Truth Behind Austin
By Sailor Phoenix1997
Sara lowered her bow as it turned to a puddle on the floor. She knelt down next to the whimpering Mana. Luckily the arrow hadn't gotten stuck in her chest. It was sticking out of her shoulder but Sara knew that Mana's powers of light and an arrow made of darkness could present a problem. Sara dug around in her backpack until she pulled out a white hadkerchief.
"Mana. Take this, bite it and I'm going to pull this thing out." Mana obeyed and closed her eyes tightly. Sara took deep calming breaths as she wrapped her fingers around the shaft. "I'm going to count to three." Mana nodded. "One." Without a second's delay Sara yanked out the arrow without a squeek from Mana. Sara quickly tore off a part of her jacket's sleeve and pressed down on Mana's wound. The sun's first rays started peeking in as Sara lifted the cloth away gently.
"Thanks Sara," Mana said.
"Idiot." Mana stared with wide eyes at her godsister. "What were you thinking? Olivander could've killed you. Were you thinking that your light would dispell the dark arrow? Well wrong. It's not always that way Mana. You actually have to make it work. And Olivander's got years more experince with his powers than you. He knows how light energy works thanks to his sister." Sara slammed her fist against the wall. The entire room trembled.
"Sara. I'm sorry. I-" Sara raised her hand for silence. She wasn't going to listen right now. She was too upset. Seto walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm the one who should be sorry," she said under her breath. Seto almost missed it it was so quiet. "He wanted to take out the weakest of us first. I should've gotten in the way not her." Seto turned her around. SHe refused to look up at him. He could tell she was crying so he held her close to his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed silently.
The next few hours were spent looking around the now abandoned castle for any clues. THe group came to the roof and looked around at the island. If one just got rid of the creepiness of the castle it would've been a paradise. Sara looked around the entire island. THere wasn't enough forest to hid a human. Let alone two teenage girls who could find a way to blow up a kitchen with only a pot of water and a blowtorch. But no matter how far Sara looked she couldn't find either of the girls. Or the Kaiba Corp. blimp.
"Where'd the blimp go?" Mokuba asked from Bakura's back where he'd been drifting in and out of sleep for a while. Seto looked in the direction.
"And didn't we have a helicopter up here Mahad?" Mana asked. The deafening sound of a jet's engines roared around the group. Seto looked up.
"It's a Kaiba Corp. plane. Roland must've sent it." Noah clung to his brother as the plane made a touchdown.
"I've got a bad feeling Seto." Sara's Summoner started getting warm.
"If Olivander's still here he can't do much damage. ANd he's only got one minon left so that doesn't pose much of a threat. For now let's get back home. After a few nights sleeping on the hard ground I miss my bed of all things." Seto smiled and took her hand as the door opened and the stairs unfolded. The group loaded on and found some seats as the plane began takeoff. Sara nestled herself onto the sofa next to Seto and in no time was sound asleep against his chest. Mana was sitting in a similar fashion against a wide-awake Mahad. Noah had fallen asleep again on Bakura while the white-haired boy was playing around with one of the spokes on his Millennium Ring. Mokuba was busy looking up things on the laptop next to a window.
Seto pushed another strand of hair out of Sara's face when she woke up.
"Sorry. Did I wake you?" Sara shook her head and snuggled closer to him. The flight had taken a few hours so far and Seto had no idea how much longer they'd be stuck on board. Sara streached as best she could without leaving Seto's arms.
"Hey guys!" Mokuba called from the window, "You might want to see this!" Seto and Sara stood and walked to the window where outside an array of colors danced across the sky. Mahad nodded from his place and went right back to looking over the Millennium Staff.
"Aurora Borealis? This isn't supposed to happen this low in the southern hemisphere." Seto went back to his seat. "What do you think's going on out there Seto?"
"I don't know but I don't like it. And if it doesn't stop in less than two minutes I'm ordering the captian to take another route home." Sara took a seat next to him as Mana woke up. Sara's eyes snapped like lightning when she noticed Mana's eyes. They were blank like she was in a trance. The lights flickered.
"ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS. WE'RE GOING TO BE EXPERINSING SOME MINOR TURBULANCE SO I'D RECOMEND BUCKLING UP." Sara nearly snarled.
"These lights are doing something with Mana. And if her powers go out of control there's no telling what could happen. And my Summoner's getting warmer." Seto could almost feel the heat through his pants. He pressed the small receiver in his coat.
