S: Urk…..
Onyx: Poetic, ne?
S: I'm sorry. I really am. Life is chaotic. On the upside, though, all my fingers work now. Thank you's go out to Lady Element, DarkPyroGirl, (Katie, for crying out loud, mail me some time, would you!) Rose Kitsune.EXE (love the name, BTW) inuyasha0001, and blue leafy. To the loyal; I owe you so much. To the new; welcome and thanks! I apologize, again –
Onyx: Incessantly, you mean!
S: -for the delay. Kuriboh has by now put down his 'Disclaimer see chapter one' sign, and Bakura still isn't speaking to me after the squirrel incident, although I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or bad…
Kakashi: Why, you don't like him?
S/Onyx: (stare)
S: Kakashi, what are you doing here? If you're looking for other people with silver hair, can't you go play with the inu-yokai like everyone else?
Kakashi: (sighs and vanishes in a puff of smoke)
S: S'what I get for being on a Naruto kick. I'm going to roll the story before anyone else shows up.
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LIVES TO LIVE
Chapter Six: Reflections
"Nothing?"
"I'm very sorry, Yami. Neither Bakura nor I have felt anything in the way of Shadow Majiks," Ryou repeated, shaking his head. The silver-haired boy was seated on the couch, his wide brown eyes trailing Yami as the former Pharaoh paced the length of the carpet. Damus was sitting on the loveseat, glaring at the ring resting against the boy's chest as though trying to melt it with his gaze.
"You are both positive? I cannot think of another reason for Seto's Duel Disks to malfunction so severely, and as you two are the only ones aside from myself with remaining control of your Shadow powers, I think -"
A brief change rippled over Ryou's gentle face before he snapped in a much deeper, very scathing voice, "You're rambling, O Pharaoh of Fools!"
"Hold your tongue, Tomb Robber," Yami snapped back absently, shaking his head when that provoked a flood of epithets in some long-forgotten language. "You're lucky I understood as little of that as I did, thief, or I'd - "
"Can we please pretend to be civilized here?" Yuugi interrupted, nearly tripping over the coffee table in his haste to step between the two combatants. "Damus, is something wrong?" The expression on the Dark Magician's face was suddenly reminiscent of someone who had just eaten a lemon. The mage shook his head rapidly, but a faint whimpering sound escaped him. Celtos, who was sprawled on the floor, resting his head against the loveseat next to Damus' knee, glanced up at the mage.
"He's fine, Master, he's just trying not to laugh."
Bakura swung his hard eyes toward the Elf. "Laugh? What is there to laugh about?"
Celtos shrugged slightly. "Damus speaks about twenty languages, the ancient tongues among them. I'm guessing you mistranslated something."
At that moment, the magician lost his rather tenuous control and exploded into laughter – not a weak chuckle, but a full-throated, body-shaking flood of mirth that had Celtos sliding all the way to the floor, to avoid getting a knee in the back of the head. The other occupants of the room just stared.
Perplexed, Yami turned to stare at Bakura. "Just what did you say to me, thief?"
His question was met with a wide-eyed stare – Bakura had retreated again and left Ryou in his place.
"Coward," groused Yami, and turned to stare at the half-hysterical mage, willing him back to something resembling sanity.
It took anther moment of gasping for Damus to get himself under control enough to answer. Hiccuping, the magician managed to stammer out a translation: 'Your cat's figs aren't fit to lick a camel's fishbowl!'
Yami blinked twice and shook his head. Yuugi rubbed the back of his own head, looking bemused. "I'm guessing that wasn't what he meant to say?"
"Bakura!" A scandalized yelp turned all eyes toward Ryou, who was glaring as best he could at the Ring.
"What'd he say this time?" chortled Joey, who was wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
"He just gave me the translation of what he was trying to say, and I'm not repeating it," Ryou answered, going very red.
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An hour or so later, Ryou had returned home and Yuugi was pacing the bedroom he shared with Yami while his darker half watched from the bed.
"You're going to wear out the carpeting, you know," Yami mumbled after some time. "What's bothering you?"
"I'm just worried about the monsters, that's all."
Yami raised his eyebrows in a silent question. After Gaia's arrival, there had been another debate over sleeping arrangements, which had ended when Gaia lay down on the living room carpet and fallen immediately asleep.
Lustire had continued to sit silently by the window for several hours before claiming his spot on the couch.
"It's just…" Yuugi frowned and began pacing again, his blue cotton pyjamas rustling. "There's no guarantee that Seto will have this fixed soon, and we can't keep them cooped up here, but we can't exactly let them go walking around in full battle armor, either."
