Author's Rant: Thanks for reading! Enjoy! Please excuse mistakes. I will correct them as soon as I come home.
~Side note: Corrections made~
Turmoil
The inside of East Domino City's 'Royal Flush Gentleman's Association' was buzzing with the cavalier elegancy and refinement of the humbly wealthy, most of whom were discreet and soft with their conversations. Those who considered public associating to be dull and lacking any entertainment, chose the more private sanctuary of the lounge area, normally reserved for the high rollers.
Maximillion Pegasus was one such man, carrying an amused debate with an acquaintance about the possible hidden controversies amongst rivaling companies. His pristine white Armani blazer was folded over the arm of the leather couch while he nursed a glass Merlot red wine. His arm was possessively wrapped around Zigfried's waistline, occasionally slipping his fingers beneath the lining of Zigfried's tan cream and white pin striped Vanquish three piece suit, and tease his fingers where the hem of his shirt was tucked in his pants.
The intimate touches were easy to ignore without distractions but it was when Zigfried was addressed with a question or asked for his opinion on something that Max would decide to play with his hip. In the dimly lit lounge room, flickering neon cobalt, yellow and white orbs, Zigfried quietly situated himself as close to Pegasus's side as possible until an impulsive vibration quaked between the pair.
That could only be a personal business call. No one else was fool-crazy enough to call Max, knowing he was either mingling with clients or Zigfried.
Zigfried, disappointed that their moment was interrupted, shifted a couple of steps away, crossing one long arm around his waist. "You may as well answer it, Max. We'll never have peace until you do."
Pegasus attempted to steer his lover back in his arms, but the intimacy was forfeited because of the constant buzz of his cell phone. The small spell between them was shattered and any hopes of a blissful evening with his lover.
With a long sigh, Pegasus angrily touched his answer button to accept the call. "What?!" he bitterly snarled at whoever it was because as far as he was concerned, the idiot deserved his rage.
Not wanting to bother with the issue at hand, Zigfried entertained himself with light discussions with the other people within the lounge. His hand reached up to pluck a glass of white wine from a bypassing waiter and took a small sip. He couldn't resist the desire to keep his bright eyes from flicking to the side at Pegasus's body language. Zigfried was able to notice gradual changes in Pegasus's demeanor.
It became more apparent by the haunting glare in his eyes and the surfacing red blotches on his face, emerging from his collar like a volcanic eruption.
"She's what?!" Pegasus exclaimed. His sudden theatrics drew the attention of everyone in the room as the millionaire Medium leader started to pace from one side of the room to the other. "For how long?" Pegasus shot a dark, anxious glance at Zigfried and grimly thinned his lips. "We'll do what we can."
He was speaking loosely, Zigfried realized. It was serious then.
"No, I'll handle it. No one else is to know. Keep me posted." Pegasus stalked back to Zigfried in long legged strides, and grabbed the man by his wrist, jerking him up from the couch. "So sorry to cut our discussion short gentlemen, but duty calls." Without another word, the white haired man left with Zigfried tugged close behind, urgently walking towards the exit.
"Mon amie, you move too quickly!" Zigfried dug his heels into the ground, finding it fruitless when Pegasus overpowered him and pulled harder. "Max, let go. You're hurting me!"
The lavender haired man refused to budge another inch and once more tried to anchor himself in place with his heels and pulled in the opposite direction. Again, it was in vein. Zigfried tried yanking his arm free, but the attempt left his wrist burning from the callous friction. He would've slapped his lover across the face, but seeing the tight clench of his jaw, he thought better of it and became less resistant.
Their limousine pulled in front of the gentleman's club. Pegasus didn't wait for the driver to open their car door. Zigfried's cries renewed when he was impolitely forced inside the car like a convict and forced to the furthest end of the backseat. Indignant that he was being treated with little regard, Zigfried opened his mouth.
"Not a word!" Pegasus snapped, retrieving of his phone and pressing in a number.
Zigfried took a moment to comprehend his lover's sudden personality switch. This wasn't like Max. His wrist stung and when he lifted it up to examine the damage, saw the faint redness. Max had only ever shown his aggressive side during sex or in private affairs, but was never so recklessly as to show it in public. It wasn't just Zigfried's limb that was hurting but his pride. Being dragged out and slung in a vehicle like some street hoe prodigy was beyond disrespectful. What had he done to warrant this kind of behavior? he pondered while gently caressing the tender flesh.
Scenarios raced in Zigfried's brain like an old slideshow movie. A few in particularly stuck out the most, such as certain jobs he'd been doing on the side and it made him wonder if this punishing drag had been because Pegasus had found out. That would be absurd. Zigfried, being Max's one and only lover, had access to as many connections as he did, therefore eliminating any possible witnesses claiming they saw him make smalltime deals with the rivaling gangs.
If that were the case, Zigfried already had several lies embedded on his tongue to guarantee his innocence and several well placed alibis that could easily be proved. Video surveillances could be altered by Photoshop to put him in the exact locations he claimed without fail. There were plenty of low life computer hackers willing to make a quick buck—
"Deputy Chief Zane Truesdale," Pegasus crisply ordered to the operator.
"Yes sir, one moment please."
Max leaned back on the plush, black seat and crossed his left ankle over his right knee, while drumming his fingers impatiently over his kneecap. Signs of anxiety, impatience and annoyance, all foreign expressions on Pegasus face, drew Zigfried in with an open ear because whatever was able to rattle his lover this much, had to be worth listening too.
A click and shuffle brushed over the phone before a gruff voice answered. "Deputy Chief Truesdale speaking."
"Zane."
"Max? This is unexpected and well passed your curfew." A small pause. "What can I do for you?"
"I have a signal 8-22."
Signal 8-22? Zigfried wondered silently. That was the Domino City Police Department's signal code for a missing child.
