Yu-Gi-Oh!
Dawn of Fate
CHAPTER FIVE – GETTING RID OF DEATH EATERS
In a few short hours, Battle City had been brought to a screeching halt. Duelists that had once roamed the streets in their hunt for Puzzle Cards were long gone, having sought out shelter in buildings far away from the dreaded Dark Mark hovering in the center of town. Only the police and the Death Eaters roamed the city, the former trying vainly to repress the later as they searched for their objective: the God Cards.
Two of the Death Eaters arrived at the site just below the Dark Mark, where Marik and Yami Bakura had dueled, though there were no traces of their game. One lifted his death's head mask slightly to wipe sweat off of his brow, before turning to his companion.
"Any word from Suichi and Takahiro?" he asked, only to get a negative shake from his companion. "What about the Hiroushi triplets? Or anyone else for that matter?"
His companion sighed. "For the last time, no one has seen anything of the God Cards. And if they did, they haven't reported in yet."
The Death Eater kicked at a rock, before sitting down on a small boulder. "This is so stupid! How's a card game supposed to help Voldemort-sama re-assume control?"
"Look, I don't understand it, either," the other Death Eater replied tersely. "But if that rat, Pettigrew, says it will ensure Voldemort-sama total victory, then –"
Being born of pure blood wizard families, neither Death Eater knew what an accelerating motorcycle sounded like. It was a sound the two of them would never forget again, however, as two blue and white bikes branded with the Kaiba Corporation logo practically fell on top of them.
Yami Seto did not give the Death Eaters they almost ran over a second thought as he scanned the area, looking for any trace of their friends. After their duel, him and the pharaoh had made a quick detour to Kaiba Corporation Headquarters, dropping off Shizuka where she would be safe and also getting updated on the situation. Naturally, it was not good; and after giving Yami Yugi a crash course on how to ride a motorcycle, they set out to see how they could at least find and/or rescue their friends.
"Otouto," he said into the microphone built into his helmet, "there's no sign that Marik or Bakura were ever here. Are you sure you got those coordinates right?"
"Positive, mou hitori no onii-sama," Mokuba replied. "I've been trying to track their movements since their Duel Disks activated, but there's been no sign of them since."
"Is it possible their Disks were damaged?" Yami Yugi's voice came over the line.
"Possible, but not likely it could get that damaged," Mokuba answered. "The tracer is built right into the core of the Duel Disk. It would take a pretty hard hit to…" He trailed off a moment, before his voice came back excitedly, "Mou hitori no onii-sama! Draco-kun and Jonouchi-kun's Duel Disks have just been activated!"
"Where!" Yami Yugi and Yami Seto exclaimed at the same time.
"Just south of you, on South Main Street!"
Pharaoh and high priest turned their bikes as one, aiming for a sharp slope that the two of them fully intended to use as a ramp. The two spirits shot up into the air, sailing majestically, before falling nearly right on top of an impending four-on-two duel. The Death Eaters scattered, trying vainly to figure out what was going on as the two spirits skidded to a halt.
"All aboard," Yami Seto announced, flipping up the visor of his helmet so Jonouchi and Draco could see who was rescuing them. "Puppies and chibi wizards now permitted."
The two of them were so grateful to be rescued, that they ignored the jibe as Jonouchi leapt astride Yami Seto's motorcycle while Draco climbed onto Yami Yugi's. They set off almost immediately, not giving the two extra riders a chance to put on helmets as they roared off. The Death Eaters behind them recovered, and started shooting off various spells at the two bikes.
"Grab the other handle!" Yami Yugi shouted back to Draco, taking his hand off of one of the motorcycle's handles. The young wizard grabbed it to keep the bike steady as the pharaoh reached into his jacket and pulled out his wand, swinging around so his arm was propped along Draco's back and the young man's head was poking out under his arm to keep an eye on the road ahead.
Aibou, quick, feed me a spell.
Um…
In the next instant, a burst of magic exploded from the wand, hitting a couple of the Death Eaters head-on. Yami Yugi watched for a moment as tentacles started to grow out of the men's faces, before he swung around to take control of the bike again.
Good one, koibito.
Yugi giggled in response.
