Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I had absolutely no time to write last week. I'm guestamating that this story will have about four to five more chapters after this one, so you know what that means…the Climax is coming up! I know what I want planned but I just need to figure out how I want to write it.
On another note, if my counting skills are correct I passed the 50-review marker! Thanks to all who reviewed, I honestly didn't expect this much!
Anyone see the latest American episodes from last weak? Still don't like Mai's new voice actor (Cringes), and Valon has earned my respect. But I can't believe they left it off with Joey vs. Mai and there was no new episode this weak! (Frustrated) I want to know what happens Gahh!
Ok, enough of my pointless chitchat, time to answer reviewers!
Reviewers:
Mana-the-Authoress: Don't hurt the cast, (I still need them), but thanks for the review! Don't know if they will be any more explosions, but I'll see if I can end this story with a bang. (Crickets chirp at authors lame pun.)
Evil Furby Queen: To bad you were sick, hope you're feeling better by now. I knew the last chapter would be a puppy downer, as far as Yugi and Yami were concerned, so I decided to go totally wild and have Marik go all psychotic on everyone.
dolphinsaturngirl: Yep, got to love explosions. Thanks for the review!
gohan11: Remember chapter 11? Marik found a way to make homemade bombs, guess he keeps the materials in his cargo pants.
butterflybg: Oh, that makes much more sense! Yeah Yugi did get upset, but I don't think he can stay mad forever.
Warnings: Slight language; very slight reference to drugs and alcohol
Disclaimer: Read my lips…wait that won't work…Read my words; I do not own anything!
All I Want for Christmas Chapter 22: Dinner Party"Tea, I'm a little nervous. I've never waited on anyone before." Serenity confessed to the older girl. Both were now in waitress uniforms, ready to serve food to some of the richest people in their city. The brown-eyed girl gulped, 'What if I mess up again?'
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Tea said encouragingly.
"What if I get an order wrong? What if I spill something, if I spill something on someone! What if…"
"What if pigs rain from the sky?" Tea interrupted. "If you're this nervous you will mess up. Just breath." The blue-eyed girl placed a comforting hand on Serenity's shoulder. "You just need to follow these three simple rules. One, never argue with the costumer."
The young girl nodded in understanding. "Two," Tea continued, "Always write everything down on your little pad, that way you won't forget."
"Ok."
"And, most importantly, number three," the brunet paused a moment, "if any guy touches you on the butt, deck him." Tea finished brandishing her fist.
Hallway"Man! I can't believe this!" Joey moaned picking up a bucket full of rolls of toilet paper, and a plunger. Obviously, Kaiba was serious about bathroom duty. "Why can't we just quit? Rich-boy isn't going to pay us anyway."
"Because we're under contract Joey." Duke reminded the blonde.
"And Kaiba would make our lives a living hell." Tristan added.
"Doesn't he already?" Duke joked.
"And I have to do this in a suit!" the blonde fumed, still complaining, pulling at his tie. "This just isn't natural."
"Suck it up man." Tristan said impassively, "Oops, I got a table to bust."
"And I have guests that need to be seated." Duke added, also heading off.
Joey grimaced at the plunger once more before heading towards the rest rooms.
Town Hall was completely transformed. The marble halls to the tall windows were decked out in all manner of holiday festivity. It truly had a warm feeling with the low light chandlers and the occasional candelabra set up. Large red drapes hung over the room's windows, while wreathes and mistletoe hung in strategically placed areas around the large hall. Small, circular tables were set up around the windows, and a long table sat stretched across the center of the room where several people, all dressed for the occasion in evening gowns, suits and jewels, sat; busely occupying themselves in conversation on trivial topics.
From a window on one of the swinging doors leading to the party, Mai looked on wondering, 'If things had been different, maybe I'd be one of those people out there right now.' She had a thoughtful smile on her face as she glanced around the kitchen; Yugi was busy in one corner scrubbing at dirty dishes, while Malik was stirring something at the counter. Ryou, in the back, was fighting with the cord of a blender, and Odion was stir-frying several pieces of chicken on the stove.
'Oh well, I could have done a lot worse.' With that Mai took her spot beside Yugi and began drying the dishes.
"Malik, you're not supposed to eat it! It's for the guests!" Ryou gapped at the Egyptian, whose finger was currently in the sauce he was stirring.
