A/N: Would you believe it? I uploaded the wrong document earlier... but w/e. Okay, it's a day later then I would have liked, but here it is. Chapter Twenty, the Preliminary chapter! Sunday's dawning will see the Epilogue and (Sniffle) the end of the fic! So let's get on with it… Oh, wait. This chapter has a few warnings: Namely, various people getting tipsy. Good job the drinking age is 18… We couldn't have them do anything illegal, now could we? Although…
Disclaimer: Same as the other 19 chapters. Duh.
Review Responses:
Dragonlady222: An obsession? Yeah, you should go to the doctor for that... Only kidding. Thanks for being such a complimetary reviewer!
erosgirl: Well, I can't comment on the Noah duel, because they cancelled the series just after Yugi/Joey squared off with the Big 5. (Glares at ITV)Anyway, I'm glad youfound the chapter funny. It just seemed to me that Moki would have all the machiene monsters in his deck. And as Yugi had the magnet warriors at one point... It was going that way.
Most Royal Shiz: Nice to hear from you XD
Lilly of the Shadow: (Imagines Ryou kicking butt on aliens) Yeeees... That could be interesting... Poor Mokuba. I bet we embarress him. He's all grown up now, after all...
Now, it's on with the show with:
Twenty: Aftermath
They were half way down the hill when it happened. The whole building disappeared into a ball of noise and smoke and flame, even the hologram projectors were malfunctioning. They threw themselves down, and stayed there for some time as shrapnel fell like rain up on top of the hill.
They were far enough away that the heat and after shocks dissipated reasonably quickly. Mokuba rolled onto his back, spitting out the mouth full of mud and grass he'd acquired whilst diving face down to the floor.
But now he did not look at the ground. He looked at the sky. It seemed insane. At the top of the hill, it was black and full of smoke and dust, slowly rolling forward. But directly above them, the sky was blue without a cloud in sight. And as the sun's rays beat down on him and warmed him, he felt very sleepy indeed.
He looked along the row of the people with him. His brother, Anna, Yugi, Ryou and Jenna, already all unconscious. Seto with his broken nose. Anna with a hair-band bandage round her swelling wrist. Yugi, covered in sand and dirt and dust from their various adventures in the holes. Ryou, even paler then usual, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hands chapped and sore. Jenna, battered and beaten and exhausted.
And then there was him. Lying at the end of the row, his hands burnt and red-raw from the metal panel, His knuckles white from clenching them too hard throughout.
I should really phone an ambulance or the fire service or something… Mokuba thought drowsily. No, it can wait. He decided. After sleep…
We must look an odd sight, he considered as he began to give into the blackness gnawing at the edges of his eyes. Six people unconscious on a hill in front of a burning building…
And he finally let the black wash over him, floating away from the reality of the last few days.
o-o-o-o-o-Two Weeks Later o-o-o-o-o-o
Mokuba leaned back drowsily, sinking into the new (and therefore soft) sofa. As it had turned out, they had been more badly hurt then they had believed. They must have been running on pure adrenaline whilst inside the building, because they came out exhausted. They just hadn't realised it.
But a short stay in hospital and a few nutrition courses later, they were all back at home again. Well, Yugi and Anna were. Ryou and Jenna, of course, were just here to visit anyway, even though they were staying in Ryou's old flat, and Mokuba…
That was a bit more complicated. But, the problem was his older brother. While in hospital, the doctors and nurses had realised that Seto was drastically underweight. And had committed him to the 'Anorexia Ward'.
Seto was not happy about it.
Anna had known- and worried- about Seto's weight problem for years, but by now had given up on trying to make him eat or sleep anymore then he wanted to. And she knew what would happen if anyone but her or Mokuba tried to make him. Fearing that Seto would stage some sort of break out, and for the hospital staff's well-being, Anna had spent most of her time since getting out of the hospital there trying to make sure that Seto didn't do too much damage.
But, seeing as his guardian was in hospital, and the hospital was government-run, and that the government stated that anyone under the age of 16 could not be left alone for more then one night, that left Mokuba, with no other relatives, without a place to stay.
So he had ended up back at Ryou's. After he helped re-build the flat. But that was another story.
It was quite late at night, but the sleepiness they felt was pleasant. He, Yugi, Jenna and Ryou were all gathered in the front room of Ryou's flat pouring companionably over a map. Well, Jenna was watching some sort of music concert on the small television that Ryou had pulled from somewhere after his proper one was smashed by Selbek's goons. It wasn't all that great a TV, it made an odd buzzing sound on all the high notes, but Ryou had spent all the available money on replacing the sofa and chairs. Everything else had been salvageable, including, amazingly, his guitar.
