DISCLAIMER. That's all. And, thanky-thanks to my precious Beta-reader MythCreatorWriter, who I've painfully neglected to credit. Thank you eternally for putting up with my crap! And please forgive the Shadow Games references in this chapter! :D
Aphrodite's plan was not going as she had hoped.
At first, Teá and Ryou were entranced (all according to plan), dancing like a hip-hop ballerina with a rhythmic ghost. One night of passion could equal a lifetime of attachment, Aphrodite knew, if played correctly.
But then the small one (Yuji? Yugi?) threw open the moment with some trivial news, breaking the bond. Apparently some friend got in a fight with some other friend, too boring for Aphrodite.
She relinquished her hold.
"What is it, you guys?" Aglaia asked as she ran towards her friends, leaving the dance with unprecedented panic.
"No time! Just come on!" Teá yelled over the music. They left the hotel to find Tristan driving in on his motorcycle.
"Have you found him?" Duke asked Tristan from the sidewalk, as the latter removed his helmet, shaking off his sweat.
"No, but I know they're down at the Region abandoned factory. I've gotta get over there. You guys catch up!" He immediately replaced his helmet and sped off, in disregard to the poor sap trying to cross the street that he nearly flattened.
Duke pulled out his cell phone as Ryou and Yugi waved their arms and shouted in an attempt to flag down cabs.
"Teá! What's going on?!" Aglaia grabbed her friend's arm, terrified.
"It's Joey," Teá said as she took Aglaia's wrist (partly to return feeling to her arm). "Mai's come back into town and got mixed up with some bad guys. Joey and Tristan saw them and now we don't know where he is! They just-- they just hit up Tristan and ran off with Joey following. We've gotta go find them."
"What do you mean by 'some bad guys'?"
"The Duelist Underground," Duke answered as he flipped his phone shut. "It's just as I thought. They're having a meet-up tonight. They're the guys who trade stolen cards. I don't know a lot about them, but I know that they'll do just about anything to get what they want. If they were trying to get the Harpy Lady from Mai-- which is what it seems like-- and Joey is getting in their way--"
A taxi cab finally stopped.
"We've gotta get there quick," Yugi concluded.
As she watched her friends, squeezed into a tight taxi, Aglaia realized their bravery. They seemed to have experience with such situations. The newbie tried not to shake.
Of course, she failed, but Teá's hand rested on her knee assured her that there was no need to worry.
The abandoned Region factory was a branch off of Kaiba Corp. from when it was a weapons supplier. The building was squat and grey with darkened windows and a build that seemed to wrap out in all directions of night.
Unloading from the taxi cab, the five slipped through the torn chain link fence and passed the knocked out bodies of two bloodied guards (Tristan had already been there, obviously).
Up in the building, on the seventh floor, distorted shadows and vaguely aggressive shouts revealed their destination.
Clad in prom-wear, they hurried through the dank surroundings. They reached the locked door on the seventh floor all too soon.
Duke began to kick it just above the lock in hopes of shattering the door's mechanism as the others watched.
Then something seemed to prick Aglaia in the back of the neck.
"I have a feeling," Aphrodite whispered, more to herself than to Aglaia.
"A feeling of what?" Aglaia asked aloud, and the rest turned to her, for she had broken their tense silence.
"Come," Aphrodite demanded, and as though pulled by a leash, Aglaia ran down the hallway towards the next flight of stairs.
Teá called after her, but at the same time, Duke broke the door open to reveal Joey and Tristan, shoulder to shoulder and cornered.
Before they could barge in heroically, Ryou, Teá, Yugi, and Duke were pulled in and arm locked by burly, greasy henchmen.
"It's nice to see you again, Yugi," growled the smug man sitting in the far corner. He was rocking back on his chair with legs on a table and looked the greasiest of them in his ponytail mullet.
Yugi paid no mind and called out to Tristan and Joey.
"Listen to me, you little shit!" the obvious boss in his leather jacket stood and shouted.
The man holding Yugi hit him upside the head, in accordance with his boss's rage.
"I've been doing a lot since we last met." He stood up and his height was menacing. "Not playing with yo-yos anymore."
"Who is this guy, Yugi?" Duke snarled, eyes not leaving the enemy.
"It's Hirutani. He used to be in a gang with Joey and Tristan a long time ago. Then after they separated he forced Joey to join him again. He nearly killed us both," recounted Yugi.
"Why, Yugi, you make me sound like such a bad guy. I've really gotten myself together, you know." Hirutani made long strides towards Yugi. Joey and Tristan tried to stand and stop him, but they were pushed down by the thugs around them.
"Here I was about to make the steal of the century. This Mai chick was hard to convince, but once she thought I had some rare cards, she came running. Desperate to make a comeback, I guess."
Joey growled in his squat position.
"And here I was, just expecting to get my hands on the Harpy Lady. I never thought I'd meet you guys. But this is just perfect!"
"What're you gonna do, dirt bag!?" Joey spat after he literally spat some blood.
