Warnings; May contain swearing and hinting of Yaoi, don't like? Don't read!
Pairings: KaixRay, SetoxJoey, YamixYugi, TrunksxGoten, RyouxNicole.
I'm settled now, promise!
Jorge the snake; ssssssstrange misssstressss
Me; Shut up if you want feeding. - -;
Disclaimer; Let me see... Piccolo's green, Kai's hair is blue, Bakura's mean. I don't own so you don't sue.
-'thoughts'
This is where everything is revealed about the stage manager/host we've come to know as Nicole.
888888888888888888888888888888888
Chapter 7; Nicole's fury... and the truth.
Nicole and Ryou walked back to the stage with the others. Ryou felt sick again, but he knew he had nothing left in his stomach to throw up. He voiced his fears instead... somewhat hysterically.
"Why did I let Bakura talk me into this? I should've turned him down flat. It's alright for him; he's throwing the Ra damn fuckin' knives! "It's alright Ryou, I know what I'm doing; I've done it thousands of times!" he says. I'm so STUPID!" he screamed. Nicole put an arm around him.
"He's done it before?" Nicole asked.
"Got it in one, he's done it to Yami before and I think he was the only survivor, besides me, but then again Bakura was blindfolded and Yami dodged it. Look, don't make me do it please, I finally have some friends who actually care about me, I don't want to die."
"Look, you don't have to do it if you don't want to, just tell Bakura." Nicole told him. "I'll come with you."
"Oi Hikari, get your pathetic little arse over here now! We're up!" Called the taller white head as soon as Nicole and Ryou entered backstage. Ryou froze rigid.
"I can't do it. I-I won't..."
"Now's not the time to be scared. Come on!" Barked Bakura. Ryou's eyes rolled and he hit the floor in a dead faint.
"Ryou!" gasped Tristan. Half the backstage crew had come to his aid.
Bakura started laughing like the sadist psycho that he was. "Well, last time we were half way through before he fainted. So it's a new record. But now I'm buggered for an assistant."
"Shut your face, you hide behind your knives and get a kick out of scaring those you throw them at. 'Til now." Nicole's eyes flashed with a sudden fiery gleam. "I'll do it."
Everyone looked up to see Nicole glaring at him, her face set.
"Look kid, you're nuts if you go through with It." the woman named Yamuna told her.
"The chick's right, even Goku wouldn't do that kinda thing." Yamcha added.
"Who are you calling a chick!" Yamuna glared, those two started a glaring contest.
"Gosh Nicole, are you sure about this?" asked Max.
"I'm gonna do it, for Ryou, I'm not gonna sit around while Bakura gloats. Tristan, take my headset. Gohan, you're in charge while I'm out there. If..." she took a deep breath. "Anything does happen to me, my clipboard has everything on it. The show goes on."
In the auditorium...
"What's taking them so long?" asked a number of people. Then an unfamiliar male voice came over the system.
"Thank you for your patience everyone, however I must announce a slight change to the programme. Instead of Ryou participating in this next showing of... talent," everyone thought 'talent' was rather forced. "Nicole King will be taking his place. She however will not be gaining anything from this and it is recommended that no-one, tries this at home. I give you Bakura and his assistant Nicole."
"That was Gohan." Goten whispered.
"Who's Gohan?" asked Duke.
"My older brother."
"Tall guy, glasses and black hair?" Goten nodded. "Oh right. Oh lord, here goes Bakura."
The curtain went up to reveal Bakura on one side of the stage, sitting on a table next to an open wooden box, the box he had brought earlier. The other side was Nicole standing in front of the black and red bull's-eye.
"Greetings foolish mortals. I will astound you by my precision and accuracy as I throw numerous knives at the bull's-eye..." he reached into the box and pulled an eight inch knife and waved it around with some relish.
"Stop showing off and lob the thing will you? They're here to see you throw knives, not show them off." Nicole snorted; folding her arms as a knife suddenly embedded itself into the target by her left ear. "About time."
"Go on Phantom! Show no fear!" cried a huddle of school members.
Bakura stared at her, he usually counted on Ryou ducking or fainting by now, how could this girl be so calm after nearly having her ear cut off, or worse... he was beginning to think she was right. This unnerved Bakura as he started taking aim again.