"What are you, my sister?" Malik said scowling at the British teen, "You mean to tell me, we slave over these meals and aren't even allowed a sample?"
"I'm not saying it's never done, I'm saying it is not proper etiquette." Ryou answered exasperated. "I'm sure you wouldn't want fingers to be stuck in your food."
"I washed my hands!"
"You two fight like an old married couple." Mai teased, completely tired at hearing the teens bicker.
Both immediately ceased their quarrel, going back to work. The blonde let out a sight of relief and turned her attention back to the short duelist still furiously scrubbing away. "Hey Yugi…"
"Hmm?" Yugi looked up at the blonde, his amethyst eyes blinking in confusion.
"You scrub that dish any more and there'll be nothing left of it."
The tri-colored haired boy looked down at the plate in question, he had been scrubbing the dish so hard the decorative print around the edge had started to rub off. "Umm…sorry." Yugi apologized, "my mind must have been somewhere else."
"Yeah, and I think I know where too." Yugi turned and gave Mai a quizzical look. "You want to talk about it Hun?"
"No, not really." He had already gone through this with Tea and Yugi doubted Mai wouldn't have any luck trying to make him feel better either.
"Look kid," the blonde said placidly, "you got to let it out. And I won't stop bugging you till you do." She added putting both hands on her hips.
"It's just that he really messed things up today." Yugi sighed in defeat.
"He's not perfect you know. I think he's entitled to screw up every few decades." Mai said matter-of-factly. "Besides, did you see Kaiba? After having to hear his voice all day it was a welcome relief."
"That doesn't excuse what Yami did." Yugi answered evenly. "He tried to Kill Kaiba! And he ruined things for everyone."
Unbeknownst to the five, Mokuba had come into the kitchen. He was about to announce himself, but overheard Mai and Yugi and decided to listen instead.
"The rent for Ryou's apartment, the new washer for the Ishtars. And the blender for Tristan's mom…" Yugi stopped and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well…we weren't doing to hot ourselves." Mai reasoned.
Yugi looked thoughtful for a moment, "But he still tried to kill someone Mai." He answered seriously.
For this Mai had no comment. She knew that Yami was misinformed, but all joking aside, he had almost ended the CEO's life. As someone who experienced the after effects of a Shadow Game, she could sympathies with Kaiba.
Mokuba slide out quietly, deciding he could wait until later to talk to the others.
"It's just that…" Yugi trailed off.
"That he only cares about himself!"
Four pairs of eyes turned and stared at Ryou's sudden outburst. "He thinks the world revolves around him! He is such an arrogant," the British teen began to mumble incoherently, the others were only able to catch snatches of what was said, "…stupid…steal…inconsiderate….thief…"
"Why do I get the feeling we're no longer talking about your darker half Yugi?" Malik joked watching Ryou mutter in the back with his arms crossed over his chest. "Look," he said to the shorter teen, "our yamis aren't that innocent in this mess either. In fact Marik…"
Now it was Odion's turn to mutter, "Damn little demon…"
"Anyway," Malik continued while eyeing his brother wearily. "He told Yami that Kaiba was an evil creature of darkness. Which is why the Pharaoh went after him in the first place."
Yugi gasped, "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"I guess we all kind of forgot you had left the room for Bakura's little explanation." Ryou said.
"So he didn't really mean to hurt Kaiba?" Yugi asked.
"Yep." Mai nodded her head.
"Well this is just great!" Yugi shouted in frustration.
"What's wrong now?" Malik asked shocked at the boy's outburst.
"Now I feel guilty about yelling at him like that! I got to apologize." Yugi was about to talk through the mind link when Duke rushed in.
"Guys a party of ten just came in!" The raven-haired teen said before running back out the kitchen along with a stack of menus.
"You can talk to Yami later, we're going to need those dishes soon." Malik commented.
"Right." Yugi agreed half-heartedly.
Domino PierYami perked slightly, he had felt Yugi tug slightly on the mind-link, but as quickly as the feeling had come it had gone. The Pharaoh slumped against the railing and continued to gaze at the ocean's waters.
It was very cold and the cloudy sky looked like it was threatening to snow yet again. The spirit of the puzzle watched as several chunks of ice washed past, and sunk when a slightly large wave rolled by. Sea foam sprayed into the former Pharaoh's face causing him to involuntarily shiver. "I'm such an idiot." He whispered.
