Author's Note: Yay! I managed to traumatize some fragile psyches in the last chapter! Mwahahaha! I apologize for none of it!
Virtually Yours
Byte Me
Joey leaned against the gray stone wall, wishing he could wash his eyes out. That had been more than he'd ever wanted to see of either Pegasus or Dartz - even if the Pegasus and Dartz in question were just game characters whose resemblance might only end at the face. He'd never seen that much skin on the real Pegasus and Dartz - thank goodness - so he had no way of knowing for certain how alike the game characters were. But the point was, he wasn't supposed to think about either of those two without clothes - whether inside the game or out!
Watching Seto to get his mind off of Pegasus and Dartz, Joey had to smile a little. Seto was doing the best to maintain a poker face, but a small muscle in his cheek was twitching spasmodically. He reminded Joey of a volcano; the pressure would just keep building up inside, and eventually it would explode fantastically. What surprised Joey, though, was that Seto hadn't given the order to have the Vampire Lords deleted immediately.
Joey moved to stand by Seto, figuring he might need some company. Without appearing to give any thought to it, Seto slid an arm around Joey and pulled him closer. A Seto Kaiba that willingly indulged in physical contact? Something was definitely bothering the guy. "Hey, you want to talk about it?" Joey asked, leaning against Seto's side.
"They knew us," Seto muttered. His brow furrowed as he worked through his thoughts. "A game character shouldn't have memories. They just exist to follow their script. They don't have pasts or futures. Someone is playing Dr. Frankenstein in my game, mutt."
The door opened, and Pegasus stepped out, hand hovering over the hilt of his sword. Joey breathed a silent prayer of thanks to see that he was dressed. Black leather pants and a white ruffled shirt made a stark contrast to the flamboyant Pegasus Joey knew in the real world. Behind him, Joey caught a glimpse of Dartz in similar attire. Seeing Pegasus's hand trembling slightly, Joey felt a quick flash of relief. These guys didn't really want to fight. "Leave us, humans," Pegasus commanded in an even voice. "If you want to go kill our king, we will not stop you. We just want to be left alone."
"Mokuba?" Joey heard Seto murmur.
"I've already got some people trying to get to their coding, big brother," came the response. "This is going to take a while, though. It's all been heavily encrypted."
Seto gave a tiny nod in response to his brother's words. Then he turned his attention to the vampires, as Dartz whimpered, "Make them go away! I don't want to die again!" Pegasus's sword came out of the scabbard with a metallic hiss. "Leave!" Pegasus roared.
Seto responded by drawing his own sword. This, Joey decided, probably wasn't going to end well. He didn't think Seto wanted to kill the game character, otherwise they would have to wait until it respawned to learn more about it. As Pegasus began an attack on Seto, Joey activated his Vanish ability and rolled to the side. Once he was clear of Seto and Pegasus, Joey ducked into the room with Dartz, slammed the door, and pulled down a lockbar.
From the other side of the door, Joey could hear the ringing clash of swords. He hoped Seto could keep Pegasus at bay without destroying him. As Vanish wore off, Joey turned to find Dartz fumbling for his sword. "Hey, it's alright, man. I'm not here to fight." Joey held up his hands to show that he had no weapons equipped. "None of us want to fight. We just want to know what's going on."
The vampire did the last thing Joey expected. He dropped his sword and started crying. This, Joey decided, definitely wasn't the Dartz he knew. "Shhh... It's ok... It's ok," Joey murmured soothingly as he made his way to the vampire, hands still in plain sight. Keeping his movements slow, Joey reached out and took Dartz's hands. "Will you help me stop that fight out there? I promise I won't let anyone hurt you."
The vampire didn't respond, but neither did he resist as Joey started leading him to the door. Joey unlocked the door and swung it open, peeking out into the hallway. Seto and Weevil had managed to press Pegasus away from the door, and were keeping him held back. By this point, Pegasus had discarded his sword, as well as any pretense of civility. He was snarling and clawing as he tried to get past the knight and mage blocking his path.
