Chapter 12
Emma decided that she wanted sometime to herself to try and clear her head so had volunteered to collect more wood for the fire. She had ventured off in to the forest with only the moon above lighting her way.
The rest of the group remained around the fire that still burned strongly. Serenity had practically been asleep the whole time that they had set up camp and Zene was almost about to join her as she couldn't fight the temptation to sleep any longer. The other three sat quietly with their own thoughts.
Tea turned and stared at the trees at the edge of the forest. "She's not coming back is she?" She asked no one in particular.
"Of course she is." Kaiba said even though he himself was thinking the same thing.
"Am I the only one who noticed how much she was hurting?" Tea erupted. "She's falling apart and neither of you seem to notice it."
"I have." Yami told her. "But she's a lot stronger than what you think. All we can do is just be there for her when ……."
"Don't start her off on one of her talks about friendship." Kaiba interrupted. "I'm really not in the mood for it right now."
Anger flashed in Tea's eyes at the attitude that Kaiba had over the whole situation. She had had enough of him and lunged at him as she pulled something from her bag. Yami stepped in front of her and yelled for her to stop just as Kaiba got to his feet and went straight for Tea.
The noise woke Zene who was only in a light sleep. She stared at the scuffle that had broken out and saw Yami fall to the ground as Kaiba had hold of Tea and twisted her arm which made her cry out.
"You stupid bitch!" Kaiba screamed at Tea. "Do you realise what you've just done!" There was panic in his voice which almost out weighed his anger.
Tea looked down to the floor where a dagger lay after Kaiba had managed to disarm her. It was the one that she had found in her bag and was covered with blood.
"Player, Yugi, has been eliminated. Nine players still remaining." the speaker announced.
"No!" Tea screamed and somehow managed to break Kaiba's hold on her and ran over to Yugi's body that lay motionless on the ground. She fell to her knees and cried as she buried her face in his body. "No."
"What's going on?" Asked Serenity who had also woken from her sleep. She saw Tea knelt beside Yugi and began to move towards her. "Tea, are you okay?"
"Stay back!" Zene warned Serenity as she didn't know how Tea or Kaiba were still going to react.
Kaiba was breathing hard as he couldn't believe that his rival was now dead. Even though he had never told anyone he saw Yugi as a friend and his death was beginning to affect him. "Congratulations, you've just killed our friend!" Kaiba screamed at Tea with his eyes starting to water. He didn't care that he had let it slip about how he felt towards Yugi. He pushed aside his feelings and hardened his voice. "How does it feel to be a murderer?"
Tea was still crying over her friend's death. She brushed some of Yugi's hair out of his face before she stood up. "It was meant to be you." She told Kaiba as she went for him, but found that Kaiba was ready for her as he grabbed her by both wrists as she tried to pummel him. "You don't care about anyone but yourself so there's nobody that would miss you, not even Mokuba."
"Is that so?" Kaiba asked as he tried to remain calm and from striking back at Tea. "Well at least this way I don't have to worry about feeling guilty after killing somebody that cares for me." He released his grip on Tea and she fell to the ground crying once more. "I hope you can live with yourself for what you've done." he told her as he walked towards Yugi.
Serenity was also in tears by what she had seen and began to back away from the other three remaining members of the group as she was now terrified that they would go for her next, but she was pulled back by Zene. "Believe me when I say that you'll be safer here with us." she was told by the older girl. "At least that way you know that there are less people waiting in the darkness to leap out and attack you."
Tea was now flooded with guilt at what she had just done, and felt ashamed that she had snapped when people needed her to confined in, but she was only human after all and had limits just like everybody else. She reached out and took hold of the dagger. "I'm sorry for what I've done." she said as she raised it and stabbed herself several times in the stomach.
Emma had started to rush back to the others as soon as she had heard the announcement about Yugi's death. She was almost back there when she heard; "Player, Tea, has been eliminated. Eight players still remaining."
