open it back up.
An up close and personal view of Yami Yuugi looks back at me.
I stumble back. I was not expecting that. "Yami!"
He doesn't say anything. I guess he can't hear me through the card. There's no point in keeping the door open - who knows what else might get sucked in through the open door? - so I close it in his face and take a look around.
Nothing's where it was before.
This is really, really gettin' on my nerves. The stairs went nutso on me and parked themselves somewhere else. There aren't any stairs where I am. Fine, I can live with that. If I stand around long enough, one or two will show up sooner or later. If not, I can just jump off my little ledge and hope I don't die. Again. No, what really pisses me off is the fact that all the freaking doors moved around, too. I'm gonna hafta explore the place. All. Over. Again.
All the bits of ripped up shirt me and Seto left behind are gone, too.
'SETO, WHERE ARE YA!?' I scream out with my mind. I do it out loud too, just in case.
No answer, but I get the feeling he's way over there in some room somewhere, so far away I can't even see the door.
All I hafta do is go get him, drag his lazy ass over here, and kick his butt through the door. Okay, sounds pretty easy, but there's a couple of problems with that: Number one is how I'm gonna find my way back to this door without getting lost, and number two is if this is even the right door to shove him through. This door goes outside. I'm a ghost, so outside's fine with me, but Seto's got a living, breathing body to go back to. He went through this door okay last time, but he was stronger before. If he's like Yami said, 'weakened spiritually', what's gonna happen? Maybe I should ask Yami after I find the guy.
As for problem number one... Well, I never liked my school uniform anyway.
I take the blue jacket off and start ripping off a strip. It's pretty cool how strong I am here, but I really hope I don't have to use my superpowers on more than just my jacket. Seto had better be a lot closer than I think he is. If I'm real lucky, I'll trip over the bedroom door and get some more clothes.
I drop some blue cloth where I'm standing and leap onto a staircase as it flies by. Everything's moving around a lot more than it did the first time I was here. It's like the place is waking up and stretching its wings or something.
This staircase curves up and sometimes meets up with another one going my way. I run up to the top, drop some more of my jacket on the steps I'm standing on and hop onto the next staircase.
Ya know, this is kinda fun, in a crazy sorta way. At least, it would be if I wasn't trying to get somewhere.
I find some doors while I'm looking for Seto. They're the same ones I saw last time, but now they all have freaky-looking monsters behind them. Still haven't found him or the bedroom. I'm starting to get chilly. Yeah, I can find my way back to the exit now, but I want my jacket back, dammit!
One jacket, two shoes, two socks, a T-shirt, and a pant leg later, I find the door I think Kaiba's behind. I'm gonna kill him if the monsters haven't done it for me. Didn't Yami say this place was supposed to be a 'safe haven'? Maybe Yami Bakura added a personal touch to it.
I open it up. It's that room with seven doors. Well, eight doors if you count the one I came out of. I almost rip off another scrap of pants out of habit, but I change my mind in time and just leave the door open. I want to still have something on when I find him.
I feel around for Seto, open the door, and step through.
It's a castle. Just like the one we fought Pegasus in. I hear chanting coming from the place. There's something weird about the voices, but then, this whole little world is weird. I owe Yami Bakura a 'thank you' punch in the face.
Why did Seto end up here!? I'm guessing this place came from his mind, but why?
I run up the path. I swear it looks just like Duelist Kingdom. There's no guards in the way this time, so I just let myself in. The chanting's coming from my right, so that's where I go. It's a pretty good bet that Seto's where the action is.
I bust down the door and...
This is way more than I ever wanted to know about what goes on in the mind of a Kaiba.
We're in a huge dungeon cell. A real dungeon cell with wet, mossy stone walls and no windows. He's tied up with rope to a stake in the middle of the room. The only light's coming from the torches his chanting captors are carrying.
Funny Bunny.
That stupid cartoon Pegasus liked.
Seto's sweating and his breathing's all off. He looks like he's been struggling to break free for hours. It's just a cartoon rabbit, right? Nothing scary about that.
Unless there's hundreds and hundreds of them, all of them chanting, "Hey, Kaiba! Hey, Kaiba! Hey, Kaiba!" Each Funny Bunny says it a split second before another one, turning the words into this big mess of sound.
They're jumping around all over the place and bouncing off the walls. Seto's trying not to scream. There's a story behind this, but I don't think I wanna know.
One of the Funny Bunnies, well, sashays I guess, up to him. Seto freezes. This one looks different from all the other ones. He's wearin' a red suit with frilly cuffs and a little bowtie ribbon. The freaky rabbit leans in way too close. "Hello there... Kaiba-boy," he purrs. That... that thing sounds just like Pegasus. Touches Seto's hair.
Seto cracks. "DAMN YOU PEGASUS LET ME GO!" he screams. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"
"Hey, Kaiba! Hey, Kaiba!" They all giggle.
I can't believe I'm just standing there gawking at him. "KAIBA!" Okay, he's not gonna hear me in this sea of 'Kaiba!' "SETO! FREAK! I'M HERE!" I grab the nearest Funny Bunny and chuck him at a wall. He goes splat but bounces right back lookin' like an accordion.
There's dead silence.
Seto turns his head so fast I hear it crack. "Joey," he growls. "What are you doing here?"
You'd think the guy'd be, I don't know, thankful that I'm here to rescue him, but nooo, not Seto Kaiba.
The Funny Bunnies grin at me, waving their torches. The hundred-plus cartoon monsters start stalking towards me.
Well, it looks like I've got their attention.
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