"Guys, chill!" Joey shouted.
Weevil and Seto paused in their attacks for the briefest instant necessary for Pegasus to shove his way clear of them. Joey barely had time to brace himself before he was knocked aside. "Not hurt?" Pegasus murmured desperately as he pressed Dartz against the wall and began examining him. "Not hurt? Not hurt?"
"Not hurt," came the quiet assurance.
"Speak for yourself," Joey groaned as he sat up. Leave it to Seto to remember all the tiny details in designing a virtual world, right down to and including the hardness of stone floors. Pegasus shot Joey a death-filled look as he bared his fangs in a cold hiss."Geez! Will you relax already, Pegasus?"
The game character's glare clouded up in confusion. He frowned at Joey as he cradled Dartz against him once more. "Why do you mistake me for a winged horse? I am no such beast."
"I know someone with that name, and you look just like him," Joey answered honestly, watching as Seto crept around the vampires to reach him. "But if you tell me what your name is, I'll call you by it."
"Vampire Lord," came the answer.
"That's not a name," Seto grumbled as he reached Joey and hauled him back up to his feet. "It's a title. You two were never important enough for names." Dartz's face began to cloud up, as if he were a child who'd just been told Santa Claus didn't exist. "What the hell?" Seto growled as huge tears began rolling down Dartz's cheeks.
"He's a little sensitive," Joey explained with a knowing nod.
"Sensitive!" Seto exploded. "Sensitive? He's supposed to be a fucking Vampire Lord! No one's going to take a crybaby Vampire Lord seriously! He's as good as deleted when we finish up with him!"
"Shut up, Kaiba!" Everyone turned to stare at Weevil in surprise. The mage character's face burned red with anger. "This has gone beyond your damn game! Just because they aren't what you want them to be doesn't mean they're not important. I heard you talking to Wheeler before. You know what's been happening, even if you don't know how it was done! Hell, you even said it! Someone's been playing Frankenstein! These guys are basically alive! You can't just go and delete them!"
By the end of Weevil's tirade, Joey was expecting Seto to strangle the kid. But instead, the ice prince poker face was back, as he chose to ignore Weevil and turn back to the vampires. "I should not have taken my frustrations out on you. Will you permit us to give you proper names?" That, Joey decided, would probably be the closest that he would ever come to hearing Seto apologize. He'd already figured that Seto hadn't meant most of what he said; Mt. Kaiba just needed the chance to vent some steam before it really blew its top.
Slowly Pegasus nodded an acceptance, still holding Dartz protectively. While Seto made it clear to the two vampires that they would now be known by the names of the people they resembled, Joey motioned Weevil over and whispered, "Kid, for standing up for those guys like that, you've just earned yourself five free seconds of grope time."
"Rain check," Weevil whispered back. "There's something about Kaiba contemplating murder that really kills the mood."
With a shrug, Joey turned his attention back to the vampires. "Dartz, Dartz, Dartz... My name's Dartz now," could be heard from the one with his face buried against Pegasus's chest, as he committed his new name to memory. Joey watched, marvelling at how like a child this Dartz was. Pegasus seemed more grown-up, but that could be attributed to the fact that he'd taken on a protector role.
Pegasus never stopped watching the three players, though Joey couldn't read the expression on his face. "We're not like the others here," he mumbled when he finally looked away. His fingers stroked through Dartz's hair. "We and our king... But he changed back. He's like everyone else now. Did God take our king away? Did God send you?"
The vampires instantly had Seto's full attention. "I don't know. Tell me about this 'God'."
A whimper escaped from Dartz. Pegasus tilted his face up gently and placed a finger against his lips. Pegasus led Dartz back into the coffin room. Joey, Seto, and Weevil followed. Joey planted his rear on a dresser while Weevil leaned against the wall. Seto stood next to Joey, scowling slightly. Pegasus sat on the coffin and reached for a bottle. "May I offer you a drink? It's virgin."