She quickened her pace once she could see the light given off by the fire, and froze as she came to the clearing and saw a terrified Serenity held by an almost equally terrified Zene. Yugi's body lay on the floor whilst Kaiba was holding Tea's body and covered in blood. She gasped at the sight as she stepped backwards and automatically drew their attentions to herself.
Kaiba stared directly at her. "It's not what it looks like." he told her as he saw the doubt and fear that was in her eyes, but Emma turned and re-entered the forest.
Emma ran as fast as she could deeper in to the forest and away from the others. It was dark and she could hardly see where she was going but hearing the footsteps behind her motivated her to carry on as she had lost all trust in everyone but herself. She found it difficult to run in the shoes that she was wearing and knew that her chaser was almost behind her so she threw herself in to some bushes hoping that they would conceal her from their view.
She lay there holding her breath as she heard somebody stop right next to the bushes where she hid, they panted hard as they tried to get their breath back. She looked out to see who it was that had followed her but it was too dark, and then by chance the moonlight reflected off from Kaiba's white coat.
"I didn't kill either of them!" Kaiba cried out in to the darkness of the forest. "It was Tea, she tired to attack me but Yugi got in the way, and then she felt guilty and killed herself." He panted and swallowed more breaths before he added; "I swear on Mokuba's life that it is the truth."
Emma was relived to hear what Kaiba had just said, even though she did find it hard to believe that Tea could have done such a thing, but she knew that Kaiba would never swear on his brother's life unless he really did mean it. And yet she wasn't willing to move from her hiding place as there was still a large amount of doubt and confusion built up inside her which she needed to sort out first.
"Kaiba!" Both Serenity and Zene shouted together. Kaiba heard them call but seemed determined not to leave without Emma.
"I apologize for the way I've been acting, but you know what I'm like around the Geek Squad." he called out but not as loudly as before. He paused for a moment as he hesitated over what he was about to say. "The truth is that I'm scared just as much as the rest of you, but someone has to keep it all together otherwise we'll all lose."
"Kaiba!" the two girls shouted again.
He looked around hoping that he'd be able to spot some sign of her, but Kaiba couldn't see a thing. "Please don't leave me." he whispered, before he turned and headed back to the two girls who were calling him.
Once she thought he was far enough away, Emma sat up and rested against a tree. She thought about everything that had just been said to her, but she felt so helpless as there was nothing that she could do to get them out of the situation. She sniffed as she tried not to beak out in to yet more tears. As she closed her eyes the millennium key around her neck began to glow and she felt her self fall backwards in to the tree.
Duke was on guard watch as the other three slept. Andrew had been reluctant to let Duke sit watch after the previous night so as an extra measure they had set up a trap made from some thin wire cable and a mirror that Mokuba and Duke's bags had contained.
But Duke didn't seem to have a problem staying awake after seeing what they had found earlier and hearing about his friends as they were slowly being eliminated. He closed his eyes and prayed that this would all end soon, but opened them again as light was being shone in his eye.
The trap they had set had been triggered as the wire tugged at the mirror which hung above them and reflected the moonlight down to them. "Hey wake up." Duke said as he attempted to wake each of them.
"What is it?" Andrew asked sleepily, and then noticed that the mirror swayed from side to side.
Roland pulled out a gun and had it ready to shoot at the intruder. "You three go on ahead. I'll check it out and catch up to you."
"But …." Mokuba protested as he was being pushed along by Andrew who told him in an impolite way to 'move it.'
They walked slowly and almost silently through the pitch black forest and turned in amazement when a flare in the sky suddenly lit their way. "I wonder who did that." Duke said.
"Roland did." Mokuba said in a concerned voice and explained to the other two; "The gun he had wasn't his own, just a flare gun that was in the bag he was given."
"Player, Roland, has been eliminated. Six players still remaining." came the announcement.
"Come on," said Andrew pushing at them both. "Let's get moving and quicken the pace while we're at it."
"Six?" Duke said confused. "By my calculations there should be seven players left. Unless we missed at elimination announcement!"