Chapter 6- Explanations
Heba sat in the meeting room, and he was looking through everything that he had been given. 'I hope that we can figure this out.' Heba thought.
The door to the meeting room opened, and Yami and Atemu walked into the room with Amara and Aknankanon behind them.
"Where's everyone else at?" Yami asked.
"I would guess that they are all still in bed. I haven't seen them this morning." Heba answered.
"How long will they sleep?" Amara asked.
"There's no telling." Yami said.
"Especially if they had an active night." Atemu added.
"I could have lived without knowing that." Aknankanon said as they sat down.
"Sorry." Atemu said.
"What are you doing, Heba?" Amara asked.
"Looking over all this." Heba answered.
"What is it?" Yami asked.
"Something I hope will help." Heba said. He glanced at his watch and saw that the others were a half hour late being there. 'They have an hour before I go in and drag them out here.' Heba thought.
Yami, Atemu, Amara, and Aknankanon were talking among themselves while they waited.
"So, you're a lawyer now, Yami?" Amara asked.
"Yeah. I've been practicing for a few years. I find law a great line of work." Yami said.
"While I find it utterly boring." Atemu said.
"You seemed to be glad that I was a lawyer whenever you have legal trouble." Yami said.
"I never said that it wasn't a good profession. I just don't like it." Atemu said.
"What do you do, Atemu?" Aknankanon asked.
"I own my own company, like my cousin Seto does." Atemu answered.
"Well, you both seem to be well off." Aknankanon said.
"I guess we are." Atemu agreed.
After an hour, Heba finally got tired of waiting. He stood up.
"Where are you going, Heba?" Amara asked.
"To get them out of bed." Heba answered before he left the room.
"Well, he did come around and say we would meet at seven, and it's almost nine now, so he does have reason to be angry." Atemu said.
Heba had already gotten Joey, Seto, Seth, Ryou, Bakura, and Akefia up.
'I hope that Malik at least is out of bed.' Heba thought.
Heba walked up to the door to Malik's room and knocked. "Malik, are you up yet?" Heba asked.
There was no answer.
"Malik, open the door.' Heba said.
There was still no answer.
Growing irritated, Heba opened the door and said, "Malik!"
Amara, Aknankanon, Atemu, and Yami were all talking to each other when Heba then barged into the room, looking rather perturbed.
"Um, Heba. Are you okay?" Yami asked.
"No. I need to get drunk." Heba said.
"Why?" Atemu asked, startled.
"So that I can forget what I just saw." Heba said.
"What did you see?" Amara asked.
"Malik, Mariku, and Marik." Heba answered.
"Uh-oh." Atemu said.
"What?" Amara asked.
"I believe that he caught them in an uncomfortable situation." Yami said.
"Oh." Aknankanon said.
"I need about fifty drink before I'm drunk enough to forget that scene." Heba said as he sat down, a look of disgust in his face.
"It is something that is natural." Amara said.
"I know that. I can deal with the fact Malik is having sex with them. It's seeing it that makes me want to sick." Heba said.
"I can understand that. I remember when Yami and I accidentally walked in Marik and Mariku once. Not a memory I like." Atemu said.
"Tell me about it." Yami said.
Ryou, Bakura, Akefia, Joey, Seto, and Seth walked into the room.
"Morning. Sorry that we're late, but we might have overslept a bit." Joey said.
"Joey, oversleeping a bit for you is three hours. You beat a bit by an hour." Heba said.
"Okay. We made good time then." Joey said.
"Heba, why do you look go sick? You're not coming down with something, are you?" Ryou asked.
"No. I just need to get drunk." Heba said.
"Why?" Bakura asked.
"He walked in on Malik, Marik, and Mariku this morning." Atemu said.
"Okay. That is disgusting." Seto said.
"He knows." Yami said.
It wasn't long before Malik, Marik, and Mariku entered the room.
"Hey! Don't interrupt next time." Mariku barked.
Heba looked up at them with a glare so fierce that if looks could kill, they would have been all been killed.
Malik gulped. He hated that look.
"Malik, may I make a suggestion?" Heba said in a growl.
"Um, sure." Malik said.
"Next time, make sure that the door is locked!" Heba snapped.
"Sure thing. Won't happen again." Malik said quickly.
"Good. Now, sit down. We have a lot to discuss." Heba said.
Everyone sat down around the table.
"Now, where should I start?" Heba asked.
"You could start with what is going on with the fact that my aunt and uncle are alive when they're supposed to be dead." Seth said.
"Would you prefer that we were dead, Seth?" Aknankanon asked.
"No." Seth said.
"It's all right. I'll explain it." Heba said.
"This should be good." Akefia muttered.
Ryou whacked Akefia in the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Akefia asked.
"Be quiet." Ryou said hissed.