A sigh resonated off the phone like a punctured balloon. "So does the rest of the city, Max. I've got a hundred and sixteen kids missing and most of them are probably dead in a ditch or being molested as we speak. So whose is it this time? One of those low lives that can't keep a leash on their brats?"
Pegasus massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling the pinches of a headache move in. "No commoner this time around, Truesdale. I need a private investigation, as low key as humanly possible. This is crucial."
"Ah, so it's one of those searches. Nonetheless, that's a lot of legwork for one kid, Pegasus, but I'll bite. Give me a description and name."
"Five years old, thirty-seven inches tall, weighs twenty nine pounds, fair to pale skin complexion, blue eyes, and long white hair. Her name Kisara. Kisara K-I-S-A-R-A Marie Hassan."
"Hassan, Hassan, Hassan," Zane's repeated to himself, trying to pinpoint the familiarity of the surname. Tiny clicks started popping in his head. "She's not one of the blue blood's kid, is she?"
This was the part Pegasus dreaded informing the Deputy Chief of. "She's Atem's daughter."
Before another second could pass, Zane's voice boomed from the receiver heatedly. "That bloodthirsty maniac has a child? Since when?" Zane propped back in his leather chair, rummaging through his desk cabinets. "I've got a file on every leaders' child in my desk. She's not one of them." To be completely sure he hadn't overlooked it, Zane thumbed through several crimson and royal folders, all of them containing extensive information on the highest leaders' children. There wasn't a single detail missed; it was all there, from their allergies to their favorite pastimes. "No, I don't have a single Kisara Hassan in here. Why is that?"
"She's not in the files because that name doesn't need any more publicity than what's already advertised to the public."
"It's my business to keep up with every bomb fuse residing in this city, Pegasus!" Zane scathingly sneered. "None of their children or significant others are allowed within a two thousand mile radius of Domino City's borders. That was what we agreed on six years ago. So explain to me why this child is the exception to that contract?" He growled after finding no recorded background on this 'Kisara Hassan'.
Pegasus scowled at the disrespectful tone. "Need I stress how delicate this situation is, Zane?" he snippily retorted. "Instead of whining like a struck mongrel, set about ordering a search squad to comb this city down to the tiniest corner. No harm needs to come to this child. You understand? We need to find her before there's a cause to evacuate the city!"
"You don't have to tell me how delicate this is," Zane returned just as heatedly. "If you weren't busy strutting like you're God, I would've had someone stationed outside Atem's home! I've already called for the units of second, third and six precinct's to start the search in their sectors. Any more than that and the city's likely to get suspicious."
Pegasus nodded, a little ease setting in his shoulders. "Thank you. The faster we find this child, the sooner we can rest easier."
Zane snorted across the phone. "Don't bet on it, Pegasus. If one of my men find that child first, I'm having her exiled from the city and anyone who tries to bring her back will be thrown in the Metro Jail for aggravated child abuse and endangerment. That includes you!"
The phone hung up. Pegasus stared ahead, mind riveting at the threat and his teeth grinding like sandpaper. He leaned his head back against the headrest, dragging a tired hand over his perspiring face. He didn't have much to fear from Zane's threats, but it was more of the city's health he was concerned for. If they didn't find this child by sunrise, he feared the worse.
The city couldn't go through that kind of mass destruction again.
The silence in the car was broken in light intervals by a cultural satin voice, whispering instructions to a phone. Pegasus, leaned forward, eyes peeled and ears sharpened to listen in on what his lover was relaying. Pegasus heard a replica description of Kisara mentioned and who was on the lookout for her, but he couldn't quite pinpoint whose voice Zigfried was talking too.
Zigfried found his sore wrist suddenly back in that boiling vise-like grip and twisted. He cried out, stunned and turned wide eyes to face his punisher. The cell was snatched from his grasp and pressed to Pegasus's ear.
"Who is this?"
Click.
They hung up. Pegasus's eyes alighted with so much rage, the glare of the street lights seemed to give him an eerie glint. The fact that someone would dare to hang up in his face, not willing to respond back with little regard for who he was, said plenty.
"Who was this?" he questioned, grip intensifying.
Zigfried pulled at his captured limb angrily and winched when Pegasus tightened his hold. "It was no one of importance. I heard you say Atem's daughter was missing. I called for more—"
"Who did you call?!" Pegasus nearly shouted. "I want a name!"
"Duke!"
"Liar!" Pegasus shoved his lover against the leather seating. He returned to his place near the window, brushing off a locket of silver hair that fell out of place. With cell phone in hand, he pressed star sixty seven and waited.
No number returned. The caller's ID was blocked. "Clever boy," Pegasus grumbled. He glared down at his lover, eyes narrowed thin. "So help me Zigfried von Schroeder, if I discover you're masquerading around the streets with those felons again—"
"It's no such thing!" Zigfried defended, intensely outraged.
"It had better not be." Pegasus would deal with his lover's secrets another time. The city's safety was at hand. If they didn't find this child by sunrise, he couldn't predict what sort of anger Atem would unleash on the city this time.
Yugi huffed and sunk even lower on the wooden stairs, hands cupped on his cheeks as he stared at the pothole littered street. He didn't understand why he was still sitting here. He'd done his part in getting Kisara more help; that is, if the Red Eyes leader even agreed to it. All Yugi got back was a grunt, a few cuss words and the door slamming in his face and that was before Yami clearly said "Stay there," before disappearing inside the house.
Yugi had the right mind to tell him to 'fuck off' just as he'd told Atem because as far as Yugi was concerned, he had no role in this ordeal. These two were going to be erased from his life if it killed and based on his track record dealing with the gang leaders, that's the exact road Yugi was heading down.
