I have only one thing to say, and that is that I have got to stop swearing in my fanfictions. It highlights a lack of sufficient adjectives, it up's the rating when it otherwise isn't necessary, and it makes it look crude. So... you know, lemme know if you catch me swearing in this. It can be my New Year's Resolution to cut down.

"Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time."

– Susam Cheever.

Chapter Thirteen.

Vienna. 02:25 am

Joey had had to run away from a giant bolder once. Just like you saw in that Dr. Jones and the Crystal Temple movie. It had been one of Pegasus's kooky tricks when they visited his island for the Duellist Kingdom tourney. They'd been stuck underground someplace, and a giant rock had started rolling down a tunnel after them. Course that bolder had turned out to be inflatable, and they could all look back upon that day and laugh about it now because it was really kind of funny.

If he could compare this to anything then it would be that moment. Except without the funny.

Unfortunately, it turns out that one of the most notable things the elephant had lost during its mutation via shadow magic is the characteristic slow speed of your average pachyderm. As well as the associated lumbering lack of mobility. The creature charges rather than runs, and the noise that follows is like something torn out of a well dreamed up in a nightmare. Joey keeps glimpsing every which way, trying to catch sight of where his friends are in the darkness. And then there are the monsters; Yugi's monsters, shifting through the alleyways as if they're skipping time itself to keep up with the Light of Yugi's presence.

Not that they have to try hard. Yugi really isn't going fast enough. None of them are going fast enough.

Kaiba, maybe he's managing it, and damn it, how can he open his mouth and talk straight when Joey can barely catch his breath. 'Wheeler! We need to split up, give it more than one target to follow!'

You... kidding me? Joey gasps. 'That's like the first... rule of the... movies, dude, you never split the party!'

'This isn't a movie!' Kaiba snaps. 'Yugi and Yami need to get to that river!'

'H-hate... to admit it... but he's got...a point,' Tristan wheezes, staggering down the staircase, trying to ignore the crumbling of the rocks not so far behind them. 'I mean... s'what we do best, right...? Distraction...'

'Have you not... been...watching this?' Joey snaps, shoving open a wooden gateway so they could charge through it and damn it, nobody ever listens to him. 'If we split... it'll just... go for them anyway, it wants... the light!'

Either method seems equally useless. They can't lead it away from Yugi because the monster will be drawn to him like a magnet and utterly ignore them. And they can't stay together because they're dragging one another back, forcing each other to slow down.

They can't get away from it, but there's nothing else they can do, and so they keep running, until they've pulled away from the main roads and are racing through the zigzagging backstreets of the city, weaving in and out of one another like a maze. They have absolutely no idea if they're headed in the direction of the river. (Then again, if that thing catches up with us, we won't have to worry about that anymore anyway.) Whatever this creature had once been, now it was something other worldly and terrible, and much, much faster than even a human who was at full strength.

Nobody is running at full strength. They're tired and hungry and lost in a world of pain and darkness messing with their heads. They can't go any faster than they're going. They can't run away...

And they're probably going to die here.

'Bakura, no!'

Joey only notices that Bakura has tripped when he hears Yugi screaming his name and realises that Téa has stopped running and is turning back the way they came. He curses and joins her instantly, along with Tristan, and then it's Kaiba who's screaming at them to hurry up. There's shifting movement as the buildings shudder and crack all around them, forced aside by the monster's great bulk.

By the time Joey's close enough, there's already a chain reaction in effect. Yugi is throwing himself in front of Bakura, and Yami is doing exactly the same thing with Yugi, wrapping his body around him in a living shield. The monster is smashing through the nearest buildings, raining down debris, and a giant tusk is rising up before them, slicing through stone and steel like paper.

It misses Bakura. It misses Yugi and Yami. It hits Tristan and sends him slamming into a nearby wall. Then Téa is screaming again, and Joey knows that whatever happens he is never ever going to look back upon this moment and laugh.

