"No, you idiot, I mean the airport's bad kharma!" said Jounouchi, waving at their surroundings. "Think about it! Every time we've been anywhere near an airport, we're always just coming back from a life or death situation or we're about to start one. This is seriously tempting fate."

– Jounouchi Katsuya, LeDiz's "Homecomings."

Chapter Eight.

Vienna Airspace 1500 feet, 12:08 pm

Mokuba Kaiba is looking down into something that his mind can only compare to an atom blast.

At least, that's what it looks like, except for the fact that the smoke is like light and it it seems a lot… smaller than an atom blast should really be. He's seen them in history class videos, though, and knew how bad the effects could be. If that were really caused by something atomic, then everything down there is totally screwed.

'Okay, if that's what it looks like then…'

'Then we may be in more trouble than before,' the pilot (whom he now calls Daisuke) says. All traces of formality and seriousness are gone now, and Mokuba finds himself feeling more and more guilty about what he's paying these people to do and expecting all their money to cover.

Still, no sense in worrying about it now. Not when they're so close.

'It's too late to turn back,' the co pilot says –Mokuba wants to ask his name too, but he guesses this isn't really a good time for it.

They all know it. They've known it ever since the monsters clung to the windows. The monsters are mostly gone now with just a few… tatters (ew!) clinging to the glass. But Mokuba knows they're still around because when he looked down into the light beam on the ground before, he could see them, flitting and crowding around it. Like flecks of dust, so far away.

'I don't… I don't think it's what it looks like sir. There aren't any shockwaves or smoke, it's just…'

'Light,' Mokuba breathes as he realises what the pilot means. And then he leans as far as he can over the console, trying to get a good glimpse of the light source glaring far below them. He realises it's not so much white light as it is grey –still hard to look at, but not nearly as pure as he'd thought it was.

Whatever it is, though, they're flying right into it, and Mokuba doesn't know if that makes their situation better or worse than it was a few minutes ago.

Mokuba's hand creeps unnoticed to the pendant around his neck.

'Seto, I'm coming. Wait for me.'

Highway Shoulder, En-Route to Vienna International Airport. 12:29

The most disturbing thing about all this is that he should honestly be dead by now. Partly from the fact that his brain has just been lashed with concussion shockwaves strong enough to floor somebody twice his size, not to mention that it's being pummelled with shadow energy every second he's out in the open. If it weren't for the link with Yami, strengthening the bond between their souls, Yuugi has no doubt that he'd be a goner.

But Yami's not about to let that happen. Stubborn aibou or no stubborn aibou.

'This isn't sensible, you shouldn't be walking.'

…Right on cue. Yugi's been waiting for him to say that. 'No,' he mumbles the words without meaning to. 'I should be running, but I think that might be one step too fast. And you're the one who smashed up the jeep.'

'Yuugi this isn't funny.'

'I know. I'm the one with concussion here.'

Yami doesn't respond to that, but Yugi knows that's mostly because he can't think how to do so. Yugi takes a step. Which hurts, a little. Mostly in his head and back and where the friction burns from the crash are, but he's got Yami supporting him there so it's okay. He's not going to fall, no matter how much the shadows pound.

That feeling has lessened a little bit, though, since Yami blew the creatures away and since he started feeling… 'Our friends… Yami, they're here. You feel it, right?'

'Yes, I feel it.'

'So, what's stopping us?'

Again, Yami doesn't know how to respond, not without the conversation going in circles. 'Yugi…'

'Yami, please just… help me walk.'

They haven't moved as far as he thought they had, and that's when he realises that the shadows are really kicking in, because now they're messing with his sense of time and distance. If it weren't for Yami's confirmation that they were where Yugi thought they were, he supposes they could've still been miles away from the airport, and Yugi wouldn't have known any better and then, of course…

Urgh. Damn it. He hates the shadows sometimes.

'…In all honesty, Yugi, the jeep is really your fault. You were the one who was driving.'

A semi-laugh is all Yugi can muster. Yami's voice helps like that. It's like some kind of balm, shielding against the shadows.