"Come on. He's only telling the truth." Bakura said.
Ryou the whacked Bakura in his head.
"Ow!" Bakura exclaimed.
"All right. You two shut up so we can hear this." Seto growled.
"Thank you. As I'm sure you've already figured out, I was sent to Domino on a mission involving Mr. and Mrs. Akana." Heba said.
"Yeah. What was it?" Mariku asked.
"It wasn't a kill mission, as you all seem to think it was. It was a protection mission." Heba said.
"Protection mission? Those are rare, aren't they?" Ryou asked.
"Yes. I was sent on the mission, and I had to go undercover, so no one could know who I was." Heba said.
"Why did you have to go undercover?" Atemu asked.
"Because someone had put a hit out on Yami's parents, and I was sent there to stop it and make sure that it didn't happen." Heba said.
"I don't get it. Who put a hit out on them, and why?" Yami asked.
"I would tell you why if I knew, but I don't know. Falcon was the one who ordered the hit." Heba said.
"Falcon?!"
"Yes." Heba said.
"The same one who ordered the hits on us?" Seth asked.
"Yes." Heba said.
"Who is this lowlife?" Bakura growled.
"Let Heba finish talking." Aknankanon said.
"Thank you. Anyway, I virtually had to become a part of the Domino society, which I did. I also kept an eye out to see if I noticed anyone suspicious around their house." Heba said.
"That's why you lived in the apartment building across from us." Yami said.
"Yes. I was keeping watch." Heba said.
"Okay. So what happened that caused them to go into hiding and us to believe them dead?" Marik asked.
"Well, in short, an assassin got too close to us." Aknankanon said.
~Flashback~
"Who are you?" Aknankanon asked, glaring at the man who held the gun on him and his wife.
"That's not for you to know. It doesn't matter anyway. You'll be dead before long." the man said.
"Stop this! What do you want?!" Amara cried.
"My employer wants you both dead. Nothing personal. Just business." the man said.
Aknankanon wasn't about to just let this guy kill them, so he lunged at the man, hoping to get the gun away from him.
Unfortunately, the man was very strong, and he easily managed to break Aknankanon's wrist.
Aknanaknon cried out in pain.
"Aknankanon!" Amara cried in fear.
The man threw Aknankanon back.
Amara knelt by her husband.
"Now, I think that it's time for both of you to die." the man said, aiming the gun at them.
Amara held tightly onto Aknankanon as Aknankanon held his wife with his good arm.
There was a gunshot.
Aknankanon and Amara watched in shock as the man fell.
Behind the man, Heba stood holing a gun.
"Heba?" Aknankanon and Amara said in shock.
Heba turned them. "No time to explain. Come with me. If you don't, you'll die.'" Heba said.
Not sure what else to do, Amara and Aknankanon did as they were told.
~End Flashback~
"In short, if Heba had come any later, we would have been killed. He killed the man sent to kill us. He got us out of there, and their organization got us into hiding to protect us." Aknankanon said.
"But we were told that you were dead." Seth said.
"There was no choice. If Falcon knew that they were alive, they would still been in danger. Falcon would have continued to send assassins after them. This way, he thought that they were dead." Heba said.
"What about Yami, though?" Seto asked.
"We were given a choice. Either tell him and have him come into hiding with us, or let him believe that we were dead and give him the chance to live a normal life. We choose to let Yami live normally." Amara said.
"So, you've been in hiding all this time?" Atemu asked.
Amara and Aknankanon nodded.
"Now, you all know that I didn't kill innocent people. I never have, and I never will." Heba said.
"I guess we owe you an apology." Seth said.
"No, you don't. You came to understandable conclusions given the limited amount of information that you had." Heba said.
"Okay. It makes more sense now." Yami said.
"Heba, I know that there had to be more to this meeting than that." Ryou said.
"There is." Heba said. He motioned to the stack of files he and said, "I put in a call to our spies in other organization."
"You never do that because it could blow their cover." Malik said.
"I know, but in this case, I made an exception. I had them find anything they could on Falcon and had them send everything to me here." Heba said.
"Did you learn anything?" Bakura asked.
"Yes. Falcon is a psychopath." Heba said.
"So what? Mariku, Marik, Bakura, and Akefia are, too." Atemu said.
"Yes, but these two haven't had over a thousand people killed in a seven-year time span." Heba said.
"He's had over a thousand people killed?" Ryou asked.
Heba nodded. He motioned to the stack on his right. "These are the files on the ones that have been killed since the start of this year." Heba said.
"Heba, it's only the middle of March." Malik said.
"I know." Heba said.
"How may are there?" Yami asked.
"Almost a hundred." Heba answered.
"WHAT?!"
Heba nodded. "Falcon is a true psychopath." Heba said.
"What do we do? We have to stop him somehow." Joey said.