Seto answered for the whole group. "We'll pass."
Pegasus shrugged and poured two glasses of the thick, red liquid. One he pressed into Dartz's hands; the other he sipped at himself. "Before God came, there was nothing," Pegasus began. "He came, and we... We started to wake up. God told us that we would be His creatures in this world. He tried to get us to do what He wanted, but we couldn't. We could think, but we couldn't act on our own. God grew angry, called us failures. And He left."
Seto leaned forward, eyes alight with interest. "So what changed? You're certainly acting on your own now."
"We died," Dartz murmured with a shudder. "It hurt. I don't want to die again."
Pegasus nodded in agreement. "That is all we can guess. We died, and when we returned, we were what God wanted us to be." He finished off his glass and poured another. "And then our king became what he was in the beginning. We feared we would as well."
"Sounds like this might have been an experiment, big brother. That might be why the hacker picked characters that he could easily identify again. And the hacked coding must have needed a reboot to take affect," Mokuba blurted over the party chat. "It sounds like the hacker didn't realize it. And, on the subject of hackers, we've got some player activity in the unreleased floating city. Attempting to trace the IP now."
Joey listened curiously, noting that no one was acknowledging Mokuba outright. He couldn't speak for Seto and Weevil, but he didn't know whether or not it was right to let Dartz and Pegasus know that they were merely characters crafted for a game, and were never meant to develop self-will. All Joey knew was that he wasn't going to be the one to tell them.
"We've got a visual on the hacker. It looks like he possesses NPCs to get where he needs to go – a ghost in the system. Not a bad set-up, really. It keeps him from having to get from place to place by solving the puzzles," Mokuba continued.
"Movement?" Seto asked. The wary look returned to Pegasus's face, and Joey could guess why. Even with hearing the question in context of the conversation, it was hard to follow. But Seto didn't seem to be paying attention to the vampires anymore. He'd gotten the information he wanted from them.
"Fluid," Mokuba answered. "I'd guess he's using a VR system similar to the one you guys are in."
Seto nodded, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Patch the NPC. Make it an active character. Trap him by shutting down the Logout command for all active characters. You can restore it after we deal with him."
"It's a spell," Weevil spoke up quickly to the vampires. "See, this guy you think is God isn't God at all. He's just a really powerful and bad wizard, and we're trying to stop him." Joey didn't know whether to be afraid or relieved that he and Weevil seemed to be on the same page in regards to the vampires.
Pegasus's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How do we know that you are not the evil ones?"
"I do not think they are," Dartz murmured. Pegasus looked down at the vampire in his arms. "The thief... She could have killed me, but she didn't. She's nice. God wasn't nice." Dartz slid out of Pegasus's arms and crossed the room to Joey, giving Seto a wide berth. "You are nice, aren't you, Ms. Thief?" Joey found himself face-to-face with a set of pitiful puppy dog eyes that rivalled Yugi's.
"Yeah." Joey smiled and gave Dartz a quick pat on the shoulder. "And call me Joey. The sourpuss next to me here is Seto. He's nice too, but he doesn't like people to know it. And that guy over there is Weevil." Seto glared and Weevil wiggled his fingers in a quick wave.
Before Joey could react, Dartz darted close and took his lip between his teeth. Joey felt a brief, stinging pain and then a warm tongue slid across his mouth. "Joey Thief tastes good," Dartz purred.
Seto lunged into action, pushing the vampire away from Joey, his sword out. "Try that again, and I will kill you," he snarled. As Dartz scurried back to Pegasus, Joey managed to wrap his mind around what happened. Slowly he brought his hand to his lip. A few crimson droplets clung to his fingers. The little bastard had bitten him!
But then, he was a vampire, and biting was what he was programmed to do. Joey sighed and grabbed Seto's shoulder. "Chill. I don't think he meant anything by it." With a growl, Seto resheathed his sword.