He's not going to stop. Not now, not when he can feel their friends, so close their hearts are almost touching. He knows that Yami can feel it too, that's why he hasn't forced Yuugi to stay put and is actually allowing him to move (albeit with one arm slung over Yami's shoulder and Yami's arm around his back). He takes another step. Still hurting. Still stabbing, but it's easier this time, and he knows it'll keep getting easier, to an extent.

'What… that sound we heard earlier. It's gone?'

'Yeah. But I have no doubt about it, Yugi. It was definitely a plane. I believe it must have landed.' Yugi nods a little bit, feeling spurred on and in just a little less pain. Actually, it finally feels like they're getting somewhere. Like, dying or not, they're going to fix it before anyone else can suffer.

So when he feels Yami hesitate against him, he knows it can only mean trouble.

'…Yami?'

'Uh. Yugi, as much as I hate to be…'

'…The bearer of bad news,' Yugi finishes Yami's sentence in a mutter. 'What is it, Yami?'

'Look behind you.'

Yuugi looks.

And a few moments later, he wishes he hadn't.

Kaiba International Airport Secure Interview Room 1:40 am.

'Reports from our closest airborne observation crew have reported little to no change in the state of the cloud formations now spreading across a large percentage of the Austrian skyline. Our camera crews near to the scene…'

'Uh, hey there, security?'

The guard looks up at him, and Marik smiles. 'Y'think maybe you could turn that up a little.'

'…What?'

'The radio,' Marik repeats, much to Ishizu's aggravation. 'Could you turn it up?'

'I hardly think you're in a position to be making demands of security, mister Ishtar.'

'Hey it wasn't a demand, okay? I just… wanted to hear the radio. I think it could be important stuff.'

'Where you are now is important, Mister Ishtar. Do you understand the situation?'

'Please, sir, my brother means no disrespect,. He's merely not well hearsed enough in… in interpersonal relations.'

'And I suppose that's your job, is it? To keep this maniac under control? Issue instructions and guidance where needed…'

'Well, yes, he is my brother so to an extent I suppose that's… wait, instructions?' Ishizu's eyes narrow. 'What instructions might you be implying.'

'Come on, lady, there's no need to play dumb with us.' The guard sits back in his chair, turning the ceremonial dagger they took from Marik over and over in his fingers, Marik is glaring at it as he does so, face cold in a way that only Ishizu can see. 'We've checked out all your details lady, and if you're thon the Egyptian board of archaeological guidance or whatever…'

'The Secretary General for the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities,' Ishizu corrects him, primly. The security guard merely shrugs and leans forwards on the deck.

'Whatever. I highly doubt that's true. First you board a plane heading for the capital of one of the world's most major first world governments, and then – surprise, surprise– we find this little beauty. So, what I want to know is… did your strategy start before or after they served the in flight peanuts?'

'I suppose our sin tone added to your analysis there, did it?' Marik spits on the floor and Ishizu prays he doesn't lose whatever is left of his temper.

'Oh I'm not the one with racial issues here, Mister Ishtar,' the security guard might as well be scowling. 'Anyhow you might as well spill. The actual authorities will be here in a while, and then you'll have to come out with it anyway. Who knows, the guy next door might have cracked already.'

Well, that, for one thing, is utterly ridiculous, Ishizu thinks to herself, because there isn't anything for Odion to crack over. So then, this is a police tactic, isn't it? A method for forcing the guilty to speak.

'You speak as if I don't understand the basic methods of information obtainment in the Egyptian police force, sir,' Ishizu says coldly to the man before her. 'I'm perfectly aware of what you're doing. My brother, as it happens, has nothing to crack over. As I have tried to tell you time and again, this is a total misunderstanding.

Marik leans back in his chair and smirks. 'So. You gonna turn the radio up now?'

'Be quiet,' the security guard (or police officer, it's honestly difficult to tell) slams his fists on the desk before them, Ishizu feels her insides start slightly but Marik makes no reaction other than a quick roll of his eyes. 'This is serious business here! In case you hadn't noticed you're in deep shit! And here you are asking for the radio to be turned up.'