"Well I could have told you that." Bakura said a few feet away from Yami. "But at least you figured it out for yourself."
The tomb robber had easily found Yami soon after leaving the mall. Since the Pharaoh had ignored all attempts at conversation, and since he had absolutely nothing else to do, Bakura took to following Yami aimlessly around town. If Yami had any complaints about the thief's presence he didn't voice them.
"Damn, it's cold." Bakura muttered, hoping that Yami would snap out of his mood and move to someplace warmer. 'But then what's stopping me from just walking away?' He sighed in annoyance at his answer, 'Probably because in his state, he'd go and throw himself in the bloody ocean. Dame it! Ryou's rubbing off on me!'
'The ocean…' the thief mussed changing the course of his thoughts, 'just what does Yami find so appealing about it?' The thief gazed into its depths for a while, 'Could it remind him of the Nile? Or maybe he's just trying to remember the Nile.'
"There…you…two…are…I've…been…looking…all…over…the…damn…
City!" Marik huffed.
Both Pharaoh and tomb robber turned to stare at a wheezing Marik.
'He really does need to get into shape.' Bakura thought. "What are you doing here?"
"Malik's mad… at me… blew up…a few stores."
"Is that all?" Bakura asked rolling his eyes.
"So what are you doing?" the psycho asked.
"Staring off into space, wallowing in self pity, or at least he is." The thief jerked a thumb at Yami. "I'm here to watch."
"Yugi's never going to speak to me again." Yami said more to him self then to those around him.
"Oh, Boo hoo!" Bakura exclaimed, "Big deal, Ryou's going to make me sleep out in Taylor's dog house!" the thief then joined the Pharaoh in slumping against the guardrail.
Marik soon followed. "Malik's going to make me watch the PBS station again."
"Isn't that the channel were they keep spewing all that love and caring crap?"
Marik nodded, and both he and Bakura tried to hide their looks of disgust. The madman looked over at the Pharaoh, who had gone silent once again, "He's no fun when he's all broody." He then stared at the water below where they stood. "Say, you want to dump him in?"
"No!" Bakura howled and walked over towards Yami, "Can't you see the man is hurting?" At this he patted Yami on the back several times. "What we should do," he turned back to Marik, "is teepee him, stuff him in a crate bound for Egypt, and tell them that they're missing a mummy."
"Oh! That's good!"
Squeak!
"Hmm?" Yami turned.
"What the hell was that?" Bakura looked at Marik.
Squeak!
"Did you just squeak?" Yami said as he eyed his fellow darker half.
"It's not me, it's Mecomid!" Mek O Mid Marik declared pulling out a brown hamster from his cargo pants pocket.
"Mecomid?" Bakura repeated. "What kind of a name it that?"
"It stands for, Mean Elaborate Creation Of Mass Ingenious Destruction. I wanted to name him Mr. Squeakers, but that didn't fit with mean elaborate creation of mass ingenious destruction. I'm going to use him to take over the world."
"I…see." Yami said slowly watching Marik fuss over the rodent.
"Who's going to help me rule over man kind?"
Squeak!
"That's right! Your so smart!"
Bakura and Yami stared at one another for a while before Yami finally spoke, "Don't look at me, he's your friend." He then turned and resumed to lean against the railing.
Town HallKaiba stood at the entranceway, greeting the guests that had just arrived. Despite his somewhat 'welcoming' smile, Mokuba could tell that his brother was still completely upset with the day's events. 'And who could blame him? Not only was the mall a total failure, what happened next nearly had Seto over the deep edge…'
FlashbackThe two Kaiba brothers had just exited the mall and were headed toward their limo. It was there they found the limo driver scurrying back and forth along the pavement talking to him self in a frantic voice.
"Hey Greg, what's wrong?" the smaller of the two brothers asked.
"Ahh! Oh um…Mr. Kaiba, Mokuba, how are you sirs?"
"I've been better." Kaiba answered tartly.
At Kaiba's tone the driver flinched, 'Not good. The boss is already in a bad mood.'
The CEO began to brush past the man to the limo when Greg's breath caught in his throat. "Umm…Sir, wait! There's something you need to know!" The man cried stepping in front of Kaiba, blocking his path.
