Fate Is Cruel
A/N: Whoo-hoo! I have 4 reviews which makes me happy. As you can see, I changed the title and the summary but it's the same story.
(Bold: Memories/Dreams)
(Italics: thoughts)
Chapter 2: Domino City
Okay. Auntie isn't going to pick me up at the airport so I'm going to have to follow the directions to her house that mom gave me.
As Risa walked out of the airplane along with the other passengers, she pushed through the crowd and made her way to the baggage claim. She was reminded to call her aunt to inform her that she had arrived in Domino City, so she dug through her tan messenger bag to get her cell phone out.
Although, her parents decided to disown her, her mom still provided her with some essential items for emergencies. Such essential items included pepper spray, a cell phone, some money and few minor things. Evidently, her mom still loves her, her dad, however, was still reluctant to acknowledge her anymore. As far as he was concerned, her last name shouldn't even be Imura anymore.
After she called her aunt and gathered all of her possessions, Risa walked down a crowded sidewalk with the deep-sea cell phone in hand. The blipping sound of the keys calmed her nerves a bit, but she couldn't truly keep her mind off of her problems. Besides the sounds of the cellphone, Risa tried to kill off her stress by taking in the sights of Domino City so far.
She didn't see much then again she's only been walking for twenty minutes. There were probably better sights than a crowded sidewalk. After all, she vaguely remembered that her friend mentioned that there some young celebrities in the small city.
"What was it that Fumi told me? That some gamesters live here or something?" she muttered tiredly to herself.
A yawn escaped her lips, she was still so tired from the long trip. Unfortunately for her, the higher forces was not on her side today. Just as Risa started to take pictures of some of the sights with her cellphone, a teenage in bright colored clothes snatched it and ran away with it. It took her a while to realize it and she wasn't about to give it up without a fight. Despite her weariness, she suddenly found renewed strength, left her luggage behind and bounded after the thief.
"Come back, kisama! Give me back my cell phone! THIEF!" she hollered.
Immediately, Risa was already having trouble chasing after him especially with a crowd blocking her way. Lucky for her, they also blocked the thief's way so he couldn't have ran far from the determined girl. Several people looked at the auburn-haired girl as if she was crazy, yelling some unintelligible words. Running was never her favorite activity and she was already having difficulty breathing.
It's also important to remember her condition, which required her not to do much strenuous activities. In Risa's determined mind, she kept thinking that she'll only give up when the punk does and give back her phone.
The thief ran as if for his dear life, everytime he looked back, the girl was still gaining up on him. He cursed the crowds of people blocking his way, he couldn't run anywhere without bumping somebody, who he rudely shoved aside.
Meanwhile, Yugi and his friend headed the opposite direction of the thief and Risa. They were planning to spend their day after school at an arcade. They usually do that but today was going to be different.
Oh, crap. My legs are starting to cramp up. Risa wanted to stop so she could rest, though her conscience wouldn't allow her. She had to get that cell phone back. She just had to. What if her mom called her at any moment and told her that her dad changed his mind? What if she could go home to her family again?
She was inconveniently wearing 5-inch inch heeled boots, that weren't exactly designed for running. Her feet felt like they were being burned and her toes were squished painfully squished in the tip of her boots, as she ran forward. She winced once in a while although she urged herself to ignore it. It didn't matter how much her toes were beginning to blister and bleed or how much she couldn't feel her legs anymore, she had to get it back.
Strands of reddish-brown hair flapped across her cheeks as she continually ran after the culprit. She gritted her teeth, her knuckles turning white from the closing of her fist. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes out of the despair of it all.
Why does this have to happen to me?! First, I find out I'm pregnant, got disowned then I get my cell phone stolen?! What the hell is wrong with this picture! Damn, I'm not going to be able to catch him.
Her legs began to wobble like jello, she couldn't go on anymore. She could no longer control her emotions so she let them fall one by one down her cheeks. She had lost all hope now. She wouldn't be able to know if her family decided to keep her again. She was starting to feel the loneliness that she avoided the beginning of her condemnation. She had to painfully admit that she was practically all alone in the world now.
Her legs collapsed underneath her and her head was hung in defeat. She was sure that her luggage wouldn't be where she left them by now. She decided she should go to her aunt's house by hailing a taxi now but her feet and legs were in so much pain. She just wanted to stay on the cool concrete sidewalk. If she were to stand back up, there would be a painful result. Some of the skin on her feet was peeling. The blood in her boots was almost drying out. Her legs was numbing and she couldn't feel them anymore.
