FudoTwin17: Wow, guys. It's sad how long it's been since I updated.
Cat: Yup.
Dog # 1: You know that's right.
FudoTwin17: You guys deserve someone who updates at least once a month, but instead you got me. What luck, huh? I'm sorry. I'll try to update more, but I have a life (kinda) so I'm not always on FF, not to mention that I have other stories. Sorry, again.
Cat: She doesn't own anything connected to Yu-gi-oh except OC's and merchandise that she uses too regularly to be normal.
FudoTwin17: Hey!
Chapter 15
When Joey arrived home, he was tired. Actually, he was more than tired. He was emotionally drained, ready to collapse. It had been a while since their first and only meeting on finding Yugi and the others. Rebecca hadn't called any of them again with new information. It was driving him crazy being so close to his best friend again, yet being so far.
The blond collapsed on his couch, slinging an arm over his eyes to block the dim lighting of the apartment. It occurred to him that he should just turn out the lights, but he somehow couldn't find the motivation to move.
How could he be being used for so long against Yugi without even realizing it? How could there be someone dangerous with intentions only to kill him on command have been involved in his life without him suspecting a thing? Joey breathed a heavy sigh.
If he really thought about it, they still were. He didn't know who they were! But they knew him. He wished that he could just figure it out. However, even if he did, he knew it was no use. If these people were really as big and powerful as Rebecca suspected, then it was obvious that they had more than one on him and everyone else. But even if Joey managed to escape them, he knew that he would never be able to live with himself.
He wouldn't ever be able to live with himself if he ran like a coward. Joey shook his head. He was many things, but he refused to be a coward.
He groaned to himself as his phone rang. Slowly, he drew it out from his pocket, not removing his right arm from it's resting place across his eyes. "Hello?"
"Finally you pick up your darn phone, you stupid kid!" Yelled a familiar voice through his speakers. Joey winced as his ears rang at the harsh abuse of his eardrum. He scowled into the empty room, removing his arm from across his face and sitting upright on his couch.
It was his dad. Joey and his father had lost contact after Joey had finally paid off the last of his father's debt. It had been one of his few good moments where he'd actually felt proud after Yugi's disappearance. That moment when he'd told his dad that he'd paid everything and that his father no longer had any hold over him was probably the highlight of his days after the day Yugi disappeared.
Joey sighed, running a hand through his unruly locks. That day had been horrible. He'd gone to school expecting nothing out of the ordinary, but he'd gotten a nightmare. The moment that Kaiba had snarled at him like that he'd known something was wrong. Every hair on the back of his neck had gone up, and he'd been scared.
Yes, scared.
Kaiba had never told him off for something he'd done to Yugi before. Sure, he'd insulted him for lots of other things, but never for something he'd done to Yug. Kaiba knew that he'd never hurt Yugi. That's how friends worked.
But that day had been different.
Kaiba had been angry, angrier than Joey had ever seen him in his life. It was as if someone had kidnapped Mokuba! And he'd had reason to.
And then finding the game shop like that . . . .
Joey knew that he'd always be haunted by what they'd found. The bloody footprints to the small pool of blood at the steps to the phone that had dangled from it's hook-it all made Joey's heart pound. The place had been dark and the sound of the phone's beeps trying to alert someone in the household that it wasn't on it's hook had been enough to make Bakura, who'd tagged along, as well as Tristan and him to leave, though none of them voiced it aloud. He'd even bet that Taya and Kaiba wanted to leave!
But they didn't.
Joey sighed quietly. Sometimes, they all returned to the game shop. Of course, it was usually separately, but sometimes they ran into each other. The shop hadn't been opened in years, but it was still standing. Kaiba had taken to protecting it. He paid a maid to clean it regularly and even a separate lawyer to deal with anyone who tried to repossess it, though no one would considering that it was under Kaiba's protection.
But Joey knew very well why Kaiba protected it. It was like how a parent kept the room of a dead or missing child exactly as they left it in hope they'd come back or because they simply couldn't bare packing away their things.
Joey sighed heavily.
"Hey, brat! Are ya listening at all?" Joey winced at his dad's voice. "I said I need some dough."
Joey scowled again at the wall, standing as he growled through the phone. "Yeah? Well, go get it yourself. I ain't doin' anything for ya anymore! Especially not givin' ya money that ya can earn yourself!"
Joey could almost hear his dad's rage. "You-"
However, that didn't mean Joey wanted to hear what his dad had to say. Joey left the man for a reason. He didn't want to put up with the drunk maniac anymore. And his father had no right to call him up to ask him for money after everything that he'd done for him despite everything that the the old man had done to him.
So, without further ado, Joey hung up and turned off his phone.
The man rubbed his temple before the anger began to build up in his mind. Yugi, rent, his dad-why did everything have to happen right then! Joey sighed painfully, turning his phone back on.
He couldn't miss any news about Yugi and the others.
Without another thought, he rushed out of the apartment, barely taking his time to lock up. There was only one place that could calm his thoughts and numb his mind to the outside world that he felt the need to go when life got to be too much. Taking a deep breath, he began to go on his way toward the one place that he always was at during high school.
The game shop may have been empty of people, but it still had too many memories, both good and bad.
. . .
Rebecca stared angrily at the screen of her computer as it failed to do what she wanted. She took a calming breath and pushed the laptop away, putting her face in her hands. She sighed.
All the footage from the corner where Luna had been knocked into her mysterious coma were gone. An entire hour was missing from the footage. Not one shop or street camera had caught a thing. It was frustrating to her. How could every bit of footage of a particular scene disappear?