'I happen to like what they're playing at the moment. And we will be in deep shit, sir. Butonly if we miss our plane,' Marik snaps.

'Oh, and why might that be, Ishtar? Is it too terrible a thought that the British government might last out for just one more week?' The guard says. And with those words, all hopes Ishizu had of her brother keeping his composure fly right out of the ventilation shaft.

'Oh, for the sake of the Gods, we don't have time for this,' Marik mutters. And before Ishizu can say a word, Marik is reaching for his belt. She feels her whole body tense up on impulse and the same happens to their security guard. Ishizu sees a flash of metal glistening at her brother's belt, a flash of plastic in the security guards hand.

The whole exchange takes less than a second, and then everything is still and bright.

The Black Crown Game Store second floor flat. 07:00 am.

Duke is trying to place a call to Norway.

Actually, no, scratch that. He's been trying to place a call to Norway for going on the last six hours. He got up at midnight just to place it.

Duke doesn't often place calls to Europe and he's starting to remember why. It really isn't working well. Mostly because he keeps getting told they're "experiencing network congestion and could you please try again later".

'Not much chance of that, lady. The deal is meant to be going through now…'

Except it wasn't going to happen. a major corporate deal with England that he stayed up into the small hours to deal with, and he couldn't even get a call through.

So he instead, turns his attention back to the television.

It's the same thing on every channel that's not related to shopping or call-in game shows. And Duke curses it for its interference with his business. He's not sure what's going on down there (he's got the TV on mute and whatever's happening they obviously don't seem to be able to get close enough to it anymore to give him a decent television image, but whatever it is it must be big to have taken over every station like this.)

And then, not long after he put it down, the phone rings, and Duke is just putting on his phone voice to say "Hell, Black Crown Gaming services how may I—' when whoever he's talking to interrupts and informs him instantly that no – this isn't the dealers calling him back.

'Oh thank goodness you're there!'

Instinct allows Duke to pull the phone away from his ear at least a fraction of a second before he's being deafened by the virtual scream on the other side. Actually, it's probably not so much that the caller is actually screaming as it is the fact that there's enough static on the line to make it sound as if she's calling in the middle of a lightning storm. Still she sounds pretty hysterical, either way. 'D-Duke? That is you isn't it? It's me, Serenity! Do... do you remember me?'

In fact now that he listens more closely… '…Wait, Serenity? Serenity Wheeler?'

Does he remember her? Ha. How could he ever forget?

'Y-yes. Yes it's me, Duke. S-sorry about all the noise this is a payphone, my credit ran out and… oh, I'm so glad you picked up, I was so worried!'

Wow. Okay. Cute girl calling at a really late hour of the night while the brother isn't present… Apparently worried. About him. This is certainly better than calling Norway. Still, not that he's not really, really happy to hear Serenity sounding so glad for his safety, first things first 'Uh… hey. Wait, isn't it kind of late over there?'

'Y-yes. I've been on the phone for a while now. I've been calling everyone trying to get through.'

'Everyone?'

'Yes,' she sounds calmer now, anyway, even if her voice is still breaking with static. 'My brother, and Yugi, and Tristan and I even found Téa's number but… but nothing, and then I saw the news, you see, and… well. I figured.'

She figured. Sure she figured. Trouble with darkness equals her brother being involved in some way. That certainly didn't take a genius to work out.

Serenity lets out a breath she seems to have been holding. 'It's just… no matter who I called, they never answered me. Except for the Game shop and then Mister Muto said Yuugi wasn't there. He was away on a tournament and… And then there's the news and then I took a nap and…'

She goes silent. 'Yeah? Then what? Take a deep breath before you say, girl.'

'…You'll just think it's silly.'

Duke's lips twitch into a smile. 'Why don't you try me? I might surprise you.'

There's silence on the phone for a few seconds before a quiet voice says: 'I… I dreamed it.'

Duke blinks.