"This is where we've been…" Ryou said, pointing to England on the map and slowly dragging his finger across the map. "We started in England, went through the channel islands and down to Portugal, up through Spain and into France, Down to Italy and then up to Germany, through Poland and all the way across Russia, then south through Mongolia into the North of China, and then into Korea, and then we came here." He concluded, finishing with his finger on Japan. They had spent all night discussing where the travellers should go next, but it seemed that, so far, they had followed a more or less logical route. Ryou scanned the map, preparing to make a suggestion. "So… How about we go down to Australia and then we can go across to South America and do a road-trip up the continent to Canada, and finally head through Greenland and Iceland to see Jenna's Northern Lights before it's back to England." He smiled. "We'll have to miss out on Africa, which is a bit of a downer, but we were running out of time anyway. So, what do you think?" He turned to Jenna, who appeared not to have heard him, still concentrating on the screen.
"Jenna!" Ryou yelled, getting her attention.
She jumped, and turned sheepishly. "Sorry…"
"What are you watching, anyway?" Ryou asked curiously, glancing at the band performing. Then he sighed. "Jenna… Why are you watching them? It'll only get you angry…"
"Because sooner or later," Jenna snarled, clenching a fist. "They are going to play my song. And I want to know what it sounds like when they perform it."
"Is they the ones that stole your song?" Mokuba asked in surprise. "I thought they were a British band."
"It's their world tour." Jenna explained. "That's how I was able to get their CD in Korea to begin with." She gestured at the screen.
"Well, forget about it for a second." Ryou said, giving up. "Come over here. We've been planning a route out for us."
Jenna looked at the floor. "I'm sorry… I can't."
Ryou blinked. "What?"
"I'm all out of money… I mean, I have just enough to get back to England. But not enough to go travelling again."
Ryou stared for a moment, then sighed and began to fold up the map. "Well, you could have told us before we went through all that bother…"
"Ryou…" She said slowly, knowing that inside he was actually disappointed.
He looked up, about to say something, when suddenly they became aware of what was happening on screen.
"This is it." Jenna deflated into a chair. "They're going to play my song…"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Meanwhile, Azreal was still at the hospital with Seto, visiting, or guarding, him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you stay put."
"You don't trust me an inch, do you?"
"If you mean do I think you'd attempt to break out of a hospital, then the answer is that I wouldn't put it past you."
"You don't know me at all…"
"No, I know you too well." Azreal put down the magazine she had been flipping through and looked at Seto. "You're acting weird. Have they had you on a drip or something?"
"Why don't you come with me?" Seto asked suddenly.
"What?" She blinked.
"Come with me." Seto muttered, so a nearby nurse would not overhear. "Come with me, and let's get out of here."
"…It's for your own good, Seto…" Azreal said, not sounding convinced.
"If anyone else tells me that, I'm going to kill myself. Or, even better, them." Seto rolled his eyes. "Come on, aren't you bored staying here all day? Let's go."
"But…"
"If we can break out of a building made like a Transformer, then we can get out of a hospital. Come on, let's make today a bit more memorable for these poor sods…" He gestured at the other patients and visitors.
"…" Azreal looked at him. "Yeah, alright then."
And so, the two ran desperately for the door to the ward, laughing, cheered on by other patients and perused by the doctors.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Hang about!" The drummer on screen yelled as the guitarists started tuning up. "We can't play that song!"
Jenna blinked. It was obviously staged, but where could this conversation be going…?
"Oh, that's right." The lead singer blinked, blatantly acting. "We have a confession to make… even if our agents advised against it. But I want to tell you a little story about this song…"
"Are they about to do what I think they're about to do…?" Jenna asked, breaking into a smile.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Well, that didn't look suspicious at all…" Azreal panted, as they stopped their mad run around the corner from the hospital. "So. Can you get arrested for breaking out a hospital?"
"Do you want to hang around and find out?" Seto laughed, grabbing her hand and starting off again. "Come on! Let's go find Mokuba!"
"Remind me to put you on a drip more often…" Azreal chuckled. "I like you like this…"
"I like being like this!" Seto replied giddily as they headed towards Ryou's flat.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"…And so, we'd like to apologise to Miss Notlaw," The singer began to wrap up. "But we'd also like to thank her. For not suing us, or even telling the press in the way we deserved. We are going to play the song now, but when Miss Notlaw returns home she may just like to take a look at her bank balance, and if she gets in touch with the record company, she'll we're interested in hiring her…"
As Jenna's song started, and Mokuba and Yugi heard it for the first time, Jenna laughed in delight.
"They paid me for it!" She screamed in delight. "And they're gonna give me a job!"
"Jenna! This is awesome!" Ryou agreed, hugging her back when she threw her arms round his neck.
"I don't believe it!"
"This is excellent! I'm so happy for you!"
And then they noticed Yugi and Mokuba smirking at them, and sprang apart, embarrassed.
They were not going out. They were just friends…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The doorbell went, and, glad for the excuse, Ryou went to answer it.
