Ave Maria
Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow?
So that I can feel the rain
The picture on the TV was grainy and it was hard to discern objects from one another in the dimly lit hallway showcased in black and white. Kaiba judged from the angle that the hallway seemed to be that the camera had been put on the doorframe overlooking the front door. He could see the stirrings of people outside through the small windows on the doors and he fast forward until the first person walked in.
It was himself and Kaiba thought he looked magnificent and ugly at the same time. He walked like a king down the hallway, sauntering down the hallway so the tails of his white trench coat danced behind his back. If it weren't himself, Kaiba would have hated the guy. He was far too arrogant and self-assured for his own good.
Random duelists, ones that Kaiba did not bother to know the names of, followed him through the hallway, eyes darting around nervously as they drank in the sights. Why were all the duelists either high school dropouts or social rejects, Kaiba wondered. They looked like they had never seen a school before. When he thought about it, he realized he was the only duelist who had made something out of themselves that didn't involve the actual action of dueling.
A gaggle of girls were the next to come into the camera view and Kaiba took a step closer to the TV to watch them. He had once heard an impassioned speech on the beauty of the ladies from some of the guys who had sat behind him on a train. They were infamous on the dueling circuit; not for their skills, but for the way they dressed. Their attire consisted of matching jet-black ruffled mini-skirts and a fitted t-shirt with the name of their group "Black Widows " written across the chest.
Kaiba thought they were probably the ugliest women he had ever seen in his life. It wasn't that they weren't pretty but they looked so fake with their spidery eyelashes and rosy cheeks. Plus, they weren't that great of duelists. The nine girls were really three teams of three who won the tag-team duels, which no one gave a fuck about in the real world.
He noticed that they were all giggling although he couldn't hear any noise to verify that. His video self turned around and they just froze, looking guilty. Kaiba didn't remember doing that and he watched himself turn around and the girls start speaking again, slapping each other on the back. It was like a cult ritual and Kaiba made a mental note to get his hands on the real videos so he could hear what they had said, just to quench his curiosity.
Mai was right behind the girls and Kaiba noted with pride that she was scowling at the girls. She towered over them in flips flops despite the four-inch platform heels that the girls were wearing. A bit of information wove its way through Kaiba's head that people often thought Mai was friends with the nine. From the looks she was receiving back from the girls, there was no friendship. Mai was their ultimate rival. Unlike the nine, she was the top-ranked women duelist as well as in her age range, 20+. She was the type of women that guys would give up everything to get a hand on and could take advantage of the male attention.
Mai walked past the gaggle of girls who had stopped to glare. She weaved her way through the duelists and before she left the camera range, she stopped dead in the center of the hallway and looked up. Her eyes met the camera and she smiled, before continuing down the hallway and out of the camera's scope.
No one, not even himself, had noticed the cameras when they had walked in. Again the blonde intrigued Kaiba. He remembered looking around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Now that he knew where it had been positioned, he still didn't know how she had seen it. There had been nothing out of the ordinary about the wall.
He chalked it up to one of her many mysteries and watched as Yugi and his little posse entered the hall. Yugi looked nervous, fidgeting with the gold chain around his neck and Kaiba noticed that none of his friends even noticed the pain stricken expression on his face. It hadn't been that long of a time since the Pharaoh supposedly disappeared, which Kaiba still wasn't sure was real or not and thus chose to say it wasn't real, and he didn't know if this would be the first time Yugi would have to duel without his precious friend.
Jonouchi and Honda were arguing over something and Anzu was looking to be trying to mediate between them. Ryou was trailing behind Yugi, wearing the same forlorn expression. Kaiba never noticed how depressing their little group was when they weren't on stage in front of him, preaching their beautiful friendship. How could they not see that their founder looked like he had died and was restuffed to give an illusion of aliveness.
"I never noticed…" a soft honey-toned voice whispered.
Kaiba managed to control his urge to jump and he turned around to see Jonouchi standing at the other end of the table. He snatched the remote off the table and shut it off. The room went dark except for the thin curtain of moonlight that blanketed the floor right next to the window.
"How'd you get in here?" Kaiba asked.
"I followed you."
He was ashamed to admit he hadn't heard the mutt sneak into the room or thought that the blonde was faking his sleep.
"I kept wanting to think that Yugi be okay without Atem, since he had all of us. But…without Atem, none of us would have been friends with him. Atem and the adventure was what linked us together and it broke the minute he was gone."