Yugi huddled further into his brother's hoodie, sniffing the outline where most of Heba's old scent lingered. Smelling it put his restlessness at ease for a time to think. What would Yugi do from here? What if Yami didn't agree to help with the search? It seemed like a plausible plan at the time, because who else did Yugi know could cover more ground and had the command of hundreds of runners? Yami had eyes all over the city. If Atem's men were having trouble scouring their half, maybe Yami's men might have better fortune on his end.
Well, that was Yugi's thought process when he'd knocked on the door and that was his concluded theory as he pushed himself up to his feet. With a final glance over his shoulder, Yugi started down the sidewalk to his home, cradling his arm close to his chest. He needed some painkillers. The throbbing was coming back tenfold for every step he took.
"I thought I told you to stay put," Yami's voice erupted a few meters away, but Yugi heard it as if the man were directly behind him.
For the past thirty minutes, the man hadn't so much as made a sound inside the house and now he decides to show? Yugi found himself drawn to look behind himself at the magnetic force that Yami's voice seemed to have on him. The Red Eyes leader was standing in the mouth of the doorway with his arms folded over his chest and lips pursed tightly together, indicating his displeasure at being disobeyed. The stance reminded Yugi of a foreign king reprimanding an inadequate servant.
The idea of a king was quickly diluted with words like ruthless, crazy and arrogant because Yugi could never picture someone with Yami's behavior able to befit the title.
"I'm going home." Yugi had too much pride to have it stomped on and crushed into itty bitty pieces. Fool him once, shame on him. Fool him twice, well, that made him some fool's bitch.
Yami sighed with exaggeration as he ambled down the stairs, taking up the distance between him and Yugi in low legged strides. Yugi held his ground, narrow chest puffed out and feet spread shoulder width apart.
Bravery while your arm was wrapped in gauze and being out in your pajamas hardly gave off an intimidating aura, Yami thought amused and annoyed. If that was what Yugi was aiming for, he failed miserably. He looked like a frail teenage boy who'd never known a proper spanking. Yami's glare still simmered down a pang as he thought about the more important situation at hand.
"Did you want something?" Yugi asked sullenly. "Because I distinctly remember you saying not to come near you again."
"And here you are knocking on my door telling me Kisara's missing," Yami countered. "Though my request was made, here you stand before me. This shows how little you care for authority and how you care even less for the figure."
Yugi bit his bottom lip before shrugging, looking off to the side. "Whatever." He was at a loss for words about his actions as well. There was no reliable explanation he could come up with because echoing them back to Yami might sound ridiculous and too forgiving. And Yugi was anything but that at the given moment.
"Well?" Yami prompted.
"Well what?" Yugi said, crossed. "I came and asked, now I'm leaving. Believe me, the sight of you pisses me off."
"Why come to me of all people? Why not the police?" Yami mocked in a dark, churlish tone. "What makes you believe I'm the right man to come to? I could easily find that girl and kill her myself."
Yugi tensed at the jibe, all irritation vanishing from his face. It happened fast, the look of worry and fear assuming that Yami might actually live up to that statement. However, looking into the Red Eye leader's eyes, Yugi knew differently. Disbelief replaced his previous anxiety.
"Do whatever you wanna do," Yugi coldly murmured, poised for retreat. "I came to see if you'd help him out because you've obviously got some history together. Maybe I was stupid for believing you two would put your differences aside for the sake of a small girl, but if your intentions are as malicious as you say, I can't help that." He shrugged, and resumed walking down the sidewalk.
The dismissal, much to Yami's disdain, took him by surprise. He'd felt sure that Yugi would try to butter up the situation, rip and rave, scream and bitch about how unfair Yami was being. Yugi had barely given the matter some consideration before writing it off like a bad check. That was a mistake Yami would learn from. He'd have to remember that Yugi had a will as strong as his and when crossed, was not easy to get back on even grounds with.
That wasn't to say that the boy's brazen attitude wasn't frustrating. "So you'll walk away to leave me to my own devices?"
"My feet are moving aren't they?" Yugi shouted back.
Yami blinked twice before narrowing his glare at him again. Pivoting on his heel, Yami made his way back to the Grove's household and went around the back way to the wooden garage hut. He kept a black 2005 impala stored inside for testing and trades. Yami got in, turned the ignition and sped around the house, and down the street. By the time he reached Yugi the boy was just turning along the little bit of road separating the Grove from the city and Yugi's small dirt road path home.
Screeching tire wheels alerted Yugi a few beats before the impala cut him off as he was about to cross the street. With his mouth agape and the thought of nearly being ran over freshly registering in his mind, his purple eyes became livid and angry.
"Are you insane?" he exclaimed. "You nearly killed me!"
The driver's window smoothly slid down. "Get in the car," Yami ordered.
The young baseball player stared at the man like he'd gone mental. "Fuck you!" he spat. "I'm not getting in a car with you!"
"I said get in!"
"I said fuck you!"
The driver's door clicked open.
Yami was half way out the car when Yugi took off down the street, long legs chopping furiously to escape. Yami chuckled. He wouldn't need his car to catch this boy. People assumed because he was twenty seven and smoked a lot, that he wasn't much for doing any hard labor. Underestimating him has always been his triumph amongst the foolish. After slamming his door shut, Yami broke into a one way sprint down the street, inhaling through his nostrils and exhaling the same way, arms and legs pumping. His navy blue and white Air Max shoes were light and soft against the asphalt and soundless on the dusty orange road.
The path never seemed this long before and the game shop looked like it was miles away. Yugi checked over his shoulder only to stretch his eyes wide at the horrifying scowl on his pursuer's face. Yugi's chest constricted in a tight ball and the knot of pain in his arm started to tingle to the surface.
Yugi was slowly and very noticeably, losing ground. Attempting to ignore the threat of nearing footsteps, Yugi ran as fast his legs could muster to appear confident in his pace despite his growing fear, but his speed was dying off and he knew it would be in vain.
