Notes: Thanks goes to Black Salem, who inspired the idea of Valon's next returning memory!
Chapter Nine
Leonhard sighed, looking sleepily out the window of the airplane. He did not especially like the idea of journeying to Domino City, but it seemed that Pegasus had called a meeting of his business associates, to determine what they were going to do about the bad publicity that their companies were getting. Some tabloids were reporting that it was likely Siegfried's fault and that he was trying to discredit KaibaCorp, because of what he had done during the Grand Prix. But that would not even make sense, since the Von Schraider company and Industrial Illusions were suffering bad publicity as well.
He looked up at Siegfried, who appeared to be deep in thought. "What are we going to do, elder brother?" the boy asked worriedly. Leonhard thought that he actually looked concerned.
Siegfried frowned. "I don't know," he replied.
The man leaned back, looking down at the rose he was holding. He truly was concerned. He had not expected that his actions would still be causing repercussions now, though he supposed that he should not be surprised. But if neither he, Pegasus, nor Seto Kaiba had unleashed the Duel Monsters, then what was the explanation? He was not a superstitious man, and he did not believe the rumors that the creatures were real. However, he was not as firmly set in his ways as Seto had been, where matters of the supernatural were concerned. If he learned the truth, he would be more inclined than Seto to calmly accept it.
Leonhard sighed sadly and turned to look out the window again. There was a strange green light outside, and he watched it with fascination and curiosity. It was so bright and pulsing, almost as if it was signaling to someone. He remembered hearing reports of such lights being seen around the world during a time shortly before the Grand Prix tournament had been organized. What was it? No one had ever determined that, to his knowledge. But it had never been seen since. Why was it here now?
Siegfried glanced over at the boy. "Leonhard?" he asked after a moment, when it seemed that Leonhard was lost deep in thought. The child ignored him, continuing to gaze at the light in the sky.
"What are you looking at?" he queried, raising his voice a bit. Leonhard still did not respond. Siegfried raised an eyebrow. Leonhard was not prone to disregarding him in this way. On the contrary, the boy loved it when Siegfried paid attention to him and would always acknowledge his elder brother. The businessman had to wonder what sort of "spell" the light had put over Leonhard, though of course he did not take this possibility seriously.
At last the magenta-haired child turned to face him again. Siegfried stared in disbelief as he took note of the way the gentle, hazel eyes were now flashing crimson. As he had not encountered such supernatural things in the past, he was completely confused now and had no idea what to make of this. "What is the matter?" he demanded, reaching to grasp Leonhard's shoulders.
The boy slapped his hands away and stood up, glaring down at him with the blank, vacant eyes of a stranger. "Don't touch me!" he cried. "I hate you! I hate you, and I'm going to kill you!" With that he drew a pocketknife and lunged, and Siegfried only barely managed to get out of the way in time to avoid being stabbed.
From his new position on the floor, he regarded Leonhard with disbelief. He wanted to say that this was not his brother speaking, because he knew that Leonhard loved him, but what other explanation was there? Had he been hypnotized in some way by the light he had been gazing at? Siegfried frowned. It was not supposed to be possible to hypnotize someone unless they gave their permission, nor was it supposed to be possible for them to do anything under hypnosis that they would not do normally. Still . . . how could this truly be the sweet, quiet brother who had looked up to him?
"Leonhard, you don't want to do this." Siegfried spoke quietly and calmly, searching Leonhard's red eyes desperately for any trace of the boy he knew. Slowly he got to his knees, where he was more at eye-level with the child.
Leonhard glared back at him, the knife held firmly in his hand. "Yes, I do!" he yelled, advancing until he had the knife ready to jab into Siegfried's throat. "You've never been a good brother. I hate what you've done! Now no one trusts us or the company. I even have a hard time getting into dueling tournaments now because everyone knows my real last name is Von Schraider instead of Wilson! They don't want any Von Schraiders to enter their tournaments!" His eyes flashed dangerously, even as he struggled to break the control the Orichalcos was exercising over him. He could not understand why he was being forced to say and do these things against his will. What would happen if he was not able to get himself under control? Panic swept over him.