The old part of Seto Kaiba, the part that had been constantly beaten in duels by Yugi, wanted to rejoice in the admittance that the friendship wasn't the godsend they all proclaimed to be. But the new part of Kaiba only felt sad that it wasn't real.
"Was Atem real?"
Jonouchi looked at him strangely and sat down on the windowsill. "Of course, he was."
Kaiba sat down as well on the windowsill. He leaned against the cool glass, the condensation soaking into his t-shirt. "No. Really…what proof do we have of his existence?" Jonouchi opened his mouth and Kaiba shook his head. " Besides the fact all those weird events happened revolving around that stupid puzzle of his and the unexplainable ways things always turned out, couldn't it just be multiple personality disorder? I mean, Yugi did get hit in the head a lot probably. Atem looked exactly like Yugi except he did things with more confidence. It could have been a protection mechanism against stress and battle."
Jonouchi stayed silent for a few minutes, digesting Kaiba's theory and the fact the brunette was being nice to him. "Your theory could work except for the unexplainable aspect of it. You are in every ancient relic with Yugi. How do you deny that? I could understand seeing you in a painting or a sculpture but Yugi is unique looking."
"I can't deny it," Kaiba mumbled, exhaling.
"Why do you fight against magic then?"
"I want to believe I am in control." Perhaps that was too much to revel to Jonouchi but Kaiba was tired and passed caring about what he thought.
Jonouchi nodded and inclined his head towards the TV. " Can I watch the video now?"
Kaiba looked up, grabbing the remote for precaution. "Why?"
Jonouchi stood up, yawning and he stretched out his body. " There are a lot of things I don't remember and don't know about it. All I have is a dream and it may not have happened."
"I blocked most of it out myself," Kaiba admitted.
"Do you think Mai remembers any of it?"
Kaiba thought about it for a millisecond and nodded.
"I thought so. Why do you think she hasn't spoken up about it?"
Kaiba smirked. " We haven't asked her to."
"Good point. But would she tell us anyway if we did?"
"Touché."
Jonouchi chuckled. " Is that why you got the tape?"
Kaiba nodded. " I want to understand what happened." He climbed to his feet and pulled out two of the plush chairs, setting them together close to the TV.
"Are you going to watch his death?" Jonouchi asked, taking his seat.
"I have to watch them all."
"Why?"
Kaiba pushed play and Yugi and his friends continued to walk down the hallway. " To know," was his simple answer and Jonouchi focused on the tape.
A gym with lines painted on the floor to mark the various end zones of games and hard gray folding chairs were in rows, every seat taken by loud noisy students waiting for the duelists to show up and provide them with some entertainment.
"Why are we watching this? All that happens is you and Yugi make a speech and we all go our separate ways."
Kaiba glared at the complaining boy as to say don't watch it if it bores you. " I know. I remember the camera and it rotates. It may give us a glimpse at the audience."
Jonouchi didn't ask why. He didn't want to annoy the billionaire enough that he got kicked out before he got to see the film. He didn't want to see it, truthfully, but he tended to take opportunities when they were given to him.
Finally the camera swung around to the audience and Kaiba pounded the pause button. Trapped on the screen were several thousand kids and the faces blurred together for Jonouchi. He saw Kaiba stand up and pace over to the TV, kneeling so the screen was eyelevel with him.
"What are you looking for?"
"The shooters, or at least the ones I remember." Kaiba must have spotted them because he reached into the back pocket of his sweat pants and took out a tiny notepad. Jonouchi didn't bother asking why Kaiba kept one on him, especially in the middle of the night. He chalked it up to mad genius.
Kaiba scribbled furiously and ripped the paper off, jumping to his feet. He set the paper down on the table and sat back down.
"I am having a yearbook sent here from the school. I need the names of the students who did it so I can run background checks on them," he explained as he hit the play button. Jonouchi just nodded as the tape was fast forward to the point where everyone was filing out of the gym and into their respective rooms. The time stamp read in the corner that it was 9:25. Jonouchi vaguely remembered that the shootings took place a few minutes before ten. He gulped and Kaiba turned to him.
"Ready?"
Jonouchi could only nod as the feed from the camera was cut and replaced with a new one.
