Chapter Seven.

Vienna International Airport, Kaiba Corporation Jet Brava Two-Three-Three. 11:46 pm.

'…Holy crap.'

'You just said that, Joey. You just said it three times already, I think we get the picture.'

'Well you don't "get it" enough, man, Téa! I repeat –holy crap, that guy is a maniac!'

'Did he just… he actually just went out there, didn't he?'

'Why the hell did he…?'

'They're going to kill him! Those things out there, when they see the light…'

'They'll be on him like a freaking plague. I tell you, Kaiba's totally lost it!'

'God damn it, what are we supposed to do now? We can't… we have to help him, Joey!'

'Help him?' Joey doesn't know why a part of his brain objects so violently to that statement (or actually he does, but doesn't want to admit it, because Yugi would probably be ashamed of him) but it does.

He figures it's just the anger talking –why should they help a guy who just ran into his own death trap, especially when it's that guy in particular? It's not the way Joey normally thinks, not even about Seto Kaiba. Not these days, not after meeting Yugi. 'He's the one who ran out there, we're only gonna get ourselves killed if we go after him!'

'Which didn't stop you when it was Yugi in question,' Bakura speaks politely and calmly in just the kind of tone that means Joey can't bring himself to argue with him, even though he wants to. 'Who is still out there, by the way.'

Joey tries to calm himself down and let his logic back in control. Because Bakura's right, isn't he? Even if it's Kaiba they can't just leave him…

'Man, Yugi didn't try to get in this mess!'

'What else could he do, hun? It's his brother out there and Kaiba's a jerk, but that kid is his world. Even I see it from this side of the family.'

'He's still an idiot.'

'Idiot with an IQ of one-hundred and seventy-five.'

'Who just ran into a death trap!'

'Yeah.'

'Isn't that supposed to be Yugi's job?'

'…I think it's supposed to be our job.'

'Only when it concerns all of us and Yuugi.'

'Well, yeah. That too.'

'Right. Sure as hell doesn't count if Seto Kaiba's the one who does it.'

The silence hangs for a very long second, thick and cold and uncomfortable. Outside, Joey can still hear Kaiba's running footsteps, but not the sound of freaks and demons tearing him to pieces. Which is good, really.

…A brother running to save his family.

Joey can't turn his back on that. No. Not even if it's Kaiba. And of course, really, he knew that from the start, no matter how violently his brain tries to deny it and…

Yeah. They're going out there, aren't they?

'…Guess we still owe him for the ride.'

Tristan's expression is half smile, half grimace, as he holds another, massive excuse for a flashlight firmly in one hand and the gun Kaiba gave him in the other. Behind him, Téa is pulling out a tray, possibly to use as a makeshift weapon. 'Yeah. So let's go gettem already!'

And with that single, half insane statement, they follow Kaiba into the darkness.

Vienna International Airport Runway Twelve. 11:47 pm.

Kaiba figures it's a good sign when he doesn't immediately lose an arm to the creatures that had torn through the windshield earlier, the second he steps out into the darkness and shines the beam at where their "faces" should be.

The silence, however, isn't such a good thing. He knows better than to assume it is. Just as he knows better than to listen to the idiots inside the plane telling him to get back inside and find some other way out of this.

Because Kaiba knows there is no other way, and he's not going to let his brother die. Not because he went and parked in the wrong freaking runway.

He half-sees the monsters all around him (and hear them, too, like a crowd of sirens), but he doesn't see them attack. They ignore the plane, but they're watching him as he runs, as if they aren't quite sure what to do with him. Their voices are everywhere, muttering and crying and sobbing and shrieking but for some strange reason, they won't attack. He can feel their breath as it fills the runway like a rotten field of dying fruit. But they don't move in for the kill, not now, in the darkness.

The darkness around him hurts –it always hurt, and he can't deny that, even as often as he once tried to deny the existence of the magic causing such pain. He knows how powerful the darkness is and how it hurts some more than others. It's all to do with your soul, he supposes. He knows he can take it, yet his eyes still ache for the light of the industrial strength torch he's going to use to save his brother.