"That's why we're going back to the only link that we to Falcon." Heba said.
"Vivian?" Ryou asked.
"Right." Heba answered.
"Vivian? Who's that?" Amara asked.
"Do you happen to remember me ranting about a girl named Vivian Wong when I was a teenager?" Yami asked.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I remember you saying that she was a slut." Aknankanon said.
"Aknankanon!" Amara scolded.
"It's what he said." Aknankanon said.
"And it's the truth." Yami said.
"Yeah. She was a true slut." Marik agreed.
"Anyway, it turns out that she's a prostitute for Falcon. He sends men to her, she entertains them, and in return, Falcon let's her live a life of luxury, which is the only thing that matters to her." Heba said.
"But we know that she didn't know anything about Falcon." Malik said.
"I've had a few of our agents keep a close, discrete eye on her. Since we met with her, Vivian has had the same man come to see her several times, and the only thing that they ever do is talk. Given that she is a prostitute, that is odd behavior." Heba said.
"You think that this guy might work for Falcon and is giving her orders?" Joey asked.
"That, or is threatening her with not telling us anything else." Heba said.
"I get the feeling that a little reconnaissance is in order again." Joey said.
"Actually, we're doing a capture mission." Heba said.
"We're going to try and capture them both and get the information that we want." Malik said, smirking.
"Exactly." Heba said.
"is that safe?" Amara asked.
"We have done it so many times that it has become second nature to us." Heba said.
"We've never failed once in this." Malik said.
"We're doing this carefully anyway." Heba said.
"When do we do this?" Joey asked.
"We'll be waiting a few days before the capture. We'll be doing a lot of surveillance until then." Heba said.
"Well, I'd say that we've got our work cut out for us until then." Joey said.
Yami was glad to know that Heba hadn't been the one responsible for what happened with his parents. He was grateful to Heba for what he did in saving his parents.
However, there was still one thing that was bothering him, and he needed answers.
After searching a little, Yami found Heba in the firing range.
Heba raised his gun and fired every round that was in the gun, hitting every criminal that popped up in the simulation. "Is something wrong, Yami?" Heba asked.
Yami was startled. "How did you know I was here?" Yami asked.
"I'm trained to know my surroundings. What is it?" Heba asked.
"There's something that is bothering me, and I was wanting to ask you about it." Yami said.
Heba turned to face Yami, setting the gun on the area separating him from the simulation area. "All right. What is it?" Heba asked.
"First of all, I want to thank you for what you did for my parents. You have no idea what it means to me that you did all this for them. Second, I'd like to apologize. I shouldn't have made those accusations." Yami said.
"You didn't say anything like that." Heba said.
"I know, but I thought it and I wanted to apologize." Yami said.
"There is no need. I already said that you don't have a reason to apologize." Heba said.
"I still feel that I need to apologize." Yami said.
"Is there anything else?" Heba asked.
"Yes. When you were watching over my parents, did you use me to get close to them?" Yami asked.
Heba watched him for a moment. "I never intended to use you, Yami. I had planned to keep a distance in order to stay neutral." Heba said.
"So, you never used me?" Yami asked.
"No. I'm not that kind of person. I wish that I could change what happened, but I can't." Heba said.
"I know. I'm just glad you never used me." Yami said.
"I never planned to get close to anyone. What happened with us was one of those unexpected things." Heba said.
"Are you angry?" Yami asked.
"At what?" Heba asked.
"What happened back then? With you and me?" Yami asked.
"Are you asking do I regret dating you, or are you asking me if I am angry at what you and Atemu were doing behind my back?" Heba asked.
"Both, actually." Yami admitted.
"No. I don't regret being with you. I was angry at you and Atemu for a long time, but I got over it." Heba said.
"Heba, I'm sorry about what happened." Yami said.
"Yami, it's in the past, so forget it. You have Atemu now, and once Falcon is dealt with, you can all go back to your normal lives, and you can forget about me." Heba said. He picked up his gun and walked past Yami out of the room.
Yami fought the tears as he felt his heart ache. 'I don't want to forget you, Heba. I want you to realize that Atemu and I both love you, and that we want you.' Yami thought.
Heba walked down the hall and found Ryou in one of the computer rooms. He walked in and said, "Ryou, what are you doing?"
"I'm monitoring Vivian's home using the cameras that we installed. She's been rather busy." Ryou said.
"Customers?" Heba asked.
"Yes. For a slut, she is very popular." Ryou said.
"Anyone that's come that she hadn't had sex with?" Heba asked.
"No. I have a picture of the man. From the logs, he comes at ten-thirty every other night." Ryou said.
"Okay. Did he come last night?" Heba asked.
"Not according to this log." Ryou answered, looking at the notebook in front of him.