Siegfried gazed at the child, admittedly stung by his words. Part of him had to wonder if this was truly how Leonhard did feel. He would not blame the boy if he was angry over what Siegfried's actions during the Grand Prix had caused, but in any case, he could not believe that Leonhard wanted him dead. Something was very wrong here, and the only semi-logical conclusion that Siegfried could come to was the afore-mentioned hypnosis. He was about to speak when Leonhard cut him off.
"I don't want to hear what you have to say!" the boy snapped. "It's all lies and nonsense! All you care about is being better than Seto Kaiba. You never cared about anything else!" He jabbed the edge of the knife against Siegfried's neck, very nearly drawing blood. Siegfried knew that he had to stay calm, even though inwardly he did not feel the least bit calm.
"That isn't true!" he retorted now. "I won't deny that I want to be better than him, but it isn't the only thing I care about." He looked firmly into Leonhard's eyes. "I care about you as well, younger brother."
"It's just a lie!" Leonhard wailed, moving to slit Siegfried's throat. Immediately the man took hold of his brother's wrist, forcing the knife away from him. He hoped that he could get the weapon away without a fight, because he was afraid of injuring Leonhard if they fought for control of it.
The boy narrowed his eyes, trying to pull his arm free. Siegfried tightened his grip and reached to completely restrain him, but then hissed in pain as Leonhard cut into his arm. Trying to ignore it, he got both of his arms around the child from behind and then again tried to wrench the knife away. Leonhard yelled, struggling to free himself, but Siegfried held him firmly.
"What has come over you, younger brother!" Siegfried cried, even as the knife dropped from Leonhard's grasp to fall harmlessly on the carpeted floor. Then the boy was trembling in his arms and Siegfried realized that Leonhard was sobbing. After a moment Siegfried could make out choked words amid the tears.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Elder brother, I didn't mean to hurt you! I didn't mean to at all!" The crystalline drops fell uncontrollably from Leonhard's eyes as he continued to shudder in Siegfried's embrace. The horror and confusion he felt over what had happened was immense. He had never wanted to hurt Siegfried, but he knew he had. He could see his brother's blood dripping to the floor. He had done that. "I don't understand what happened, elder brother! I . . . I didn't want to do this! I didn't. . . ."
Siegfried continued to hold him close, allowing himself to relax now. "I know," he said quietly. "It's alright, Leonhard. I know." He fully believed the boy. Leonhard's remorse was obviously genuine. But Siegfried was still extremely baffled, as he knew Leonhard must also be. He could not imagine what could have caused this, but now was not the time to ask. Leonhard was much too distraught. Siegfried would wait until the child was calm, and then he would ask about what had happened.
Vivalene smirked to herself, leaning back at her desk and enjoying the luxury of knowing that she was running the infamous Paradius corporation from its secret location. She was not the ultimate leader of Doom Reborn, but she was among the most trusted officers and she fully intended to work her way completely up the ladder. The one whose brainchild was the rebirth of the Doom organization was not known to any of the members. None of them had even ever seen the person, to Vivalene's knowledge. They answered only to her, and she in turn answered to the one who spoke with the leader.
She leaned forward with interest as a new email came in, and she read it with a wickedly pleased sneer. "So, things are going according to plan," she smiled, unbuttoning her powder blue suit jacket and draping it over the back of the chair. "The Orichalcos is everywhere now, and it looks like this new strain has some surprising effects that even I didn't predict. I knew it would be helpful to employ Doctor Alice Portman."
With a sigh she noticed another window flashing at the bottom of the screen, this one for the program that was connected with the security cameras. Interested, she clicked on it and looked over the information. "Well, what do we have here," she murmured, studying the black-and-white images taken by the camera. "It looks like we have visitors. I guess I'll have to show them that it isn't nice to enter without being invited." She laughed to herself then, as she stood up. "Doom Reborn will give them a warm welcome."
Valon perked up when he heard the noise in the basement. He frowned, looking in the direction of the closed door. "What was that?" he asked aloud. The cat was still in the kitchen with him and Raphael, so she could not have been responsible—not that Valon thought that a feline could have made such a loud clatter in the first place.
Raphael was also looking toward the door. He was still sitting at the table, having just finished his breakfast of scrambled eggs. "I don't know," he growled. "It sounded like glass shattering."