Kaiba keeps running, and as he runs, he calculates the best position to stand. It will be a mere 1000 feet at which the strength of the torch beam will be powerful enough for the incoming aircraft to see it. The best location is over eighty feet away from his own plane. Too far to make a run for it back, if they decide to go for him, but he doesn't care about that.

If he gets out of this alive (or if his younger brother doesn't), he is going to kill Yugi Mutou ten times over before he hits the ground.

Seto Kaiba knows that there are several ways to fight a battle and only three of them are truly plausible. The first involves running: fuck that, he's never run from anything in his life and if he's going to now, then he's running across the airstrip right into the danger zone. Straight towards the brother who needs him in the middle of an apocalypse. Running away (leaving Mokuba to die) is simply not an option.

The second option is to use open, brute force to overpower your opponent. Utilise strength in numbers. If your elf Megami is weak, bring out another two, set yourself some traps and sit out the round. Merge the Blue eyes with two others and form an unstoppable ultimate. Hell, even the Dark Magician Girl could beat down a few good monsters, when equipped with the Magic Spellbook. Depending on circumstances, Seto Kaiba could use that kind of methodology.

But he's still seen the Blue Eyes beaten and Exodia crushed and so many powerful (magical?) cards driven into dust despite their high attack point. He knows that violence doesn't always work. You can't always beat your enemies into submission and you sure as hell can't beat down a jet.

The third option is to think your way out of it. His personal favourite and often the most successful. Use cruelty against your enemies and beat their pride with everything you have. Manipulate their weaknesses and use their stupidity. Confuse them with your words and taunt them with their lack of skill. Let them see how powerful and confident you are before you've even started, so they can see that they've already lost. So not only is that option the most successful, but it also divides itself into sub-options, depending on circumstances, weaponry, available bodies and available intellect.

Seto Kaiba knows their little posse is running short on intellect, but they're not so short on bodies.

These creatures are attracted to the light and heat and yearn to destroy it the second it appears. He knows the freaks will attack him, soon, and likely won't care about his confidence and capability. He also knows that this will probably happen the second he raises the industrial torch to the sky and turns on the beam.

And he knows what Yugi Mutou's friends will do when that happens. Most specifically, what they will do for him.

Seto Kaiba plans to use their actions to the best of his abilities.

The monsters gather and moan in the darkness, somewhere in the distance, an airplane is whirring, and Kaiba turns on the beam.

Vienna Airspace 1500 feet, 12:00 pm.

There's a picture over the dashboard.

It's of two little girls, one not much younger than he is and the other who must only be nine or ten. They must be the pilot's daughters, or something. Mokuba never noticed it before, but he sees it now.

Funny, the things you notice when you're falling to your death in the direction of a single, beaming light that barely registers on the radar.

'Current altitude is one-thousand five hundred feet. Descending rapidly.'

Still, it can't possibly get any worse…

'Sir I…'

…Okay, maybe he's about to stand corrected. 'What? What is it?'

'It's the left wheel, sir –it won't open. Those things must've damaged the landing mechanism.'

Oh. And isn't that like something straight out of a movie. The co-pilot swears but Mokuba barely hears him. His throat feels as dry as a bone and he's trying not to let himself tremble. After all, his brother wouldn't. He's glad the turbulence has faded in their decent, because he doesn't think he could handle it. His legs feel like they're turning into wooden tapers and are going to snap any second.

'Can… can you make that runway with just one wheel? And with autopilot disengaged?' Mokuba tries not to let disbelief creep into his voice as he says that but he honestly can't help it.

'I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I, sir?'

It's not the way the employees usually talk to him. Normally they treat him just like they do his brother and would never think of sounding rude or angry, in case they upset the best paying employer this side of the country. He's not used to it. It makes him feel uneasy. Sweat is beading on the pilot's forehead and when Mokuba looks at him, he sees…

He sees a frightened man who's probably thinking about those little girls in the picture over the dashboard, just as much as Mokuba is thinking of his brother.

'Yeah… what's your name again?'