"Simple, really." He lowered his head to Yugi's level menacingly. "I wanna play a game."
"Where are we going?" Aglaia asked aloud as she ran up the stone stairs.
She really felt like a real psycho when Aphrodite didn't answer.
Instead, her independently acting hand pushed open the last door she reached at the top of her flight of stairs, opening to the roof. In front of the door stood a man with an oily shaven head.
"Hey, what are you--"
"Out of my way, filth!" Aglaia involuntarily bellowed. Her body tried to push past him, but he grabbed her by the collar.
"You're not going anywhere. Just who are you!?" he snarled as he held her up off the ground.
Before she could spout another demand, the man was painfully knocked aside by something shiny.
"Thanks kid," spoke a blonde femme fatale holding the a metal suitcase (presumably containing trading cards). "I'd been meaning to do that." She strutted back toward the roof's ledge, held by a chain link fence. "Now, to find a way out of here. . ."
"You-- you're Mai," stuttered Aglaia.
"No joke," she scoffed as she continued to look for breaks in the fence.
"If-- you're gonna leave, why not go this way?" Weakly, she pointed to the door.
"And pass those greasy slobs again? No thanks, hun, you can try that." Mai shook her head reproachfully.
"Well-- why are you running? Your friends came here to get you-- to save you." As inexperienced as she was in friendship, Aglaia tried to sound convincing.
Mai finally turned around to contemplate Aglaia, openly staring her down.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" the blonde stated blankly as she folded her arms.
"One of who?"
"One of those sugar-sweet besties. Friends to the end, right? FYI, this is the real world! I've got no time for things like that. I've grown up."
"But you are our friend," Aglaia stated, though she had no idea why she included herself.
"Is that so?" she scoffed.
". . . yes. It is. . . Why-- why are you. . ."
"Why am I what?" she snapped like a pissed poodle.
"Why are you running away?"
"I'm not running," the duelist insisted as she finally stopped rattling the fence, thinking for a moment. "Who are you, anyway?"
"I'm Aglaia."
"Well, Aglaia, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm getting out of here. I'm not interested in finding friendship."
"Then what are you trying to find?"
The wind whistled in response.
"I think I know," Aglaia whispered.
"Oh yeah?" snapped Mai. "And what's that?"
"What everyone else is looking for." Aglaia shifted her weight, not liking to feel preachy. "It's happiness, right?"
"I guess you could call it that."
Mai sat down on the cement ledge and an uncertain silence washed over them.
She gave a pointed nod to the empty spot next to her. "Just don't give me any friendship speeches, okay?"
Yugi sat down in the straight backed chair, realizing that Hirutani had at least gotten a lot more organized in his gang methods.
Held to the wall were his friends, bound at the wrists, and waiting to see what Hirutani had in store.
"This game is a favorite of mine. The rules are simple: taking turns, we draw cards from this deck of Tarot cards. Whoever gets Death," he smirked as he shuffled, "gets to try Fate with a little round of Russian Roulette. Sound fair?"
Yugi spoke through clenched teeth. "Let's just do this!"
"Anxious to die?"
"I'm ready to defeat you," the small boy spoke with familiar determination.
"Okay. But I've gotta warn you, I play to win."
Sitting down reluctantly, Aglaia watched Mai watching her. The blonde pulled a box of cigarettes from her jacket pocket and a light from her cleavage.
"So it's Aglaia, right?" she asked after she lit up and blew her first puff.
The younger girl nodded.
"You're in high school with the others?"
"That's right," she assured.
"I bet you guys are the best of friends, right? You have lots of fun?" The drunken tone to Mai's voice was whimsically sarcastic.
Again, she nodded, not sure where this was leading.
"Well. I'm glad to hear that nothing's changed."
"What's the matter with that?"
"Nothing."
Before Aglaia could interrupt her pause, Mai spoke again.
"That's just the problem. When that rainbow-bright world of there's meets reality, I'm not gonna be around to watch it fall apart."
"So. . . you're afraid?"
"I'm not afraid of anything," Mai assured indignantly.
"Then what are you running from?"
The blonde blew out a puff of smoke and Aglaia coughed as the wind carried it to her face.
"I guess nothing at all."
Aglaia watched Mai watching her cigarette smolder.
"They really, really care about you, you know."
Mai laughed an old woman's laugh.
"I bet you fit right in with them, don't you?"
Shuffling in discomfort, Aglaia tried to hold back her breath and her inhibitions at the same time.
"Well. It's been nice talking to you, Aglaia, but I gotta find a way out of here." Throwing her cigarette to the ground and smashing it with her heel, Mai proceeded to search for a break in the chain links.
"Why?"
"Why? Because there's at least ten thugs down there who want my Harpy Lady, and if I don't get out of here soon, they'll get tired of pounding Tristan and Joey and come up for me."
Realization hit Aglaia, though it should have been obvious.
"Our friends are in trouble!" she shouted.
"Your friends are in trouble, kid."