Meanwhile, on the other motorcycle, Jonouchi was clinging onto Yami Seto for dear life, not comfortable with the speed the high priest was going at. Sure he had ridden as a passenger on a 'cycle before, thanks to Honda, but his friend always went the speed limit. The high priest, however, felt like he was going three times that limit, which was three times too much for his stomach.
"Hang on, Jou!"
That was the only warning Jonouchi got as Yami Seto used an overturned car as a ramp to launch the two of them into the air. They landed on the ground again roughly, and Jonouchi could not help but whimper like the dog Seto claimed him to be as he hung on tighter to the high priest.
"Jou-kun, if you're going to throw up, aim down wind!" Yami Seto shouted back to him.
Jonouchi squeezed his eyes shut. "Just stop the bike…"
Yami Seto rolled his eyes before signaling to the pharaoh behind them. The two bikes slowly came to a stop, after which Jonouchi leapt off and over to a nearby garbage can. Both spirits pulled off their helmets while stretching their legs, getting used to standing again after riding for so long. Draco stretched his arms above his head, before shutting off his Duel Disk, letting the two panels fold up on either side.
"Thanks for coming for us, guys," he said. "Any word from Marik or Bakura?"
"No to both," Yami Yugi replied, using a hand to attempt to get his hair standing back up.
"What about the Death Eaters?" Draco continued. "How are we going to get them out of this city?"
"We're still trying to –"
A beeping sound came from the radio built into the "Battle City Trench", cutting the high priest off. He sighed, before turning the communicator on.
"Yo, what's up?"
Mokuba's voice came back over the little unit. "Mou hitori no onii-sama, those strange signals are coming from the lab near the house."
Yami Seto gave a start. "What! How'd they get out that far?"
"I don't know," Mokuba replied, "but they did."
"Wonderful…" the high priest muttered. "Warn the security staff, and have someone lock down the area. I'm going to be there shortly."
"Okay, mou hitori no onii-sama."
Jonouchi came up behind the high priest, wiping his mouth off, as Yami Seto started to strap his helmet back on.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"That's what the rest of us would like to know," Yami Yugi added, frowning. "What's the big deal about the lab by your… 'house', and why do you have to go there right away?"
Yami Seto paused a moment, looking like he was mentally discussing it with his hikari, before he shook his head. He jumped astride his bike, starting up the engine again before looking up at Yami Yugi.
"I'm sorry, pharaoh, but it's a personal thing between me, my hikari, and Moki," he said.
"Seto –"
"Pharaoh, you know I show you nothing but the utmost respect, right?" the high priest asked, to which Yami Yugi nodded. "And you know I'd never make the same mistake I made in the past, right?" Yami Yugi responded with another nod. "Then trust me when I say that I need to do this alone."
With that said, Yami Seto flipped down his helmet visor and gave the others a moment to back away before roaring off down the street. The pharaoh stood there with his two friends for a good minute, before walking over to the motorcycle he borrowed and leapt astride.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked as Yami Yugi started fitting his helmet over his head again.
"Where else?" the pharaoh replied, before using his chin to turn on his communicator in his helmet. "Mokuba, where's that lab you were telling your brother about?"
"Hunh?" Mokuba's confused voice came back over the unit. "Why?"
Yami Yugi was silent for a moment, considering his answer, before he replied, "Because, your brother isn't just my high priest… he's one of my best friends too. Friends stick together; however personal what he's doing is, I'm not going to let him go it alone."
Mokuba was quiet for so long, the pharaoh was afraid he had left the line. Afterwards, the young Kaiba's voice sounded a little choked up when he got back on the line.
"Yeah… yeah, okay. I can send the directions right to your bike's computer console."
-.oOOo.-
The wind snapped at him as Yami Seto drove down the deserted highway at an insanely high speed, crossing stretches of road in seconds, when normally it would have taken hours with traffic. Along the way, he caught sight of a handful of Death Eaters, but only one had the nerve to send a blast toward him. None of the others were able to put two and two together and realize that a young man in a white trench coat riding on a motorcycle with a big "KC" on the side might just be Seto Kaiba.
Don't worry, hikari, he said mentally, we're almost there.
I know, Seto replied, though he sounded more nervous than annoyed at him.
Aibou, Yami Seto began. He felt a twinge of annoyance then, but he ignored it. I'm sure they won't damage anything. And if they do, I'll separate from you so I can kill every single last one of them, and not bloody your hands.