'Minowa. Minowa Daisuke, sir. And the girls in the picture you're looking at are Ai and Madoka. They're thirteen and seven.' He adds without being asked. Mokuba realises with embarrassment that he is staring at the picture. The co pilot glimpses but doesn't speak. His face is pale as bone and in the doorway, Marcus doesn't say a word. The pilot –Daisuke– smiles a little. 'Ai is nearly your age, isn't she? I'd love to see her running a company. She can hardly even handle a weekend job without complaining. She'll be alright, though. She's strong and… and that matters. It's what she needs to be in a world like this. Strong and gentle.'

The plane rocks on the last trails of turbulence and suddenly, Mokuba really does feel like a kid. He remembers being soulless in a locked room beneath castle walls, feeling nothing but cold gravel beneath his hands and stone against his back. Just like then, he realises. He feels just the way he did in Pegasus's dungeon. Just a silly, childish, stupid teenager who has just gotten good people, not to mention himself, into one hell of a mess.

'…I guess you're right.' Mokuba says uneasily, and then he adds. 'There isn't any choice.'

But he's gotten people out of messes before, right? He's seen hell, and it only looks a little bit like this.

'Then let me work. I'll get us down, sir. I promise.'

'…Okay.'

Mokuba repeats the names Ai and Madoka and Minowa Daisuke over and over again in his mind, and finds himself promising, live or die, that he isn't going to forget.

Vienna International Airport Runway Twelve. 12:05 am.

Joey Wheeler has had a lot of "scream for Yugi" moments in his life. This is kind of weird, given that Yugi has been only four foot ten since they left high school and couldn't survive a fist fight anymore than Joey could a maths seminar, but that doesn't change the fact that they happen. These "scream for Yugi" moments tend to occur when greater forces are attacking, apocalypses are nearing, and/or real live monsters are coming out of duel cards.

And this, Joey figures, definitely counts as yet another "scream for Yugi" moment.

There are hundreds of them –no, thousands. They haven't stopped coming since the lights came on, and when Joey looks up, he can see them in their masses filling the sky. All part human and part totally not, broken bones hanging and white hair flying, like thousands of moths, dancing round a flame. Except that moths don't drift like that –they flutter and flap and generally go nuts until they fall into the fire and kill themselves, and stopping all of these things obviously isn't going to be that easy.

The freaks are tearing at Mai's hair no matter how much she beats at them –small freaks, or rather the remains of them, (and Joey isn't even going to think about what caused them to fall apart) and yet they still keep going for the humans with whatever flesh and bones they have. It's simply too gross to think about, and even grosser to fight. They're dead and yet they keep on coming. And once again, it feels just like something out of Tristan's movies, only bigger and scarier and a whole lot worse.

But Tristan and Kaiba are still standing steady, industrial strength torches held above their heads. Mai is shielding Téa with her arms for reasons Joey can't explain. Bakura is…

He has no idea where Bakura is.

So Joey figures it's up to him. Because if he doesn't protect them, who else is going to? Never mind that Bakura isn't anywhere to be seen all of a sudden and two of them are busy with flashlights –Kaiba's just standing there holding it up with his teeth grit together ignoring any claws that are trying to get to him.

And up in the sky, far beyond the screams of monsters. Joey can hear –or maybe he's just imagining– the drone of an aircraft, coming closer and closer with living people on board it. Living people who might just die if any of them gives up for a second. If so much as a single one of these thousands of freaks is able to take Tristan or Kaiba down.

Great. No pressure, then.

Joey figures he should make a promise –like something out of those corny movies– that no one dies on his watch…

Except for the things that are already dead, and he doesn't want to think about that. He doesn't want to think about the creatures ripping at his flesh and trying to take apart his bones as once just being humans, even though it's totally obvious. Every now and then he'll catch a glimpse of a baseball cap or a jacket's insignia or a ribbon tied in once beautiful hair. They were all human, no doubt about it and now…

Now they're just not.

He needs to know what happened here, and what could be happening to Yugi, but right now, he doesn't have time for wondering. Right now, as insane as it might sound, he has to protect Kaiba.

He can always kill him for this later, if they all survive.