Yugi knew he wasn't going to make it when a large hand grabbed his upper arm and yanked him backwards into a solid warm chest. Another hand whipping out to cup his mouth before he could utter a sentence. Yugi stopped moving, frozen with fright, his eyes dilated in horror as he stared ahead at his home outlined by the night horizon.
"Did you honestly think you'd get away?" Yami jeered in Yugi's ear.
The youth's heart pounded frantically in his chest. Strong hands spun him around, face to face with the man who shot him and forced him to see those red glaring eyes. Yugi bit back the hoarse sob that rose in his throat, tears moistening from the pain in his arm and the fear in his mind as he stared helplessly at his killer. He recoiled, knees weakened from the contact.
Yami almost relinquished his hold on the youth, but instead slacked his fingers from their blood-stopping grasp. How many times had he witnessed the final terrified and dreadful shadowing in the eyes of his victims before pulling the trigger? The count was as endless as the stars but this was the first time Yami had ever felt a moment of remorse from seeing the results of his own actions. The fear in Yugi's eyes came like the tide, rising higher and higher with no signs of ever evaporating.
Seizing the opportunity of the gang leader's quiet confusion and hesitation, Yugi pulled himself free and hastily put some distance between him and Yami, never breaking eye contact. His arms instinctively wrapped around his upper torso, as if to shield away the danger from approaching. The pain from his injured limb made Yugi wince, for the moment, breaking his eye contact with Yami to inspect the damage. With the chase and scared being the only thing on his mind, Yugi had forgotten it was aching.
Shaking out of his perturbed reverie, Yugi cleared his throat, shifting from foot to foot. "Why won't you leave me alone?" he tensely whispered. "I told you why I came. I don't want anything to do with you."
"That's too bad," Yami replied frostily. "You should've thought of that before you came back."
"My god and I wish I hadn't!" Yugi nastily sneered. "My life's been hell since I've met you and that fool Atem. I don't want anything to do with either of you, so why can't you leave me alone?" He was damn nearly hysterical, chest heaving and eyes widening. "He asks me to help him find his daughter, so I go to you. I say my piece and leave, but you won't let me. You both told me to stay away from you and I've done by part but you refuse to go away! Why? I don't understand because as far as I'm concerned I DON'T WANT EITHER OF YOU TO COME NEAR ME AGAIN! I'M DONE!"
A deadly silence ensued. The rustle of the dying night winds broke the silence as it fanned through blades of grass and caressed the trees.
". . . That's too bad, Young Buck. Because for the time being, whether we like it or not, we're stuck together."
Yami's gun was out in seconds and Yugi's heart started palpitating like a race horse bucking in a boxed cage.
Atem emerged from the woody foliage with a grim expression and a broken glare in his eyes. With his hands shoved in his pockets, he made his way over to the younger men, eyes cast downward and stride slow.
"Put the gun away, Young Blood," Atem softly ordered. "This isn't about red or blue tonight."
"Like hell," Yami returned just as light and cold. "It's always about representation."
Atem's frown didn't quite reach his brow. He shook his head like the very sight of Yami made him tired.
"Answer me this, fool," Yami started. "How the hell do you lose track of a little girl? What were you thinking? Were you out settling down between a pair of nice legs or getting your dick sucked?"
Atem's frown did reach his brow this time, crinkling his forehead with rows of thick wrinkles. His head was tilted so slowly to the side, it looked painful. "Since you weren't there to provide the service, no I wasn't."
"You bastard—"
"I don't have time for this."
"Fine, I'll leave."
"Go on, I never asked you to come here!"
"As if you'll be able to find her with the pathetic state you're in!"
"Shut the hell up, Yami!" Which to everyone's surprise he did and Yugi slinked back as well because the tone of voice was not like anything he'd ever heard Atem use.
It was borderline cold and sharp, like freshly polished blade left to cool over ice. Atem paced back and forth, chest billowing his shirt as he strolled while running a noticeably shaky hand in his hair. "I've got too much on my mind to worry about you digging up old hurt feelings! My child's out there! Do you think now's the time to reminisce on old shit? Do not piss me off tonight. I'm already on edge!"
He was fed up with this entire situation. As if his frustrations weren't already fucked up, Atem had thought he'd be on his own finding his daughter until he saw Yugi leave his house and walk straight into Yami's area. Atem hadn't realized he'd waited until the boy arrived back, running like the devil hounds were on his heels and Yami right behind him. Putting two and two together was simple. Yugi had gone to ask for Yami's help with the search and who in the hell would've thought the man would even appear?
His presence was almost endearing, assuming he'd subconsciously decided to put aside the gang rivalry to help his enemy. When Yami opened his mouth, with words of contempt slipping from his lips like tainted venom, Atem knew the fool was only here to taunt him in his crippled state. Which brought to question a certain party something very important.
Atem had his mouth fixed to envelope Yugi's ears with his aggravation, his disdain for Yami's useless company and the lack of support when he'd noticed the soft-spoken teen was fidgeting. His round purple eyes switched from one man to the man as if expecting another gun to be drawn. His gaze particularly stayed glued to the one Yami drew. The balls of Yugi's knuckles resembled snow drops.
Atem balled his lips, nodded to himself than asked in a quiet voice. "Why the hell would you ask him to come here, Yugi? You know our history. Red and blue don't mix."
Yugi jumped when he was being addressed. Looking between them, he seemed to shrink into himself, the way a beaten slave cowers before his pharaoh. "Because, I thought it made sense at the time. We can't call the police because who knows what will happen if they find Kisara before we do." Atem smiled small-like at the 'we' part. "Yami knows this side of town better than anyone. He can have a search party setup to find Kisara. No one would have to know she was your daughter, Atem."
Yugi spoke like the idea were rephrased before a mirror so many times he could recite it in his sleep. His tone, much to both the men's hidden chagrin, was hollowed and course. When no one spoke, Yugi peered up to find dark red and merlot eyes staring at him so intensely, Yugi squirmed under confusing glares.