"Are you sure that's a wise decision?" The brunet hissed at the trembling man.
"But…si…sir, the limo, it was vandalized sir…"
"What!" And with that Kaiba pushed past the driver to inspect the damage.
The back window of the limo was completely shattered, other then that the car looked fine, but it would coast Kaiba a pretty penny to repair. 'This is the last thing I need!' "Where were you when this happened, you idiot!" The CEO spat at his employee.
"Co…coffee…break sir."
"Oh stop sputtering moron!"
"Yes sir."
"Anything else I should know about?"
"Well, I cleaned up all the glass I could find but there will be a terrible draft sir."
"Fine I'll just call for another one."
"Ah…" Greg trailed off.
"What is it now!" Kaiba growled.
"Most limo services are closed today and you gave the other drivers the day off." Kaiba glared at his driver, and the employee fixed his mistake, quickly adding "Sir!"
"Well this is just wonderful!" Kaiba said, voice dripping with sarcasm as he entered the limo.
'Well this will be a fun trip.' Mokuba thought dryly, entering as well.
End Flashback 'I just can't wait for this night to be over with. At least nothing else can go wrong.' Mokuba ended his thoughts and joined his brother in greeting the guests. Isizue was sitting in front of a grand piano placed in the hall. While she couldn't work a CD player she was one of the few in the group that could play the instrument. She was just in the middle of a slow jazz number when a jolt ran through her body.Instead of seeing the cheery setting where she sat, Isizue found herself in a dark alley. It was cold and smelt of beet and tobacco. There were people there, but she couldn't tell who. Their faces were blurred and their voices were distorted. A great pang of fear rouse in the woman's stomach, and another convulsion of pain swept through her body. The Egyptian doubled over and sank to the cold wet ground of the alley, the voices hissing in her ears. Isizue squeezed her eyes shut, and after what seemed like an eternity the pain ceased.
The raven-haired woman opened her eyes to find a few of the guests surrounding her with looks of concern. Apparently she had fainted and was lying on the marble floor.
"Are you all right, young lady?" an elderly woman in a red evening gown asked helping Isizue to her feet.
"Yes, I'm fine." The Egyptian tried to keep her voice calm despite the fact she was clearly shaken.
"Give her some air." The old woman commanded the other guests, who immediately took a step back.
"Excuse me, I need to speak with the host." Isizue's voice spoke with the same command as the older woman's; she straightened and walked off.
Very rarely did the necklace give Isizue violent visions, but when ever they did occur they were to be treated with great caution.
A few minuets later, Isizue approached the two brothers, "Hey, what's up Isuzue?" Mokuba greeted.
Isizue spared the younger boy a smile before moving towards his brother, "Kaiba, this is of great importance…"
"What? The piano's out of tune?" the brunet asked snottily before starting to walk away.
"I just had a vision…""I'm sure, look Isizue save it. I don't care."
"But we are in great danger here!" The blue-eyed woman shouted at the CEO's retreating back.
A BarA few blocks from Town Hall a group of nine men gathered in an alley behind their local dive. "Hey boss," One called over to the apparent leader. "We're ready."
Hmm…give you three guesses as to what those nine guys are up to. You'd think Kaiba would learn by now to trust Isizue's predictions, or at least listen to them.
Ok, I might not update next week, my reason for this? Because I want to post the next two chapters on the same weekend. I won't say much but there will be a plot twist, and I think some of you will be after blood if I make you wait a week to find out what happens.
So I need the extra time to write the next two chapters.
Ok I don't know if I have the right information for Mai's past. I think she came from a wealthy family but they died, and something happened to her inheritance money. She later worked on a cruise ship as a dealer for the casino on board. That's what Mai was referring to in the very beginning of the chapter when she says things could have been different. Please let me know if any of this is wrong, I'm not sure if it's right.
Another references to the manga: The rules of the waitress, rule number three is actually how Tea gets fired from burger world.
Remember chapter 15? Right in the beginning there is a reference to hamsters and radioactive broccoli, just thought I'd remind those who forgot, or want to go back to refresh their memory. I figured a way to put it into the story; you'll see more of it in the next chapter.
Next Chapter: Some unwanted visitors decide to crash the party. Umm, yeah not giving away anything else from the big climax.