Téa screeches and Joey hears gunshot as she fires at the shadow of the monster attacking. He's not entirely sure when she got the gun from Tristan but she did, and through the corner of his eyes, he can see her crying. Crying at the thought of what she's doing –what she has to do– to keep them away.

Survival, right now, isn't looking likely.

And suddenly, one of the monster figures is sweeping towards him through the blackness, highlighted freakishly in the glare of an industrial light. It hits like a heavyweight championship boxer and before Joey knows it, he's down on his knees and Téa is crying out, and Tristan is cussing and then…

And then the world turns white.

Joey only thinks he's dead for a fraction of a second, before the light shifts around a shape standing in front of him and he realises that it's just the glare of a third industrial flashlight. All of a sudden the hold of the creatures gripping his shoulders is loosening and something –something weird– seems to rip away the shadows that are clawing at his face. He hears Téa gasping and Mai begin a swearword that she never actually finishes.

Joey hears the faintest of half chuckles, and recognizes who it belongs to.

'B-Bakura?'

'Three's my lucky number,' Bakura murmurs through the new source of light. He sounds… uneasy. Almost embarrassed. And then things turn as blank as ice again, before Joey can even begin to ask just what the hell is going on.

For several seconds, all he can hear is the painful sound of the light.

Bakura Ryou is very confused.

One minute the monsters were everywhere as he ran from the plane to join the others, closing in like an unstoppable blanket of white on the light they carried, and then, all of a sudden, there was nothing but light all around him. Bakura can feel the cold metal of the torch he holds in both his hands, but asides from that; he doesn't feel or see much else.

He doesn't hurt, exactly, though he can feel the grey light trembling and slicing and echoing all throughout his skin, and hear the chuckle that comes from beyond it.

'Host. Don't struggle, you're making it worse.'

Are… are you my—'

'Who do you think it is, host body? Is there anyone else who can attach to your soul when you run off halfway round the world like this?'

Bakura tries to make logic out of what he's hearing. He could've just sworn he heard the Yami-Him's voice in the back of his mind, in the same tone as the voice-in-his-head had been, all those years ago before he truly understood who and what it belonged to. Bakura feels his ribcage tighten.

'What the hell you thought you were doing is beyond me, Bakura Ryou. Idiot that you are, for leaving me behind. You should have realised you'd be needing me. Do you have any ideas where I am right now? I'll give you a clue – it's not close enough!'

Bakura forces himself to take a breath. His lungs feel hot and a familiar sensation is curling in the back of his mind –the feeling of another consciousness, trying to creep in on his own.

But how can that be, with his other self in a separate body and left behind in Japan?

' Japan? Oh, my little Ryou, after all these years you still honestly have no idea where my powers can take me, do you? There is nowhere in this world where I can't get to you. But it will take time –time we don't have, so you're going to have to focus if you're planning on getting your dear friends out of this mess.'

'It… it's you aren't you? You're doing this to me.'

'No. This is really all your doing, I'm just helping out a little. Now, shut up. There's too big a gap between us, it's hard to keep control as it is.'

'You promised you wouldn't, Yami, I…'

'Shut up. It's this or die, and I doubt you could handle doing this on your own. Wait. It's going to happen.'

Bakura opens his mouth to ask what that means, but the question has no time to form. Before he knows it the light has spread, creeping up and down his arms, stained grey by the darkness of the bodies around them. All he can hear is the sound of the light, burning and beating in his ears.

'What are you… what are we doing, Yami-Bakura?'

'Saving you and your little friends hides, surface. Keep it down and focus.'

On this occasion, Bakura does as he's told. And then, as the light creeps in fingers down his arms, he looks up. Outside of his own, deep, grey glow, he can make out three powerful lights –one of them held firmly in both of his hands– beaming up into the darkness, attracting the monsters like horses running to a burning barn.

Well, Bakura supposed that he had always considered three to be a lucky number.

Highway Shoulder, En-Route to Vienna International Airport. 12:23 pm.

'Yugi?'

If the shadow magic has been making him feel bad before, he'd gladly take that pressure back now, in exchange for taking this pain away.

'Mm…Yami?'