Yami's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "You have a point, Aibou. And I have a plan."
"You do?"
Holding up the corner of the covers, Yami beckoned to his lighter half. "Come to bed, and I'll tell you all about it."
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"Yuugi, that is possibly the most idiotic thing I have ever heard."
"It is not, Seto," Yuugi replied, exasperation beginning to seep into his voice. He'd been on the phone with the irritable CEO for five minutes now, and most of it had been spent arguing about the wisdom of 'letting a bunch of imaginary monsters wander around on their own.' "People see what they expect to see, especially in this city. As long as they're not wearing battle armor, we shouldn't have a problem. You have the exact same build as him, so your things will fit him nicely."
"His hair is purple."
"Mine has burgundy tips, what's your point?" The doorbell chimed behind him, and Yami, who had been sitting on the counter, staring into his coffee cup for the past ten minutes, quickly hopped down to answer it.
"You think that just because they're wearing street clothes, people won't notice a bunch of Duel Monsters parading around the city? The Mystical Elf has bright blue skin!"
"I've been speaking to Damus about glamours – illusion enchantments. He can disguise her skin easily." Glancing up from the phone, Yuugi waved to Joey as the blond boy strolled in.
"And the Elf's ears?"
"Yes, and Celt's ears."
There was an exasperated sigh on the other end of the phone. "I'll be down in an hour. I'm providing clothes for the Dark Magician only, correct?"
"Yes, I've already called Mai, Teá, Tristan, and Joey, and they're willing to - "
"Ask me if I care, Yuugi. One hour." And he hung up without waiting for Yuugi's reply, leaving the boy staring at the phone is something bearing a suspicious resemblance to annoyance.
"Always a joy, talkin' to that jerk," Joey muttered as he pushed into the living room and dropping his bag of clothes on the couch. Behind him, Teá and Tristan walked into the kitchen, carrying their spare clothes in as well. Yami trailed in after them, not looking particularly focused.
"He's not really that bad, Joey," Yuugi defended as he hung up the handset of the phone. "Face it, he's got a lot to deal with, between his company, the college classes he's taking, and those theme parks…"
"Yeh, yeh, yeh.."
"Yuugi has a point, Joey," Teá pointed out as she set her box of neatly folded clothes on the coffee table, careful not to scrape the wood with the cardboard corners. "Kaiba has a lot of responsibilities."
"Yeh? How about a responsibility to manners?"
"I'm with Joey," Tristan informed the world at large as he dropped his two bags of clothes on the floor in front of the couch. "Kaiba's nothing but a rich jerk."
"At least he's pretty."
There was a significant pause before the threesome turned around, facing the inverted figure on the loveseat behind them. Mirai was draped upside down over the chair as usual, her blond hair pooling on the floor, her bare feet swinging back and forth. The position made an interesting presentation of some of her more noticeable attributes, but her face was hidden behind a book, also inverted.
"Joey," Tristan hissed, elbowing his friend in the side, "isn't that the Dark Magician Girl?"
Joey looked at his friend as though he'd just asked if two plus two were four. "Of course she is. Didn't Yuug explain the situation before you came down here?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Mirai," Joey demanded, ignoring Tristan for the moment, "did you just say Kaiba was pretty?"
The girl set the book aside and blinked up at him, her green eyes wide with astonishment. "Of course. He looks just like my big brother, and all the monsters in the deck say that my big brother is pretty… 'specially Celtos," she added with a giggle, glancing up towards the sofa as Gaia tried to slip back out, unnoticed. "Isn't the Dragon-Master just as pretty as my brother, Gaia?"
"I couldn't say," the Knight answered gruffly, and vanished upstairs with his borrowed clothes and without another word.
"Now that you mention it - "
"Joey, please don't tell me you think Kaiba is pretty!" Tristan pleaded, and hastily ducked the halfhearted punch his friend aimed at his head.
"Would you shaddup a second? I was just gonna say that Mirai's right, and Damus does look an awful lot like Kaiba. Same eyes, same cheekbones, same chin…" Joey realized somewhat belatedly that everyone, including Mirai and Yami, was staring at him, and trailed off. "What?"
"Joey," Tristan began cautiously, "just how much time do you spend memorizing Kaiba's face, anyway?"
"Lay off, Tris, I'm just sayin' - "
"Guys!" Shouldering in between them, Teá quickly ended the would-be argument. "Of course Kaiba's good-looking, otherwise he wouldn't be the most eligible bachelor in all of Japan. It's just his personality that…. needs work."
