The Purpose of a Heart
Chapter Twenty
Two hours later Bakura had shouted himself hoarse and still he had not succeeded in getting a straight answer about why he was being arrested. He couldn't understand anything the Americans were saying, and the police appeared to be taking great pleasure in leaving him in the dark. To make matters only worse, Yami had been ordered to leave and not return. Now that Bakura was officially under arrest, no visitors were permitted. Though, Yami certainly hadn't let himself be kicked out without a fight-the wallpaper now sported long scratches where he had thrown a chair against it. Bakura thought it a miracle that Yami hadn't been arrested too.
One of Bakura's bandaged wrists was now cuffed to the bed itself, as if he were going to be getting up and running away. The number of guards outside the room, (he was now set up in the criminal section of the hospital and once more was back in a private room), had doubled in the past hour. His voice was now a dull rasp due to yelling too much, and his throat felt as though he had been swallowing glass splinters. As far as days went, he concluded, this one was by far one of the worst.
Yami, meanwhile, had returned to his car and done a good bit of shouting himself, finally driving home with a fog of angry tears in his eyes, and he was surprised to make it back without getting in a crash. Once there, he called up the computer programmer, whose name had turned out to be Tomoya, though he preferred to go by Tom.
"Yami? I'm surprised to hear from you so soon. It's only been a few hours, I'm afraid I haven't tried to find the others yet-"
"Screw that Tom, we don't have time." Yami snapped. "Bakura's been arrested. You have to go down to the police station now and tell them your story. We don't have any time to lose."
The other end of the line went dead. Then, "Well…actually Yami-"
"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" Yami asked, warning ringing in every syllable.
"No, it's just, after you left, I remembered something else…I wasn't going to mention it because it's really risky, but now that Bakura's been arrested…well, it's worth a try."
"What? What is it?"
"Well, the boss, I mean, Issei…he once told me about a secret bunker of his."
"Secret bunker?"
"Yeah, a place he was planning to go if things got hairy, or when the war began. Apparently it was set up so that he could run the laser and access headquarters' computer system from a remote location, just in case. He was a careful guy, if nothing else, and he once told me about it. He said that if worst came to worst, the other programmers and I would have to come with him to the bunker and program the satellite from there. There might be evidence there. The problem is, we might get arrested too if we show it to the police, they might think we were in on the plan as well."
Now it was Yami that was silent for a long time. When Tom mentioned the chance of them being blamed for the attacks, he'd gotten an idea.
"Wait, I have a better plan." He said. "What if we go to that bunker, is there a chance we might still be able to use the laser from the computer system there?"
"Well, maybe, if the system wasn't knocked out when headquarters was destroyed…why?"
"And how accurate is the laser?"
"Well, if we'd had a chance to finish perfecting it, the technology itself is accurate enough to make that thing drill an inch-wide circle on a tile and not harm anything around it. It's advanced enough for that, but like I said, we didn't finish perfecting it-"
"Perfect, this is perfect…"
"What's perfect?"
"Listen, Tom, I've got an idea." Yami said, feeling excited. "I think I know how we can, at least, clear Bakura of this terrorism business."
"How's that?"
"With that bunker. See, if we can use the computer system there to access the laser, we could target it someplace. I don't know where, but if it's that accurate, we could probably do it without hurting anyone. You could figure it out. Aim it at a nice deserted moor in England or something. If the government sees that Bakura is locked up in the hospital and was incapable of shooting the laser off, then they'll know it couldn't be him. They'll think they got the wrong person, and they'll let him go."
"That's great, but of course they could always just say that he had an accomplice."
"Oh come on, one look at that defiant attitude of his and they'll know he couldn't have an accomplice. Bakura can't work with someone without eventually driving them insane. He's a do-it-yourselfer. The idea of him using an accomplice for anything is laughable."