Before Valon could reply, the door was abruptly kicked in as Rocky entered the room. Both bikers gawked at him in disbelief. Raphael wondered who on earth this violent person was, while Valon wondered how Rocky had ever tracked him here. Quickly the brunette got up, feeling somewhat annoyed that the man had barged in like this.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded defensively, his blue eyes narrowing as his gaze fell upon the mace that Rocky was clutching in his hands. The spiked sphere was one of the gang leader's favorite weapons, and Valon knew that Rocky could cause more than his fair share of disaster with it. He clenched a fist.
"Whaddya think, you traitor?" Rocky retorted, shoving the mace dangerously toward Valon. "I'm here for you. I guess you thought you could just come back here without getting any of us ticked off. Well, you were wrong, Aussie!"
Now Raphael gathered that the intruder was the Rocky whom Valon had spoken of. He stood as well, quite angry with this development. He was about to speak when Valon did, instead.
"Don't tie yourself in knots, mate," the Australian snapped. "You've got it all wrong. I just met a bloke last night and he wanted me to come back with him . . . to visit. It's not like I'm stayin' here or somethin'." He was not certain if his words were the truth or not. After what had happened earlier, he had started to feel doubtful about being here, but he had not completely decided against it. The dreams he had been having right before this had happened were still vivid in his mind. But in any case, his words to Rocky were spoken in the hopes that the purple-haired man would not allow his temper to get the best of him and attack Raphael . . . or Alister, if the redhead came downstairs again.
Rocky glowered. "And how do I know that's the truth?" he said darkly, looking from Valon to Raphael and back again. Raphael looked strong, but Rocky was not concerned. He fought tough musclemen opponents all the time and won.
"Because I said so!" Valon retorted, feeling his temper growing short. "Look, I'll come back with you now, if that's what you want." For some reason, even though he was now more confused than ever, he did not want Rocky to harm the people who lived here. They did not deserve that.
Rocky's upper lip curled. "It's too late for that, Aussie," he snapped. "I gave you a mission and you didn't complete it like you were told to. Instead you came home with these losers. Well, I don't take kindly to it. You're comin' with me, and these sorry punks you've been stayin' with are gonna end up bleedin' on the floor!" He clutched the mace tighter as he moved to lunge at Raphael.
The tough blonde moved out of the way, his eyes narrowed darkly. "I don't have any plans to die today," he announced, "and you would do well to not try to make me lose my temper. You're not going to be taking Valon anywhere with you." He was furious that this stranger had broken into the home, but more so, he found it strange that Rocky had known to come here to find Valon. Had the boy not said that the gang did not know anything about him? They would not know where he lived or that he could have come home with Alister . . . unless Rocky was not telling everything. Perhaps Rocky did indeed know Valon's identity, but had never revealed it for whatever reason.
Rocky cursed at him, but then his attention was diverted as Alister wandered down the stairs. The gray-eyed man had, indeed, heard all the commotion. Realizing what must be happening, he had left his room to see if he could do anything to help. When he caught sight of Rocky, he barely had time to react before the gang leader was lunging at him.
In the next moment Rocky was flying through the air, courtesy of Raphael, who had grabbed him around the waist from behind and thrown him to the floor. The older man glared down at him coldly, reaching to take the mace away. "Don't even try to hurt him," he growled in a warning tone.
Valon stared at this, his own blue eyes wide. Abruptly another memory came to mind, of Raphael doing the same thing to Alister. Then in his mind he saw Raphael roughly pressing him, Valon, against the wall. He was not aware of this, but his hands were shaking. What sort of strange existence had they been leading? It was disturbing enough when he remembered about Alister attacking him and Raphael, but now this other unpleasant memory was being dredged up as well. Raphael had attacked him too, and Alister, and from the memory it appeared that Alister had not been controlled by any Orichalcos force. Raphael had simply been fighting him and Valon mercilessly, without good reason. Subconsciously the Australian took a step back.
Now Alister was darkly looking at Rocky as well. "How did you know to come here?" he asked, voicing Raphael's own thoughts. The redhead felt that it was much too strange to be a coincidence.
He frowned when he noticed Valon moving away slightly. He doubted that the boy was nervous because of Rocky, so he assumed that it had to be something else—most likely because of the memories he had been experiencing earlier. Naturally Alister could not know that Valon was now starting to feel uneasy towards Raphael, so the gray-eyed man assumed that Valon was still thinking of when Alister had been possessed by the Orichalcos. Alister had to wonder if Valon would ever trust him again. If he never regained the rest of his memories, perhaps he never would.