Dartz, meanwhile, had a broad, fangy smile on his face. "See? Nice! I'd be dead if not nice!"
Pegasus laughed, running a hand through his hair. The curtain of hair pushed back to reveal a whole, unmarred face before falling back into place, yet another thing which marked this Pegasus as different from the real one. "I see, I see. Nice people. Though it's not fair that you get a taste, and I do not. Maybe we could help them stop God... In exchange for more tastes, of course."
"Not unless you can fly," Seto muttered.
"Let us have a taste, human, and when the sun sets, we will take you to this floating city. It sounds so much more fascinating than remaining in this over-sized tomb."
In a flash of inspiration, Joey motioned Seto over and began whispering. They might have a bargaining chip that was better than blood. Once Joey finished explaining, he left Seto to check whether or not the plan was feasible, and went to explain to Weevil. "If it can be done," Weevil muttered, working out his thoughts, "then they'll owe us big time. Let's see if they'll agree to being my Summoned Monsters in exchange."
"It can be done," Seto confirmed.
"What? What?" Pegasus's hand inched for his sword. "What treachery do you plot, humans?"
"No treachery," Weevil quickly assured the vampires. "We've got a spell that will let you two be able to go out in the sun." Weevil's fingers twirled quickly in a few faux arcane passes. "If you agree to be my Summoned Monsters and take us to the floating city, we'll give you the sun."
"The sun," Dartz breathed in awe. He began tugging on Pegasus's sleeve, eyes alight with eagerness. "Let's help them! Please, let's do! I want to see the sun!"
"Under the condition that we get a taste of each of you," Pegasus murmured. "If I am pledging my life in service to a human, I want at least a small sip of blood in return." Joey caught Seto's eye and nodded; Weevil did likewise. A couple of sips of virtual blood seemed a fair enough price if it would get them to this floating city and the hacker.
"Deal," Seto said, holding out his arm to Pegasus. The Vampire Lord took hold of the arm and bit down on the wrist. His tongue flicked over the broken skin, lapping up the welling blood. When he'd had his taste of Kaiba, he moved on to Weevil, and Dartz took his turn with Seto. Once Pegasus reached Joey and took his sip of blood, he and Dartz backed away and waited.
"Mokuba, we're ready," Seto said to the air. "Have their original programming parameters expanded to include a survival ratio of one hundred percent under daytime conditions. The hacked coding is to remain untouched."
Joey could tell the exact moment when the programmers began editing the two characters. Pegasus and Dartz stiffened and went completely still. Their eyes were still filled with awareness, though, and fear. They probably thought this was some sort of double-cross. Even Seto seemed a little disconcerted as he watched, rubbing his wrist.
When the vampires were released from the programmers' thrall, they slumped to the floor, clinging to each other, mewling and whimpering pitiously. "Mokuba?"
"Sorry, big brother. We had to reboot a few of their processes. It probably felt like dying to them."
"We need to snap them out of this," Joey sighed. He could only thing of one thing that might work. "Seto, follow my lead. Weevil, make sure our health doesn't drop too low." Joey crouched down beside Dartz. Taking out his dagger, he sliced into his wrist and pressed it against the vampire's mouth. No dainty lapping at the fresh blood occurred this time. Dartz dug his needle-sharp teeth into the offered appendage and drank greedily, mouth nuzzling into the flesh like a suckling kitten. A hiss of pain told Joey that the same thing was happening with Seto and Pegasus.
Just as Joey began to sway, starting to reel from blood loss, he heard Weevil cast the heal spell. All traces of weakness vanished in the face of the spell. Weevil ended up casting his healing spell twice more before the vampires were finally sated. Through with gorging, Dartz lay sprawled across Joey's lap, licking at his wrist after the last heal spell when Seto asked, "How did you know that would calm them?"