"In any case, you're free to do what you want." Yugi turned on his heel aiming for Kame's Shop with the full intentions of actually putting this shit behind him and starting his life anew. For real, he was dead serious. No more gangs, no more fear, no more concerns for other people's troubles (namely those in gangs) and no more worries of being shot. Trust and believe that was one parting detail he'd happily deal without.
"You would go through the trouble of seeking me out only to walk away?" said Yami in a sneer that should've stabbed a hole in Yugi's valiant balloon. Though the youth's steps wavered, the tedious tingles of pain reminded him of what stopping would mean and how he'd be setting himself up for another tug of war with what was right and wrong.
Because dealing with these two again would be so wrong.
"Don't walk away from me!" Yami shouted. "I told you to stay away and you walk back in my life to ask me to help my enemy? Did you honestly expect this to end just like that?"
Yugi continued walking, eyes moist. "I told you to do what you want! I don't have to be around. Kill each other for all I care, I've done what I felt was right!"
"Yugi!"
It seemed both Yami and Atem were set on having the young man in their company. They both called his name, both with the oddest emotion and with separate meanings. Whatever definition laid behind those secretive emotions, Yugi didn't want to know.
Yugi's hand grasped the doorknob as a large hand clapped his uninjured shoulder. A shuddering sob coughed from his lips. No matter how hard he squeezed his eyes, a solitary tear still fell from his eye.
"I just wanna be left alone. Being near either of you terrifies me because I don't. . . I'm. . . I don't know . . ." Yugi truly didn't know what to do. A part of him was struggling with putting up with the strain of working together to find Kisara and being able to move on. Then there was another part of him that knew—it was in his gut—that if he were to go with them tonight, he wouldn't be able to move on and live because they'd be imprinted in his life like a permanent virus.
"Just for tonight, Yugi. I'm asking of you . . . no, I'm begging. Put aside my foolish, cowardly, ignorance for the sake of helping me—us—find Kisara. Afterwards, if there's ever anything you want me to do for you, anything at all, I'm at your disposal." Atem's fingers massaged the ball of Yugi's shoulder, warmth unknowingly seeping through the thick cloth like an electric blanket.
Yugi heaved a deep breath, refusing to drop another tear for these men. "I don't want to deal with you, period. Never, ever, ever again! I don't want to! I don't!" He crackled and buckled, shakily fighting back the lump in his throat.
The weight of Atem's hand vanished. The space felt empty, chilled and almost longing to reclaim the warm comfort it stupidly left behind. It wasn't for long though. The swish of grass and kicked pebbles alerted Yugi to the hard pressed footsteps coming closer and closer until the evidence of someone standing behind him was confirmed by a slender arm carefully curl around his neck and pulling back.
Yami's humid sigh brushed against Yugi's ear. The tenor of his words seemed to tap dance on Yugi's ribcage. "I don't want to do this anymore than you," he quietly conveyed. "But if you know something about this girl that we don't, then you're needed."
Yugi resisted at first, feet weakly digging a grove in the ground as he was dragged farther and farther away from his home. "There isn't anything else," he croaked, as bits of his fight started to break from his body.
Yami's arm tightened a little, his hand unclasped from its balled fist and into an open palm he used to repeatedly caress the back Yugi's neck.
"The faster we get this over with, the least time you'll have to deal with me and him," Yami murmurs. "Do as you please after that."
Yugi wanted to do as he pleased now. Why was there always a condition behind everything he wanted to do? If he listened to Tristan, then there will be one less pair of eyes out there helping to find Kisara. If Yugi doesn't help with the search, guilt would be his constant companion until he got news of how she was doing. If Yugi went with these men, he would probably suffer something worse than a gunshot. With these factors in play, why didn't it make more sense to mind his own business? The answer was simple. He was weak. So weak and pathetically sympathetic to people who promised to kill him on sight and one of them nearly had.
Yet, Yugi knew he was man enough to put that incident in the backburner. For the sake of Kisara, he would. Still, that petty nagging sense of disappointment refused to stop churning his stomach. Yugi unhooked Yami's arm from his neck and with all his strength, shoved his hand in the middle of his chest.
This was bullshit. He hated his conscious.
"Don't touch me. I can walk." Yugi purposely pushed passed Atem on his way down the orange dirt road without a backwards glance. Being forced into doing this, not just by Atem and Yami but including his own stupid disposition, had Yugi's body rigid.
They reached Yami's still humming Impala moments later. Yami raised his hand over head to sync the car's sensory system from a distance and unlocked the doors. Yugi opened the back door and dipped inside the backseat. It was for the best that he didn't see what the other two were about to do.
Atem automatically walked alongside Yami to the car truck.
Yami pushed his key in, turned and lifted the storage compartment to reveal his mini supply of weapons. Revolvers, pistols, silent shooters, flintlocks, forty-fives, the usual 9mm, and magnums, all neatly organized, polished and filed in size and strength. Yami's dark eyes shifted over the wide selection before reaching in to grab a semi-automatic Walther P99 pistol and tucking it in his waistband.
When Atem reached inside, Yami was on his wrist in seconds. The two shared a momentarily flicker of remembrance to a time they were both reaching for the same gun in the past. They would smile and argue for a few minutes on who would be a better shooter.
There were no smiles this time. Just a profound urge to act irrational, particularly on Yami's end. The way his red eyes concentration on Atem's hand and then his face said he wasn't trusting the man as far as he could throw him, regardless of the mutual agreement to work together.
"Don't touch," Yami finally growled, slinging his rival's hand away. "I know you're already carrying two pistols. Why use my merchandise?"
Atem's fingers flexed, lips grimly thinning as he stared at Yami as if by sight alone he could relay his inner turmoil.