She felt so tired that she found she could hardly keep her eyelids open. She passed out from exhaustion before she could answer a concerned question.
Oh, not again! Risa thought as she irritatedly put her hands on her hips. She was once again facing huge maze-like corridors. Her legs weren't as weak as they were before though. Thankfully, she could walk normally without staggering or feeling any pain. She wiggled her toes in her boots and couldn't feel any pain.
So it's true that you can't feel pain in your dreams. Well, I've been here before so I could at least find that room with the couple again. I really hope they're not doing anything personal though. Maybe I could ask that lady some questions.
So off she went, trying to remember where the room she once fell through was. She avoided the guards as usual but they don't seem to be aware that there was another presence.
"HEY YOU!" one of the guards suddenly boomed.
Risa froze in fright and turned around slowly. She thought that the guard was trying to address her although she was mistaken. The guard suddenly started to laugh amusingly and called out his friend's name. His friend was just another guard, who was coming to take over the previous guard's place.
Phew! Risa heaved a sigh of relief, then continued to trudge onto her destination. Wherever that is anyway.
Damn it! Why can't I remember where it is? It should be around here somewhere. Okay. I remember that the door had some carved symbols on it. Then again, all of these doors had carved symbols on it. They're practically the same ones too. Hmm...Another thing different thing about is that there was voices coming from it.
So Risa pressed her ear against every door that was near her, which was at least four or five doors. Unfortunately, she forgot that she was transparent like a ghost so she could just go through any one of them. She fell through several doors which resulted in her being in either eerily empty rooms or rooms with people changing their clothes. Poor Risa had to explore other rooms with a dangerously crimson blush on her face.
Okay. This plan is not exactly working and I'm sick of seeing naked old men changing. I still haven't found those two yet. Where could they be?
It was then that Risa could hear familiar voices behind a door in front of her, she was so happy that she finally found them. She was sure that it was them. She ran to that door as fast as she could except a blinding light prevented her from doing so.
Risa opened her eyelids to find a doctor shining a white light directly into her eyes. She gasped and hit the doctor's hand which held the small light. She was almost there! She had finally found that damn door but he interrupted her! The damn doctor interrupted her!
Wait a minute. Why am I in the hospital? She looked around her white and light blue surroundings. There was no doubt that this was a room in a hospital.
"Doctor, why am I here?" she asked, her fingers clutching the white blanket.
"A couple of kids your age found you and brought you here. Now there's nothing seriously wrong with you. Thank God. But you shouldn't run so much especially in your condition. Your boots didn't help either, some of your skin is peeling. Don't worry though, it'll grow back in a couple of days. You also lost your strength." the doctor said.
"I'm so hungry." she mumbled, enduring her stomach's growl. "And I lost my family" she mumbled inaudibly.
She caught her head between her arms and let the tears flow again. She bit her bottom lip and sniffled, trying to hide under the blanket for security. Risa, who was always content with her parents and her brother, was releasing all of her sorrows in the form of salty drops.
"How could all of this suddenly happen?!" Risa exclaimed before she could catch herself. She was just under so much stress at the moment. She missed her family already. She missed teasing her little brother, cooking with her mom and looking forward to the weekends so the whole family could spend time with her dad, who was usually always busy in the weekdays. She just wanted to go home right now.
Why did her dad disown her? Doesn't he love her? She was always trying so hard to win the approval of both her parents, especially her dad's. Her dad was a hard man, who wanted the best for his kids but he was terribly strict. He always demanded better grades from both of his kids. Shoji, Risa's little brother, had mediocre grades but her father always spent more time with him than with her. Risa had average grades but they were better than Shoji's grades. All she received from her dad was money.
"How could what suddenly happen?" the doctor asked gently, patting her head.
She didn't say anything but could only hear huge gulps of air from Risa. She was trying her best not to cry anymore. Her parents disowning her then she was also pregnant. How could she support a child? She never even engage in anything more than a handshake. She had never kissed anyone how could she possibly have slept with anyone? How is she pregnant?
Risa couldn't stand it anymore, she's not going to stay in this hospital tonight. She was going straight to a phone and calling her aunt to pick her up. Next to her boots was a pair of slippers though she still stuck her wrapped feet into her boots. She didn't care if they were going to hurt her feet. She just wanted to go to where her parents intentionally sent her and go to bed.