When he opened the door, he saw Anna and Seto standing there. They calmly walked past him into the room, and then, crossing over to the big, floor-to-ceiling window, each hid behind a curtain.
A second later, Anna stuck her head out and, as an after thought, said: "Hello."
"Hi." Ryou replied.
Silence fell in the room.
"Seto, Ann, do you want a drink?" Ryou asked.
"No, thanks, I'm alright." Anna's curtain replied.
"Sure?"
"Yes, thanks for offering."
"Okay then."
Jenna looked back and forth between Ryou and the bulging curtains.
"Fine." She said "I'll ask. Is there a reason you two are hiding behind the curtains?"
"Oh. We're on the run, you see." Anna replied, from behind the window.
"Ah. Alright then."
"Three weeks ago, you would have found that weird." Yugi pointed out in amusement.
"Japan's a pretty weird place." Jenna replied.
And agreement was echoed around the room.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The next time the doorbell rang, it was two police officers, wanting to ask all those who were at the 'incident' of two weeks ago what had happened.
"We will be talking to Mr Kaiba and Miss Mitsan to." The officer assured them once they had established who was there. "But as they are in hospital right now…"
"Actually," Ryou answered. "They're hiding behind the curtains."
Seto and Azreal struggled out.
"Hi." Anna said, as though it was perfectly normal to hide behind someone's curtains. "Have we done something illegal?"
"No…" The officer replied, deciding not to ask what they had been doing back there. "We just want to talk to you, that's all."
"Oh good." Azreal said, sitting down on the floor due to lack of room on the chairs and sofa.
"We just need to know what happened." The second officer prompted.
So they told them.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"So let me get this straight…" The more senior officer said. "The abandoned building was really a hi-tech lair of a film fanatic. Only we couldn't tell because it was covered in a hologram."
"That's right." Yugi nodded.
"And this… Selbek… character, kidnapped you-" The second continued, pointing at Seto. "And the rest of you more or less went to rescue each other."
"You got it." Jenna replied. "Except, I was kidnapped cause they thought that then Ryou would agree to their demands.
"Right. And then Selbek blew up his own building because he wanted his death to be more impressive then his life."
"That's about the size of it." Mokuba shrugged.
The two officers looked at each other.
"Drat." The first said, sighing in discontent. "So we came down from Tokyo for nothing…"
"We're on the trail of a man in a giant robot suit, you see." The second explained. "Like the Tripods in War of the Worlds. You haven't seen him, have you?"
They all shook their heads, and with that, the Police left, ready to head back up to Tokyo.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It had been late when Seto and Azreal had arrived. It had been later when the police had arrived. And now, it was the early hours of the morning.
Mokuba was tired, but also highly suspicious of what the others had been drinking, seeing as all the adults seemed a little… Tipsy.
"I propose a toast…" Jenna said drowsily, raising a glass. "To the song that has just made me stinking rich…"
"And to those awesome Policemen from Tokyo…" Anna added. "May they find their robot and… have good luck in everything. Especially the one with the nice tush."
"Hey." Seto said indignantly. "I'm right here…"
Mokuba laughed. It was odd, this scene. He had never, ever, imagined his brother sitting with a group of people getting slightly drunk. In fact, this was probably the most Seto had ever, and would ever, socialise. Still, at least Seto was reasonably sober- he wasn't making a fool of himself just yet. Yugi had already fallen asleep, and was dead to the world on the sofa, and it seemed that Jenna was about to join him.
Ryou laughed. "Yes, and another toast to us!"
"Cheers!"
Azreal downed her glass, and stood up, wiping her mouth. "Well, we'd better go…" She glanced at Seto. "I think I'd better drive."
"I'm not drunk!" Seto protested.
"Just admit it." Azreal sighed. "Seto, you can't take your drink."
"Well," Ryou interrupted. "If I'm correct, you walked here. Which means neither of you has a car anyway."
"Okay. Then I guess we walk." Azreal shrugged, with a funny look at Seto. "Or stagger."
"Az…"
"Just come on." She laughed. Seto and Mokuba stood, and, as the two adults bade their hosts goodnight and left, Mokuba hung back.
"Ryou…" He said slowly. "Thanks."
"For what?" Ryou asked, looking after the retreating adults, slightly concerned. "For getting your brother drunk for the first time in his life?"
"No…" Mokuba shook his head. "Just in general. Thanks."
With that, he disappeared into the corridor, and went to catch up with his brother and his girlfriend.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Seto was not as drunk as Anna had made up. In fact, he was almost sober- he was just a little more mellow then usual. When they reached the corner where the brothers and Anna had to go their separate ways, they stood for a moment.
"And so, we reach the end of another adventure." Anna sighed. "Good luck with the next."