"Well, Yugi, looks like you're not quite as game-savvy as you used to be," Hirutani chuckled as Yugi put the barrel of the gun to his temple, wrist shaking.
"Yugi, don't! We'll find some other way out of this!" Teá shouted. The others looked on in horror.
He pulled the trigger.
A click sounded, and nothing else.
"You got lucky this time, Mutou," Hirutani grimaced as he reshuffled his deck. Hirutani gave the man behind him a cutting glare. He could only shrug.
Joey, fighting his reddening vision, perceived this subtle gesture and came to a conclusion.
Hirutani was cheating.
Never before had Aglaia been so angry. Passion rose up in her, and she didn't quite know what to do with it.
"What-- how can you say that?!" Aglaia couldn't remember yelling so loudly.
"I told you! I'm interested in these little friends of yours. I can't be. So leave me alone and go save them, if they're so damn important!"
A blaze passed through Aglaia's eyes and she stood up out of her slump. She rose, it seemed, and inexplicably changed. Mai wondered if she was going to grow claws.
"Stupid woman! How can you be so selfish?"
The strange girl grabbed Mai by the collar.
"If you were any type of woman then you would come and help save the man you love!"
At this, Mai's eyes blew out of their sockets. Rage was contagious.
"Shut up! You don't know anything! I don't love anyone!"
With this, the girl smacked Mai across her cheek, putting her into shock.
"Stupid pagan! Don't you think that I could tell such a thing?! It's my job!"
At this point, Mai had no idea what the hell she was talking about.
"If you want to be a coward, then go ahead. But remember this! When your youth has passed you'll regret not having spent it doing something with yourself! So get over your stupid fears! This is your life! You don't deserve it if you don't take it!"
And with that, a self proclaimed love goddess ran down the cement stairs to do God knows what.
"Hirutani!" Joey shouted with all of his strength as Yugi drew his next card of their second round. "I see what you're doing!!"
"What is it now, Joey?" Hirutani frowned impatiently, obviously not expecting the game to last so long.
"You know damn well, you asshole! You're cheating!" Joey stood from his forced crouch.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" He barked and stood, ready to bite.
"I saw it! When you shuffled it, I saw you reach into your sleeve! And I bet you loaded up the gun with more than one shot, too! You're still the same sneaky bastard as always! Yugi never had a chance!"
"In case you haven't noticed you little punk, none of you have a chance!" He picked up the gun to prove it. "I'll get my revenge one way or another!" Hirutani pointed the gun at Joey, and just as he shot, a lot of confusion took place.
One, Yugi leapt across the table and managed to tackle Hirutani, letting the bullet miss-hit the thug standing behind Joey in the ribs.
At the same time, Aglaia (looking remarkably un-Aglaia-like) burst through the already broken door and shouted something about stopping in the name of Zeus, as she promptly kneed the guy closest to the door in the crotch, allowing him to fall to the floor, and kicking him in the face.
Duke took this opportunity to roundhouse kick his guard in the face, and Ryou pulled apart his bindings (which he had been working on with his cufflink). He then went to untying Teá. Tristan, on the other hand, took one guard into a choke hold with his bound arms.
Joey crawled across the floor in the confusion to the pile of Hirutani and Yugi.
"You little bastard!" Hirutani shouted as he lifted Yugi by his neck and held him to the wall beside them. "I've had enough of this!"
He popped a switchblade out of his pocket, but before he could strike, Joey threw his fists down on it, cutting his ropes apart and knocking the knife away. With the most strength he could muster, he punched Hirutani upward on his nose, loudly breaking the cartilage and bone above it.
Hirutani scrambled for the knife as Joey fell nearly limp for lack of strength on the floor, coughing up blood and panting for his life.
Yugi frantically searched the walls for something blunt and found a fire extinguisher. With all the strength he could muster, he smashed Hirutani over the head with it, causing him to pass out.
All the while, Aphordite used the body of Aglaia to lift up the poker table that had fallen over and smash two men down with it, kicking other men on the floor for good measure. Ryou untied Tristan and Duke, who did the most in the ways of ass-kicking.
The two looked to Teá, who had a scarily irate henchmen reaching over her, but she performed a double pirouette, and on the second turn, kicked the man in the chest, cracking loudly his ribs.
All those in the room not already knocked out took a moment to gape at this, but the chaos quickly resumed as the cleverer of them took the free punch while they could.
With a final punch on Duke's part, the friends watched as the last twitching henchmen fell to the floor.
"We did it!" Teá smiled, near tears, as she had not faced such trauma in a long time.
As they all examined their wounds and recollected, a clicking sounded.
"That's it!" Hirutani shouted hysterically as he stood in the doorway that he had been kicked towards, cocked gun at the ready. He shook with rage and one really couldn't tell who was aiming at. "I'm wasting all of you little shits right now!"
He was then painfully knocked aside by something shiny.
"Hey guys," spoke the femme fatale with the suitcase. "Long time, no see."
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