"This isn't like old times," Yami voiced aloud. "I still don't trust you."
"I already told you before, Young Blood. I couldn't kill you if I tried."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Yami, we can sit here going back and forth all we want, but the longer we're here, the longer we'll have to be out there." Atem's other hand came and covered the top of the one light tanned one gripping his wrist. "For a while, let's try to coexist like old times. At least in front of Yugi."
Yami snatched his hand from the clammy warmth, making a show of wiping his hand on his shirt, all the while glaring at his rival. "The boy being here doesn't make a difference to me." Though he'd be lying if he didn't think about lightening some of the stress on Yugi. It was probably ripping the teen apart to have to help the people who nearly killed him on several occasions.
Leaning forward, Yami retrieved a M1911 pistol with a loaded magazine. He held out the gun to Atem, whom lifted an eyebrow in turn.
Atem slowly eased the gun from Yami's fingers and added it to his waistband with the other two hidden weapons on his person. Now fully strapped, the gang leaders split on opposite sides of the car and got in. They both took a look behind to see Yugi quiet and reserved, seat belt fastened in place and a dull shine in his eyes.
Yami noticed it first. A thin orange hoodie, two sizes too big and catching the scent of pumpkin spice. He remembered Yugi wearing the same thing on the night they spoke in the café. Grimacing he closed his eyes, fingers grasping the leathery wrapping around his steering wheel. Atem heard the squeak, the grit of teeth and the far off expression on Yami's face.
"Let's go," he crisply ordered, jogging Yami back to the present.
Yugi was rocked out of his mental state as well by the strange tone and peered at the front seat passengers, wondering if he'd missed something. Judging by the heated expressions being exchanged, it was probably so.
"We're going to start looking today, aren't we?" Yugi said. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather be home before my grandfather goes into cardiac arrest." Neither replied. Of course not because whatever issue they had going was way more important than finding a missing five-year-old. "Come on!" Yugi stressed.
The two tore their eyes apart before casting their looks at Yugi who returned with emphasized intensity. The dense anguish in the car was thick. Yami started the car after narrowing his eyes at Yugi. This wasn't going to be a pleasant cooperation.
"Where should we look first?"
Yugi settled back in his seat. "Check the park near the elementary schools," he sniffed, returning his gaze out the window.
"I doubt a five year old can get across town on her own," Yami grumbled irritably, putting the car in drive and cruising down the road.
"If you have any better ideas, feel free to share. Otherwise, just drive. I'll help," Yugi pressed himself as close to the car door as possible, "but that doesn't mean I wanna talk."
"Who the hell you talking to like that?" Yami glared. "You better fix that attitude or I'll—"
"Shoot me again?" Yugi sneered angrily. "Go on and do it! I swear to God you better make sure I'm dead this time because I promise to return the favor!"
"Trust me, I won't miss!"
Yugi's bravado wavered.
"Enough!" Atem rolled his eyes. "Knock it off." He looked over his shoulder at Yugi's frowning purple eyes glaring out the window. "How do you expect us to communicate if you're not willing to add your two cents?"
Yugi's head whipped around so fast, his banes took three seconds to catch up. "Excuse me?" he gawked. "Communicate? You really wanna go there about proper communication? Who was it that jumped to conclusions after he wanted so badly to fuck me?"
Yami almost stomped on the brakes. "Say what?"
"That hardly counts. You should've told me you were in league with the Red Eyes!" Atem shot back.
"I wasn't in league with anyone, you deaf idiot!" Yugi shrieked, voice escalating several octaves passed a dog whistle. "I didn't fucking know you were a blue blood until that night. How did you expect me to read your mind and think 'Oh he's the leader of the blue eyes, I better make sure he doesn't know I know Yami.' You should've told me from the start what you were!"
Yami snorted. "So it was poor communication on your end," he directed at Atem. "Why am I not surprised?"
"You're just as thick headed as he is, Yami!" Yugi said. "After all we'd talked about in the car and the cafe, did you even think for one minute to listen to reason? No, because if you had, I wouldn't be sitting here with a fucked up arm! I gave you the benefit of the doubt when we first met because you seemed so . . . so . . . different from how other people saw you." Yugi leaned back in his seat. "I know differently now."
"You don't know anything," Yami returned. "All you're willing to go by is what's on the surface."
"That's because you shut people out before they can hammer through that thick hide of yours," Atem added in. "You're selective about who you let in."
Yami's grip tightened on the steering wheel. Silence hovered above them like a storm cloud. "Because every time I do they walk away or betray me."
"Gee, I wonder why," snorted Yugi.
"I never betrayed you," Atem raged back, eyes paper slit thin and teeth grinding. "Not once. I was always there. I was the one who helped you through your troubles. I held you when you thought you had nothing else to live for—"
"—for your own selfish gain, and your father's, Atem. All of you thought of me as nothing more than a damn dog to tame," Yami yelled, stopping the car and getting right in his rival's face. "Did you think about how I felt those times I was forced into doing those horrendous acts? How the hell could you possibly classify that as help? Only one person really cared for me without asking for anything in return—"
"—and where is he now? Six feet under! He, the one you still so helplessly cling to like some deprived pup, was the one who turned traitor, yet I suffered for his mistakes! So help me, if that bastard were alive now, I'd put him flat on his back!"
"Was he the only one to turn traitor?"
"—I didn't do anything besides reveal him for what he was. When the truth revealed itself, even then I gave him the benefit of the doubt and what happened? He turns it on both of us and high tails it out. You should have trusted me, Yami! I would've never hurt you the way he had—"
"I was scared too!"
Their words hung in the air between them where they stood, chest-to-chest, both breathing hard, flushed and as the seconds stretched, a little startled by everything that had been said.
He. He. That he had to be Heba.