Kaiba gasped next to him as he looked upon himself and Yugi standing in front of a window, ejecting the holograph boxes from their duel disks. Kids were watching on, crowding around them in a circle. The window made a serene backdrop with the pine trees outdoors swaying in the wind for the otherwise heated duel.
The video Kaiba immediately got a hold on his infamous dragon, and the Blue Eyes barreled out of space, wings flapping hard enough to ruffle Yugi's hair. Yugi's eyes were so big like he had never seen the creature before him and was deathly afraid of it. The dragon roared and Yugi flinched, drawing his card. Kaiba could hear himself laughing, the audio in the particular camera stronger then the previous ones, and he wanted to hurt himself. It was so cruel for him to do that when it most likely felt like, to Yugi, his first time dealing with the monster. He really was the nasty person that Yugi's friends told him he was.
Yugi drew a card, King's Knight, and Kaiba watched himself look on in horror as the combination played out like it always did, its result being all three knights were on the field: king, queen, and jack. And then Yugi called his God like he always did.
When Kaiba had dueled it, he had honestly believed that Yugi had chosen Obelisk the Tormenter to mock him since it had been his card originally. Now, he could see it was only chance and it pained him to see himself actually believing his paranoid delusions. He saw himself getting angry and Kaiba gripped the armrests, knowing what would come next.
Yugi and Kaiba had been given the youngest kids in the building, around ten or eleven. They were beyond excited and frightened as a thunderbolt hit the dueling field and from the ground rose a hulking blue mass. The audio picked up their cries and cheers as Yugi pointed toward Kaiba's video self.
The God began its run, leading with its mighty stone fist, and Kaiba bit his lip, trying not to yell out as he heard the bullet went off and watched it hit a tiny girl in pigtails in the front. She fell forward onto the dueling field and Yugi halted his monster.
"Are you okay, Miss?"
Gunfire pierced the silence, the light rick-a-tack of a machine gun, and the camera caught every second of the destruction. It was a massacre as the five boys who had stood so silently in the back, dressed in discreet white t-shirts and jeans, mowed down their fellow classmates who were blockaded in by the duel and the wall of bullets.
Jonouchi looked over at Kaiba whose eyes were fixated on the screen, tears already running down his face, with knuckles turning white from the force he was using to grip the armrest. He wasn't blinking or breathing. Jonouchi was worried and moved to take the remote off of Kaiba's knee.
"Don't." A single word order and Jonouchi's eyes returned to the TV. He could feel his eyes burning and he knew he would be joining Kaiba shortly in crying.
Kaiba and Yugi were on the far side of the room while their monsters, Blue Eyes White Dragon and Obelisk the Tormenter, hung in the air waiting for orders. They were using their duel disks as hammers, trying to break open the window. The glass wouldn't crack no matter how hard Kaiba hit it and Yugi couldn't get the window to budge open.
Video Kaiba looked away from the window and gave a frantic look around. Both boys watched in horror as Video Kaiba's face dropped as one of the shooters aimed their gun at Yugi's back and pulled the trigger.
"Yugi"
Yugi turned his body around to face Kaiba. "What?"
Kaiba's Blue Eyes surged forward suddenly but it didn't beat Obelisk who literally dove in front of its master. For such a solid looking fearing God, it was only air and the bullet passed through it and hit Yugi straight in the chest, right where his puzzle had once lay.
The scream Video Kaiba let out could have waked the dying and he sprung forward, blind with fury, too preoccupied to see that all six gunmen had their guns trained on him. He knocked one of the gunmen down and flipped him over to use him as a shield as the bullets rained down and pried the machine gun out of his grimy hands.
Jonouchi didn't want to watch the next part and so looked over to Kaiba to gauge his reaction. Kaiba had stopped crying and his blue eyes seemed to be sunken, like he had once again retreated into himself. The only sign that he wasn't a doll was the twisted smirk on his face as he watched himself shoot thousands of bullets into the five remaining gunmen.
The sound of guns ended and all was silent. The sound of birds chirping filled the audio of the video like some horrible ironic mistake and Jonouchi turned his eyes back to the TV.
Kaiba had walked over to Yugi and was collapsed next to him, holding his body on his lap. Yugi was struggling for breath, blood pouring out of his stomach, and Kaiba stared down at him like one would do with your own baby.
"You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay, " Kaiba mumbled, a mantra to try to keep him calm. "I'll call for backup and you'll be fine. You are going to live." He was fishing around in his pockets for his cell phone and he grabbed it, fumbling with the keys.
