The Purpose of a Heart
Chapter Seventeen
Bakura stared, helpless, at the computer set-up. He knew very little about them as it was, and a giant super-computer running a program that controlled a laser was beyond the knowledge he had. The engineer was standing there aimlessly, of no use at all.
"Shit, I can hardly hold my own in a game of pinball on these infernal machines, how can I stop a laser?"
"Why do you want to stop the laser?" Issei, formerly the boss, asked. "Those people aren't important to you. They're strangers. They mean nothing. I thought you liked killing."
"You got fed a lot of lies about me." Bakura argued, pushing random buttons. "Only if I think there's a good reason. I leave people alone if they don't bother me." Besides, if somehow his idea works and a new World War begins…I can't protect Yami from a war.
"You can't protect Yami from a war…how sweet. I never would have guessed at the start that you had such a soft heart."
"Did you just read my mind!" Bakura demanded, spinning around.
"Heavens no, you muttered it under your breath and I heard you." The boss smiled.
"Why the hell are you so cheerful anyway?" Bakura asked, jabbing ctrl-alt-delete and achieving nothing this time. "You've been shot, aren't you in any sort of pain?"
"I'm fairly immune to pain." Issei replied, looking down at his blood-streaked legs. "Leukemia treatments back then were crude and painful. They still are, I might add."
"Great, I've got myself a regular masochist." Bakura muttered angrily.
"If you wait another twenty minutes, the laser will shut off on its own, and you can return to your life. I don't understand what you're trying to do. Shouldn't you be with Yami, wherever he is? You're free now, you can have your life back."
"Yami WAS my life!" Bakura bellowed, wheeling around again and sweeping his hand toward the computers. "You take him away, and I've got nothing left! He's half-dead because of you! And I'm not going to stand here and let you get away with your plan after what you've done to him! I want that laser shut off and destroyed before the American military tracks the laser to the satellite and thinks Japan is trying to restart World War II!"
"Well then there's nothing you can do. I didn't put a magic 'off' switch on it. It runs by coordinates, and as long as America is within the bounds that were set, then there's a lot of people that will be killed." He laughed. "World War III will be a reality, and this time around, America won't be able to get involved. They'll already be crippled beyond help! You can't escape a laser! It'll keep on devastating them. Then, when it's over, they'll track it to the Japanese satellite and a new war will break out, and a lesson will finally be learned."
Bakura considered that and sat the engineer down at the main computer, whispering something to him. The man suddenly looked more secure and began typing away.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Issei asked.
"You gave me one hell of a great idea." Bakura said, indicating the rapidly-typing young man. "If I can't shut the laser off, I'll just relocate it to a certain point and hold it there till it stops."
"Oh, and I suppose you just happen to know the coordinates of a completely unpopulated location?" Issei asked, suspecting a bluff.
Bakura shook his head. "No, but I know the coordinates of one place here. And it's far enough from the city so that the city will be spared, and keeping the U.S safe. Besides, this fitting revenge for someone else. Louis deserves it." He grabbed the engineer by the arm and shoved him toward the door. The man ran for it without question. "He gave me the only coordinates I ever memorized. I thought he was nuts for memorizing such stupid things. But he said I might need the information and he was right. The only coordinates I know, are the ones that this building sits on."
"But you'll kill yourself in the process!" Issei narrowed his eyes. "Would you really kill yourself to save someone else? I thought you never put someone else ahead of your own needs."
"Well, at one point that would have been the truth." Bakura said quietly. "This'll be the first time I've ever saved someone for their sake and not for my own needs. I left the car running so I guess now I'll see how fast it can go, but you're right, I could die too. But you know, I'm okay with it. An end might be nice. It's about time a lot of things ended."
"But you'll only have about ten seconds while the laser switches courses."
"Then I'll just have to try, there's nothing left to lose. So, this is good-bye."
"I hope you realize that this won't help you. I'll have revenge."
"Oh no you won't, you'll be dead." Bakura shot.
"Ah, that won't matter. You'll still end up regretting your choices. No matter what happens to me. It's merely fate that you will regret them. Karma, as they say."
"Whatever you say, chief." Was Bakura's final comment as he hit the enter button and without any further ceremony, ran from the room. He raced for the car, and jammed his foot down on the gas. Dust spewed into the air, and gravel was heard clanging against the undercarriage. The engine whined in protest. Bakura gripped the wheel and gunned it. A tree on one side took off the driver's door, which he hadn't bothered to take the time to close. And surprisingly, he felt no fear, only a solid concentration on the road in front of him. It was finally going to be over, that was all that mattered. How it got that way was irrelevant, as long as it was over, and he was free.
Up in space, the satellite registered the change to coordinates and the laser, currently making its way through Montana, shut off and swiveled around toward its new target.