"What?" Mokuba laughed, as the statement had been directed at him. "What makes you say there'll be another one!"
"Because there always is." Anna shrugged, heading down her own road. "See you Seto, Mokuba!"
The brothers watched as she disappeared into the darkness.
"Never trust a word that girl says." Seto advised. "She told me that those drinks didn't have any alcohol in them…"
"Hers didn't." Mokuba laughed. "In case you didn't notice, Seto, she was drinking Lemonade."
"…"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was a few days later, and Mokuba, Azreal, Yugi, Joey, Serenity, Tristan and Téa were all gathered at the airport, waiting to bid goodbye to Ryou and Jenna, who were heading back to England to sort out Jenna's job and payment
"What are you going to do now?" Téa asked Ryou. He shrugged.
"Well, we're gonna go back to England so we can see about this deal of Jenna's…" He looked over to where Jenna was talking to Mokuba, slightly apart from the rest of the group. "And then, I guess we'll hang around there for a while. Our year out is nearly over anyway."
"At least you've certainly had some adventures," Yugi said comfortingly. "So, what did you enjoy most about coming to Japan?"
"Seeing you and Kaiba getting drunk." Ryou replied easily, laughing.
"I wasn't drunk!" Yugi protested.
"You were singing a song about goblins before falling asleep on my sofa!" Ryou disputed. "Come on Yugi… at least Seto was able to stand unsupported…"
"Well, maybe I was a little…" Yugi said doubtfully.
"Maybe? Don't you remember?" Tristan teased.
"I would have loved to have been there…" Joey sighed. "He's only been allowed to drink since he was eighteen, and I've never seen him get wasted before…"
"I wasn't wasted!"
"Plastered, then."
"Joey-!"
Slightly away from the others, Mokuba was talking to Jenna.
"Jenna?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you do me a favour?"
Jenna eyed the black-haired teen. "Depends what it is."
Mokuba flicked his head at Ryou, who seemed to be laughing at some joke with the others. "Just ask the guy out, okay? I mean, you two aren't fooling anyone, but he'll never ask you, he's too shy. So just ask him… You two are getting on my nerves with all this self-denial stuff."
Jenna reacted very well under the circumstances, remaining unfazed. "Alright, I will when you ask the Wheeler girl out…" She pointed at Serenity.
Mokuba spluttered. "Wh…what? How do you even know her!"
"Anyone who knows you knows her." Jenna grinned. "So, do we have a deal."
"No." Mokuba laughed. "I'll only ask her out when Seto and Anna… get married!"
"When I what?" Anna asked, appearing from nowhere and scaring Mokuba to death. "What's with you?" She asked curiously as Mokuba tried to recover.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" He yelled. "What, did Ryou teach you to do that, or something!"
"Did I teach her what?" Ryou asked, popping up from nowhere.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"This is the final call for London's Heathrow…" The crackling PA announced. "The plane for London's Heathrow is now departing."
"The planes are always delayed and then they make us hurry our goodbyes…" Jenna mumbled grumpily, scribbling an E-mail address onto Anna's hand.
"Well, we couldn't get a later plane." Ryou replied mildly. "It's a long drive from London to Stoke…"
"Final call for London's-" The Intercom began.
"We know, we know!" Jenna yelled. "Well, this is goodbye. Laters!"
"Goodbye." Ryou said simply as the two began to walk to the gate.
"Goodbye!" Mokuba called, his shouts mingling with the others. "I'll see you guys again some time, right?"
"Count on it!" Ryou replied, raising a final hand in farewell.
But farewell is not forever. A long time, but not forever.
The plane disappeared into the horizon, and the group began to work their way out the airport.
"Are you leaving town again now?" Mokuba asked, finding himself standing next to Serenity.
She nodded. "Yes. Now we know everyone's okay… I have to get back to school. You?"
"The doctors at the hospital say I have to have another week off school, at least. The others, to, but you can bet Seto isn't going to listen to that!"
Serenity laughed. "Won't you get bored at home all the time?"
Mokuba shrugged. "I'll probably survive by practically living online."
She laughed again. "Maybe we can talk on MSN sometime, then…"
"Sure." Mokuba replied, smiling in surprise as they swapped addresses.
"Serenity!" Joey yelled from the front of his (re-fuelled) car, that Tristan had spent all that time towing behind them on the way to Domino. "Come on! It's a long way back home!"
"Coming!" Serenity shouted back, running over to him. "See you Mokuba!"
"Yeah, bye…" Mokuba replied. Then the Wheelers drove off to, and Mokuba found himself standing all alone outside the airport.
And so, he began to walk home, and back to familiar territory.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: And there you have it! Join me on Sunday morning for the Dramatic- well, not really dramatic, but it's kinda cute- conclusion to It's My Move! (P.S. Seto is, in fact 32 pounds underweight. Or so Willowwind tells me...)