"Wait, where do you think you're going? You don't have much strength left. You should eat something before you can walk anywhere." the doctor said. Risa just ignored his heeding and dragged herself to the door, using the walls as her crutch. She leaned her body against the walls and wincingly trudged to the door. The doctor was right, she didn't have much strength left. Only a little bit even so, she could see the floor was rising up to her face.
Before she could land facefirst onto the floor, she heard a grunt and felt someone supporting her body. She leaned against whoever chest's it was and listened to the heartbeat of that person. It was calming to her and she smiled before she fully passed out again.
"What are you doing holding her, Ryou?" Yugi asked, looking confused as to why Ryou was holding the girl.
"I think Ryou's already has feelings for this girl." Jounouchi teased, laughing at the blush on Ryou's face.
"Doctor, will she be all right?" Yugi asked, looking at the limp body of the girl.
"Yes, she will be all right. She's just tired and her feet are a bit damaged but she'll recover." he said. "You say that you found her on the sidewalk?"
"Hai and by the time, I tried to ask her what's wrong, she passed out. I think she was crying too." Yugi said.
"What was she doing out of bed, doctor?" Ryou asked, shifting Risa so he wouldn't accidently drop her on the floor.
"When she woke up, she started to ask me a question but suddenly started to cry. Then she rose up from the bed and attempted to walk out to the door." the doctor explained.
"Why are you doing this?!" Astarte screamed. She couldn't believe that this was the same man, she fell in love with. He was practically becoming more evil like his father. The Pharoah Atem was already doing the best he can to contain the monsters.
"I can become an even better Pharoah that he could ever be. Astarte, if you truly loved me, you would also come to my side." Seth said, holding onto her shoulders.
"How could I betray the same ruler, whose father gave me shelter, food and clothing and who kept me in the same palace where we met?" Astarte asked. "Your father's the one, who's brainwashing you and forcing you to do things that aren't you."
"Wrong, my father let me see the good of what will happen if I became Pharoah." Seth growled, sinking his fingers into her skin.
She winced at the pain but continued on "Seth, Pharoah Atem is already a great Pharoah. Even though, I support your decisions of everything that you do. I'm against you on this one. Why can't you just go on being a great High Priest?" Astarte said gently, touching his lips with her fingertips.
"Lowly servants shouldn't say anything to their superiors." Seth said cruelly, slapping her to the side.
After Seth walked away, Risa glared at his back and ran over to the woman named 'Astarte.' She wanted to see if she was all right. She didn't see the man named 'Seth' clearly because they were in the shadows. But now she could see Astarte up close. Astarte was lying in a heap on the floor, touching the place where he slapped her. She was silently crying.
"Uh, Astarte-san, don't cry. If that guy treats you that way, then you shouldn't be with him anymore." Risa said, trying to cheer her up.
But Astarte didn't seem to acknowledge Risa's prescence, she just looked forlornly at the floor.
"Well, I guess you love him that much so then try catching him in a good mood. I bet you could cook himself something to cheer him up right?" Risa said, putting on a fake smile.
That was the first time that Risa had witnessed a fight between a couple like that, even her mom and dad never fought like that. They just usually bicker a couple of times then forgive each other within the next hour. Judging by the couple's fight, Astarte and this Seth guy seemed to be deeply in love. Risa noticed a slight hesitation before Seth slapped Astarte.
Risa looked down at Astarte again and noticed that her stomach was slightly round. Round like when a woman's stomach is when they're pregnant. ''Oh my god. He pushed you down like that even though you're pregnant. How horrible!" she said.
With a statement like that, you would think that Astarte would say something to Risa. But she just rubbed her stomach and continued to cry. Then she started to yelp in pain and water was coming from her dress.....Risa's stomach felt like it was on fire. It was so impossibly painful. She couldn't stand on her own anymore. She surrendered to her knees and held her stomach. She prayed that the pain would stop.
To be continued...
A/N: I used the original names for all of the characters and used Bakura's first name instead of his last name so it'll avoid confusion. In case you didn't know, Atem is 'Yami's' real name in the past. Just wanted to tell you that Ryou will play an important in the story also. Please review.
Next chapter: Risa attends Domino High School and discovers what a huge jerk Kaiba is. Of course, Risa and him doesn't know that they're both important to each other.