'Okay, I… I know it sounds silly, Duke, but… but you've seen how strange things can be when my brother's involved with them, haven't you? I saw white creatures and blood and a falling plane and… and I just wanted to be safe and…'

So. Chaos in Europe. Phone lines not working, and the entirety of the "duckling gang" (as he once heard Valentine call them) missing and un-contactable via phone.

Duke's a logical guy. He makes the connection fairly quickly.

'Serenity… hey, it's okay.' He doesn't mean to interrupt her so abruptly, (you never interrupt a lady after all) but he really can't help it, because even as he listens to her, he's looking over at the television set and seeing all hell breaking loose from the air-cameras they've got hovering near the edge of the chaos growing somewhere near the country of Duke's call placement. 'I believe you. Trust me; I'm watching the news right now. If you're going crazy then so am I, and… probably the rest of Europe.'

The voice on the line sniffles a bit, or maybe it's just more static. 'But… our TV went out half an hour ago, Duke, I have no idea what's going on now.'

Duke swallows hard. 'Weeell I… think I might be able to provide a few clues there. Serenity… where are you right now?

'Oh… I, I'm in Greenwich city. That's where we're staying, with an aunt right now. She lives in Resident District Three…'

Duke takes a moment to weigh up some figures. The possibility of getting a call through and sealing a really, really big deal with the European Gamer Committee, against the logic of driving two hours across Tokyo to get to the house of a girl who's brother would probably murder him on sight if he knew about it.

'…Tell you what, 'Ren, I'll come over.'

The line is silent for a second, before a quiet. 'You will? But Duke you're in…'

' Tokyo? Yeah, I know. I can get there in a couple of hours if you can just sit tight. We can be there in spirit, if nothing else, right?'

'…Okay. Thank you Duke, I'm sorry to be a bother. '

'Hey, for you? It's no bother at all, girl.'

'Okay I… thank you, I just… thanks.'

As soon as she hangs up, Duke starts to feel a numbness crawling through his fingers, remembering a story he once heard when he was little about how blind people saw things others couldn't. Maybe that applied to the no-longer-blind, too.

Whatever the case he was soon grabbing his coat and making a beeline for the room where he left his car keys. All the while muttering: 'Man, Yuugi, not again,' and wondering whether or not he should actually be thanking the guy.

Vienna International Airport Runway. 12:20 am.

Bakura can't feel the palms of his hands.

…That's about it, really. The rest of him feels pretty much okay. He's breathing and blinking and as far as he's aware he's still standing up, despite that fact a few seconds ago (if it actually was just a few seconds and hid sense of time hasn't been distorted) the pressure building in his body had made him feel like he was going to pass out. He could hear Yami-Bakura's laughter all the time, louder and louder as the grey light grows stronger.

Then the white glare is gone. Just like that. And Bakura is staring around at his friends. Joey is clutching Mai's wrist as he helps her to stand up. Téa catching her breath in short, sharp gasps and Kaiba…

…Kaiba is actually still standing exactly where he had been a few moments ago, with the industrial torch held high above his head and his expression unyielding as he looked up at the sky. Bakura wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't even flinched.

The first person to speak is Tristan. 'Whoa… Bakura, what the fuck did you just…?'

Bakura opens his mouth to answer but no sound comes out.

'They're… gone,' Téa whispers shakily, glancing around. She's right. the monsters that were just attacking… all of them appear to have vanished, nothing remains but white scraps of what Bakura thinks (hopes) is clothing and the occasional severed fragment of what was probably flesh and bone. Otherwise the runway is clean and empty and clear of all monsters.

'Yami-Bakura… what did you do?'

'Bakura?' Mai asks, standing herself up and brushing at a bleeding cut on her shoulder. 'Ow… damn it. Bakura, what the heck was that?'

'Ask him all about it later,' Kaiba suddenly says, bluntly, without actually turning to look at either of them. His eyes are watering but he's certainly not crying so surely that means he hasn't blinked for a while, not even when the glare was covering anything and Bakura couldn't keep his eyes open. The air is filled with the throbbing hum. 'because just in case you hadn't noticed… incoming aircraft due for collision.'