Yugi gathered up his breath to speak at last, after bearing witness to a grievous altercation he felt was long overdue. "What did Heba do to you?" Yugi pursed his lips together. "Was he really so horrible? H-had he always been this way?" Poisonous and evil to the people who trusted him so? If that's the case had Heba burdened a hidden cruelty on his own family? Yugi's palms grew damp and his mind became scampered.
Yami's eyes found refuge outside the windshield, watching the early morning sky burnish the night to soft navy and rich warm hues, before his gaze rose and shifted behind to Yugi in a near tremble, like some who'd just discovered how cold ice was.
Atem swallowed, and dragged one, then both his hands up to his face, inflating and deflating breath after breath after breath. When, at last, he did look at Yugi, he couldn't bring himself to fully acknowledge the full extent of Heba's past. How could he tell a sad face so flushed of its previous nervousness and now fixed with a new kind of dismayed opinion of what Heba was really like?
Yugi blinked at them, eyes slowly watering. "Was he?"
Yami sighed, shaking his head. "No, not always."
"In the beginning, no," Atem assured. "Heba was . . ." Atem licked his lips. He couldn't lie if he tried. He pushed open the car door and got out.
Yugi's eyes widened and took a moment to survey the area, realizing that they were at the park. He'd been so raptured in the conversation between them, he guessed he hadn't noticed. Yami exited the car as well, finding Atem facing him with hard eyes. Yugi joined the two and from there they start looking.
The park was dark, a phantom's playground with so little activity and the shadows of the playthings stretched across the grass and flowers and sandboxes. They scoured every piece of equipment, from the biggest in the center, to the smaller more singular playthings on the outside. With every unturned object, Atem's apprehension frantically grew. The large concrete blocks containing flowers were stalked around five times each and still no signs of her.
Yugi returned last from his journey around the playground, approaching with lead in his legs and a steel cage around his heart. He was getting worried. Kisara, naturally, wouldn't have been able to come this far on her own, especially with the Blue Eye's territory only stretching so far. She'd have to walk into Red Eye lands to get here.
The search ended at the swing set. Yami was perched against one the reclining pole, eyes closed and arms folded over his chest. Atem was alongside him, sitting in one of the swings with his face buried in his hands. Yugi vaguely wondered in secret how many of Atem's enemies would pay to see him so far from his arrogant post and now, bowed down to the small bits of a man. Yugi's uninjured hand acted on its own accord and lifted up as if to touch the slumped shoulders, usually perked up with regal confidence and strong braggadocio.
Yugi stopped his idling hand before it could land. He had to remember that he wasn't here to lean that kind of comfort. He was only here to assist in this quest and no more.
"Where could she be?" Atem outwardly and inwardly snarled, frustration coiling his innards like rope.
Yami shoved off the pole. "We're not the only ones looking. Someone's bound to find her."
"You're so sure?"
"As well as you should be," Yami murmured. "The Medium is out for her trail as well, but it'd be in our best interests to get to her first."
"Why?" Yugi questioned. "If she's found by them, wouldn't she be safe?"
Atem pushed his hands back over his hair, flicking each oversized spike. "I'd prefer my daughter on safer grounds, which are my own. Should Pegasus find her, he'll no doubt ship her back to Egypt to be with her grandfather."
Pegasus, yes. Yugi knew enough about the older gentleman to comprehend his way of ruling. Still, why go to such drastic measures?
"He's paranoid," Yami answered Yugi's mental question. "And with good reason. We're forbidden to have children within the walls of the city."
"Why?"
A warring sensation lingered like plucking needles in Atem's patience. "Is that all we can do for now? Stand and talk away like we have nothing to do? We've done enough sitting here. Talk and search if you must, but put better use to your time than just standing here!" He surged to his feet, bucking the rubber saddle off his legs and stomped toward the Impala, clearly relaying the next course of action would be taken by vehicle.
His entire body paused, ceasing all motor skills, and twisted around fast. So caught up in the thought of his daughter being harmed, he'd nearly forgotten about Yami being behind him. The immediate demand to counteract a possible sneak attack, to be the first to strike and being weary all purged his mind of what was important for a brief, flitting moment until the odds were even and Yami was standing on his right and Yugi joining Atem's left side.
"We'll find her," Yugi tried meagerly to assure with common placed words and careful precision. "I know you're frustrated, but keeping a leveled head is the only way we can think through this clearly. No amount of rushing without planning will guarantee we'll find her."
"He's right," Yami abruptly joined in, much to the other two men's light surprise. "You, especially, should take Kisara's care into consideration. Think, you're her father. Where would she go? How would she know to get there? How trusting is she to strangers?"
Atem snorted. "God, no. Baby girl's stubborn and audacious, but she knows better than to trust anyone beyond who I tell her to." He cupped his hand over his eyes. "I'm so worried. The fuck is wrong with me? Why did I chose then to fall asleep?"
"We all make mistakes. Groaning over it isn't going to help any more than us standing here." When Yugi reached out, he took Atem's wrist and pulled towards the car. "Come on. We'll think of something." Atem willingly followed, his steps heavy and his eyes dulling away to a shadow of regret because he didn't know what he'd do if something happened to his baby girl.
"Yugi, hold back will you?" Yami said, motioning with his hand for Yugi's attention with authority laced around the request. "I need to talk to you."
A raised eyebrow was his first answer. It was a curious gesture that was accompanied by an edgy debate within Yugi to oblige or carry on. Inwardly, he wasn't too keen on being near Yami alone for any amount of time. Atem's urgency was more important to attend to, didn't he know? Whatever Yami needed to say could wait.
"Can't this wait, Yami?" Atem questioned, his tone dry.
"No." Yami responded petulantly, folding his arms and keeping his eyes sternly on Yugi's face.
Yugi's teeth gripped his lips, visibly displeased. "Fine," he said, tapping Atem's shoulder. "We'll hurry."