Seto was quiet for a long moment. It was not until the lab in question was in sight did he mutter quietly, No… you wouldn't have to worry about that…
Yami Seto frowned deeply, before prodding his hikari's mind gently, trying to figure out what he had meant by that. As usual, however, he found himself being blocked by the mental barrier Seto had unconsciously set up over the many years he spent as a cold as ice businessman.
Yami Seto turned off on the dirt road that led up to the private lab, ignoring the large "Private Property: Do Not Enter" sign at the entrance. He winced as rocks and small twigs flew up and hit him in the legs and chest, but he ignored it as the main gates to the lab were quickly approaching. Taking one hand off the handlebars, he pressed a button on the bike's computer console, sending out a signal that opened the lab's front gate and allowed him to drive through. He slowed down as he approached the front entrance, and once he stopped he kicked the bar down and raced to the glass double doors.
The sight that awaited the high priest within was not one that he wanted to see. Scientists and security staff alike where sprawled on the floor, each and every one of them dead, though there was not a mark on any of their bodies. Yami Seto took the Millennium Rod from its hiding space before making his way though the hallways lined with experiment centers of his hikari's fallen staff.
Over two hundred staff members… You know this is a trap, right? Seto asked.
Yeah, I figured, Yami Seto replied sourly. Do you know what they could use the God Cards for? I mean, other than the obvious "Taking Over the World" kinda thing.
I'm not even going to dignify that with a response…
Very funny, the high priest replied. How would they use them? Only a chosen person can wield a God Card, right? Or did the rules change in the five thousand years I was sleeping.
I don't know, Seto replied with a sigh. I'm not the one to ask. Just get to the main lab and make sure everything is still all right.
You got it, Yami Seto said, spotting his hikari's private elevator. He made a break for it, though it turned out he did not have to, as he still did not get attacked. Looking around once more, he entered the elevator using Seto's pass-code and sent it on its way down to the lower levels of the facility.
The high priest leaned against a wall, blowing out a sigh of relief. He drummed his fingers against the wall for a moment, before he asked, So… what did you mean when you said your hands were already bloody?
Seto's response was immediate. It's none of your business; don't worry about it.
Yami Seto sighed again, shaking his head sadly.
-.oOOo.-
Yami Yugi brought his borrowed motorcycle right up alongside Seto's, waiting until Jonouchi and Draco got off before dismounting himself and tossing off his helmet. The three of them raced up the steps of the lab, only to encounter the bodies of the once-living staff. Jonouchi made a face as Draco knelt down besides one of them to check for a pulse he knew he would not find.
"Avada Kedavra," the young wizard announced, looking pointedly at Yami Yugi. "The killing curse."
Yami Yugi's gaze hardened, while Jonouchi's adopted a comedic look of horror.
"K-k-k-k-k-killing curse!" he exclaimed. His eyes widened then. "Wait! That one guy…!"
The color completely drained from Jonouchi's face as Draco stood up again, still looking at the pharaoh.
"It's one of the Unforgivable Curses," he explained. "Also, its… its what killed Harry's parents."
Yami Yugi narrowed his eyes. "Then we should hurry and figure out where Seto-kun went."
-.oOOo.-
As soon as the elevator finally came to a stop, Yami Seto threw himself out and raced down the long and narrow corridor that led down to the most important lab in the facility. He burst through the double doors and came to a stop. Like with the rest of the place, the scientists and guards were dead, but by now he was not overly concerned with that at this point.
How do I separate? Seto asked as Yami Seto climbed over bodies to get to the main computer console.
What do you mean?
How do I separate from our body?
Yami Seto paused a moment to spare a brief smile before replying, Hold on, I'll help you.
He closed his eyes, reaching out a hand to his waiting hikari. In the next moment, Seto was standing next to him, faded and washed out as the high priest himself usually was most of the time. The young man looked down at himself, observing that he could see though his chest with a sort of mix between shock and horror. Yami Seto just watched him, until his hikari looked up at him.
"You never get used to it," he said.
"It's not hard to see why," Seto agreed.
Yami Seto nodded, turning his attention back to the computer panel. "I'll check things from here. You go see how he's doing. And be careful; you can't be physically hurt in that form, but it still hurts, if you know what I mean."