"Captain." No response. Sara's right arm snapped a quick bolt of lightning. Seto placed a hand on her shoulder and tried again. Same outcome.
"That couldn't have been a recording right?" Seto stood up and walked towards the cockpit.
"Everyone stay here." Sara obeyed his order for a few seconds but then got up and followed him.
Seto looked into the empty cockpit with Sara no more than two feet away from him behind a chair. Sara mentally weighed the scales in her head. With the auto-pilot on the scales tipped in their favor. Sara smiled and tried to stand up. The chair spun and hit her solid on the head. She muffled a gasp and covered the sore area. Seto got down on his knee until he was eye-to-eye with her.
"Enjoying yourself?"
"Yep. The chair hitting me in the head I could live without." Seto removed her hand and gently kissed the sore area before pulling her to her feet.
"Attention Kaiba. You and I have a score to settle. SO come and find me and we'll figure the whole fiasco out."
"I know that voice. It's-"
"That punk kid Austin," Seto snarled.
"Seto, This is a trap. He's after your soul again." Seto smiled at Sara.
"Don't worry. I promise I'll be back. Listen here Austin! I'm not going to waste my time looking for you. SO I'll be waiting in the board area."
"Fine by me." Seto walked towards the Duel. Sara stayed anchored in place.
"You can come you know." Sara shook her head.
"Someone has to be here if something goes wrong with the auto-pilot." Bakura walked into view.
"I'll take care of it. You just go with him." Bakura took a seat in the pilot's seat.
"Do you know anything about flying a plane?"
"How hard can it be?" Sara moaned.
"Just call one of us it there's any problem." Sara ran after Seto.
The board area was a white room with a white table and a few chairs. One was turned away from them.
"Finally. I was beginning to think you'd never show up." Austin turned around with Annabelle's doll in his left hand. Sara ducked behind Seto before Austin could notice her.
"Listen you little punk. I'm not in the mood for fooling around."
"Really? Well a few years ago you seemed just fine for kidnapping helpless little girls." Sara clenched her teeth.
"Are you sure it was Kaiba Corp.?" Sara demanded.
"Well. Little Kissy's here too? Since I'm not a cold-hearted animal I'll give you two a moment to say your good-byes. That's more time than I had." Seto turned around and took Sara's hand.
"Listen. Everything's going to be fine alright?" Sara nodded.
"I'll find a few things out." She winked and placed her other hand on her Millennium Necklace. Seto smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Alright punk. You want a duel. Let's Duel." Austin smirked. Sara placed her hands on both sides of her Necklace.
"Show me Austin's past." Sara felt the tugging sensation and let the Necklace draw her in.
Sara stood on the soft grass of the backyard of a two-story, red-brick house. A shallow pool held a younger version of Austin in a pair of light blue swim trunks and a girl that looked exactly like the doll Austin carried in a red bathing suit. On the swing set was a girl with long brown hair, a light olive completion, and bright blue eyes in a black lacy skirt and a blue Oriental-style shirt and black flats.
"Oh yea… I remember this. This is…" The little girl ran from the pool and to the girl on the swings.
"Help me cousin he's trying to drown me!" Austin splashed out of the water.
"Get back here Annabelle!" The girl go off the swings and tackled Austin.
"No one tries to drown Annie but me!" Austin swiped at the girl to try to get her off him and managed to hit her arm revealing pale white skin. Sara looked towards the house. Standing on the white painted wooden boards was a woman with blond hair and blue eyes with her arms crossed over her chest. She tapped her foot on the boards. Sara bit her lip.
"KISARA ISABELLA SERENITY STONE!" The younger version of Sara jumped to her feet and ran up to her mother.
"Yes Mommy?" Her mother reached down and roughly grabbed her arm. Sara watched herself struggle against her mother. "Mommy! You're hurting me!"
"You've got a board meeting tomorrow and you're acting like a street rat! You're coming with me!" Her mother dragged her back towards the house.
"Bye Austin! Bye Annie!" Sara closed her eyes as the scene changed. She stood in the middle of a dirty, rubble-filled road. The buildings around her were either boarded up or burnt out. Sara noticed the younger version of Austin pulling Annabelle behind him. She ran after the two. Three large tanks were after the children. Instead of normal camouflage were royal blue, purple, and green. Sara covered her mouth in recognition.