And then, time was up. The Compound and everything within a half-mile of the building was consumed by light, and the tremor that resulted could be felt throughout Domino. A fire erupted in the forest, quickly spreading the chaos that the laser had begun. Thirteen minutes after impact, the satellite clicked the laser off, and the deadly machine, not looking much like the weapon that it truly was, continued its quiet, innocent circumnavigation of the Earth.
Yami felt the small-scale earthquake-like tremor, and from his window he could see the flames of the burning trees leaping into the air. And when Bakura didn't reappear at the poison-control center after about eight minutes, a cold fear started to clamp down on his chest. He struggled to his feet and unhooked the IV, grabbing the wall for support as he made his way to the hall. Jared saw him, braced against the side of the door, blood running down his arm. He ran over, calling,
"It was only a small earthquake, nothing to worry about."
"Jared-" Yami began. "You have to-"
Jared reached him and shook his head. "Yami, you need to get back in bed, you're too weak to be up walking around, that'll put too much strain on your heart right now, and look-you're bleeding like mad. Your tests aren't finished-"
"Bakura." Yami said quietly, unable to force his voice any higher in urgency. "He's in trouble."
"How do you know?"
"He is!" Yami started to take a step and nearly fell over, clutching the wall. "He's in trouble, that wasn't an earthquake." He remembered the research he'd done, and even though his theory was far-fetched, it was the only explanation he could find. The laser must have caused that tremor.
"He's fine, Yami, please go back to bed." Jared tried to push him back into the room. Yami planted himself on the floor and refused to move, saying as seriously as he could,
"He's in trouble!"
Jared stared in Yami's urgent eyes and nodded. "Okay, tell you what. I'll go look, okay? Where do you think he is?"
"He's up in the mountains. He's…someplace there."
"That's a bad place to be, that earthquake sparked a forest fire up there. And there's poison gas too, haven't you seen the warning signs?"
"He's there…I can just feel it, he's in danger and that's where he is…" Yami let go of the wall and straightened up the best he could.
"Okay, okay, if it'll make you go back and lay down, I'll go check and make sure he's not up there."
"No-I'm coming with you." He took a wobbly step forward, but stayed on his feet.
"No way you're not. You're still really weak, and any extra strain on your heart right now could be deadly. That poison is still affecting you, whether you know it or not. You might be conscious, but it's still in you, and-"
"I told you, I'm coming." Yami's voice was deathly serious. "I need to be there.
"Why?"
"I just do. It's…important to me." His voice almost wavered. It was the look on his face that finally caused Jared to relent.
"Alright, alright. If you're that determined…it'll just be your fault if you have a heart attack." He got the keys to his truck and helped Yami walk down the hall outside to the vehicle.
"Thank you." Yami spoke up from the passenger's seat as he buckled himself in and caught his breath. The simple walk had tired him out beyond belief. Damn poison.
They weren't the only car on the road trying to see what was going on. Firefighters and police were trying to hold back curious bystanders at the edge of a dirt road that led into the forest. Fire engines were lined up alongside it, spotlights trained on the woods. A police officer saw Jared and Yami, cruising along, trying to find an opening. He began running toward them and waving his arms, shouting through a megaphone,
"No pedestrian traffic!"
Jared glanced at Yami. "Now what?"
Yami glanced back at him. "This thing has four-wheel drive, I hope."
"I've never run from the police before in my life."
"First time for everything." Yami replied.
"We're going to get caught…"
"Just drive, goddammit!" Yami lost his patience and jammed his foot down on the gas pedal for him. The tires whined against the pavement.
"Okay, okay!" Jared took the hint and sped past the police officers, trying to set up a quick roadblock.
"You guys, stop!" The officer hollered into his megaphone. Jared took a breath and pressed the gas to the floor. The truck barreled over some fallen trees and weaved past the fire engines, hoses reading off in all directions into the woods. The police were unable to follow for the moment in their cars, and the two in the truck sighed in relief.
"That was close."
"Close! I'm going to be in major trouble when we get caught…"
"But we haven't been caught yet, and I'll pay your ticket if you get one." Yami said. "Besides, Bakura is more important than a clean driving record."
"Yami, if you don't mind my asking, why are you so concerned about him, anyway? Bakura said you didn't like him. But now you're so frantic to find him, and make sure he's not hurt. Why is that?"
Yami was silent for a moment, then replied softly, "I'm not really sure why myself."
"Ne?" Jared blinked.
"Bakura's right, I used to hate him, and he hated me. But a lot of things have happened since then. I want to believe that deep down inside him, there's a good person. And truthfully, I'm not even sure why I want to believe that. But I think of him and there's a part of me that wants so badly to find something about him to like, despite the bad things he's done to me and my other friends."
Jared studied Yami and then leaned back, carefully turning a corner. "Well, I think there's someone good inside him."