Seto nodded, before heading off past the console and the sea of bodies – slightly disturbed that his feet were going right through them – to a large, thick tube in the center of the lab. The sound of typing suddenly flared up, thanks to this other self, but he ignored it as he stared at the tube and the shadow of the figure within. Hesitating a moment, he pressed a hand against the glass, letting it sink through to rest on the shoulder of the one in the tube.
"Everything's good on this end," Yami Seto announced suddenly. "The growth rate or anything else wasn't messed with, and he's still alive. Lets lock down this facility and get the hell –"
"No one is going anywhere."
Both Seto's nearly jumped out of their skin (never mind that one of them was already out of his skin) as they spun around to look at where they had entered, to see a crowd of Death Eaters making their way through the door. Two of the masked men were holding onto a bound and gagged Yami Yugi and Jonouchi; both had wands pointed at their throats; both looked less than a little pleased.
"What the hell are you two doing here!" both Seto's yelled at them at the same time. Jonouchi and Yami Yugi just glared.
One of the Death Eaters gestured to the Millennium Rod still in Yami Seto's hand. "Drop it."
The high priest uttered the foulest Egyptian curse he could think of before letting the Item fall to the metal floor and, upon another gesture from the man, kicked it away from himself. The Death Eater holding onto Yami Yugi smirked, pressing his wand closer to the pharaoh's throat.
"We already have Shorty's Kami-no-Cardo," he sneered, getting another glare out of Yami Yugi. "Give us yours, and you'll all leave this place with your lives."
The pharaoh growled around his gag, before stomping on the Death Eater's foot as hard as he could. The masked man wailed a moment, but he recovered quickly and backhanded Yami Yugi as punishment. He lost his balance and fell, hitting the floor rather painfully, and then quickly getting a kick to his ribs courtesy of the man he stomped. Yami Seto growled under his breath, but he could not do anything without risking any of them getting blasted.
"Last chance," the man continued, digging his heel into Yami Yugi's back. "Give us your Kami-no-Cardo, or you'll all die."
Yami Seto clenched his fists, gritting his teeth.
"Dammit, give it to them!"
The high priest turned to his hikari in surprise, not expecting him to even want to give up Obelisk for any reason. The young man was standing near the tube, clutching his fists in anger, obviously at war with his own mind and his own sense of ideals.
"Don't stare at me like a fish," Seto snarled. "Give them the damned card."
Yami Seto looked between his hikari, to the Death Eater, to his pharaoh – who was shaking his head emphatically. He let out another frustrated growl before reaching for his Duel Disk and taking out the deck him and his hikari shared.
He did not get a chance to shuffle through the deck in his search for Obelisk, however. There was a sudden flash of green and gold, and suddenly the two Death Eaters that were holding Yami Yugi and Jonouchi captive were on the ground, passed out cold thanks to a Millennium Scale to the skull.
Yami Seto did not waste a second after that; after shoving his deck back into his Duel Disk, he dived for where the Millennium Rod had fallen, using the confusion that Draco was causing to his advantage. Once the Item was back in his hand where it belonged, he tossed off the sheath for the dagger within and attacked the Death Eater nearest to him. The man went down with his mask in shreds and several nasty red streaks across his face.
The high priest was about to move on to the next unfortunate soul stupid enough to mess with him and his pharaoh, when a blast of magic exploded behind the Death Eaters, sending several of them scrambling for cover as several people – both young and old – dressed in wizard's robes burst through the doors. Chaos ensued afterwards, during which time Yami Seto gave up on trying to attack the Death Eaters and instead opted on getting his injured pharaoh and the confused Jonouchi out of the line of fire. Yami Seto quickly cut their bonds – Jonouchi being overly dramatic of it all – when he noticed Yami Yugi clutching at his chest and breathing heavily.
His ribs might be broken.
Yami Seto jumped and looked around; when had his hikari gone back into their body?
You knew that Draco was going to attack those guys, right?
Yeah…
The high priest mentally twapped his hikari, getting a yelp out of him.
TELL ME THROUGH OUR MENTAL LINK NEXT TIME!
"Anyone miss us?"
Yami Seto jumped for what had to be the umpteenth time that day, swiveling his head up to see one white-haired and one almost white-haired boys smiling overly huge smiles at them.