"Well, also, we could easily get caught. They could trace the program. They might have even already disabled the satellite for all I know. And anyway, Bakura's probably still going to be put in jail for the murders, since he sort of confessed to those. And then there's-"
"Okay, so there's some holes." Yami muttered, irritated. "That's no reason why the plan still couldn't work with just a few adjustments. This is Bakura's life we're talking about here. As soon as he's healthy enough to leave the hospital, and gets taken to the jail, they'll have their claws in him and they'll never let him go. We have to act now. There's no time to worry about anything else. What do we have to lose?"
"Just about everything." Tom muttered.
"You pessimist. Fine, then we'll decide on a plan later. Now tell me where the bunker is."
"I'd love to, except…I'm not really sure."
"WHAT!"
"It's someplace in the mountains, I think it was pretty close to the Compound…but I could be wrong, I mean, he never gave us an exact location or anything…"
"Well, then we'll just have to comb the mountains till we find it." Yami said stubbornly. "I'll call all my friends, we'll split up and look tomorrow. And we won't stop until we've found it."
"I have to go to work, I got a new job-"
"Tell me." Yami interrupted, his voice returning to its warning growl. "What's more important? Your job, or getting Bakura free?"
Tom was no fool. Quickly he replied, "Bakura's life, definitely. I'll be there tomorrow morning."
……………………
The next morning at nine, sure enough, everyone was assembled around the remains of the Compound. The ruins themselves were taped off, and Ryou mentioned what if the laser destroyed the bunker too, but Tom assured them that Issei was smart enough not to put the shelter right beside the building. They split up, each chose a different direction, and began their search. By midday they had found nothing and Yami was in a bad temper again. He knew they only had limited time, and he knew how dangerous, and rather undependable, his plan was, he didn't need anyone reminding him of it.
Fed up with things not working out, Yami kept walking instead of turning back on his fourth trip around. He didn't feel like returning to the ruins to see the others sitting there, looking tired. Yugi had promised to keep it a secret as to why his other self was driving them up the walls, so none of them knew what it was that fueled Yami's desire to see Bakura freed. He had already lost his temper once and shouted at them, asking if they cared about Bakura at all and if they didn't, they should just go home. Although yelling for the moment had made him feel better, he only felt worse now. It wasn't their fault.
He knew he must be a few miles from the Compound by this time. The woods closed in around him, dark even though it was the middle of the day. The back of his neck was sticky with sweat from the heat. Tripping over a tree root, he cursed and sat down to rub his ankle.
We've searched all over this place. He thought, looking around. The bunker could be anywhere. It might not even be here. Maybe this was all a wild-goose chase. It sounded so easy when I thought of it, but now…Poor Bakura, I told him I'd clear his name.
He sighed, resting his head in his hands. After everything he did to keep me from getting hurt…when I didn't even know it…I'm going to let him down. I can't believe this. What's going to happen to him now? Eventually his wounds will heal, and he'll go to jail. He'll be found guilty if no one will back him up, and who knows what the sentence will be? I may never see him again. I'll never be able to tell him why I helped him, he'll never get to know, he'll be locked up in jail for something that wasn't his fault, and he'll never get to know that he's cared about.Dammit…
Hiding his face in his arms he could feel his hands shaking. I can't believe there's nothing I can do for him…It's not fair, after everything he had to go through, they shouldn't be doing this to him. It's not fair!
Blinded by tears, he kicked the tree root he'd tripped over, and heard it clank. Almost immediately he stopped crying and got down on his hands and knees. Tree roots weren't supposed to clank. And indeed, the object he had mistaken for a root was actually a rusty circle of metal, buried deep in the rotting leaves. Digging feverishly into the dirt, he tried to clear the area around the ring, then got up and brought his foot down as hard as possible. Instead of sinking into the dirt, he heard a dull thump. There was something hard beneath that ring. Getting on the opposite side, he grabbed the circle of metal and pulled with all his strength. At first nothing happened, and bits of rust merely embedded themselves into his palm. Then with a heavy grating sound, the ground in front of him rose up with the ring. Dirt and leaves slid off, revealing a rectangle of metal about four feet long and three feet wide. Wedging his aching fingers under the metal, he pulled up again and heard two small snaps. Suddenly the piece of metal lifted more easily, its hinges having broken. He pushed it aside, and stared in silence at what he'd uncovered. A dark hole leading down into the earth. His heart leapt.