"You do?"
Jared laughed. "You were unconscious. If only you could have heard his tribute to you. He sounded like he really cared about you. I only met him one other time, at the shooting range, and then he was very cynical and harsh. But he actually sounded soft when he was talking to you."
"I did hear something." Yami said quietly. "I heard someone talking to me, but I couldn't tell who it was. There was only one line I caught…someone asking me as their friend, to not leave them. And it sounded like Bakura, but…at the time, I didn't think he'd say something like that. I never thought he would."
"It was definitely Bakura." Jared nodded. "No one else was in there. I think you're right, there's a good person inside him. And that person came out just for a moment then. You might be exactly who he needs." He glanced at Yami again and amended quickly, "You know, I mean, not as more than friends or anything. I just meant as friends, that was all."
Yami stared out the window into the forest, wondering where Bakura was at that moment, if he was hurt or even worse. "Maybe more than friends wouldn't be so bad." He whispered, then stopped himself in surprise at what he'd said. So deep in thought, he almost didn't hear Jared say anything, and only after the driver had stomped on the break did Yami pull out of his thoughts.
"Hey, I think that's the car he was in." Jared said, pointing. Yami turned to look. There, through the smoke of the fires and the dust stirred up by the truck, he could see the Station Wagon that Blair had abducted him in, dented and scorched, laying on its side and propped against a tree as if someone had thrown it there from above.
"Bakura…" Yami thrust open the door. One of the forest fires, sparked nearby, made it hard to see through the smoke, and it burned his throat and eyes. "Bakura!" he shouted toward the car, coughing. "Can you hear me? Bakura!"
There was no reply.
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
Okay, I'm sorry everyone that this is a day late. Stupid site was in a bad mood with me yesterday and wouldn't let me log in, so I've got a totally valid excuse.
I was re-reading this and you know...I always do this in any fic involving romance. The two from the pair, one is in trouble, the other goes looking for them, at the end of the chapter you still don't know if the one in trouble is okay. :shakes her head: Such a common sl of mine. Tsk tsk. I'm such a predictable person! But, this fic has been so uncommon…maybe I'll surprise you. :wink:
But, despite that all the bad guys are essentially dead now, this fic is by no means over! It is not without its final twist. Originally there was only 18 chapters, but I decided that the end was too common. It was sort of boring, and too…straight and narrow I guess. Such a convoluted story can't end so simply! Let's face it, a simple ending just doesn't seem right. This story deserves an ending worth reading. So, what will be the final twist(s)? Well, you'll find out. There was a hint in this chapter. The real question is if you'll be able to stand much more of this fic and will be able to stand to see it to the end…I hope you will. For however weird this is going to get…the end is…nice. And I want everyone to read it.
Replies!
Una1: Eek, I didn't mean to make your brain numb…well, I guess I sort of did, but I don't want you to do badly in class because of me! Squee! I'm glad! I try to branch out with my fics, I'm really glad you think it matches up with the others. Yeah…it's controversial, thus I thought it might make for an interesting topic. xD Well, I personally created the boss in order to make him suffer…so you should enjoy that. :niko: Aww…I'm also really glad I could help redefine how you felt about Bakura…I admit, he's not the most likeable character. But underneath…he's not so bad. I hope to!
Scoodoo58: O.o Seriously, right? I hope this sort of thing will only happen in stories and movies, and never in real life…though I can't blame them for being angry at us, and in the long run, it is possible, and it's scary.
Hershey-Kiss: Yeah…I don't like that line anyway, thus, I won't use it. Bush and the Pope? Hmm…well, I'm not Catholic, nor do I like Bush, so no worries about insults there…but I'm really not seeing the resemblance. But…I guess it's true. Yeah…he did have a tragic childhood…the guy still had to die though. xD I like your way of coming up with names! It's funny. :laughs: I've also been known to randomly select names in the phone book. Naming charrahs is fun, there's so many things one can do…
You Know Us: Ah…that wasn't a typo, that was a total brain-fart. xD I'm glad you pointed that out. As I said, it's been fixed and now my readers can read without fear of corruption in their history dates. (I would feel bad aboutcorrupting people's history dates...)So, everyone's favorite 5-foot-2-inch tall and impossibly cute hero got a place in this chapter, is Michelle-chan happy? I should hope so! The US is safe, (good news for us, anyway! xD), now it's the future of the characters that we have to worry about.
Woo, four reviews for the same chapter! This must be some type of TPoaH record. Hey, I ain't complaining. And while I'm really pissed off at the TV stations, I'm also in a fairly good mood seeing as that 174 shall play this week, (Woot!), and alsothat my computer will, at least, let me work on AMV projects. It won't let me save this one particular file as a vid for some reason…but at least it'll let me work on the projects, which is a hell of a lot better than nothing!
Bye bye for now-