Joey snickered. "Comin' from you, Teá, that's downright mean."
"What's mean? Teá? Hello, boys."
"Hey, Mai," chirped Yuugi as the female duelist strolled in. "We were just discussing Kaiba. Do you want a hand with that?" Mai, burdened as she was with an immense lavender leather suitcase in one hand and a makeup case over her shoulder, grinned down at the young duelist.
"Thanks, kiddo, but these bags probably weigh more than you do." These words were immediately followed by a squeak and a thump as Mirai toppled off her chair in surprise.
"You brought all that for me!"
If Mai was at all surprised to meet the young mage in person, she gave no indication. Instead, she pulled the girl to her feet with her free hand and flashed her the same dazzling grin she used to incapacitate male opponents on the duel field, winking at the same time. "Sure, honey. You want to go try on some outfits?"
Mirai gave a delighted squeal, bouncing forward and throwing her arms around the woman's neck. "Ooh, can we? I love trying on clothes!"
This time, Mai's smile was genuine. "That's good, because I have a lot of clothes for you to try on. Which room are you in?" Mirai, bouncing with excitement, practically dragged Mai up the stairs, past her brother and Celtos, forcing the male monsters to flatten themselves against the banister. Mai managed to wink a greeting at them as she scrambled by; they nodded respectfully in return.
"Please try to put her in something a little less revealing!" Damus called as an afterthought, and followed a snickering Celtos down to the living room.
"Eh, why do ya let her dress like that in the first place, Damus, if ya don't approve of it?" Joey inquired of the mage as he joined the group. Yami slipped out of the room again, mumbling something about needing more coffee.
"Good morning to you as well, sir, and I feel that my sister is old enough to make her own decisions. If she wishes to dress like a courtesan, it's really not my place to correct her."
"Fair enough, I guess. And good morning."
Damus nodded slightly as Celtos shifted behind him, uncomfortably aware of the awestruck gazes of the two non-duelists.
"Teá, Tristan, I'd like you to meet Damus and Celtos. Damus, Celtos, my friends Teá and Tristan," Yuugi piped up from between Joey and Damus. "I think you've all seen each other before, but in any case…"
The two monsters bowed from the waist, murmuring greetings, while Teá and Tristan stared. Meeting Mirai, who was not particularly intimidating at a height of barely five-four, was not the same as meeting Damus, who towered over everyone from his lofty six-foot one height, or Celtos, who was a couple inches shorter but with broader shoulders and a more powerful form.
"Wow," Tristan murmured, clearly astonished, as he gazed up at the two monsters. "Hey, Damus may look like Seto, but Celtos looks like Joey!"
"What?" Two pairs of amber eyes flashed towards the brunette boy, both narrowed in confusion.
"Hey, wow, Tristan, you're right!" Standing on her tiptoes with a dancer's grace, Teá peered more closely at their faces. "Without the ears and tattoos, you two could be twins," she informed the two blonds, who exchanged glances and walked as one to the downstairs bathroom. Standing side-by-side in front of the mirror, they gazed at the double reflection for a moment before realizing that Tristan and Teá were indeed correct – although Joey's jaw was a little wider and Celt's cheekbones a bit more pronounced, they still could have passed for brothers.
"This is getting' freaky," Joey grumbled as they started back towards the living room. "I'm feelin' like part of a bookend set. First Damus is a dead ringer for Kaiba, an' now you and I look like twins!"
"The difference on our bookend is that Damus and I are lovers," Celtos pointed out somewhat absently, his voice cast low enough not to carry past Joey.
"Hmph! Yeah, picture me an' Kaiba?"
Celtos shrugged slightly as they walked back into the living room. "Is that what you want?"
Joey glanced around, somewhat alarmed, but nobody else seemed to have heard the comment. Tristan, Teá, Yuugi and Yami were all clustered around the couch next to Damus. Seated in it was a blond man that neither Celtos nor Joey recognized until he lifted his head.
"Gaia! Wow, nice glamour, Damus," Joey exclaimed, surveying the Knight's new appearance. Gaia's thick blond hair was loosely pony-tailed and complemented by a light tan, which made his snapping blue eyes seem more intense. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a black tee shirt. A windbreaker, navy blue with yellow piping, was resting over his knee.
"Thank you," Damus answered, passing the bag of clothes that Joey had brought over the table to Celtos. "Would you like a hand getting dressed?" Damus inquired 'innocently,' moving as though to follow the Elf up the stairs. Gaia gave a derisive snort and hauled the mage back by the hem of his tunic.