"Yami's been gone an awfully long time." Mai said to the others after awhile. "Do you think he's lost?"
"No, he's probably just hiding." Tristan replied. "Probably doesn't want to come back here."
"I feel sorry for Yami." Yugi said. "He's having a tough time of it, what with Bakura being arrested and in the hospital to boot, and Yami can't do a single thing about it."
"I can't blame him for wandering off and not wanting to come back in a hurry." said Ryou.
"He just needs some alone time." Joey agreed. "Though I'm confused about why he's taking this so badly, I mean, he always hated Bakura…"
Yugi wondered if he should say anything. It wasn't his secret to tell, but it would sure clear things up for the others. Finally he couldn't hold it back and began,"See, Yami-"
"Hey!"
Yugi cut himself off in surprise. He could have sworn he heard Yami's voice. Maybe it was his guilty conscience, yelling at him for having been about to tell them Yami's not-so-secret secret.
"You guys!" There it was again. Yugi shook his head, then noticed everyone else was looking around too. At that moment, Yami came bursting through the trees and stumbled to a halt. "You guys, you'll never believe it, I found the bunker! Who has the flashlight? Come on, I'll lead the way." He turned to dash off again.
The others all glanced at each other. Yami turned back. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
Getting to their feet, they all followed.
"I don't believe it, there was a secret bunker after all." Tom said in awe as he peered down into the dark hole. Joey flicked the flashlight on and took a step forward.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's explore."
"Wait!" Yami flung his arm out and caught Joey's chest. "Don't touch anything, we can't leave our fingerprints. Just shine the light inside from here."
Joey complied and they all gathered around the opening as best they could.
"I see a lot of food supplies." Ryou observed.
"I think that's a generator and gasoline." Tea added, pointing to dark shapes in the corner.
"Here's one of those one-way oxygen things." Tristan said, examining the opening. "Guess he'd need this to breathe."
"Not a bad set-up." Yugi said. "A person could live down here for quite a while it looks like."
"None of that matters, do you see anything that resembles a computer?" Yami asked. Tom sat down and vaulted himself down into the pit.
"Tomoya, What are you doing?" Mai asked.
"I told you to call me Tom!" His voice echoed up from the inside. "There's a second room here…"
He was silent for awhile, then reappeared at the opening. The others helped him out.
"Well?" Yami asked.
"I found the computer." He said. Yami brightened.
"That's great, so we can use it?"
Tom shook his head. "It's just an average PC though. It doesn't have nearly enough power to control, much less perfect, a laser. I don't know what Issei what he was planning to use the computer for down there. There's no internet hook-up, so it's essentially useless for us. I'm sorry Yami, your plan was a good one but…it won't work. I guess all we can do now is just show this to the police, and-" he trailed off.
Yami silently turned and walked away. A few of the group got up to follow him, but Yugi spoke up,
"Let him go."
"Why? He might need us."
"No, he doesn't." Yugi shook his head. "We should leave him alone. Give him time to feel sorry for himself and Bakura in peace. See, after everything is said and done, Bakura really loves Yami and that's why he did everything to protect him. Yami told me that he isn't really sure how he feels about Bakura yet, but…I think he loves him too. And I think that Yami might have had this dream, you know? A dream that he'd clear Bakura's name and they'd be able to start over. We should give Yami time to let go of his dream on his own."
Joey blinked. "That's deep."
"So, I guess we should go talk to the police now?" Mai asked.
Tom shrugged and closed up the hatch, covering it back over with debris. "Might as well. We can tell them my story anyway."
"What about this place?" Tea asked.
"Let's not. They could probably find a way to use this as evidence against him."
It was a good plan, too! Yami thought angrily as he clambered over fallen branches. It was a perfectly good plan, it would have cleared Bakura's name one-two-three, all the evidence would have been there, but nooo-oo, the goddamn computer system isn't set up to handle a laser! My idea was completely valid, it made sense and it would have worked and no one would have gotten hurt. Showing the bunker to the police won't do any good at all, they'll probably just say that someone else set the place up. I can't believe a dead guy's twisted plan is messing up our lives like this!