"Helicopter, second floor, playground. Now," he barked shakily and he set down the phone, combing his fingernails softly through Yugi's hair. "They'll be here in a few minutes,"
"I'm dying, Kaiba-kun."
"No you're not."
Yugi coughed and Kaiba positioned Yugi so he was more upright.
"I'm dying, Kaiba."
"You can't die," Kaiba whispered. " I wouldn't let you die."
"Can't you just accept things for once?" Yugi chided before moaning, hands moving to clutch his stomach.
"No. I can't accept defeat."
Yugi smiled.
Another gunshot rang out in the distance and Kaiba looked up, eying the door.
"They're nowhere near us. The helicopter will be here in just a minute. I can hear it."
"Don't lie," Yugi mumbled, closing his eyes, sighing.
"Don't go to sleep on me!" Kaiba yelled and he dropped his voice back down a whisper. " Please."
"You got what you wanted," he mumbled.
Kaiba looked at him confused. "What?"
"You've won."
Kaiba waited for Yugi to explain himself but no noise came out him. "What did I win?" he whispered. Yugi still didn't answer. " What'd I win, Yugi…" he shook the boy. "What'd I win…." He shook him harder. " What'd I fuckin win…? Answer me! Damnit! Answer me…ans…" his voice cracked and he was crying.
It hurt Jonouchi to watch Kaiba cry. The sobs literally looked like they were being wretched from his body and he was screaming nonsensical words, and he watched Kaiba bury his head into Yugi's shoulder.
"Why? What'd I ever do to deserve this," he muttered. "Why is he dead?" Kaiba looked up at Obelisk who was hovering in the air, the duel disk still on and activated. " Give him back to me! He doesn't deserve this! I do! I deserve this! I should be dead! I'm a horrible person and he's kind!" His yells were so frantic and eventually the blades of a rotator drowned him out as the helicopter hovered outside the window.
Jonouchi watched as the glass was shattered and two men descended on ropes through the window. He watched as they tried to drag Kaiba out who was slowly descending into shock, clutching Yugi's limp body like a teddy bear, blood staining his precious trench coat and hands. Finally the bigger one scooped him up and carried both Yugi and Kaiba out while both their decks were scooped up.
The image on the tape began to fade out and Jonouchi hit the pause button, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Are you okay, Kaiba?" he asked.
Kaiba didn't answer him immediately. "Yes."
Neither of them was okay and Jonouchi stood up to grab a box of tissues.
"He spited me in the end," Kaiba mumbled." I won…what a load of shit."
"It's true. You beat him. You lived."
Kaiba turned his steel gaze at Jonouchi and long had the dead eyes ended. He looked like a wild animal ready to attack. " It wasn't how I wanted to win."
Jonouchi could think of million of responses to that but all of them were likely to get him hurt.
"Come on. We're getting some food."
"I'm not hungry."
"Just come. You could use a break."
Kaiba followed Jonouchi reluctantly out of the door.
''''''''''' ''''''''''' ''''''''''' ''''''''''' ''''''
After Kaiba got a pot of coffee in his system, he looked almost human and Jonouchi led him back to the boardroom. Kaiba dragged his feet like he was dreading what would come next, body slouched like his spine no longer wanted to support him. The only part that looked normal to Jonouchi was Kaiba's eyes, which had returned back to being lively and hypnotic.
They took their seats and Jonouchi set the bowl of popcorn he had made on his lap. He grabbed the button and hit play without a single word exchanged between the two boys.
The death scene of Honda, Anzu, and Ryou was what played and Jonouchi watched it without shedding a tear or really thinking about it. All he thought was that it was extremely gross to watch and he wanted to fast forward. They had heard the shots and had run for the front door. The minute Anzu had stepped out the door; a fireball consumed her and spread down the hall along the wall, literally vaporizing Ryou and Honda. They were screaming and suddenly it stopped, the only sounds left was the plopping of the water dropping from the sprinkles in the ceiling, putting out the fire.
Jonouchi knew that he should have been feeling something. They were his friends, after all. But it really was feeling like he was a passive observer, watching a film. For god sakes, he was munching on popcorn while he watched a tape of his friends dying!
