A/N: BLAAARRGGHHHHH
That is all.
~Ava
~XxX~
"What the HELL happened to her?" I yelled as I saw Mai being carried into the hospital wing by Joey. I hadn't gone against Mai's express wish and had, instead, spent the better part of two-hours in my room, flicking through all 800 satallite channels on the TVs that were installed all over the blimp. Now, however, I was gawking at Mai occupying yet another hospital wing bed after Teá knocked on my door and led me silently here.
"She faced Marik...he stole her memories and sent her soul to the shadow realm ." Yami answered me as I looked away from Serenity, who was kneeling beside Mai's bed, I frowned at him; he smelt like burnt hair...
"So Mai..." I started, confused as ever, "Mai's memoryless and now soulless?" I asked, needing clarification, Joey nodded from my left, a look on his face that I was thankful I wasn't on the reciving end of. I waited for the shock that I should be feeling, but it didn't come. "I...I don't believe it, I'm so numbed to this shit happening that I can't even be shocked..." I looked over to the doctor who was making notes of her blood pressure on a clipboard, "Will she be...okay? A-alive I mean." I re-phrased my original question, it was stupid, she couldn't be okay without her damn soul. I took a calming breath before the doctor spoke.
"We can keep her stable, her vital organs are perfectly fine," He said, eyebrows raised to inspire hope in us, "but we don't know when she'd going to wake up. I assure you however," he looked directly at me, " medical science is doing the best it can and will contiune to do so." I nodded a little before taking a step backwards, towards the door, Teá noticed my move to leave and locked eyes with me, nodding slightly. I smiled weakly before exiting in a rush, resting on the wall beside the door, closing my eyes and exhaling heavily. I'm no good with emotionally charged atmospheres, but even I felt sadness at the possible perma-coma Mai might be in, I barely knew her but I saw how important she was to my friends, most specifically Joey. I snorted a little at that thought, even I could see he liked her. My eyes snapped open as I thought that, neurons firing lightning-quick as my brain made a connecton as to who was dueling whom next.
"Shit." I hissed, before sprinting down the corridor to the main room.
~XxX~
"No. You aren't doing this again." I said as calmly as I could, knowing that the second I snapped, I would do something I regretted, "I refuse to let you do this again." I was blocking Kaiba's way as I stood infront of him in the doorway to his office with my arms folded. He sighed.
" You're being unbelievably immature Callaghan, I've already told you; I'm not going to stop a duel from going ahead, just because you ask me to do so." He matched my calm with his cool indifference as I raised him a sigh of exasperation.
"I'm not asking you to do it for me. I'm telling you to do it for your life." He saw my sigh and raised me one smirk at my words, I blushed slightly at how my last sentence sounded and folded. "FINE." I said, the defeat in my voice evident as I moved out of the way for him to pass through the doorway. I mentally kicked myself as I reached out quickly and snatched his wrist, pulling him back to face me, a reaction he certainly wasn't expecting by the look that flitted across his face for a second before it was replaced with a frown.
"Callagh-"
"Hush it and listen." I hissed, cutting across him, tightening my vice-like grip on his wrist and still kicking myself for even starting this conversation, "if that happens to you-" I pointed in the general direction of the hospital wing, "not only will Mokuba be left alone, but I-" I glared at him for several seconds, fighting back my blush and trying to think how to phrase my feelings which weren't even clear to me yet, I failed before I spoke again, not breaking eye contact as I was frozen to the spot, "I don't know why I'm worried," I laughed a little hysterically, "all you need for a sure-fire win is confidence and ignorance, you've got bucket-loads." I said as realised that I was still holding onto his wrist, I let go hastily as I cleared my throat and he did the same. He took a step backwards, as I had pulled him into my space to talk to him, and answered.
"I didn't figure you for Mark Twain." He said, raising an eyebrow at my frown of confusion, why did that sound familiar? As he smirked before turning on his heel and leaving, "I'm already going to win Callaghan, you don't need to remind me." The second he was out of sight I rested my forehead against the cold steel of the door, wondering how much a gun costs in Japan and thinking it would be best for me to just not attend this duel either.
