Jungle Fever – By ashford2ashford
AKA: The Mini Arkana
Disclaimer: I'm sure you're all fully aware that I don't own any of these characters, so I can just skip this part!
Pairing(s): This even I don't know! I think it's got a slight hint of Strings/Arkana but also a touch of Arkana/Seeker. . .shrugs try to enjoy!
Dedications: This is dedicated to Knupfel, and also my little Pookie Drew! Without them, this idea would have never formed in my head!
Other Notes: This is a Rare Hunters fiction. This is the first of hopefully many chapters! I'd say there was hardly any yaoi in it, but I can't make that kind of promise for later chapters. This is my first YuGiOh Fic for , and I only want to make Rare Hunter fans happy! Well. . .even if you're not a Rare Hunter fan, you'd be glad to know that Mariku, Malik, Rishido, and Ishizu make it into later chapters (Probably chapter four if I get good press for this ) so there you go! I seek to please everyone!
ALSO: Well...part six....and let's see how many different ways of writing I can take!!! And the names are all right!!!
Without Further Ado, Please Enjoy!
DAY SIX – Madness Subsides
Lap lap lap lap lap...
Pandora stirred, turned over in his sleep, opened his eyes and whimpered at the sunlight glaring down at him.
Lap lap lap lap lap...
The noise which had roused him from sleep had been faint, gentle, like a soft curl of a cat's tongue, or water gently dripping from a rock.
Lap lap lap lap lap...
There was no urgency to it, no change of pace, just soft, almost rhythmic lapping, gentle, soothing...
Lap lap...
It stopped, and then Pandora dared venture a look over his shoulder to see what it was, smiling when he saw the wide black eyes staring back at him.
Hunched
over gently, his back arched like a cat's, his feet dug gently into
the ground, his toes crunching grass, his arms in front, like a frog,
his fingers splayed in the soft mud, and a soft watchful expression,
was Strings...the silent doll.
Pandora saw from the water
making its way down his chin, that he had been the one making the
noise – lapping at the water with such gentle intention, with
such...
He shook his head.
Getting carried away
again.
"Strings." His throat felt dry and the name came
out choked. He noticed a soft shiver running down Strings' body
when his own voice had come forth from his mouth. Moving into a
sitting position, Pandora allowed himself to stretch a while, under
the ever watchful eyes of the doll-like person.
It had
occurred to Pandora, more than once, that being with Strings was like
being back at home years ago, sitting in his younger sister's room.
She had a collection of dolls, both children-like in their innocence
and design, but with those cold adult-like eyes. After a while,
Pandora would have to turn away from those dolls, still feeling the
cold unblinking eyes on his back, wanting nothing more than for them
to tears their gaze from him.
Of course, they never did. After
all, they couldn't. His relationship with the dolls never changed
until one day, his sister came home from the local town with a new
doll. This doll was much more different than the rest. The same wide
staring eyes, the same dresses, but the colour of the eyes was black
instead of the vibrant blues and the dull browns he was used to.
The
doll was unlike the others. Unlike the sense that it was Pandora's
favourite, it was the one he loved to watch, loved to have watching
him, loved...to just see.
He shook himself out of his dreamy
state and then shrugged it off, like he had done several memories
before that. Funny he should remember that...after all, he barely
remembered even having a sister!
"You bring out the best in
me, Strings." He commented, his eyes smiling with his mouth.
Strings cocked his head to one side, confused, and then smiled also –
only because Pandora was speaking to him.
The magician stood
and walked to the water's edge, scooping up the surprisingly clear
liquid and dabbing at his face with gentle cupped hands, feeling
refreshed and awakened all at once. His eyes were clear from sleep
and he blinked a few times to get the remaining water from his
eyes.
The tranquil silence was shattered suddenly by a
gunshot, which made the birds take flight and cover the sky in their
colours.
Both surviving GHOULS looked up and then looked at each
other, their eyes wide with fear.
Strings' gaze said it all. We have to go
Then it
was like Pandora couldn't go at all...
He remembered the sudden
force, the sudden snap back of his shoulder, the force that came so
hard and so suddenly that he barely had time to even realise
something was wrong. A thousand stars burst in his head, and then a
thousand more, another snap crack, and then he was thrown to the
ground, his head smashing into a rock, more blood pouring...
He held
his good arm up to the sky and then down to his shoulder, or where
his shoulder should have been. Trembling, becoming so numb, he barely
registered pain as he dug his hand in deep, blood pouring, and a wash
of red on his hand, and then he found them...bullets...
Strings...
His
sight was fading, blood on his face, blood on his hands, blood in his
ears, blood in one of his eyes, all over his arm...
Strings...
It
was the last thought he'd ever have for a long
time...
?????????