The gang leader started to make an angry retort to Alister's query when he saw Raphael dangling the mace in his face. Then he gave a low curse. It appeared that, at least for the moment, he was stranded.
"I'd suggest you talk," Raphael said coldly. "This isn't the kind of thing we take kindly to around here." Alister nodded in agreement.
Valon swallowed hard, watching this but feeling detached and overwhelmed with his confusion. What he truly wanted to do was to leave the house and just go somewhere to be alone for a while so he could think all of this out. But as long as Rocky was here, he knew he could not. It would be cowardly to leave his problem with Alister and Raphael. And besides, if he could concentrate on the present long enough, he wanted to know how Rocky had ended up here as well.
Seto walked down the hall of the local branch of Industrial Illusions, trying to ignore the images of Toon monsters gracing the walls and the statues of the blasted creatures that were set up at intervals all along the way. He growled inwardly at the displeasing sight. Pegasus hasn't changed one bit, he thought to himself. He actually had not seen the man since the events that had taken place during Doom, and he was quite satisfied with that. But now Pegasus was in town and he had called a meeting with his main business partners, and that of course included Seto. With an annoyed glance around the hall, he flung open the designated door to the conference room. He knew that Siegfried Von Schraider would also be attending, and that was something he was absolutely not looking forward to.
Pegasus stood to greet Seto as the teenager entered the room. "Kaiba-boy!" he exclaimed with a smile. "It's been such a long time, hasn't it."
Seto growled in annoyance. "Not long enough," he retorted, casting his gaze around the room. "Where's the third member of this little get-together?" He hated that he had to be here, but there was nothing he could do about it. He doubted that they would come to any conclusions about the problem in their meeting, however. A Curse of Dragon, roaring outside the window, seemed to be agreeing with Seto's thoughts. There was little that the three businessmen could come up with to quell the public's concerns about the creatures, especially since none of them knew how to explain it. But somehow they did have to prove that none of them had caused this problem for "publicity," or other reasons. Siegfried Von Schraider would probably have the most difficult time with that, due to his past actions.
Pegasus shook his head in mock disappointment. "Oh dear, Kaiba-boy, you're still so grouchy." He gestured idly about the room. "As for Siegfried, he seems to be a bit delayed. But then, I guess he always has been, hasn't he?" He smirked a bit at his jibe. "After all, you beat him to coming here with your designs for holographic technology."
Seto grunted. He agreed with Pegasus's statement, though he would never show it. With a thump of finality he set his briefcase on the long conference table. "Speaking ill of your business partners when they're not around, I see," he commented then. "I wonder what you say about me." His blue eyes narrowed with this sarcastic remark. Naturally Seto could not care less what Pegasus said about him.
"Oh, I merely tell the truth," Pegasus smirked, "that you're a tense CEO with no time or interest in having fun. You know, even Siegfried knows how to relax at times, though he doesn't care for cartoons." He looked up as the door opened again. Seto turned around as well.
Siegfried was standing in the doorway, looking slightly weary. He was as flamboyant as always, wearing a trademark purple suit along with a white ruffled shirt and a red scarf about his neck. His right arm was in a sling, prompting both Seto and Pegasus to wonder what had happened, and Leonhard was at the man's side, looking unusually nervous and uncomfortable. Leonhard's presence there was not odd, as he had accompanied Siegfried when they had first been going to make the business deal with Pegasus. What was odd, however, was the child's behavior.
"Pardon my tardiness," Siegfried smiled, closing the door behind them. "There was an . . . incident."
Pegasus clucked his tongue. "Dear me, it certainly looks like it," he exclaimed. "Do tell us what happened! I'm certain we're both highly curious."
Seto rolled his eyes. "Speak for yourself," he grunted. "I couldn't care less."
Siegfried smirked at him. "Your attitude has not improved since our last meeting, Herr Kaiba." He glanced at Pegasus. "As for what happened, it was simply a misfortune with a knife."