As he watches, Tristan and Joey seem to be regaining their footing and both are hoisting the two more torches back into the air. Apparently, the plane hasn't hit the runway yet. But it's so close that Bakura can hear it and when he looks up, he sees the lights glaring.

It seems to be coming in very fast. Faster than any of them hoped for, and Bakura doesn't know if it's actually turned enough to avoid hitting their aircraft. He staggers a few steps backwards and then Téa is grabbing hold of his wrist to pull him to the side of the runway.

'Bakura I… come on, let's get out of the way. We can't stand there!'

Bakura doesn't argue. But he can hear Joey swearing and Tristan yelling something about speed and distance, and then he knows the plane is coming in too fast. He can feel Téa clutching his shoulders perhaps slightly tighter than she really has to, and, without really meaning to, he holds his breath.

Highway Shoulder, En-Route to Vienna International Airport. 12:30

There aren't nearly as many of them as there were before.

It's likely that these are the few stronger ones. Strays, which are still more human than monster and who somehow managed to have the willpower to survive being blasted to shreds by whatever shadows Yami just threw at them. Yuugi counts a grand total of six, crawling in around the shrubbery of the roadside. There are a couple more of them coming up from the ruined wreckage of the jeep, a hundred feet behind them.

They look more like humans than ever now. Bones jutting out at disturbing angles and hair of faint colours around their clear, white eyes.

'Tristan's movies,' Yami mutters, and Yuugi really knows what he means.

'So erm.. .what exactly do we do.'

'You can't run…'

'No,' Yugi concedes to that fact. 'But… but I don't think blowing them up is an option either, is it?'

Yami's silence tells him the answer to that question is yes, but he can see Yami's hands clenching into fists anyway and see the defensive stance he takes on. Yami's whole body is trembling with shadows.

They're coming in closer. Only about six of them, really (or five and a half if you want to get technical given how many of them are falling to pieces.) Their eyes are white and cold but still, there's something very much human about them. And why not? Yugi thought. Because human is exactly what they were. Just a couple of days ago they could've walked past each other on the street and not been any the wiser.

Humans, at the root of it. Humans who hated darkness and wanted to be close to the light, even if only to destroy it. Like moths drawn towards a flame.

Just like moths…

'So,' he murmurs, 'is that what you want?'

Yugi remembers the look on the face of the creature that fell apart when it hit his windshield. The fear and panic and desperation. Desperation for what?

'Yugi, get behind me.' Yami's voice is soft and dangerous again, and Yugi knows he's serious. He won't let any of these things get to him. He'll die again before he lets them touch Yugi.

'…No, Yami,' the pain suddenly turns into a numb tickle at the base of his spine and Yami yes widen at Yugi's words. 'Actually, I think… I might know what to do. No sense in wasting all that shadow power.'

'Yugi, I—'

'Don't worry, Pharaoh,' Yugi smiles shakily not feeling nearly as brave as he's acting. And before Yami can think to protest, Yugi pulls away from him and begins to walk towards the monsters.

Mokuba had never been in a plane crash before. At least, not like this anyway. He doesn't want to repeat the experience. They haven't even hit the ground yet and the plane already feels like its rocking. And he can hear the engines screaming, like falling bomb or the effect of certain duel monster cards.

At some point Marcus dragged him out of the cockpit and Mokuba found himself too utterly surprised to do a thing about it as he was thrown into a chair and forced to buckle up. Not that it's going to make any difference, but Mokuba thanks him mentally all the same.

He never imagined it would be so loud. Or that he'd be able to hear the pilot's talking even while they're focusing. The world feels like it's breaking into pieces.

Something thumbs against his chest and when Mokuba looks, he sees that it's his pendant. The picture it holds is getting old now, but Mokuba knows he'd never replace it. It's the only picture he has of Seto smiling. Has been for nearly thirteen years. He thinks about his brother, waiting for him on the International Airport runway just the way Mokuba always knew he would be. Never smiling, but always there.

He's focusing on the picture so intently, that when the plane hits the runway, he hardly feels it.

TBC…