'It's me, partner. Please, look at me.'

…He doesn't really want to look (not even when taking into account that it's Yami). Because looking would involve opening his eyes and he gets the feeling that's going to hurt. Plus, there's something damp caking against his eyelids. It's covering his top lip, too, and he knows it's going to taste like blood.

He doesn't want to open his eyes…

'Yugi.'

…Still, it's hard to ignore a request from a onetime pharaoh and ancient spirit. So Yugi cracks his eyes open a little and, predictably, his lids stick together. And it does hurt, though not as much as he'd feared it might.

Yami is frowning at him overhead, his face a little blurry, at first, but soon clearing up as Yugi blinks away the stickiness. There's blood on his face too, Yugi realises, but he can't remember if it was already there before.

Yami lets out a breath of relief. 'Thank the Gods, you're alright.'

Yugi waits a couple of seconds, concentrating on the feel of Yami's hand on his cheek and the soft, labouring of both of their breathing. He wonders, vaguely, why Yami didn't use their mind link if he's just been unconscious and…

Yugi remembers the crash.

'…Ngh. Yami? H'wcm we're not dead?'

'Technically I am dead. But I guess I just pulled a few strings.'

'Few… strings?'

Yugi can feel Yami smiling even though he's too deep in the middle of a pained wince to actually see it. 'Yes. Metaphysical ones made of shadows and darkness. I think it pretty much saved out lives, but the vehicle is a write off.'

Yuugi isn't even going to bother with working out the meaning in those words and whether or not it's supposed to be a joke. His head hurts too much for that kind of thinking.

And yet he still finds enough voice to speak again, more clearly this time. 'So… so we won't be giving the jeep back?'

The answering laugh is so relieved and quiet that Yugi can barely make it out. 'I can't honestly think how we'd pay for the damage.'

'I told you both our driving is terrible,' Yugi whispers, hissing as he does so. He knows the shadows are getting stronger and car crashes really don't help that feeling. Once over, he would have been dead by now. Usually being close to Yami eased the pressure of them, just a little, but that didn't seem to be working now. Not with so many parts of Yugi's brain and body distracted by different factors of pain, anxiety, fear and urgency. He feels the ground beneath him –soft and grassy, and tries to focus on that feeling. They must have shot well clear of the road. He tilts his head a little. Yugi can't see the wreckage of the jeep that he knows must be there, but he can hear the ticking of its still warm engine. 'I… I'm alright. We need to move, Yami.'

'In a little while. I want to make sure you're not…'

Sitting up is not a good idea and before Yugi knows it, he's stuttering with pain, but somehow managing not to cry out. His head feels like it's been smashed in with a hammer. Or several hammers all at once.

'…Hurt. Yugi, easy.'

Yugi can only oblige to that and let Yami take his weight for a moment. He hates the feeling of dependence and unreliability, but he knows he doesn't have a say in the matter –it's either do as Yami says or be made to do it. That thought makes him smile just a little, and the muscles of his jaw tweak with small flares of pain.

'All those spirits. Those people, Yami, where did they go?'

'I sent them away.'

'How? All in one go?'

'Yes. It's complicated.'

Yami's tone is soft and dangerous (to everything that isn't Yugi) and Yugi decides that he doesn't actually want to know how Yami "sent the spirits away". He doesn't always know how to handle Yami when the shadows have been stirring to his command. 'The Other Me?'

'May the humans forgive me, they should not have hurt you. They cannot be forgiven.'

Yugi shivers just a little, understanding what Yami means. Those creatures had been human bodies and will combined supernatural power the likes of which Yuugi hadn't seen in years. For Yami to have destroyed them all, right here right now. And with the air around him now tasting like something totally different to blood, more like ash and cold, hard rain.

Yugi didn't want to think about what Yami must have just unleashed or what it must have done to them.

But now Yami doesn't seem frightening or dangerous. Now he's holding onto Yugi as gently as he can and refusing to let go, whether or not Yugi needs him to be there. There is no trace of harshness or violence, other than the faint smell of the shadows, Yugi can still sense on his Other's skin.