Seto noticed how Leonhard looked down at the floor gloomily as Siegfried spoke. He frowned slightly, wondering what the child knew about the "misfortune." He knew that Leonhard adored his elder brother, much the same way that Mokuba adored him, so he knew that the boy must be worried about Siegfried's well-being. And yet, it seemed as if there was something more. Leonhard almost looked . . . guilty, Seto realized. Why?
Pegasus shook his head. "My, but those things are dangerous," he said.
"Quite so." Siegfried sat down at the table, obviously not intending to offer any more information on the subject. Leonhard sat down next to him, looking as though he wished the chair would swallow him up. Continuing to frown suspiciously, Seto sat down as well.
Pegasus shrugged, also taking a seat. "I do hope it didn't cause any serious damage," he said, though both Seto and Siegfried somewhat doubted the sincerity of this comment.
"Not at all," Siegfried responded with a casual air, glancing at Leonhard as he spoke. Almost, Seto thought, as if he's trying to convince his brother of that. "And at least it wasn't my left arm," the pink-haired man continued, leaning back in the chair.
"Ah yes," Pegasus nodded. "That's right, you are left-handed, aren't you."
He looked over at Leonhard. "And how are you today, Leonhard?" he asked. "You just don't seem to be your normally cheerful self."
The boy looked up with a start before remembering fully where he was. Then he gave a weak smile. "I'm alright," he mumbled.
"He is shaken over the fact that I was injured," Siegfried explained.
"Of course," Pegasus nodded. Another roar from the Curse of Dragon seemed to remind the CEO of Industrial Illusions exactly why they were gathered there. "Well, we'd best get down to business," he announced then. "It looks like these monsters aren't going to go away any time soon, and we're continuing to take the blame for their existence."
Seto grunted. "There's little we can do to change the public's minds," he said flatly.
"So true, sadly," Pegasus agreed with a sigh, "but we still have to try something."
"What we should do is try to find out who is responsible," Siegfried spoke up calmly. Subconsciously he rubbed at his arm where the bandage was. The wound was paining him, but he doubted that it was very serious. It would heal quickly. He was only wearing the sling to humor Leonhard. "Whoever it is must reverse the process before even more damage is done."
Seto growled to himself. As much as he wanted to believe that a mortal person had done this, he had been forced to accept that the monsters were real. He had no idea who could even reverse the process, now that Atemu was gone. "I think," he spoke up now, "we should focus our energy on the Paradius corporation."
"Paradius?" Siegfried and Pegasus exclaimed at once.
Seto nodded firmly. "Last night I got an anonymous phone call," he said flatly, "and the caller said that an old enemy was returning and might try to take my company. Well, then I looked through the newspaper and found an article telling about the return of the Paradius Corporation." With that he unlocked his briefcase and removed the paper in question, tossing it down onto the table for the others to examine.
"Hmm, Paradius," Pegasus murmured, remembering the name all too well. "They're the ones who wanted to 'purify' the world by taking people's souls and feeding them to their great mythical beast." He looked over the article, not noticing or else not caring how Siegfried and Leonhard were both staring at him in disbelief. Paradius was the last company that Pegasus wanted to see rise again. He still remembered the acute pain as his soul had been ripped from his body at the close of his duel with Mai Valentine. Now he knew how his own victims must have felt during Duelist Kingdom.
"These people sound quite mad," Siegfried commented, leaning forward to see the article himself.
"Indeed," Pegasus agreed. "Anyway, when Paradius came to power before, there was a time when Duel Monsters were seen appearing all over the world." He leaned back in his chair. "The entire reason that Kaiba-boy here organized his infamous Grand Prix tournament was because of how his company's reputation suffered from the Paradius fiasco."
"Yes," Siegfried nodded, "I remember hearing about the KaibaCorp takeover shortly before the tournament." He frowned slightly, suddenly remembering something. "Wasn't that when those strange green lights began appearing as well?"
Leonhard perked up at this. Perhaps now there would be an explanation for his strange behavior. But he shuddered, feeling disturbed by the images entering his mind due to Pegasus's explanation of the Paradius company's objective. To think that anyone could be so delusional was frightening.
Seto narrowed his eyes at Siegfried. "Unfortunately," he confirmed. "The beams were sent out by a card used only by the members of Paradius—the Seal of Orichalcos."