"When is the last time you helped Celtos put clothing on?" Gaia pointed out, and Damus sat down looking annoyed. A few nervous giggles, mostly from Tristan and Teá, erupted, at the comment. Celtos grinned at the group, blushing, and jogged up the stairs with his clothes.
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Forty-five minutes later, the whole group of monsters had assembled in the living room. Seto, who had shown up twenty minutes early, was now standing face-to-face with Damus in the middle of the room, ice blue eyes meeting ice blue eyes, although Damus was an inch taller than the chestnut-haired CEO.
Unlike Joey and Celtos, Kaiba and Damus were perfect mirror-images. Even their bangs fell in the same manner, the thicker lock falling between their narrow eyes, shorter strands brushing their foreheads, a longish lock in front of each ear.
Joey took one look at them, shook his head, and turned his back on the sight. "One Moneybags was bad enough. Now there's two of them! It ought to be against the law! And that outfit doesn't help!" Damus was wearing black leather pants that fit him like a second skin, molded to every smooth curve. An ice-blue silk shirt made his eyes seem more vibrant than ever, and over top of it he wore a dark purple trench coat, one of Kaiba's spares. It was a little less elaborate than the ones the CEO favored, lacking the wire supports that made Kaiba's coats flare without wind.
"Mutt, the fact that the magician and I have a passing resemblance isn't nearly as much of a crime as what you've done to that Elf." Celtos was wearing a pair of blue jeans that fit snugly where it counted, a white tee shirt that clung to the ripples of his muscular torso, and a brown leather jacket. His hair was restrained in a low ponytail that made his eyes seem more open – the end result had Damus very nearly drooling.
"If what he's done is criminal, there is something wrong with your law system, Dragon Master," managed Damus, shaking his head in an attempt to focus himself.
"Agreed," came a deep voice from behind Seto, and everyone jumped. It was Lustire, wearing an emerald-green tee shirt, straight-leg black jeans, and a thigh-length black leather jacket that made him look desirably dangerous. Damus had to shake himself back to present long enough to perform a glamour on the soldier, who was looking particularly strange in street clothes with his pale-green skin. The fact that he had a hip-length, copper-red ponytail was less of an issue, particularly considering the company he was keeping; between Damus' waist-length braid and Mysti's hair, which was nearly down to her knees, it wasn't particularly abnormal.
The Mystical Elf was sitting quietly on the sofa as Teá braided up her impossibly long hair, her hands folded in the lap of her ankle-length khaki skirt. The pale-green tee shirt and white denim jacket she wore suited her trim figure nicely.
Mai, having successfully dressed Mirai in light blue jeans, a white crop halter top, and a cotton-candy pink jacket, was now occupying herself with teasing Celtos. She, like Damus, had no objection whatsoever to the clothes Joey had provided, and was toying good-naturedly with the shy Elf, who was blushing brighter than a stoplight as she ran her hands over his chest.
"You clean up so well," she murmured in her best bedroom voice, looking at him through her lashes. Seeing the desperation on the monster's face, Yami reined in Mai's humor.
"I wouldn't bother, Mai, I don't think you're his type."
"Understatement of the millennia," Gaia mumbled from his seat, but nobody heard him. "You could try Lustire," he snipped in a slightly louder voice, causing both monsters to turn towards him.
"I'm taken, Knight!"
"Lustire is NOT my type!"
"Well, who is, then?" Mai teased Celtos, winking at Lustire in an attempt to relax the rather tightly wound soldier. Damus, smirking, stepped up behind Celtos and wrapped his arms around the Elf's waist. When he was sure he had the attention of everyone in the room, he ran the tip of his tongue up the edge of the Elf's sensitive ear, looking smug. Celtos let out a soft, involuntary moan, his eyes fluttering shut as he slumped back against his lover's chest.
"Well, that answers that," Mai remarked wryly, fanning herself.
"Okay, knock it off. You two look way too much like Joey and Kaiba to do that and not give me nightmares," Tristan spoke up. Seto and Joey exchanged disbelieving glances, and turned as one to glare at Tristan. "What? They do!" Tristan yelped in response.
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Kaiba abandoned the group shortly before they left for the park, leaving Mokuba in his stead. "Much as I'd love to stay and baby-sit," he'd snarked on his way out, "some of us have work to do." Mokuba, on the other hand, was perfectly content to join the group for the rest of the day, and it was only his eyes that caught the fact Damus had forgotten to glamour Celt's ears and tattoos while the Elf was on his way out the door.