"She's going to get herself killed if she's not careful." Mokuba gulped, as knife after knife flew towards Nicole. "I can't look." he covered his face.
"Tristan, how's Ryou doing?" asked Gohan.
"He's just waking up." Tristan replied.
"Urgh, what's happening? Where's Nicole? And Bakura?"
"Dude, Bakura's gone ahead with his act, and Nicole stepped in for you." Tristan told him, Ryou jumped up, only to feel light-headed again. Piccolo caught him before he hit the floor again.
"I have to make sure he doesn't hurt her, Ra I could never forgive myself if anything happened to her." Ryou exclaimed.
"Look kid, if I come with you, will you clam up?" asked Piccolo.
"Yes, of course." Ryou nodded and Piccolo guided him to watch Bakura.
Bakura was throwing his last knife, so far he had made Nicole's outline on the bull's-eye, except for her right ear. Nicole looked like she was doing her damned hardest not to shake now. The audience was holding it's breath.
Then, Bakura threw the knife... whoosh!
Ryou shielded his eyes, trying not to cry.
THWACK!
The knife had hit its target, the sharper side of the blade millimetres from her face.
"Mortal, would you care to step forward." Bakura grinned, bowing.
Nicole stepped forward, the knife cutting her right cheek. She faced the audience and bowed herself.
"I'm ok everyone. Though I do not recommend anyone doing It." she told the audience. Who all started applauding politely.
"Way to go Phantom!" called the school members again.
"Wait! Where's Ryou?" asked Téa, everyone started agreeing.
"Ryou's fine. The coward fainted." Bakura rolled his chocolate orbs.
Nicole made a sign to Tristan and the curtains began to close.
"Ladies and gents, there is a fifteen minute intermission before the remainder of our talents participate, please feel free to purchase refreshments at the stand at the back of the hall, thank you." Gohan's voice called over.
8888
"Man, that Nicole girl must be insane if she took Ryou's place." said Duke once he had bought a drink. "And looked so calm doing it!"
"Yeah, especially when it's Bakura throwing. So what do you all think of the acts so far?" Téa asked the group she was in, which consisted of everyone that had sat the front row.
She had found that those she didn't know until now were Mariah, Gary, Lee, Tala, Bryan, Goten, Trunks, Hiro and Grandpa Granger and LC who had sat on the end. As well as herself, Duke, Kaiba (slightly off to one side as usual) and Grandpa Mutou. (O.S!)
"That Yami was good, that Joey guy too. He can shimmy for me anytime." Mariah laughed.
Kaiba's fingers twitched in annoyance, which was soon replaced by a dull ache in his arms and chest. He wanted to hold Joey again, something about it felt so natural, even if they had spent all the time they had known each other, fighting and insulting each other.
Feeling Joey's lips and skin on his felt so good, even if he did force it on his puppy.
"The Bladebreakers were pretty cool as well, isn't there usually a fifth one with them?" asked LC, setting the brakes on his wheelchair.
"Yeah. Kenny. Where is he nowadays?" asked Lee, scratching his lion-like nose.
"He's on the technical balcony. Here's your coffee Mr Kaiba." said Hilary, handing the polystyrene cup to the young CEO.
"Thanks." Kaiba nodded. "Your daughter's up next isn't she?" he asked the man in the wheelchair.
"Ella. Yeah, yeah she is. I hope she's ok back there with that Bakura guy. But then again she's with Yamuna."
"Is Yamuna her mother?" asked Téa.
"No, Yamuna's her aunt... Her mother left when she found out Ella was deaf and mute."
"Poor Ella." Mariah cooed. Then something else dawned on her, "Hold up, why did those people keep calling that Nicole girl 'Phantom'?"
"Hell knows." shrugged Tala. "All I know is that she's got some strong nerves and helluva lot of balls. That guy looked insane!"
Backstage...
"Nicole?" called Mokuba.
"She's 'sorting out' Bakura as she put it. Gohan and Tristan have gone to get some eats for everyone. Piccolo is making sure no-one's killing each other." Joey told him.
"How... can you sleep at night, treating Ryou like filth, you heartless bastard!" cried a voice, Joey ran around the corner to see Nicole having a go at Bakura, her face blotched red and a fist flailing in the air.
"I sleep very well. He deserves it most of the time and thanks for the compliment. I'll do whatever I like to him, he's my Hikari." Bakura said calmly, by now Nicole was seething.