He never did feel a connection between any of them, that was how he justified his lack of response. They had similar interests and were outcasts and thus joined together and called it friendship. They were all so terrified of being alone that they pretended they had some beautiful friendship when Jonouchi would have never spent time with them if they weren't always around when he dueled. Anzu was linked to Yugi as was Ryou, and Yugi linked to himself and he to Honda. The only person he trusted in his little group was Yugi. It could have just been that they were the most alike, being duelists, but Yugi appealed to the side of him that wanted to be the protector like he could never be to his sister.
Besides their deaths were so quick and sudden, like if he looked away for a second, they were gone. It wasn't like Yugi's, which tugged on every heartstring because he was suffering and miserable.
Jonouchi looked over at Kaiba and saw the same expression that he probably was wearing except Kaiba was truly emotionless. He wasn't going to fool himself, Kaiba didn't care about the people who they had just watched die. Most likely, to Kaiba, they were deserving of it. All they ever do for him was preach his faults.
"Good?" Jonouchi asked.
Kaiba nodded and Jonouchi fast forward to the next scene. He saw the familiar blonde hair and both boys felt the stirrings of excitement as they realized they would be watching Mai's journey.
Mai had somehow been paired with all nine of the "Black Widows" and neither group looked happy about it as they entered their room. It was a small room with desks scattered around with boys sitting on the desks or leaning back in their chairs, balancing on its back legs. Seeing a spot in the back that was open, the duel occurred there.
The room full of only guys watched transfixed by the nine-on-one duel, which was ferocious. Kaiba was pleasantly surprised to find that Mai, even being horribly outnumbered, was creaming them with her multiplying Harpies. She was ordering her Harpies to finish them off when she stopped and looked away from her opponents.
The camera was in the front of the room like most of them had been and so the video looked more movie-like then it probably should have. She had no reason to look at the camera. There had been no noise or distractions from her duel. She looked scared and she dove for the ground before the first bullet was even fired.
Jonouchi and Kaiba exchanged surprised glances as people began to scream and the Black Widows looked around nervously, stone still. Mai's eyes were fixed on the figure that wasn't shown on the camera, still lying on the ground, ready to lunge behind the bookcase that was only a few feet from her.
Some male yelled something in English. Jonouchi didn't understand but he got the idea that it was a threat. Kaiba whispered to him its translation, "Get on your knees and no one get hurts" and from outside the range of the camera emerged the shooter. He shot his pistol in the air and people dressed like him, black ski mask and camouflage streamed in the room, each with a pistol on their belts along with a sharp knife.
It looked more like a robbery then a school shooting and all the kids fell off their desks and chairs and kneeled. The Black widows looked at each other for support and knelt; being careful to make sure their miniskirts covered them. Mai didn't budge from her position on her stomach.
"Listen up. No one dies as long as we get the girls. Clear?" Kaiba whispered in Japanese over the shooter's voice.
It made Jonouchi ill to see the boys nod. They were such chauvinistic pigs. You were always supposed to keep the ladies safe, no matter what. That included at risk of death for you.
The first shooter kept his gun level, waving it around to keep the thirty or so boys at bay as his comrades walked over to the girls who were shivering and crying.
"Oh, look here. Someone is not obeying,"
Mai wasn't kneeling as much as she looked like she was ready to pounce and run. She met the gunmen's eyes as he placed the barrel against her throat.
"Do you want to die, bitch?" one of them growled, using it to tip up her chin. She didn't answer and only gave them a crazed smile.
Sudden clicking of guns and they were aimed in every direction. Mai's eyes darted around and returned, taking in the scene.
"We'll kill them if you don't come with me," the lead shooter said and the shooters looked at him strangely. Kaiba realized it wasn't a part of the plan as he translated it for Jonouchi.
Mai's eyes went back to the nine girls who kneeled in front of her, guns placed to their head. They looked like the children they were, black streaks down their cheeks from their smeared make-up and she smiled at them. She stood up and walked over to them, the gun still trailing her.
"I don't like you. But I will not be your executor," she told them and turned to the gunmen. Her game face had returned, eyes shining and calculating. "Where do you want me?" she yelled in English.
He pointed to the door behind her, a small storage closet from the looks of it, and she walked in it, leaving the door open. The gunmen went to follow her and his friend caught his arm.
"Why are you going against the plan?"
"I want to fuck her as she bleeds," was his response.
Kaiba couldn't bear to translate that. Jonouchi could figure it out himself.