There's panic from the other monsters as the walls crumple around them and Téa narrowly avoids being smashed into the ground by a lump of falling concrete. Joey tries to move forwards to where Tristan is, but his legs have turned to cold jelly and won't move. There's Kaiba running forwards, shoving him aside as he charges over to where Yami is for god only knows what reason.

And then the monsters—Yugi's monsters are suddenly there again, diving forwards and ripping into the creature in front of them with cries that Joey can almost believe are determined yells as they rush between Yugi and Yami and the monster fifty times bigger than any of them. Joey watches as the three bodies of one-time human beings are thrown aside, and hears the sickening crunch of bone against stone.

Then Yugi screams as well. Not in fear or panic; in anger. The skin of his hands glistens and explodes outwards, as if somebody set fire to his body. Yami is repelled like the matching pole of a magnet.

And then... well, for a few brief moments, everything goes to hell in a hand basket. There is nothing but the light swelling and the sound of monsters screaming at the dark. And amidst all that somewhere is Yami, calling out for Yugi. Then the world shuts down on him and everything disappears.

'...J-Joey? Hey, Joey, snap out of it, are you alright? Joey!'

'Gurh...' Joey says. And at first that's as much a response as he's willing to give. He doesn't open his eyes, because even though it sounds like Mai who's talking to him, the last thing he wants to see is that warped-out pachyderm again and man, he is never going to visit a zoo again for as long as he lives.

'Joey, wake up already!' And that sounds just like Téa. 'You're starting to freak us out!'

'Yeugh... I don't wanna wake up.' Joey blinks reluctantly and the world comes slowly back into focus. 'Wakin' up hurts.'

'Oh consider yourself lucky, man,' croaks a voice that sounds like Tristan from somewhere to his left. 'Least you didn't get t-thrown into a wall... Everyone here? Ryou?'

'Mmf. Y-yes. Just give me a moment to process the fact that we were almost killed by a mutated elephant. I'll be fine...'

'Yeah, right. There's another one to add to the scrap book.' Joey sits up, realising this is a mistake but he figures it's too late to lie back down again anyway. 'Urgh. Somebody wanna explain to me why I feel like I'm just had one too many turns on the Kaibaland Blue Eyes Rollercoaster before tryin' to remove my own brain with a popsicle stick?'

Mai rolls her eyes, but he can see through that. He can see that she was worried sick, and he's woken up to way worse sights in the past than that beautiful face glaring at him (glaring, smiling, laughing, it doesn't really matter, it's still beautiful), so he figures he can deal. 'Thanks for that charming visual, honey, just what I needed to complete my evening.'

'Hey, you know my visuals add to the flavour of the moment... Wheat happened to the freak?'

'You mean Jumbo the Terrible?' Mai bites her lip nervously. 'It just... it's gone. Yugi set the light on it, and it sort of... disintegrated,'

Joey blinks. 'The whole thing?'

'The whole thing. Guess the little guy was just that mad. Or maybe his power reacted with Bakura's power and...' Mai shudders and waves her hand about in a gesture saying that she really doesn't know, and doesn't care. All that matters is that it's gone now.

Joey swallows. 'Yugi?'

'Right here.' A voice says. Except that it's Yami's voice, not Yugi's, and that's bad, because Joey knows there's trouble whenever Yami feels the need to speak for is other half.

Joey turns around.

The last time Joey saw that kind of look on Yugi's face, all wide eyed and closed off, had been during Duellist Kingdom. And the look hadn't boded well there, either. He looks at Tristan; there's blood trickling down the side of his face, but he doesn't seem to notice it until Téa reaches out with a tissue. The light is still crawling across Yugi's fingertips, but it's fading away steadily under Yami's hold, his shadows slowly balancing out the brightness. Yugi is staring at the place where Joey knows a monster used to be. The same spot is now occupied by Kaiba, who is crouching over something...

Correction. Over someone.

01:13am, Boeing 737 direct flight to Gatwick International Airport, London. One hour since departure.

'Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking once again, I am sorry to announce that we continue to receive no word on events taking place within central Europe at this time. This flight will proceed on to New York as scheduled and once there you will be able to gain further information concerning your passage home. I apologise once again, this is a very difficult time for us all...'