"Wrong answer."
WHAM!
Bakura was bent double on the floor clutching his stomach.
"While I'm around, that's gonna change." Nicole added with a threatening tone. Then she saw Mokuba and Joey. "Hiya guys." her tone cheerful again.
"You... decked Bakura! Nice one!" Mokuba grinned. "That took as much balls as letting him throw knives at you."
"What's up with your face?" asked Joey, pointing to his right cheek, Nicole felt her face, paled and ran into the first dressing room with the door open. It happened to be Ryou's. "What's eatin her?"
"No idea." Mokuba shrugged.
Ryou was getting his bearings back when Nicole crashed into the room to the mirror.
Her right cheek looked like a thick layer of rubber was peeling off from the cut made by Bakura's last knife.
"Shit!" she cried.
"What's wrong Nicole?"
"Ryou! Oh...FUCK!" Nicole hid her face. "I'm sorry Ryou." she sounded like she was crying. Ryou got up and held her in his arms, not knowing what else to do.
"What is it? Come on, you can tell me, you'll make yourself ill if you bottle it up, I've been there and it's not pretty."
"I can't... Bakura's enough of a handful."
"Sod Bakura! You're the one crying." Ryou was surprised at how good saying 'sod Bakura' felt.
"I..." Nicole swallowed. "I was in a fire, back in England. I had third degree burns of the worst kind on my face.
My Uncle was my last living relative at the time; he paid for me to move here to Japan with him and to have a special mask made to cover my burns. He paid for me to come to this school." Nicole told him. Ryou knew she wasn't finished.
"He died two years back... now I'm in debt to the school and my mask is wrecked thanks to Bakura. I can't afford to replace it. Oh Ryou, I'm sorry." she sobbed into his shoulder.
"SShh... its ok." he whispered into her hair as he rubbed her back. "You've nothing to be sorry for."
Outside the dressing room...
"She did what? Jeez she's got a screw loose!" cried Kai when everyone told him and Ray what had happened.
Yamcha was talking to Yamuna, only getting riddles as answers.
Vegeta was glaring at Bakura who was still writhing on the floor. Murmuring things like "Weakling."
Goku was eating an apple from the platters Gohan and Tristan had brought up for everyone.
Tyson and Max were moving the drums so they didn't take up so much room.
Tien and Krillin were talking about places where they were going to immigrate to once the show was over;
someone was bound to tell Chi-Chi.
"Kai, you would do the same to prove a point." Ray told him, Kai shrugged.
"You know, she said something to me earlier that I didn't understand fully. "A person shouldn't be marked by their
appearances but by their merits in life. Some people run away or stare at things they can't explain... then there's
a select few who don't give a toss about what happens anymore." that was the answer she gave me when I asked about Piccolo and Tien."
"Her schoolmates kept calling her 'Phantom' as well. Kami knows why." said Gohan. Piccolo rolled his eyes at the comment.
"You'll find out once we've got Kenny down here." said a voice.
Everyone turned to see Nicole and Ryou come out of the dressing room. Nicole was wiping her eyes. Most of the guys jumped up to give her a hug: Goku, Joey, Tristan, Gohan, Mokuba, Yugi and Yami, Ray, Max, Tyson. Even Kai and Piccolo showed some concern thought they didn't do too much out of character.
Once Nicole was sat down and a cup of tea shoved into her hands, courtesy of Vegeta getting fed up of seeing her cry. Joey, Goku, Max, Kai and Ray pulled Ryou over to one side and demanded an explanation. Ryou sighed and repeated what Nicole had said to him.
"I couldn't do anything except hold her and tell it will be alright. I'm buggered how though."
"Whoever gets Kenny, get Seto Kaiba as well." called Joey.
"K-Kaiba?"
"Yeah, I think he'll help out if I persuade him." Joey gave Ryou a wink.
"Just... keep how to yourself ok Joey." said Ryou. He really didn't want to think about what his friends got up to when they were alone, gay or straight.
"I could ask Trunks." Goku wondered out loud.
"I don't care, I just want Nicole to be alright!" cried Ryou. Then he saw the surprised and knowing grins the five guys were giving him and his face went a feiry red.
"He's fallen." smirked Kai.
"And hard." grinned Goku.