He stopped and looked around, having found himself back out on the road. He didn't much feel like turning around and going back to the bunker, so he began following the road back toward the city.
Well…I guess even if it had worked, and even if there was a way to control the laser…it might not have freed Bakura. He was forced to admit as he stepped out onto a busy corner of the city and waited for the light to change. I think they mostly arrested him because they recorded the story he told me about the murders, and they have a confession, if that could be considered a confession. It was lucky that Jared stole Bakura's guns from the scene before the police could confiscate them, if they'd done a ballistics test they would have found that the bullets were from the same gun, and then there'd be no way to disprove it. Even if he was cleared of the terrorism business, there's still those murders. And no one will believe that he had a good reason.
Walking home in a fog, he finally arrived and dialed up Jared's number, and asked if he could bring the Uzi over.
"Sure, why?" Jared asked, puzzled.
"Bakura's been arrested." He replied heavily.
"What!"
"He's been arrested." Yami repeated. "He's still in the hospital, but he's in custody. The other day he told me that he wanted me to have his gun. Said he knew I'd take good care of it." Yami could hear his own voice growing more and more high-pitched. "I'd just like to…do what he told me."
"Sure, I'll hop in the truck right now and tote it over. My shift at the PCC is starting in a half-hour anyway, I'll just show up early."
"Thanks Jared. See you then." He hung up and collapsed in a heap onto his couch. The events of the past few days blurred together in Yami's mind, he had a hard time distinguishing one from the other. It was even harder trying to place himself in the middle of all those events.
There was a knock at the door and when he opened it, Yami was met by Jared, carrying the Uzi wrapped in a towel, as well as holding two smaller guns on a leather belt-like object.
"Here you go, and here's his extra clip, and these are his Tonfa Blasters too. I thought perhaps you'd like them as well. Bakura did always favor hard-to-aim guns, he's one of a kind up at the range. Really talented. I upgraded the Tonfas for him and everything though." He shook his head ruefully. "I can't believe he's been arrested."
Yami gently set the weapons down on the hall table. "I know…and there's nothing I can do about it." He said, refusing to look up. "Thanks for bringing these, Jared. Bakura'd…he'd be glad to know you took care of them."
"Well…I guess I ought to be off…take care Yami."
"Later." He closed the door without any further ceremony and leaned back against the wall there, staring at the guns for a moment. "You were an idiot, Bakura." He whispered. "You should have run when you had the chance. You never should have become a killer. What was so important about me that you sacrificed yourself? Why didn't you be all self-centered like you usually are?"
…Because I love you! And I didn't want anything bad to happen to you!
"I don't understand anything anymore. How can you love me? You hated me, why did your feelings change? And why…why does this bother me so much?"
He sighed. Honestly, back when he'd incarnated Bakura into a body of his own, he'd thought that finally he'd put all those problems behind him. Itlooked likethe bitter theifhad gotten over Kuru Eruna, and that their fight was over.He'd thought that Bakura would no longer be able to cause him any pain. But no, Bakura had still found a way to hurt him, even after all that.
But now…it wasn't caused by hatred. It was pain of a different sort.
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
The writer's block persists…damn thing, why it had to show up now of all times is beyond me. Fate is out to get me. The planets are in a weird alignment. The numerology for these chapter numbers insists that fanfic writers shall suffer writer's block. There's got to be some reason. Try to be patient. I hope it'll at least leave me alone in time for the last chapter. I can't help but think this chapter could have been done better. It's mostly a big angst-fest. Sometimes…actually, a lot of the time…I'll be writing a chapter and just for the hell of it I make it really angsty or sappy or something, just for my own gratification. Even if it has nothing to do with the sl, I feel like writing something all dippy, so I do, then I erase it and write the actual chapter. Sometimes however, I can't make myself erase all the angstiness and get down to writing the REAL chapter, and this sort of thing is the result. Some sort of actual-chapter-and-dippy-fanwriter-stuff hybrid.