"Bakura!" Jonouchi exclaimed as Draco managed to pry himself from the fray and join them. "Your voice is normal!"
Yami Bakura breathed in through his nose deeply, letting the air out through his mouth. "Did you know," the tomb robber began, "that wizards have an instant cure for the flu?"
"I hope you took down the formula," Yami Seto replied tersely, holding onto Yami Yugi tightly as he took a shuddering breath.
"Oh, don't worry," Marik assured them. "He did."
Yami Bakura spared the Gravekeeper a light punch to the arm before nodding down to the pharaoh. "Is he going to be all right?"
Yami Yugi tilted his head slightly, looking as if he was feeling dizzy, before pointing to his chest and mouthing, "Ribs."
"What are they doing?" Draco asked, looking off at the scuffle ensuing before them between the loosing Death Eaters and the wizards that had appeared from seemingly nowhere. Both Yami Bakura and Marik grinned, almost looking like partners in crime.
"Well, after our very easy –" Marik began.
"Easy?" Yami Bakura asked. "Need I remind you? Snakes!"
"—Duel against the Death Eaters," he continued, not missing a beat, "we met up with this old man who turned out to be a wizard –"
"You know there's seven magic schools in Japan alone?" the tomb robber cut in again. "The only reason we're going to Hogwarts is all seven of them have been and are booked until the next two decades."
"Anyway," Marik began again, starting to get frustrated, "he took us to this country's Ministry of Magic, where we started a mass effort to either capture or drive out the Death Eater's from the city."
"How's it been going so far?" Jonouchi asked.
"Well, it's just these guys that are left that we can tell," Yami Bakura answered. "If there's any others, they should be leaving shortly."
Yami Seto almost dropped Yami Yugi. "Wait! Those guys have Osiris!"
Yami Yugi held up a finger, as if to say, "Wait a moment." He used his other hand to reach into his sleeve, before pulling out the card in question.
"Stole… back…" he managed to utter.
Yami Bakura grinned and laughed heartily. "Good job, pharaoh! There's hope for you yet!"
-.oOOo.-
Once the scuffle in the private lab was sorted out, the boys parted company with the wizards, leaving them to finish rounding up the remaining Death Eaters and getting the city back to some state of normalcy. The boys returned to Kaiba Corporation Headquarters, and from there went to the hospital to deal with Seto's still broken arm and Yugi's broken ribs. Unfortunately for him, the elder Kaiba had to sort out the deaths of the entire lab staff – including the writing of condolences to families – as soon as he managed to get away from the doctors (with his arm locked in cement, of course) long enough to do so.
Now he sat in Yugi's hospital room, typing on his laptop one-handed while keeping the shorter duelist company, as he had it the worst out of the two of them. Yugi was letting the rhythmic sound of Seto's rapid-fire finger pecking lull him to sleep, before something occurred to him. He sat up straight in bed, wincing a sharp pain throbbed in his chest.
"Seto-kun," he began, taking a moment to get his breath, "what is that lab for?"
Seto stopped dead in his typing, a sour look coming to his face. He looked up at Yugi for a moment – who had turned on the "puppy-eyes" to full blast, much his misfortune – back down to his laptop, then back at Yugi once again.
"I…" he began, before he sighed. "It was Mokuba's idea. Gonzaburo had promised him his own body. I felt that… well…"
Yugi folded his hands over his lap, waiting patiently to come out with it. Seto blew out another annoyed sigh.
"I know cloning is ethically wrong," he explained, "but the only way that Noah's personality and memories were to be successfully transferred from a computer program to a human being was if the brain of that human being was as close to the original as possible. I had to –"
Seto cut himself off as Yugi reached over and put a hand on his. The smaller duelist had a broad smile on his face.
"It's okay," Yugi assured him. "I understand. If that's the best thing for Noah to come back outside of a computer program, then you're doing the right thing."
Seto's shoulder slumped in relief. "Arigatou, Yugi-kun."
Yugi smiled again. "So, when's he going to be in a body again?"
The taller duelist leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look on his face. "Well… if everything goes well – and we don't have a magic fight right in the middle of the lab again – he should be back to normal human form sometime around Christmas next year."
Yugi chuckled. "Just as long as the Americans never find out about this. You know how paranoid they can be, Seto-kun."
Seto chuckled. "Don't I know it, Yugi-kun."