The door closed as he entered the closet and all the four remaining gunmen looked at the girls. They motioned for the girls to come to the center of the room where the boys were circled around.
"Strip," one of them yelled and the girls looked at each other confused. They didn't know English and a gunshot was shot off in warning. One of the girls wailed, her tears falling faster and on the side of the camera, Kaiba could see one of the boys in the circle trying to motion with his hands with they had to do. He was promptly killed.
Jonouchi had never seen girls get out of their clothes so fast. They stood naked in front of the boys who couldn't help but leer at them like perverts and the gunmen were licking their lips as if they were food, which they were. He had thought he would have enjoyed seeing nine hot girls naked in front of him, but all he wanted to do was to just throw up and tell them to put their clothes back on.
There was a noise from the closet that broke the silence and everyone looked at the closet in anticipation but it was silent. The guys turned their eyes to the girls and advanced towards them.
Jonouchi adverted his eyes, knowing what would come next. They were going to be raped and watched by boys who were too scared to stand up for what was right.
All the eyes were so focused on the girls that no one besides the camera noticed the closet door sliding open slightly and a thin gun barrel slipping into the crack. It fired and the gunmen went down, falling on top of one of the girls who screamed.
The gunmen panicked, shooting anything and everything and the two boys watched as all the boys, seven of the girls, and all but one gunman were killed in the resulting chaos. The gunmen just stared at the room in shock and the two girls, unbelieving that it had happened.
It was like he just woke from a bad dream and he almost looked sorry before Mai, who had snuck up behind him, stabbed him in the back, killing him. She watched him fall and pulled out the knife, wiping the blood off on the floor before walking over to the girls who cowered before her.
"Put your clothes on. We need to leave," she told them. Both girls blinked at her and she sighed, scooping up a few of the items of clothing and tossed it to them. " We don't have time to waste."
They were in shock and unable to respond. They looked like the dolls they had always pretended to be and Mai was about to yell at them again when she turned her head towards the door. Kaiba and Jonouchi hadn't heard any noise on the video but she must have because she dashed across the room, snatching up a few guns and climbing up on the cabinet that was stationed next to the door.
The two girls were virgin sacrifices in the center of the room and laughter could be heard from the hall. Kaiba saw the guys enter and saw the realization of the luck that had been bestowed upon them. It was only now that the girls picked up the clothes and covered themselves like they were ashamed and Mai shot the gun. It pierced one of the guy's skull and she shot again with the other gun, killing the other guy. The remaining guys looked around nervously, not knowing where the shots were coming from, not the most intelligent people around, and she shot again, picking a few more off. The three that were left shot at the top of the cabinet and Mai slid off the other side of the cabinet, landing solidly on the chair before launching herself at them with the knife. It was a repeat performance as she sliced her way through them.
She was bloody and slightly bruised when she walked over to the girls who were staring at her wide-eyed. " It's alright. Get…"
Two shots. They hit the girls and Mai spun around to see one boy, dying, clutching his guns and firing them off. She growled and easily dodged the next bullet he shot off as she walked towards him. She stomped on his wrist and the sound of bone crushing continued as she kicked him over and over again until he was long dead.
She climbed over his body, and snatched from one of his belt loops a tiny hatchet. Giving a parting glance at the two girls, she walked to the door and peeked out to see the hallway. Mai sighed and left the room.
It took awhile for the camera to cut to her walking down the hallway but the audio picked up immediately. Jonouchi can keep her muttering to herself to not panic, to keep breathing, you'll be fine, as she descended down the hallway.
When the camera cut to her, Mai was seen peeking into doorways, checking to see what happened. Many of the rooms contained slain people and the only ones she stopped at were so she could kill the dying survivors. She would shoot them from the doorway without any apologies or graces and move on, storming down the hallway.
In the distance, the explosion could be heard that had killed Anzu, Ryou and Honda, and Mai stopped to watch it through one of the windows. The entire wing of building was consumed by fire and she picked up her pace, sprinting.
She got to the main hallway where four sets of double doors sat. Two led to the outdoors and the other two led to different wings. She paused and walked to each window, peering out to see if there were bombs.
The two that went outdoors were the last bombs to go off and she avoided them. However, there was a door that lay just in the west wing that had a door that led outside which was oddly enough not wired. It had been one of the few doors that hadn't been, Kaiba remembered from his research, and he could see that Mai saw that as well. And yet she just shrugged and went into the other wing where there were no doors and shooting could be heard clearly. It was the place that Jonouchi had been.