Aw, poor Yami.He'd thought thathe and Bakura's whole conflict was overand that he wouldn't haveto worry about Bakura trying to hurt himagain...onlyto find out that Bakurawas still able to hurt him in the worst way of all-by breaking his heart.What are he and Bakura to do? Something drastic, no doubt. Let's hope they don't do anything too foolish. Crazy 5000-year-old kids.Guess we'll all find out next chapter! I know this seems to be going quite a bit off track. It'll go back on track in the next chapter. This chapter is setting up for a major event to occur in the next one, as well as for the ultimate future of the two of them. Can you find the set-up? Well…since you'll get to find out what happens next week anyway, I suppose the set-up really isn't important, come to think of it...
This chapter didn't have much of Bakura in it…and since he's the main character, that's sort of strange. Yami gets to take center stage for this chapter, and he gets a pretty important part in the next one, as well as his ultimate last scene in the fic in that last chapter, but it'll go back to mostly Bakura after this. Because let's face it, this is HIS story.
Y'all are lucky to even get this today...I have eleven freaking pages of Spanish HW. It's a long story. It was like a bad joke. Most of my answers to the questions make no sense. The question will translate to something like, "what's your favorite color and why", and my answers are things like, "spaghetti, I like rain, my friend is green." Stuff like that. Well, by the time I got to page five I was getting sorta sick of it...but I finished it...and got this uploaded too. Man, if nothing else, I'm good at cramming.
Anyhoo, replies!
Mariko: I'm sorry mi amigo, but once a week is what you get.
You Know Us: Gotta love the cuteness! Nothing is complete without a little of it, after all. In my fics…yeah, the police usually ARE clueless. Hmmn…makes one wonder. (Stupid peoples, busting in to interrupt a declaration of love scene…if this were a movie, I could think of some VEERRYYYY good out-take scenes for that. :wicked grin: Seriously though, how could they?) A pitiful Bakura is almost comical, actually, yet also somehow very sad. Whenever I think of him, I see his five-year-old self back in Kuru Eruna,watching in horror what was happening to his family and friends, and I see him as a very sad person now.Yay for undercurrent! Bad in water…good in fics. That writer's block better get out of my way!
Hershey-Kiss: That's a seriously good question. I wouldn't mind knowing the answer myself, honestly. (Besides, I would very much like to be able to accurately predict math test answers. Finals coming up soon. O.o) Anyhoo…he does seem the laughing type, doesn't he? Cookie! I get a cookie, yaaayyy…at least I did that right. xD Anything for cookies…Yeah, and since there's still a few chapters to come, everything couldn't end right there. "another nominee for world's suckiest ending…" do I sense a "hint hint"? xD I don't think you'll hate the ending, don't worry.
Ooooohhh, I downloaded ep 184! (I am so guilty of so much spoiler watching…),I can honestly say that it is a truly beautiful episode, and I hope the dubbers leave at least a little of the dialogue intact. (I know they changed the Doom Arc in terms of Yami's 'darkness', but…I still hope they can salvage a little of the dialogue.) Well, just the last scene in itself, Yami and Yugi facing each other in front of the sunset, (which is dialogue free), it's really…really…amazing. I can't really explain it, there's a bottomless pit of symbolism and beauty in it though, and it's just…ah, I dunno. It's unexplainable. But when I was watching it I just got this massive unnamed emotion in my chest and it's just…the whole reason I watch Yugioh in the first place. I think you'll understand what I mean when you see it, if you haven't yet. Have you ever seen something that, the minute you looked at it, you felt that your whole reason for living was just to see that one thing? That's the way the scene makes you feel. Sorta like 224, only early.
I can't wait for school to get out. Just had to toss that in. This fic will end, like, the first week of summer break, so each chapter I post up…I know it's one week closer to the end. Sophomore year…it's tougher than it looks. I look forward to bidding it farewell!
I'll see you all around. Sayonara mina!