Flying, Ishizu decides, is not her favourite form of transportation.

Particularly not on board a public service, during a rather panicked period when nobody is entirely certain what the world will look like once they all arrive. The entire plane is coated with an aura of gloom and uncertainty, and the atmosphere is getting to her brothers. Odion copes with this by closing his eyes and meditating in a way which emulates sleep enough for him to avoid speaking to any of the cabin crew when they ask him if he'd like any refreshment. Marik copes by... fidgeting.

A lot.

'Marik, are you alright?'

The jolt through his shoulders when she speaks to him tells her in advance that his answer will be a lie. 'Of course, sister. Why wouldn't I be?'

'Given our current situation there are many reasons.' Ishizu says, and Marik sighs, hand creeping closer to the Millennium Rod, as if out of instinct. 'Not least of which being the fact that you got us on this flight via magical manipulation using a Millennium Item.'

'You are never going to let me forget that, are you?' Marik sighs. 'It's nothing. Just... all the darkness in the air, Ishizu. All the darkness of people's thoughts and minds... it's probably getting to me a little. Something is wrong, and I think for the first time in many years, everyone in the world is aware of it.'

Yes, that is understandable. This is no ordinary flight, and there is not a single passenger on board this plane who doesn't know it. Ishizu has taken note of how many seats are empty which should not be.

'You chose this flight for a reason, didn't you, big sister?' Mari k said, eventually. 'Tell me, do you sense something?'

'The Necklace has no power for me now,' Ishizu admitted quietly. Truthfully it hadn't for years. Not since that day in the temple when the Pharaoh Atemu had turned his back on the land of the dead.

'Ah ah, but the powers o the Millennium Items don't wear off so quickly, sister,' Marik smirked 'you're aware of something, aren't you? That's why you're letting us go to England, even when we can't reach Italy.'

Ishizu took a breath. 'It's... possible. We may not be heading directly into the heart of the danger, but we are heading into something, brother,' Ishizu attempts to settle in her chair. 'I am sure of it.'

The small child in the next seat over threw a lollipop directly into Odion's lap and grinned at him. Odion sniffed slightly, but otherwise maintained his meditative state, and Marik chuckled lightly, breaking the gloom for just a fraction of a second to hand the candy back to her.

Vienna. 02:45 am

'Wer...wer sin... Wer sind Sie?'

...One of the monster's isn't dead yet.

This is kind of scary, but not entirely unexpected, now that Joey thinks about it. Those creatures just don't seem to die, unless Bakura or Yugi set the light on them; and then they burn out like moths in candlelight. They burn out just like that giant freak must have done, because otherwise, Joey can't explain where it went/ Otherwise, they're impossible to stop. Break off their limbs? Who cares? They'll keep coming. Rip them to shreds? Still nothing stops them moving.

Still... maybe that doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to die eventually.

What is unexpected is the talking, and the fact that now this one is opening its eyes (if they still count as eyes) wide and bright and glaring right at Kaiba, like a bug trapped in the headlights, and otherwise, it is lying very, very still. It has one handnothand reaching up and gripping Kaiba's sleeve tighter than any human should be able to. Kaiba knows it isn't not dead.

The crunched up monster is speaking to Kaiba. In a voice all broken up and falling apart, just like the rest of its body, but... it's still talking.

'...Ein... Ein fru-uuuu-end?'

Kaiba's eyes narrow into a scowl. '…Ja.'

There is silence for a moment as Joey processed and realizes he has no idea what Kaiba just said. The creature's jaw is coming away from it's skull, and it's a wonder it can even form the words and yet somehow it manages to. Like it knows this is the last chance it's going to have to talk. '…Ma...man hat mich beraubt? '

'…Nein. I...' Kaba hesitates.

He actually hesitates, and Joey blinks, stepping down from the doorframe. 'W-wait, Kaiba you can speak that?'

'A little. She's only speaking German,' Kaiba says blankly and Joey frowns just a little when Kaiba doesn't add his usual "you idiot" on the end. He cuts off when a clawed hand reaches out to him, the creature's fingers curling tightly, but not dangerously, around his arm.