"Those are mer-tanks. They were sent to get Annabelle to safety." Sara resumed her chase after the children. They were ducked behind a wall. Annabelle was clutching Austin desperately and crying up a storm. She was able to calm down enough to slip a golden locket off her neck and put it around Austin's.
"What's this?"
"It's something to remember me by." Austin grabbed her shoulders and held her close.
"Annabelle. I promise they'll never get their filthy paws on you." Annabelle nuzzled the curls of her doll. They were dressed in the same golden gown. The soldiers burst from their tanks. The leader gave them an order in Latin and they set off to find Annabelle. One soldier discovered them and Austin got up and started swinging his fists. "Annie! Run! NOW!" Annabelle pushed herself up and started running. One soldier appeared from the corner and grabbed her around the waist. Annabelle dropped her doll as they dragged her away.
"Austin!"
"NO! ANNABELLE!" The soldiers all went back to their tanks leaving Austin alone with Annabelle's necklace, her doll, and a broken promise. Austin gently picked up her doll like he was afraid that he'd break it just by touching it. "Annie," he whispered. Tears fell off his eyes and onto the doll's skirt. He held the tiny thing close to him. "I promise you. I'll find you. Wherever you are." Sara felt the tugging sensation that told her she was going back to the present.
Sara opened her eyes and saw the impending duel. Seto had one card face-down and 2600 life points. Austin had Cure Mermaid, three cards face-down, 2000 life points, and a smirk on his face.
"I think I'll summon a monster Kaiba. And I choose Black Witch of the Forest. And I use my face-down magic card, Polymerization, to combine them to make Defending Justice." The monster on the field looked like Annabelle with golden armor and a staff. It also had 4000 attack points. "And I'll play another card. Seal of the Oricalcos." Sara bit down on her lip. If she cheered for Seto and Austin lost Annabelle would be heartbroken. But if she cheered for Austin she'd look like a traitor to Seto.
"Sara! Get back!" Sara looked up at him in confusion. The Seal stretched out and the edge just touched Sara's toes. A sudden burst of power threw her back against a wall. She slumped down on the floor and lay motionless. "Sara!" Seto snarled.
"Don't give me that look Kaiba. If you'd shuffled the right way and gotten the right hand you could've ended this in the first move instead of you precious woman paying the price. And I think I'll end my turn."
"You're a riot," Seto growled. "But since it's my turn now I'll draw." Seto looked down at his hand. The card he had was Blue-Eyes White Guardian. In the rest of his hand was Blue-Eyes White Martian and Blue-Eyes Kuriboh. On the field he had Sorceress of Blue-Eyes. A monster with only 600 attack points. "I think I'll summon my face-down monster, Sorceress of Blue-Eyes. And her special ability allows me to summon two monsters from my hand with less than 500 attack points. And I summon Blue-Eyes Kuriboh and Blue-Eyes White Martian in attack mode. But I won't be using them. Instead I'll sacrifice them to Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon. And I'll sacrifice Sorceress of Blue-Eyes to summon Blue-Eyes White Guardian."
"I get it. You're trying to get your Sara back in her Ultimate form so I can't hurt her."
"Forget it punk. My Guardian's special ability allows me to summon the other two Blue-Eyes White Dragons to the field and use Polymerization to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon so I can draw three cards. And now I'll sacrifice the Dragon to summon Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon. And now my Guardian allows me to summon another monster to the field from my hand and I choose Mystical Elf. Now I'll use another Polymerization to form Blue-Eyes Mystic Guardian and then I'll play Cocoon of Evolution and Lightning Evolution. Luckily for you my new Blue-Eyes Shining Princess can't attack the turn she's summoned. SO I'll end my turn with a face-down."
"Clever Kaiba. You think you can bring back your little romance by summoning a monster that looks like her and evolving her to her ultimate form. And with 5500 attack points you think I can't hurt her. Well. It's my turn and I draw!" Austin looked at his hand with a sneer. "I don't see much that's useful. SO I'll just give my Defending Justice and power boost with Soldier's Sword. It gives her 2000 attack points and that's more than your princess." Now Defending Justice! Attack his Princess now!" The monster moved like she was going to attack but she instantly went into defense position. "What?"
"Sorry Austin. Did I forget to mention that Blue-Eyes Shining Princess has the same ability as my Dragon? That means she can choose what cards can act against her." Austin snarled.
"Fine then. I end my turn." Seto drew his card. Critias looked back at him.