Jonouchi leaned forward as the camera followed her down the hallway. She shot anything that got in her way and it looked like a video game because of the ease that it all happened. Her and the gun seemed to be made for each other, like she was a professional, and she reached the auditorium. She ran down the aisle, jumping over the bodies and leaped onto the stage, following the exact path Jonouchi had taken.
She reached the door and she opened it, firing on the guy who had the gun to Jonouchi's throat. So far, it was the same as Jonouchi's dream down to the same expression and words that she had said to him, and Jonouchi scooted even closer to the TV, nose nearly brushing against the screen. The camera was on the doors so he had the view of Mai's back and the question he needed to know was going to be answered.
He watched the guy sneak up on her. He desperately wanted to scream to warn her away as it was placed to her back, and he saw the small finger pull the trigger. Her body jolted and she fell.
Kaiba clamped his hand over Jonouchi's mouth before his scream could wake up the entire house and Jonouchi watched wide-eyed as she rolled, landing in a crouch and she threw the hatchet at the guy. It struck him in the center of his forehead and he went down.
"She was shot, right?" Jonouchi questioned, pausing the video.
Kaiba nodded.
"That bitch! She lied to me. How'd she survive it?"
Kaiba rolled his eyes. " You didn't notice that she looked a bit bulkier on the top?"
"Uh…no."
"She was wearing a bulletproof vest."
"Oh…well, when did she put it on? We didn't see her do that."
Kaiba sighed; amazed by the way Jonouchi seemed to mess details. " There is layover in the tape. There is a good ten minutes that passed between her seeing the girls die and her walking the hallway."
"I can't believe she would lie to me about that."
"Well she didn't," Jonouchi looked at him surprised. " Being shot suggests the bullet hit her. It didn't hit her. Therefore she was not shot."
"But…"
"Lying is all about the wording, Jonouchi. I didn't lie to you. I just led you to believe something other then the truth." Mai's voice surfaced out of the darkness and they could see her pale violet eyes illuminated in the moonlight in the doorway.
"How long have you been watching?" Kaiba asked.
"Long enough to know things I didn't already know," was her coy response. Her face and body was hidden by the darkness but her thin elegant fingers could be seen tapping against the wooden doorframe.
"That's lying, Mai."
"I don't see it that way, Jonouchi. Sorry if it hurts your feelings."
Silence and the tape stopped, unfreezing from pause, and the entire room went black except for the moonlight streaming through the window.
"I'm not going to apologize if that's what you are waiting for. You are both watching a tape that shows things I haven't told anyone without even telling me. You could have asked if you wanted to know or could have asked before you went ahead and watched my personal drama play before you. But again, I don't want apologizes. What's done is done. I'll talk to you both in the morning."
She disappeared out of the doorway suddenly and Kaiba spoke, assuming she was probably still in ear shot. " If we had asked, would you have told us?"
"Probably not," was her delayed response that echoed throughout the hall, reaching their ears and Jonouchi hit the play button on the remote.
It didn't work and he stood up to see what was wrong.
There was no tape in the VCR anymore.
Author's Note: I hope I didn't disappoint too much with the flashback scene. You will get the rest of Mai's story from her perspective. The way I was looking at it, I have led up to the parts that were already known and soon, maybe next chapter, I will get to all the events that were the precursor to the photo of Mai, dragging Jonouchi through the flames.
Now to answer some questions
God and the purpose of the videosShizuka wants to believe that it was fate that caused the shooting. Isis would say the same. But Kaiba was not born to follow the path that was set out for him. He is someone who is very analytical and obsessive, so of course, he would get his hands on the only real piece of evidence there is and watch it, hoping to find some answers for what happened.
I think that is how most people deal with crisis and life-altering events. Look at the recent London bombings. What does the news do immediately? They begin to question what happened and try to find things that will tell why it did. Kaiba has the same mindset of "I must know what happened so when it happens again, I shall come out the winner and survive."
Then there is the opposite approach, which is that of God. I remember vaguely after 9/11, which was a sort of blur in my life because I was going through my anorexic phase at the time and was more concerned with not being put in a psych ward, that some people were declaring it as the end of the world. We're all going to die. That's the fate approach like something is definite and there is no way to change it.