'She… she's a she?' Joey feels his insides quiver. Because now he remembers. They're human, aren't they? Or else they used to be.

Oh, god.

'She's a she.' Kaiba nods in confirmation. Then he's speaking German again, all the while locked in the pure, white stare of an almost-but-not-quite-human-being lying on the dirt. Joey feels Téa's hand grip his bicep, as she's hanging onto him and shaking. Kaiba doesn't flinch. No, Joey's not even that sure he's breathing.

'I-Isidor… Wo ist... Isidor?'

'Isidor?'

The creature breaths thickly, as if its lungs (or whatever remains of them) are filled with fluid. Joey can see its bones cracking and breaking into pieces even as it lies there... and is it just his imagination, or did that split-wide, lipless face of hers just split wider into a smile?

'I-Isidor... Is... Wo ist er? Wo ist… vas ist lohs, Ich habe ... verpaßt...'

Kaiba shakes his head slightly. 'Es tut mir leid . Ich spreche sehr wenig Deutsch. Könnten Sie das bitte wiederholen?'

'Isidor...' The face-not-face of the woman twisted somewhat, into an almost frown. 'Mien... er ist mein ehemann.. Wir... wir... Meinehemann, mein... waren letzte Woche geheiratet.'

Kaiba doesn't answer. His free hand is sort of… hovering around his arm, as if considering removing her hand. He doesn't, though. He lets her keep a tight hold on him. And okay, now Joey's brain is doing back flips, because how in the hell can this thing –this woman– be…

He can't help but look the figure over one more time. This strange, broken and mangled body, with one hand clutching Seto Kaiba –of all people's– coat, like he's a lifeline. Maybe he is. There's not much blood left in her. Can't be. He's not even all that sure she still had blood to begin with.

'What? Man, I have no idea what you're saying, I… Someone gimme a translation here?'

'She's on her honeymoon,' Kaiba says. For once, his tone has absolutely no aloofness to it whatsoever, and Joey feels the temperature around him drop just a little. Which kind of explains Téa's shivering, and Yugi...

Yugi hasn't moved an inch from where he's sitting, clutching tightly to Yami's arm. 'Isidor…' he whispers quietly.

The figure's body seems to crackle, like her bones are splintering from the inside. She's crying. No, not crying – bleeding. She does have blood, but it's pure white in colour and it's pouring out of her eyes. '…Ich habe... I..., wo jeder ist, wo... Es war ein Junge... wer...ist er sich sicher?' The eyes widened slightly, suddenly even more intensely afraid than before. 'Einen junge, ainen... Wer ist Isidor?'

Kaiba… he looks like he's lost for words in any language. He's biting down on his bottom lip. Strange. His eyes are as cold and hard as ever but that lip… that's what's distracting. Joey can't look away from it. He's never seen Kaiba do that. Never seen him so nervous. '…Wie heißt du?'

'Mich…?' she laughs. At least, Joey thinks it's supposed to be a laugh. It sounds so strange. Like a gurgling tap.'Mich... Mien nam ist Samantha… Samantha Rilando. Nein. Nein, Samantha Bäcker. Wie heißt du?'

'…Saman-ta?' Joey knows that's a name, even though he doesn't know how he knows. The creature –woman, Joey reminds himself again– coughs, and the whiteness that was previously light pours from her mouth now, as well as her eyes. Téa is clutching him tighter but Kaiba still doesn't flinch one bit.

'…S...sie sind chinesisch? Ihr... ihr Akzent.'

'…Nein.Ich bin aus Japan.'

'Ein junge…'

'Ist sicher. Bleiben noch. Hilfe kommt.'

And that's the last thing Kaiba says for a couple of moments. Joey doesn't get a word of it, but somehow he still knows that at least part of it was a lie.

Kaiba is lying to a monster so that it can die a little easily.