Rebecca paused. Or be stolen. What if it had been taken by the group that had taken Yugi? She knew it was a bit of a long shot. After all, Luna may have gone into a coma, but from her research, it wasn't the first time. The four of them might not have even been involved.
But the girl had just gotten this feeling. She just knew that something important had been on those tapes. And their mysterious disappearance? Maybe it had been them. Maybe they put the poor girl into a coma. Maybe it was a cover up.
However, Rebecca had never liked maybes. She was a researcher. She lived for knowledge and art. She lived for history. She didn't like cover-ups. They always bothered her. Why cover something up? Why not let the public know the truth? Why not?
This felt too much like a cover-up to her. Why did every recording that could possibly inform her of what happened to Luna disappear?
Rebecca frowned. She needed a break. With a sigh, she flipped on the news, heading into her kitchen to get herself a fresh cup of coffee. As she waited for it to brew, she listened to the news. And she couldn't help it when she gasped out loud at what she was hearing.
"Well," Angelina, one of the older news reporters began, "it looks like we're having the first duel tournament in years! Seto Kaiba has finally decided to bring back the dueling tournaments! It'll be the first since the disappearance of Yugi Muto, the king of games. Anyways, Kaiba is also introducing a new way to duel. The new dueling technique uses a headpiece so that you can see your duel monsters interact with the playing field, which is wherever you are. As well as that, you can now receive damage from the environment in the right conditions. However, working scientists on this new type of dueling say that it is only a prototype, and it will be upgraded soon. The sign-up for the new tournament begins tomorrow and ends on Monday when the duel tournament will begin. Good luck for all duelers out there!"
"Thank you, Angelina." Said a male reporter that Rebecca didn't recognize by voice. To her, it seemed like all the dudes had similar voices. "Now, in other news, there was a plane wreck yesterday afternoon at-"
Rebecca shut off the news, quickly snatching up her phone. She had a plan. After three rings, the person on the other end picked up. "Rebecca?"
"Alexis, can you do me a favor?" Rebecca grinned maliciously to herself before she grimaced, thinking about what would happen if she was wrong. She could only pray that things worked out right. "Weren't there three kids with you when Jaden and the others reappeared?"
. . .
When Joey entered the game shop and flipped on the light, he had somehow expected to be alone. Somehow, though, it didn't surprise him when he found none other than Seto Kaiba just sitting in the living room area. He had a cup of hot cocoa in his hands, and he was staring at the television as if it were on.
Joey might have thought it were creepy if he hadn't done the same thing countless times. When Joey thought about it, that was one of the few things he did often here. He sat and stared unseeingly, lost in his memories. With a low sigh, he sat himself down to the man he had almost hated for years.
Joey hadn't seen Kaiba in years. To tell the truth, before the whole mess with their friends reappearing began, he hadn't seen Kaiba since they had taken their first trip to this building, looking for Yugi.
It seemed like so long ago when they'd came in here together, hoping to find Yugi, all of him and not just a pool of unforgiving blood. When Joey closed his eyes, he could sometimes conjure pictures of it in his mind. He could see the blood, the footprints, Yugi, bloody and beaten (though that was purely his imagination and guilt taking it's toll), and that stupid phone. In his nightmares, he could always hear the phone dial. It was his only constant.
Joey sighed, closing his eyes against the dim room and leaning his head back against the couch. He took deep breaths, pushing out the negative thoughts in his mind about-about everything, and desperately trying to breathe in something that was good or at least distracting.
After a while, he found that the house had lulled him into a fitful sleeping wonderland.
Somehow, it didn't bother him at all that he could sleep so easily right next to Kaiba.
. . .
Everything felt warm and comfortable, soft, too. Luna cuddled into it automatically, trying desperately to cling to the last bit of sleep she had. She didn't want to think about the waking world. It was so full of problems and pain that she just didn't want to face it. If she stayed there forever, she would never have to face it.
"I think she's waking up." Whispered a soft voice. It was feminine, and it almost lulled Luna straight back to sleep. A part of her whispered that she'd heard it before, though, and that it was time to wake.
But Luna didn't want to wake.
"I hope so." A bolder, male voice stated, making her clutch onto her blanket automatically. It was very familiar. "I've never seen anyone sleep here. I thought that we couldn't to tell the truth."
"That's because we can't, Pharaoh." She replied.
The title immediately registered in Luna's mind. Pharaoh? As in king of Egypt, Pharaoh? She forced herself out of unconsciousness, stretching her limbs slightly to get a feel for the waking world. It was time to get up.
"I told you, you don't need to call me pharaoh. I'm your friend, and it's the afterlife. We don't need titles anymore." He spoke. However, before the female voice could reply, he continued. "Isis, she's awake."
When Luna's golden eyes slid open to the world, the first thing she saw was Yugi Muto, the King of Games.
. . .
FudoTwin17: Oh, I'm tired. Like, really tired. Somehow, I think if I continue, it's gonna end up really stupid.
Goldfish # 4: Like you?
Goldfish # 8: No, like you, golden boy.
FudoTwin17: Boys, boys, do we really have to do this right now? *sigh* Anyways, thanks for those of you who have offered to help. Thank you for your support, and if you guys think you know of any good dueling episodes in any of the series (except ZEXAL as I'm not caught up yet), then please tell me. I want to write good duel scenes, but, frankly, I've never written one before, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Oh, and if you want something in the series, don't forget to ask! I'll definitely try to include something with your idea! Thank you, and have a good night.
Cat: You mean morning.
FudoTwin17: Whatevs.