Atem clicked his tongue and a disappointed expression crossed his handsome face. "Be quick about it," he said to both of them and waited right where he was, arms locked in front of his chest and a pending expression that warned Yami as well as Yugi to hurry up with whatever was supposedly more important than finding his daughter.
When Yugi crossed the distance between him and Yami, the older man placed a hand on the small of Yugi's back and guided him a few meters away. Yugi became flustered, darting quick glances over his shoulder at Atem and at Yami's scowling expression.
They stopped by a collection of red, blue and yellow interconnected tunnels and giant tire wheels, half-dug in the ground.
"What is it?" Yugi questioned when it didn't seem Yami would do anything besides stare over Yugi's shoulder.
"I don't think you understand just how essential it is that we find her first," Yami quietly said, a beat later.
"I do understand. He's worried," Yugi looked behind himself to see Atem staring intently back, foot tapping and fingers drilling into the crook of his arms. "What parent wouldn't be?"
"It goes deeper than the bond between parent and child. Much deeper. Kisara is literally Atem's bond to his sanity, the unclipped switch to his grenade."
Yugi shook his head. "You're not making sense. Any sane person would be driven mad if they assumed the worse of their child."
"That's what Atem doesn't need to assume at all." Yami, for the first time in a long while, openly revealed his timid fear to someone else. "Yugi, you were but a boy when Domino was condemned to hell. That same week Heba was murdered, was the same week the city erupted into a pandemonium and the streets were covered in so much blood you couldn't distinguish whose body belonged to who."
Yugi's adam apple sunk and rose in his throat. "I wasn't here when that happened. Me and Grandpa were . . ." they were suddenly taken out of the city by a band of strange men. It'd happened so suddenly and without enough time to gather their things. It was only when they returned four days later to find their home spared of the terror that they learned of Heba's death.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Yugi whispered, tensing from head to toe with looming dread.
Yami's handsome face contorted into a hideous, twisted glare. "Heba's death caused that destruction and the destroyed the last remnants of Atem's mind." Yami gave the longest sigh of his life. "He was the reason the city was left broken, aged and burned to rubble at his feet."
Yugi's gasp hitched in his chest and paused there. He gradually turned, inch by fearful inch, to look at Atem's face and grimaced.
". . . Imagine what will happen if Kisara's not found soon or worse, killed off? His anguish will know no bounds . . . So that everyone else knows his pain, he'll kill every person in sight until the fairness of his sadness is matched with everyone else. . ."
"Is that why you're really willing to find her?" Yugi didn't think his voice could sound so far away.
Yami nodded once. "For the sake of my life as well as everyone else's, it's imperative we find her and soon."
Tears burned in Kisara's eyes as she limped on her tender feet, sore and achy from having walked for so long. The purr and dash of cars resounded from all around her, like the approach of monsters promising to eat her when they arrived. It's been so long now. She couldn't find Yugi anywhere and now, she couldn't find her way home.
Everything was so big.
Everything roared like angry dragons stirred from a long slumber.
Daddy always told her never to talk to strangers. But how could she get home if she can't talk to people? Her stomach hurt and her pajamas were dingy with dirt and mud when she fell while running away from a rabid dog. She thought it might help her get home like the pretty one on TV but it tried to steal Teddy and nearly ripped off one of his arms.
The leaking limb hung by a tread and Kisara's strong hug was what held the poor thing together. She used the bear's cushioned belly to put her face in and breathed deeply, shuddering and weeping. "Yugi . . . Daddy. . . I wanna go home," she cried on her only friend. Kisara realized after a long journey that there was too much effort put in a futile mission.
She wasn't going to find Yugi because she didn't know where he lived. She couldn't go home because it was hard to remember the directions she took to get this far. All her ears picked up were funny sounds, none of them familiar and all very scary. The possibilities of being kidnapped by a vicious creature and taken to its home to be eaten scared her to death.
Cousin Seth always said to be brave and never cry, no matter how terrifying the world may seem. Cousin Marik always said to fight back the need to cry. Daddy would say she could run to him and cry whenever she needed to. That's who she wanted most. And then she could fall apart in his arms and cling to his nice smelling shirt and listen to the sweet words he always hummed in her ear.
Kisara scrubbed her sleeve over her eyes and started walking again. The sidewalk was endless. There were so many paths to use and so many bright street lights.
"Yo' is that 'er?!"
Kisara whirled around. Screeching to a rough halt a few feet behind was a gigantic truck, the biggest she'd ever seen. Al four car doors opened and four heads popped out. She saw someone. Someone tall and loud. Someone scary. Someone that wasn't her father running straight for her. Kisara didn't think about it when she started running down the sidewalk.
"Daddy!" she cried and suddenly felt herself flying in the air in slight pain when large hands grasped beneath her armpits and yanked up. "No! No! Stop it! Leave me alone!"
"I got 'er lads!" The stranger victoriously shouted, and hurried back to the car with his struggling cargo.
Kisara screamed, kicked and howled at the top of her lungs, but alas this early, no one could hear her desperate pleas for help. She was caught by the monsters and she'll never see her daddy again . . .
He saw everything.
It happened too fast for him to react. By the time he parked his car, Marik caught the tail end of his baby cousin's feet being shoved inside one of the Red Eyes vehicles. He whipped out his cell phone and dialed Seth's number. He dropped back inside his Mercedes Benz and urgently waited for his cousin to answer while tailing the rear end of the kidnappers.
The phone clicked signifying Seth having finally answered. "Did you find her?" he asked.
"Yeah but you gotta call back up for Efland Street and Board Ave!" Marik angrily snarled. "Those motherfucking red bloods went too far this time! I just saw a couple of 'em snatch her up!"
Seth, the usually calm, more composed of his entire family, for the first time in his life, lost control. Marik knew when his cousin hung up the phone, he was dialing for the rest of the family members to get ready for a showdown.