Seeker
lowered the smoking rifle and then pulled the cigarette out of his
mouth lazily with one hand, blowing out smoke of his own into the
crisp morning air. He sat on a collection of rocks on top of a cliff,
overseeing the lake which Pandora and Strings had 'camped' at. He
was sat on one rock, a larger rock behind him supporting his back and
weight, one leg dangling, the foot dug into the ground, and the other
leg balancing his rifle, the foot supported on another rock.
A
typical sniper's position.
Allowing a soft sick smirk to
grace his lips, bringing the cigarette back up to his dry cracked
lips, Seeker raised the rifle again, so as to look through the scope
and see what the reaction was to his crack shot at the un-masked
Magician.
Strings was knelt in the dirt, afraid to move the
body (Seeker assumed) and a glazed look of horror frozen on his face.
It was very unusual for the human doll to show any expression, and
Seeker felt a swell of pride at being able to witness and cause this
one of terror!
Again, the cigarette came down, this time as
lazy as the last. His work was done, the shot was fired, and now it
was just a case of seeing if an old hunter's plan had worked.
Fishing in the pocket of the jacket he was now wearing, he brought
out a small mechanical device and switched it on. A faint 'pip'
came on the screen, and then a green glow with a line moving around
the centre point – a radar. A faint yellow dot showed up as the
line moved across the Northern point of the jungle, the point where
Pandora and Strings were.
Another smile and this time a
chuckle.
Seeker...you are evil, you old dog! He mentally
congratulated himself, smiling and smoking. Now there's no where
left for Pan to hide!
Sitting back, the satisfied air
remaining, he leaned back on his rocks and pulled a backpack up onto
his knee, unscrewing the various pieces of the rifle he had brought,
tucking it away into a case for future use. From inside the backpack
he pulled out a flask, unscrewed the lid and took a direct swing of
tea laced with whiskey. Just the thing to keep a hunter on his toes.
When he was done, he replaced the lid, and then shoved both flask and
rifle case into the pack, standing and stretching his weary
muscles.
Today was going to be a good day, he had decided...a
very...very...good day.
He had seen the
awkward way the body had fallen...and it made him start.
He
had watched the blood pour – a colour so familiar – and it
stirred memories within him...
He had watched the eyes glaze
over, the man lose consciousness...and for the first time in his
entire life...he had truly felt panic...and...what was that other
thing?
What...was...it?
Pain?
Yes. Pain.
Heartache and pain.
Strange emotions, entirely new to him...but
he knew they were there, and he knew he was feeling them now.
The
question was...how?
How could an unfeeling puppet, a
re-animated corpse, a cold human doll feel anything? Any kind of
sorrow, any remorse, any pain, or any emotion?
They were
there...the emotion was there...and it scared him.
Then, when
all emotion boiled over, as he was contemplating the questions in his
'mind', as he watched the horror unfold, the most miraculous
thing happened – so suddenly it startled even
him.
"P...Pa...n...do...r...a?"
He gasped. The
words had come from his mouth surely? A soft, gentle, genuine voice
he could truly call his own. Feathery light, and with a soft tone to
it, this was his one true voice...
His mouth lay open...he
tried and tested the word...loving the feel of it on his
lips...
"Pan...Pandora...?"
With a new found
strength amidst the horror, he forced his body to move without a
command this time, as it had this morning when he had surprised
himself by discovering how thirsty he was, and how he had told
himself, he had told himself, without an order from Pandora or Malik
or anyone, told himself to go to the lake and drink. Drink
because...because it was his body and his thirst...no one
else's...
"Pandora!"
The cry was more frantic
this time, his body moving towards the bloodied male's body, the
feathery voice taking a more panicked note to it.
Then he was
there, and Pandora was still breathing, much to his...what was the
feeling...relief? Kneeling down in the dirt once more, feeling as
though he had broken from the ice that had held him, he took the
Magician into his arms, dragged him to the lake, washed off blood,
tended the wound with cloth from his own baggy pants, brushed hair
from the magician's eyes...and then wept...
For the first
time in his entire existence...Strings, the human doll,
wept...
END OF CHAPTER
SIX
Ashford2ashford: Muaahahahaha! I am evil indeed to leave
it on such a note! But life goes on does it not? And please note that
this is perhaps the most dramatic chapter in the Jungle Fever
Storyline, and in my own opinion was the most well-written
one!
Big thanks go to Knupfel for giving me the perpetual,
metaphorical, and literal kick up the backside to make me finish
this. (I dub thee my unofficial Manager!)
Also thanks to all who
reviewed! Without your support...I would die!
And ultra-omega-uber
special thanks go to all at the GHOULS sanctuary at
...without it...Pandora would be so lonely!
Well...with
more reviews comes more chapters! You know the drill! SUPPORT ME!!!