"My eyes were elsewhere," the magician admitted ruefully, and pinched the Elf's denim-clad backside to prove his point, causing Celtos to yelp on a pitch that most male singers would have given their right leg – or something in that vicinity – to achieve.
The first few minutes of the walk progressed peacefully, but somewhere between the shop and the park, Mirai and Damus wound up in the middle of a heated argument.
"…and you know Father wouldn't have approved of you wearing such things!" Damus exclaimed, gesturing to the halter top that exposed, if possible, more of Mirai's endowments than her costume did.
"Father wouldn't have cared; I don't see why you do!" Mirai shrilled back, causing Celtos to wince.
"Because I'm the one responsible for you!"
"I can be responsible for myself!"
"Are they like this often?" Yuugi asked Celtos in an undertone. The Elf, who was staring off somewhere to the left, shook his head slightly, nearly displacing the Kuriboh, which was riding on his shoulder disguised as an overly fluffy dog.
"No, Master, perhaps twice a year. Stress."
"You never do your practice, even when I remind you, you dress like a courtesan, your spells cause mass chaos – I'll trust you to be responsible for yourself when you prove you're able!" Damus all but shouted, black sparks of majic snapping around his clenched fists. Celtos silently touched two fingers to the mage's wrist, a gentle reminder not to lose control. Damus regained himself with difficulty, his mouth set in a thin line.
"Mirai, listen to your brother," Celtos rebuked gently, and the girl whirled on him.
"I knew you'd side with him, you always side with him, he's not always right you know, he's being mean to me!"
"WHAT!" Damus spun to face her, incredulous, and Celtos immediately stepped between them.
"That is enough," he informed them, in a tone so final that neither mage offered a word of complaint. Regardless, Mirai sulked all the way to the park, and Damus spent the entire walk with his jaw clenched.
When they reached the park, Mirai was stubbornly refusing to talk to Damus, and Damus was stubbornly refusing to be bothered by it. It had been previously agreed that the group would disperse into smaller units of two, three and four, serving the dual purpose of being less conspicuous and getting the monsters away from one another for a little while.
"We're always together, but we're not accustomed to being in such close quarters," Celtos had explained earlier. "It's understandable that we're starting to wear on each other's nerves a little."
There was a nature trail running along one side of the park that Amystria wanted to see; she and Teá departed almost immidiatly. Mirai, with her nose in the air, caught Mai's wrist and flounced off, going in no particular direction except away. Celtos rubbed his temples and sighed, watching as Tristan and Joey split off, followed by Gaia, Lustire, and Mokuba.
"Master, is there any tranquil location around here?" Damus asked, a faintly desperate note in his voice.
"The lake is very quiet this time of year," Yuugi answered, and lead the way.
The lake was a beautiful place; the sun sparked diamonds off the rippling water, and the carpet of grass on the bank was as lush as velvet. Damus sank down on the bank with an expression of bliss, turning his face upwards to the warm sun. Crossing his legs before him, he settled his wrists on his knees, closed his eyes, and instantly sank into a deep meditation. Celtos flopped down, willfully graceless, next to his lover, and rolled face-up to enjoy the warm sun. Yami and Yuugi shrugged and joined them, laughing softly as they watched Kuriboh scolding the Elf for dislodging it. The five of them were utterly relaxed, which made a pleasant change after the past days.
The peace lasted almost two hours. Damus had emerged from his meditation, far calmer than he had been, and was now sitting up on the bank with Celt's head resting in his lap, finger-combing the Elf's hair. Yami and Yuugi were lying head-to-head on the bank behind them, speaking in low voices and watching Kuriboh chasing falling leaves. The small creature, glamoured to represent a shaggy terrier, had just caught a leaf in its mouth when two shrill, panicked screams split the air.
All four were on their feet in an instant.
"Mai!" Yuugi gasped, eyes wide.
"Mirai!" Damus cried, and set off at a sprint. Celtos cursed, seized the Kuriboh, and leaped after the mage. Yami and Yuugi bolted after them, but both monsters were far faster than they were. By the time they had caught up, the two monsters were standing in a small clearing, breathing hard in a combination of exertion and panic. Mai lay unconscious at their feet, a bloody lump forming on her forehead. Above her, a Dark Magician Girl card had been pinned to a tree by means of an elaborate Egyptian dagger driven through it's heart. And worst of all was the fact that Mirai was completely, undeniably gone.
TO BE CONTINUED…..