After a few minutes, Yami signals ahead of them with his eyes. 'Look, partner. We're almost there.'

'Yeah, I see it. That must be the airport.'

'Do you think you can walk?'

'Just try and stop me, Other Me.' Yugi is already halfway to his feet, but he needs Yami's help to get the rest of the way. Amazingly, nothing feels broken or severely damaged, and he imagines the blood on his face feels a lot worse than it actually is. Most of the pain is from the shadows that have been pulsing at his mind ever since he arrived in Austria.

It confuses him, slightly, when he realises that it really has been there that long. That he was feeling the growing, nervous pressure of shadows long before he first saw it on the streets. Could his senses really have been so acute? Even then?

Yugi looks up into a starless sky –even with the moon full, everything seems black around him– and then, he sees it. A glimmer of light is drifting through the black sky, small and barely noticeable. He blinks several times, thinking it maybe just a reflection, but when he looks again the glow is still there and dropping rapidly towards the airport.

'Yami, can you see that?'

The way Yami is clinging to his shoulders again suggests that he does and his small nod confirms it. For a while they sit there in silence, watching the falling light in the sky.

'I think… I think that might be a plane.'

'I think you're right… could it be our friends?'

Even though it hurts, Yugi finds himself grinning. 'Who else could it be? I knew they'd come, Yami, I knew it.'

Cairo International Airport Boarding Gateway 23, 01:25 am.

It's really quite remarkable, when she considers it.

They have been stood at the boarding gate for going on thirty-five minutes now, and the security guards are still finding enough metal on Marik's person to set off the alarm system. As she watches, a gold chain and several cuffs land in the inspection tray.

'I'm serious, who focuses this much at this damn time of the night?'

('It's our job to be as thorough as possible to prevent risk to our passengers, sir') A security guard bids him to remove his earrings. How strange, that they hadn't noticed them first.

'International airports tend to ignore the concept of a time zone, Master Marik. These people have likely been working all night.'

('Sir, please stay till and keep your arms away from your sides,') The Security guard finds another chain and several pins.

'Well maybe we should stick all of them in Austria, I mean obviously they're being threatened with eternal night, these guys would fit right in! Ow! Hey, watch it with the hands!'

'Brother, you did not have to conceal…' (Another clatter, a silver chain falls into the tray.) '…Such a large quantity of metal on your person. No wonder suspicions were aroused.'

'How was I to know? The last time I came through one of these places they didn't stop me for such ridiculous things as metal artefacts. Can't you use your Board of Director privileges to help me avoid the… watch it!'

('My apologies, sir, I'm just doing my job.')

Ishizu holds her breath, knowing this would not be a very good time to mention her brother had last been in an aircraft as an unknown stowaway in mind control of the pilots. It's a time she'd rather forget about.

He does not do well around people, she acknowledges, and likely never will do. his childhood was too… complicated for that.

Another clatter lands in the tray. 'Oh come on, that can't possibly be made of metal!'

Ishizu waits, and continues to be patient. Sooner or later, they're bound to run out. She just hopes their plane hasn't boarded by then

'I spoke with a young woman from Europe in the book store,' Odion says to her softly as Marik complains. 'She cannot return home for fear of what has happened. There are no longer flights to that area. The same is likely true of England, Ishizu.'

'I understand that.'

'…Then why do we go there?'

'It is the only location I consider possible, and besides…' she hesitates in her speech. Odion blinks.

'Do you sense something from that region, sister?' He uses the name so rarely with her, it almost makes her smile, even now, in the midst of everything.

'Something along those lines, Odion. Gut instinct is perhaps all I have to rely on now. Let us hope they can hold out alone. They have always managed before.'

Odion nods. Understanding, as always.

('Hey, hang on, what's this?')

'Oh… oh, damn it.'

The security guard behind them coughs and when Ishizu looks at him, she sees that he is holding a ceremonial dagger belonging to her brother up to the light. Odion visibly bites his tongue.

Wonderful.

'Uh, yeah, okay, so I forgot about that one and… and there's a perfectly good explanation for it.'

('Ah-huh. Sir, we'll be needing you all to step this way, please.')