Joey just shrugged, petting Dartz's hair with his free hand. He'd about decided that the vampire really was more like an over-sized, half-feral cat than a child. "Same way I knew hot chocolate would help your nerves. It's their version of comfort food."
"You and your food therapy," Seto snorted. "Next time make Weevil be the vampiric hot chocolate." Pegasus made another grab for Seto's wrist and got a light pop on the nose for his troubles. "You've had enough," he was firmly told. "We need to go now."
Slowly the vampires climbed to their feet. "Thank you, Joey Thief and Seto Knight," Dartz murmured, once again leaning back against Pegasus. He planted a light kiss on Joey's wrist before finally releasing it. Even as he did, Joey heard Seto growl impatiently under his breath. He guessed that was Seto's way of saying that they didn't have time to indulge whatever sensual thank you gestures the vampires were programmed to follow.
Since the vampires knew the castle better, it made sense to let them take the lead. Pegasus and Dartz guided the adventurers to a door they claimed led to the battlements. At this new door, however, Pegasus stopped. "Dartz," Pegasus paused, savoring the sound of the name. "Dartz, go back to a bedroom and get a sheet."
"But-" Dartz started to protest.
Pegasus silenced Dartz with a finger against his lips. "No 'buts,' dear one. The sun will still be there when you return." Dartz nodded and scampered off. Once he was gone, Pegasus threw open the door and stepped out into the light. When he didn't turn into a pile of ash, he smiled and returned to the hallway, shutting the door again, just in time as Dartz came barreling over towing a sheet.
"May I go first? May I, please?" Dartz begged. Pegasus nodded, keeping the fact that he'd already made sure the way was safe. He pulled open the door and motioned Dartz through. Dartz dashed out into the light, a delighted laugh bubbling up. "Oh! I never knew colors could be so bright! It's beautiful!" He scampered along the battlements, oohing and aahing over every little sight. Even Seto was smiling as the group watched.
"Careful," Joey teased. "There's a crack forming in your ice prince mask. Better fix that before people start thinking you actually have a heart or something." Seto whirled and placed a finger against Joey's lips as he'd seen Pegasus do with Dartz to silence him. Joey blinked in surprise, crossing his eyes to keep watch on that finger. "Heh, it works," Seto smirked.
Weevil muttered something under his breath about getting a room, and then cast his summon spell. A swirling portal spread out on the ground, and the sphinx came leaping out. "Thy call I heed, for thou hast need."
"I need a ride," Weevil told the beast. "We're going to a floating city."
The sphinx motioned for Weevil to climb upon her back. As he settled, she stretched her wings and took an experimental bound. "Thou art light. Another will not tax my might. The knight would be a weight of lead, but the thief will do in his stead." With a grin, Weevil motioned for Joey to come sit in front of him on the sphinx's back. Joey gave Weevil a shove and sat behind him. He wasn't about to spend the whole trip in groping range.
Without warning, Pegasus and Dartz pulled off their shirts. They crouched on the ground, fingers digging into their shadows. The three watched, jaws dropping, as the vampires pulled the shadows up around their bodies, obscuring them in darkness. The darkness solidified and spread apart in huge wings. "Flashy trashy," muttered the sphinx.
Pegasus bit back a laugh. "Says the one that came swooshing up out of a glowing hole in the ground." He and Dartz spread the sheet down on the ground. "Sit, Seto Knight, and we will be your transport."
Seto sat, and the vampires took hold of the sheet. The group leapt over the edge of the castle, followed by the sphinx and her passengers. Mokuba passed the directions on from the programmers to the group, who passed them on to their transport.
Tower spires rose up from the clouds, delicate airy architecture gleaming white in the sun. The monsters landed at the gate.
The hacker was there and waiting. The NPC body he was trapped in stood at ease, as he smiled at the new arrivals. That worried Joey the most. The guy should have been panicking and trying to make some kind of effort to escape. Instead, though, he just smiled. And then the hacker called out, "It certainly took you long enough to catch onto me, Herr Kaiba."