Which way is correct? I should be saying both, but the analytical approach is the only one that is applicable in life. We do have to accept the things we can't change but everything after such an event changes and we change with it. We must change for the better.
On the subject of God, the story does contain God, the dueling cards. And in a sudden moment of brilliance, I decided to go on a metaphor that was on my mind. I have noticed that in the series, The God cards are treated almost like Gods. They are indestructible and people look at them in such fear and awe. Everyone wants to have them in their lives but no one can obtain them because they are not God themselves. Yugi, in essence, is God on the dueling field. He is the King of Games, having the fate he always wants coming to him.
I thought it was interesting how the cards become real. In the Doom Arc, they were throwing out their cards to battle Dartz's forces and this also occurred in several other episodes. It's like, in the duelists minds, their cards become a real force like an axe to battle the forces of evil. They become human and that is why God was the card Yugi had on the field when the shooting began.
God is supposed to be almighty. He is supposed to be caring and giving and do the right thing. People are always declaring his presence as real although they can't sense him. They want to assume that God will save them if they get in danger, not realizing it is they who must save themselves. I wanted to show in that scene, when Obelisk jumps in front of Yugi to block the bullet, the limitations of God. God is not real. He is not solid. He is not anything but our imagination at work. The bullet passed right through Obelisk and hit Yugi. God had no power in the shooting. God has no power over human action. God had no power to change fate.
If I have offended anyone who does believe in God, I apologize. Most of what I said was more metaphorical then saying he doesn't exist, or at least I hope it appears that way. I am agnostic if it explains my position in any way. Agnostic, in case you didn't know (which I didn't until someone explained it to me and I was like, oh…that's what I am), means you don't know if God exists. And since you can't prove it, you don't worship God. If someone were to prove to you God was real, you'd be like "That's great." His existence or lack of existence has no effect on your life.
Reactions to Tape
I chose to show a lot of the death scenes as Kaiba and Jonouchi watching a tape because it gave it a more split feeling. Death is important but what is more important is the reactions the survivors have to it. The normally stoic Kaiba is finally getting in touch with his emotions and thus can be a good narrator for what is happening in the tape because he observes everything and applies it to himself. That is why he makes the comments about himself and about the little gang of Yugi's friends. When we watch ourselves on tape, going about our daily lives, we are able to notice the things we never see before. Kaiba sees how others perceive him as, the arrogant billionaire, and it disgusts him. He sees past the façade of Yugi's friends and sees the rag-tag gang of misfits who hang together out of necessity of belonging somewhere, not because they are friends.
Jonouchi is Kaiba's antithesis to the tape. While Jonouchi is more in touch with what he feels then Kaiba, he isn't Mr. Emotional. He hides what is feeling but yet in the scene, Kaiba is the one who breaks down and is crying and reverts back into a shell-shocked state while Jonouchi just stares ahead, watching it like it was a movie. He doesn't cry over his own friend's deaths and does cry at Yugi's although he is still more composed then Kaiba is. The only strong emotion Jonouchi feels during the viewing is anger and that is because he was lied to. I think that Jonouchi isn't heartless but I think he deals better with the prospect of death better then Kaiba. Kaiba has no reason to cry because they weren't his friends but at the same time, the people who Kaiba fixates on are closer then friends or rivals but a section of his soul. He loses a piece of himself when Yugi dies. Jonouchi, his friends are his friends, but they aren't a part of him and so he notices they are missing in his life but it doesn't affect him except a bit of sadness and nostalgia. He is also the only one who has had some time to come to terms with Yugi's death. Sure, he isn't very far along in the grief process but he is doing much better then Mai who was ignoring it and is slowly getting closer to owning up to what she did and her emotions, and Kaiba who spent a week comatose then suddenly sprung up and threw himself back in his work and/or his obsession to discover the truth.
I didn't show Mai's reaction. I see her reaction as Jonouchi and Kaiba see her in the last scene. She is standing in the door, shrouded in darkness with only the paleness of her skin and the white of her eyes showing up. She is bathed in darkness just like the mystery that surrounds her being. They can't see much of her and neither can the reader. There are hints to what she is feeling; mainly in the first chapter and a few when she speaks. Overall, what we do know is that she does feel something. Although she didn't know anyone before the shooting, she has seen them. She does know a bit about them. She could have formed attachments prior to the shooting.
Just to tell you, the last sentence was a huge hint. Take it and run with it….after you review.