~XxX~
I had spent a half hour in my room, sulking around, before I decided that, (a), if I spent one more minute in the blue cube, I would smash something and, (b), I needed coffee to calm my shaky nerves. If I didn't get my coffee fix, today of all days, I wouldn't be able to control my nervousness. Regardless of my muddled feelings, I still considered him a friend and I didn't want my friends to fail. Whether or not I would die of embarassment or humiliation remained another matter that I didn't want to think about for now. I steeled myself and flung open my en suite door, acting the stereotype of an angry teenager and slamming it closed after checking myself in the mirror as a nervous jitter. It was actually visible now, my shakes.
"Oooh, that is really not good..." I said, staring at my hands as I walked down the corridor that led to the main room and the coffee machine when I was partially winded by someone running into me. I looked down at Mokuba and frowned. "What are you doing?" He looked up at me after my question and paused in his run.
"Seto's in trouble! Ishizu's used a card that's-" His words came out rushed as I supposed he wished to go to his brother' aid.
"-Wait, who? What happened?" I cut across him and winced at how concerned I sounded, fourtunately for me, Mokuba was paying little attention to me and had turned on his heel halfway through my questions. I hesitated for a second or two before cursing the day I met Mokuba's older brother and running after him, I reached the lift just as he did and I bent double to catch my breath, seeing him look at me questioningly out of the corner of my eye. The lift dinged and we boarded, not being able to speed up the machinery.
"Why are you coming?" Mokuba asked me, sounding a tad reproachful, I winced visibly; I knew he was thinking about my earlier insults directed at his brother. I leant against the metal bar that ran round the glass cylinder and tugged at one of my earrings, another nervous twitch. I needed my coffee.
"Look," I started, sighing slightly, "while I can only say that, regardless of a few hours spent with mainly silence and a few bursts of polite conversation, I barely know your brother," I closed my eyes, really not wanting to say what I was going to say next but knowing I had to, "I can also say that I know your brother is a decent person when he wishes to be. I know that." I said, opening my eyes and massaging the bridge of my nose and sighing again, "that's-that's why I want him to succeed." I chanced a look at the younger Kaiba, noting that he had obviously learnt the perfect sceptical glare fom his brother.
"You like my bro?" He asked, putting emphasis on the word 'like'. His eyebrow somewhere near his hairline as I tried not to blush and failed, eyes bugging out of my face as I stuttered madly.
"Well-I like both of you, I mean, I barely know you too but-it's just...I'm so damn curious!" I said, tugging on my earring even more frantically now, "you're both just such...confusing people, I mean, more him than you but I just...I want to know you two..." Mokuba folded his arms and smiled a little at my flustered explanation. Partially true anyway, I wasn't likely to tell him that I had a wierd hate/like crush on his brother since day one. "Look," I said, repeating what I had said before, " my like is very close to my dislike okay? I-I wasn't trying to hurt when I called him a prick okay? Just...take that from me..." I rested my forehead on the glass but snapped round to look at Mokuba when I heard him laugh a little.
"Yuh-huh, it'd take more than you cussing to hurt my bro.." He smirked across at me as I smirked a little back at his proudness.
"You...I like you. You're not a whiny kid, I can take being around you." He smiled a little more normally at my words, choosing to shrug.
"You don't whine either." He said by way of a reply as I shocked him slightly by laughing loudly, he frowned at me.
"You're..." I sighed a little, regaining composure, "you're far easier to call a truce with than your brother, that's for sure." The lift slowed, stopping us from further nervous banter as it dinged and opened.
~XxX~
A/N: I instictually loathe this chapter, as it's romantic-y with an OC/Kaiba romance and, the reason above all reasons, I wrote it XD I just hate what I write, X_X
GOD, THIS IS LIKE THERAPY. XD
Other chapter after thiiiiiiissss~
~Ava