Well, err, not much to say besides the fact that this is waaaaay late. My apologies profusely. With school and band, I had to wonder if I was going to be able to get this up at all this week. It is ready --- as ready as I can get it in such a short amount of time. I hope you do enjoy it, I've poured all I had into this. Please enjoy.
Oh, and too all of my reviewers! THANK YOU! I'm sorry I cannot thank individually at the moment, but I will. Promise.
In the Company of Wealth
Chapter 4 --- Ribbons
Noah glanced up to Kaiba and sighed, "What do we do now Seto? My body has long since decayed. . .I can't return to life, so I have no idea why I am back here." His voice crackled at the thought of life. "But maybe you can still! You've only been dead for four days --- and your body might still be functional! Maybe---"
"I. Don't. Know." Seto snapped quietly, broken by his brother's tears. He tried to maintain his composure, but Noah found Kaiba's guard lessen ever second, growing weary of the world around him. "I have no idea on how to fix this mess. There is simply no way to. . ." His composer finally fell as he dropped into a chair beside him, his hand in his hair, covering his face wholly. "I wish . . . I wish I could do something Noah." His voice cracked with every word. "I wish with all my might this never happened."
Noah's eyes wandered to the nightmare stricken Mokuba as he tossed yet again. If Kaiba had never came up there, he himself would have never had another chance. He doubted Seto realized this. In a sickening way, he was glad Seto died, or else he would have never came back . . . He had to at least do something.
"Seto?" Noah asked quietly, attentively.
Silence.
Seto shifted in his seat, a hand covering his face. "Yes?" The answer was weak, quiet. The young boy blinked in mute surprise. Was Seto . . . crying? A slight shake in the elder's shoulders, a jot and a shiver through his whole body told the youth. A small crystalline tear dropped to his shirt, staining it with its pure essence. He was crying.
Noah sighed heavily and took a deep breath, "I can help with Mokuba's nightmares --- I know how to. I can communicate with him because our spirits are at an equal wave length."
Seto shifted and looked up, eyes red with tears. His face looked so forlorn, so sorrowful. It was as if the mask he had worn all of his life had been dropped, and had shattered on the ground. He looked so naked without the surly mask. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Noah tried to compose his thoughts, "spirits have different wave lengths, the older the spirit, the farther apart the wave lengths are. So say example possession, a spirit with relatively the same wave length as a mortal can possess the mortal's body, or can enter their dreams and so on." He tried to explain as simple-minded as possible, for his own sake. "There are different stages of a spirit, the youngest can enter a person's dreams and rid the nightmares. Those are called Dream Angels. The next stage is for the early teens, they can be seen by a select youth much younger than themselves. These are Imaginary Friends, do you remember yours?"
Kaiba nodded slightly.
Noah sighed, at least they were getting somewhere, "And after that comes spirits who can do things, they are the most befuddling. They can manipulate things, they are the ones who make the shadows come to life and are the ones which hush the darkness and keep it at bay. They are the ones that are the causes of misshaped figures in the backgrounds of your visions and the skewed lights you see at night. Some believe that these spirits hold magic. You are one of those, Seto. Spirits such as you are called, Ghosts. You mistake reality for fantasy and meld them together with dangerous outcomes. Your emotions control your powers. Don't let them get out of control." Seto snorted. "I mean it! Let your emotions run wild! We won't be the ones to suffer!" He pointed towards the boy, and narrowed his eyes, "He will."
Seto slowly shifted his gaze to his little brother and then looked away. "What does this have to do with you?"
"I'm a Dream Angel, Seto. I can enter Mokuba's thoughts and help him cope, though he'll think its all a dream when he wakes, but it's worth a shot."
Seto thought for a long moment, his gaze slowly wandering to his brother squeezing the stuffing from his pillow. There was no use in putting the mask back together, there was no reason to . . . Mokuba wouldn't want that.
"Help him Noah, please. He is my brother, my only ally." My best friend.
Yugi stretched with a tearful yawn and took off his tie, lying it carefully on the bed --- before he plopped onto the bed himself, sighing and closing his eyes. Of all that had happened today . . . from the funeral to the procession to the funeral home, it had been a very tiring and confusing day. Confusing for so many reasons not even he could comprehend.
The spirit materialized beside him in the swivel chair, gazing out of the window. He had been unusually quiet today. This was the first he had ever seen of the spirit this morning --- and the first he had ever seen the spirit's eyes in such deep anguish. Yugi had guessed that the spirit respected Kaiba, thus thought highly of the arrogant CEO.
Yami sighed and propped an elbow on the back of the chair, looking over to Yugi rather solemnly. There were no words at this moment in which could comfort either of them. And there were no words in which either of them could say in which would carry their emotions with them. . .A black void seemed to hover around them, one which engulfed all happiness and replaced it all with despair.
Yugi sat up and took his black coat off, hanging it on the edge of the bed. "I can't believe he's gone, mou hitori no boku . . ."
His other glanced over to him with a subtle nod, resting his gaze upon the distant wall. "I can't either aibou. By all means, I should be with him also --- I should have been there so long ago."