"The card's powers did strange things to the wielders," Pegasus continued. "According to them, the Orichalcos would test them to prove if they were pure of heart or evil. They didn't realize that they were actually being corrupted by the Orichalcos, which was also a stone as well as a card."
"Corrupted?" Leonhard spoke for the first time, feeling sick at the thought. He wanted to believe that such things only happened in his fairy tale stories, but Pegasus and Seto were talking as if it all was real—and that they had been witnesses to it. At the time of the rise of Paradius, Leonhard had been confused and mystified by the reports of Duel Monsters and strange lights, but Siegfried had brushed it away as nonsense. Now he wondered if they were going to have to consider the possibility of it all being real. He could not help remembering how he had felt when he had looked into the green light.
"Why, yes," Pegasus nodded, looking at the child in surprise. "It would bring out the darkness in their hearts and twist it."
Leonhard slumped back in despair, tears coming to his eyes. "That's . . . that's what happened to me!" he wailed. He knew it had to be. The green light—the Orichalcos—had taken hold of his senses and warped the dark part of his heart until he was behaving in ways that he would never dream of if he was in his right mind. That was the explanation for his actions, and Leonhard did not like it one bit.
Instantly all eyes were upon him. "What do you mean, Leonhard?" Pegasus demanded.
The child leaped up from where he was sitting and ran for the door. "I hurt my brother!" he screamed back, struggling to get the heavy door open even as the businessmen stared at him in shock and then as Siegfried got up to go to him. "I'm the one who stabbed him! I tried to kill him!" He could no longer contain the truth. It haunted him. How could his brother even still care about and trust him after this? Leonhard was certain that he did not deserve it. At last he pushed the door open and fled down the hall, the tears spilling over. Behind him he could hear Siegfried calling to him, but he did not stop.
Marik looked up and down the long corridor furtively. He did not think that anyone was watching, but he knew that he could be wrong and that it was unwise to make assumptions. It was probably unwise for him and Mokuba to be in the building in the first place, he knew, but the child had ran in before Marik had been able to stop him. Now Marik could not even find the direction the child had traveled in. Calling for him was out of the question, so the Egyptian boy continued to wander the halls, checking in all the rooms and slowly getting over his surprise at seeing various Duel Monsters in most every one.
Blast it! he yelled silently. Where is he, and what is this place? Why are the Duel Monsters congregating here? He noticed two Dark Magician Girls blinking curiously at him and then he had to wonder if they were going to report his presence to whatever humans might be lurking about. He had not seen any security cameras. As a matter of fact, the building seemed old and deserted, and much of it was damaged, burned, and charred from an apparent fire. Now that he thought of it, he remembered Mokuba emailing him while he and his siblings were still in Egypt and telling him about the building catching on fire and burning.
Abruptly a familiar cry ripped through the air and Marik immediately perked up. "Mokuba!" he exclaimed, forgetting to be quiet. He ran down the hall in the direction of the sound and then had to stop short in amazement, utterly bewildered.
Mokuba had been pulled back against an unknown man with golden eyes and flowing turquoise hair. The man had clapped a hand over Mokuba's mouth to keep him from screaming again and the child was struggling, desperate to tear free of the captor's grasp. "Let him go!" Marik cried indignantly.
As the man raised his gaze to meet Marik's, the Egyptian was stunned to see the depth revealed in the orbs. This man had seen many horrible things over the years. That much was obvious. Marik stared, feeling both his confusion and fascination growing. Who was this man? What had he lived through?
"Neither of you should be here," the man said quietly, his voice tinged with irritation and an accent that Marik could not place. "It was foolish to come."
Now Mokuba managed to shove the hand away from his mouth. "Oh yeah?" he cried angrily. "Why are you here, Dartz! You're not supposed to be here either! Maybe you're the one responsible for all of this, just like last time!" He knew that he and Marik had been wondering if Dartz was the one who had placed the phone call to Seto Kaiba, but even if he had, that did not mean that he was not responsible in some way for what was going on now. With him, it was always impossible to know what his agenda was.
Marik was stunned. "You're Dartz!" he exclaimed. Even though he had been told what Dartz looked like, he had still not been prepared for what he had just found. Marik had expected a hardened, ruthless being. Instead he saw before him a tired and weary man who looked as though he had seen enough acts of treachery for ten lifetimes.
"Yes," was the reply. "For good or ill, I am he."