"Don't worry Ryou; we'll all do our best to help her." Ray smiled. "We've all become friends here, 'cept Bakura. And there's one in need. And we're going to help her."
8888
"We're here, what's going on Ray?" asked Kenny. Everyone had crowded around Nicole and Ryou. Kai was hugging Ray around the waist, Kaiba and Yami was doing the same to Joey and Yugi, except Yami was holding Yugi up like a child because the he was so small (bless!).
"I have something to show you all. If my friends- I hope I can see you guys as friends- if you guys can... um..." Nicole faltered. "Bugger!"
"Look kid, just spit it out, we're meant to be continuing in five minutes." Piccolo told her. Nicole nodded.
"I'm sorry but this is hard for me, oh... maybe I should wait until after the show."
"Come on Nicole, I'm standing right next to you, you're not alone." Ryou smiled.
Nicole swallowed and with a shaky hand reached up to her hairline. After a moment's fumbling, she closed her eyes - not wanting to see anyone's reaction - and pulled at the rubber like skin that made up her ruined mask. She pulled it off.
"Goku, now you know why I didn't stare at Tien and Piccolo... because I know what it feels like to be stared at." she didn't dare open her eyes, she didn't want the tears to fall.
She knew they could see the places where chunks of flesh were missing. "And they call me Phantom, because I remind them of the 'Phantom of the Opera'..." she couldn't carry on, and the tears fell.
She felt hands on her back and shoulders and one on her left cheek, she could feel someone's breath on her face, and she opened her eyes...
Ryou's angelic face was the first thing she saw.
"See, nobody's run off, they're not staring, we just want to help you as best as we can."
"Thanks." Nicole mumbled.
"Seto?" asked Joey, he had told him the whole situation when he had came up with Kenny.
"I guess I could help, how much money do you need?" Kaiba asked her, pulling out a chequebook and an expensive looking pen.
"Sixty thousand yen for the school and I'm not sure how much the mask will be..." she saw him open his cheque book. "Oh no, I couldn't accept. Mr Kaiba. I won't!" Nicole stammered.
"I think she's suffering from pride, don't you agree Kai?" Ray grinned, giving Kai a funny look.
Kai nodded and then saw Ray's face. "Hey! That was low." Nicole stifled a laugh. "Meh!" he grunted.
Kaiba wrote something on the cheque book; tore it out and gave it to Nicole.
"Here, take it. One hundred and fifty thousand yen. That should set you straight."
"I-I..."
"Take it Nicole; my brother has more money than sense anyway." Mokuba told his new friend. Despite being a bit stressy, he could see she cared for everyone put in her charge.
"Mokuba, you're grounded for that, as of tomorrow."
"Oh man." Mokuba groaned.
"Though I do have more money than I actually need."
"So you're coughing up for that to get its face fixed. Actually it's an improvement so I'd leave it." Bakura snorted, no-one had noticed he had got up.
WHACK! CRASH! BANG! WALLOP!
Bakura was on the floor again out cold this time: Kaiba, Ray, Ryou and Vegeta all holding their fists in the air.
Kaiba looked satisfied with the payback. Ray's golden eyes were slitted, fangs beared. Ryou looked really angry and Vegeta... normal. Figures. -;
"Ray, dude, you're scaring me." Tyson's face had gone pale. 'Note to self; do NOT piss of Ray.'
"Whoa, Vegeta." Goku gasped.
"The bastard was getting on my nerves. Plus I couldn't bare to see the girl cry again."
"Thank you Vegeta." Nicole hugged him before he could move. Vegeta's face went red, he patted her back awkwardly.
"Um... you can get off me now." he told her.
"Heh, oops." she let go of him and hugged everyone, including Piccolo and an execptionally tight hug for Kaiba, "Thank you so much Kaiba. I'll find a way to pay you back, I promise."
"Um, I hate to interrupt, but the second half of the show is meant to be starting in a moment." Kenny piped up.
888888888888888888888888888888888
Whoa, long chappie.
(O.S!) Mutou is the proper spelling, I found out when I reading the Manga, I always spell it wrong!
I don't own 'Phantom of the Opera' either, that's Andrew Lloyd Webbers's.
Thanks to;- Ksarap and Yoshimi Ono, (Glomps both) thanks for getting off your butts and reviewing chappie six! Love you both! And thanks Dark Kai1 for reading this, speak to ya soon!