Yugi took the Puzzle off and rested it on the hanger beside the bed. His fingers fell from the hanger to hit the golden surface soothingly. "Mmm," His bottom lip trembled slightly, a stray tear escaped from his amethyst eyes. "I'll miss him Yami."
The spirit gulped down the knot in his throat and then cleared it, under his collar suddenly felt hot. It must have been the emotions flowing through the link from Yugi. It had to be. His voice wavered slightly as he spoke, a small crack in his usually composed voice. His eyes began to burn. "As do I aibou . . . As do I."
Noah wandered through the young Kaiba's dreams, it was sure a spooky place, that was for sure. Past abuses and present happenings seemed to drift upon the unsuspecting victim with anguish and malice. All Noah could do to refrain himself from screaming was to bite his bottom lip until it bled.
"Mokuba?" Noah called attentively. "Mokuba, please answer me."
Faint singing drifted through the air as a memory drifted by of Mokuba hopping around a bush, Seto slowly following. A shadow appeared behind them and both brothers stopped their antics and looked back. The man spoke and both brothers looked aghast at him, incredulous. Noah had guessed it was the day in which their parents had died. He never knew that feeling thankfully.
Mokuba grasped the side of the young Kaiba and Kaiba stared at the man in shock. His small mouth hung limply as the man took them back to their home and had them pack their small portable property. It wasn't much . . . A few cards, some clothes . . . And a picture of their parents.
Noah cocked his head slightly as he walked on, the shattered glass reflecting Mokuba's memories. He found some with him inside, one the last memory Mokuba retained of him. He wished there would be more. This made Noah smile and think: maybe things would be better . . . maybe he could have another body of his own again and live once more . . . with his brothers.
. . . Just maybe . . .
Touching the mirror, he called gently to Mokuba. "Mokuba, please listen. Answer me so I can find you! Answer me please!"
His voice traveled throughout the black void as a soft voice answered back, Mokuba solidifying from the darkness. Black ribbons bound the boy as his voice trembled in fight, eyes void of the emotion needed to free himself.
The ribbons resembled despair and death. Something in which had bound Noah for so long as well, the despair and agony of his own death. He remembered the tightening holds of the ribbons, those vile chains that he could not break alone. He remembered this and shuddered. The ribbons are what he never wanted to see again on him nor anybody else.
"Noah? . . . Where's my brother?" Mokuba asked softly, the ribbons tightening, making the young Kaiba yelp in pain for a brief moment.. His voice drifted with despair and confusion, a lost soul on the darkness of the moon . . . And then finally it echoed away, swallowed by the ever-present darkness. The youth began to fade again.
Noah gasped in horror and quickly ran forwards, "Mokuba! Seto is trying his hardest to get back to you! He's here right now, trying to find a way back to you! Listen Mokuba! Look at me! Don't give up! Please!" His cries were desperate, echoing in the darkness.
. . . The everlasting darkness . . .
Mokuba closed his eyes and turned his head away in response. "What's the use?"
Silence.
Then a light . . .
. . . A simmer of hope and dreams drowning in the darkness . . .
Noah found himself looking hopelessly at the raven-haired kid. "C'mon Mokuba! He is fighting for you and you have to fight too! No matter what happens you have to keep going, others are counting on you and you cannot give into this! Please!"
Mokuba lowered his head. "My brother left me . . . he never wanted me . . ."
Simmering, ever simmering . . . then it fades . . . light, defeated by darkness.
Hope . . . defeated by despair.
Noah's jaw tightened as he narrowed his eyes. He knew what he must do. "Mokuba. . ."
The elder youth stood tall and spread his arms, a white aurora engulfing him. White wings unleashed themselves with a light brighter than hope, as bright as dreams in the morning sun, burst from his back as the white fought the blackness, severing the ties and melding them to gray. The black ribbons released Mokuba as he fell into Noah's outstretched arms. Noah held him tightly and closed his eyes, whispering. "Dreams of today and dreams of tomorrow, release this boy from despair and sorrow."
The light swirled in a tornado with darkness as Noah held tightly to Mokuba. He felt the raven haired youth clutch onto his shirt and stiffen, waiting for the tornado to stop. The light stung Mokuba's eyes and they began to water. What was this? Was Noah an . . . Angel?
Noah spread his wings, feathers falling gently from them as the tornado disappeared and the wind settled the vast dreamland into place once more. The wings melted, feathers falling from nothingness as Mokuba looked up with his saddened dark blue eyes.
"Is my brother really coming back?" A simmer of faith in his eyes, a small flame burning within the dark orbs. Renewed hope.
"Really, he is." Noah embarrassed him tightly. "Now come back to the present."
"Is Seto waiting for me?"
An acute silence . . . A small inward debate.
"Yes . . . yes, he is."
Is he coming back this early in the story? Muhahahaha, wouldn't you like to know? Oh! And how was everyone's Halloween? Mine was rather nice! Anyway, I hate enforcing this . . .
5 REVIEWS OR I WILL NOT CONTINUE!
MORE THAN THAT AND STILL, I WILL TRY AND GET THIS UP AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE WITH MORE JUICY DRAMA!
Thank you.