"Good. He should be coming tonight. Keep an eye on what they do." Heba said.
"Okay." Ryou said. He noticed the gun in Heba's hand and said, "Been to the firing range?"
"Yes. I wanted to practice." Heba answered.
Ryou noticed how tense Heba was and knew that it was a sign that Heba was either upset or frustrated or both. "Did something happen?" Ryou asked.
"No. Why?" Heba asked.
"Because you're tense." Ryou answered.
Heba sighed. "I had an encounter with Yami." Heba said.
"What happened?" Ryou asked.
"He thanked me for what I did for his parents. Apologized for what he thought I did. And he wanted to know if I used him back when I was undercover." Heba said.
"Did you?" Ryou asked.
"No. I never used him." Heba said.
"Then what's the problem?" Ryou asked.
"I don't know." Heba said before leaving.
'Yes, you do. You just don't want to admit it.' Ryou thought.
Yami walked into the room that he shared with Atemu.
"You okay?" Atemu asked, noticing Yami's expression.
"I guess so." Yami said, shutting the door.
"What happened?" Atemu asked as Yami walked over and sat on the bed with him.
"I went to see Heba." Yami answered. "What happened?" Atemu asked.
"I wanted to talk to him about everything. I told him thanks for what he did for my parents and apologized for what I thought of him." Yami said.
"What else?" Atemu asked.
Yami laid down with Atemu and rested his head on Atemu's chest. Atemu wrapped his arms around Yami.
"Yami, what is it?" Atemu asked.
Yami sighed. "I asked him if he used me back in high school." Yami said.
"Did he?' Atemu asked, knowing that it would be a touchy subject.
"No. He never planned for anything to happen between us. It just did." Yami said.
"Something has gotten you down, though." Atemu said.
"I told him I was sorry for the way that we went around behind his back. Heba just told me that it was in the past and forget about it." Yami said.
"Isn't that good?" Atemu asked.
"No. He said that once this was over, we would go back to our normal lives, and that we could just forget about him." Yami said.
Atemu saw what was wrong now.
"I don't want to forget him, though." Yami said as he buried his face into Atemu's chest.
"I know. I don't want to forget him, either." Atemu said as he tightened his arms around Yami and started to stroke Yami's hair.
Heba was in the meeting room, planning out how capturing the guy that kept coming to see Vivian.
Atemu walked into the room and found Heba. "Heba, can I talk to you?" Atemu asked.
Heba didn't look up. "What is it, Atemu? I am busy." Heba said
"Heba, this is important." Atemu said.
Heba stopped what he was doing and looked up. "What?' Heba asked.
"Is what you said to Yami true? Do you want to forget us?" Atemu asked.
"I want you all to forget me." Heba said.
"Why?" Atemu asked.
Heba stood up. "Atemu, you can't tell me that you don't want Yami to forget me. You can't possibly want your lover to think about an old flame." Heba said.
"Heba, that's not the point. Yami has missed you for the last seven years. He can't forget you." Atemu said.
"Why do you want him to remember me at all?" Heba asked.
"Because he loves you, and so do I." Atemu said.
"Don't lie." Heba said.
"I'm not. We both love you, Heba." Atemu said.
"Atemu, you would both be better off if you stopped fooling yourselves. You don't love me." Heba said.
"Don't tell me what we feel." Atemu snapped.
"Atemu, I am an assassin. I kill people. That's what I do. I don't love. I can't do that." Heba said.
"Why? Because it's in some kind of assassin's code?" Atemu asked.
"No. Because I say so. Once this is over, you will both go back to you quiet lives, you will forget that I ever existed, and you will live normally." Heba said.
"What if we don't want that?' Atemu asked.
"You want your lives back. I have no part in them." Heba said before he walked out.
Atemu stood there for a moment. 'I don't care what it takes. I am not going to stop until I get through to him that we love him. For some reason, there is a reason that he is holding out on us, and I am going to find out what it is.' Atemu thought. He wasn't going to let this end without Heba acknowledging the fact that they loved him, and there was nothing Heba could do to change that fact.
Heba walked into his room and leaned against the door. 'I can't do this. I can't put myself in this position.' Heba thought.
Heba walked over and slammed his fist down into his bed. 'Damn it! I told myself that I wouldn't do this, I said that I wouldn't let myself let these feelings return.' Heba thought.
Heba fell onto the bed and covered his face. He sat up and looked around. 'I have to ignore the feelings. Once Yami and Atemu leave, it will be over. I won't have to deal with it anymore. They can move on, and I can get back to what I do.' Heba thought.
Heba just wasn't sure if he could just walk away from them a second time.
Hope you liked it. Yes, Atemu and Yami will have a hard time getting through to Heba. I don't know why, but I like torturing them.
Next: Capturing the mysterious man who visits Vivian.
R&R.