A sick feeling curdles in Joey's stomach, because the thing is smiling again. Its eyes aren't bleeding anymore and as Joey watches, he can see its flesh crumbling. Destroyed, Joey realises, by nothing more than Yugi's touch. It was probably already dying when it got to them in the other chamber, before they separated. Yugi's touch was like poison to them, a poison they all wanted and hated in equal measures.

'Ah. Gut…Sie sind gutig.'

And then her smile is breaking up, right across her face. Her bones have turned to dust, and then the rest of her face crumbles away, along with the arm that was clutching Kaiba's sleeve and the shoulder, chest and body attached to that arm. She sinks like fluid into the dirt. Kaiba brushes the dust away without a thought, but the weird thing is, he doesn't look the slightest bit disgusted.

Téa lets out a breath. She must've been holding it, because now she's gasping and trying to catch it again.

'Hilfe kommt,' Joey repeats the words. It's the softest, quietest, calmest thing that he's ever heard Seto Kaiba say.

Shame he doesn't understand a word of it.

'Yugi?' it's Téa who speaks next, her voice breaking the sullen silence. Silence, that is, unless you count the noises of the shadows all around them. Yugi is sat quite still, with Yam's arms wrapped around his shoulders; touching their foreheads together and whispering in Yugi's ear, words in another, ancient language. Joey knows that even if he were close enough to hear them, he wouldn't understand a word Yami is saying. He turns away and tries not to be embarrassed, because he knows somehow that this isn't the kind of moment that anyone outside should be watching.

Kaiba stands himself upright and absently brushes dust from his sleeve. 'Yugi, get a grip. That wasn't the first one to die and it probably won't be the last.'

But it was one of the first that got itself killed for him, Joey thinks. Because that was what that was, wasn't it? Whatever was left of that woman's spirit had tried to help them... She had tried to protect Yugi.

...Why?

'She... she's dead, isn't she?' Bakura whispers, even though the comment seems unnecessary. They all know she's dead. And the look in his eyes is deep and haunted, and Joey remembers back on the airport runway, Bakura raising his hands to the sky and killing dozens of those creatures all in one fell swoop. And now to hear one speaking with a human voice and human words... 'I never thought. I didn't—'

'S'okay.' Bakura,' Tristan muttered. 'It really is. You couldn't help it.'

'I did that, I...'

'No, you didn't. That was Yami Bakura's doing and you know it,' Tristan hisses, pulling the handkerchief away from his forehead and reaching out to grip Bakura's arm, making him look up.

'But there were dozens of them. Hundreds—'

'Bakura, relax.'

And somehow or other Bakura does. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Joey turns his attention back to Yugi. Yami has pulled away now and Yugi is nodding slightly, as if in response to whatever Yami just said.

It's only now that Joey notices. Kaiba's clothes are wet and dripping back water. As if the women had dissolved into a liquid when she fell apart and ew, that's just gross, but Kaiba doesn't seem to care too much about it. And as they watch, the water falls from his fingers and hits the ground. 'Look.' Kaiba says, nodding as the single trickle of black water slowly spreads across the pavement... then it turns and begins slipping away into the darkness.

When he listens, Joey can hear the faint rush of water.

'That... that noise—'

'Is the sound of a river.' Kaiba says, watching as the black pearl of liquid continues to rush across the paving stones in the direction of the sound. That must be it, Joey thinks, feeling the pounding in his chest lessen for a moment, then start up again even stronger than before. They're nearly there.

Kaiba whirls around to face the company. 'You can have your emotional outburst later,' he says dryly. 'For now we still have a task to complete, so pull yourselves together and let's get on with it. Yugi, we need you to focus now.'

Yami stops muttering and pulls away. He's glaring daggers in Kaiba's direction, but Yugi just whispers something and gently pushes Yami away. 'Y-yeah.' He lets out a shaking breath and staggers to his feet, one leg curling slightly underneath him. He only stays upright because Yami is stood beside him acting as support. 'It's just...Kaiba, how do you say thank you, in German?'

Kaiba stares at him for a few moments longer. 'Danke.'

'Right...' Yugi looks back at the place where the monstercreatureSamantha had been a moment earlier. 'Danke, Samantha.'