Love in its most natural form is a wonderful thing.
How it makes others strong enough to conquer demons, the strength it gives another to protect people we care about, how it can be spread amongst others young and old...it is a universal concept all by its own. Love changes everything.
We can love thy neighbor as equally as we love our own families and we can even learn to love ourselves.
However, there are times where love can twist your actions and warp your viewpoint. (And yes, I get the hypocrisy of my words.)
Love can make you hurt others, they can damage relationships, can destroy that which was meant to heal...sometimes the most romantic stories are the ones filled with (pointless) tragedy.
One good example of this is the tale of "Romeo and Juliet" where our short-sighted lovers end up dying due to jumping to conclusions and yet everyone except Shakespeare feels sorry for these angsty teens.
And, while I will admit that my own state of being mirrors that of poor Romeo, I at least admit that my death can bring about a good cause…
...At least, compared to what happened to the two lovebirds I saw that night.
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2nd Shot (Part 3)
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Died in Your Arms Tonight
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The minute Shooti sees the form of Yusei Fudo in that four poster bed, he realizes that he is in this dark room where an undead Kiryu is having sex with another man, and he has no idea how to get out.
The only thing he can do is close the wardrobe door as quietly as possible, scoot to the back of the wardrobe, cover his ears, close his eyes and pray for Bel to find him...and fast.
For while Shooti is a fan of boys' love (he found himself becoming a fan of Eiji/Ankh after watching Kamen Rider OOO), his idea of love revolves around holding hands, sleeping on a bench, sharing food, etc. Nothing about two men in bed, naked and having sex, has ever entered his mind.
It is at this point that he wishes that he brought a pair of headphones on him so he can listen to the Blade Runner soundtrack that he downloaded on his phone. Certainly the music of Vangelis would sound better than what he's trying to block out.
Back in the bed, Yusei grips Kiryu's shoulders, his nails digging deep to the point of drawing blood, panting for breath as he screams Kiryu's name and begs for more. Kiryu just pulls back from within Yusei before thrusting back in, continuing this rhythm of harder thrusts and small bite marks onto Yusei's shoulders and neck to magnify the combination of pleasure and pain.
"Kiryu!" Yusei shouts, already reaching his limit, his mind filled with nothing but pleasure as his voice comes out in short pants that echo in the dark room. His hands desperately claw across Kiryu's back as he begs, "Please, please let me...Oh, god, I'm gonna…"
Whatever he says next is drowned by screams instead. After a few seconds, Shooti lowers his hands and opens his eyes, slowly peers through the crack of the wardrobe and watches Kiryu lift his head back in ecstasy as the silver haired man releases deep inside Yusei, grey eyes changing into the color of ebony. Yusei, his mind clouded by lust, doesn't see this as he feels Kiryu releasing deep inside him, milking every last drop and wanting this feeling to last forever as Kiryu leans over and places gentle kisses over his forehead, eyelids and the yellow tattoo going down his left eye, placing a quick peck on the small triangle mark at the corner.
"I missed you, Kiryu," Yusei murmurs, placing a hand on Kiryu's shoulder. "I was worried that you were dead or something."
Kiryu laughs nervously. Still, he lets Yusei run a hand through his hair before slipping out, starts cuddling the love of his life with a smile and places a kiss on Yusei's lips with the idea that he is ready for another round of sex if need be, or the two will just stare into each other's eyes until they fall asleep in each other's arms.
Shooti just sighs; for a moment it looked like Kiryu really was going to go through and kill Yusei to start off that "premonition" of Team Satisfaction being resurrected.
And, he does admit, the scenery does make for a good photo.
Shooti brings his camera up and watches the two men smile, preparing for that perfect shot. Everything seems to have calmed down…
That is, until Shooti notices the knife Kiryu is holding behind his back.
Yusei is oblivious to it all, riding out the euphoria from his and Kiryu's bedtime activities to react to Kiryu rising up and raising the knife in the air. Yusei doesn't even have time to react as Kiryu brings the knife down…
And stabs the side of the bed with a cry of disgust as he covers his face with shame.
"I can't do it," Kiryu whispers, a single tear falling down his eye. "I can't kill you, Yusei."
Yusei looks in confusion as the pleasure starts to fade. "Kiryu, what's going on?"
Kiryu is shaking violently, running his hands up and down his arms despite the fact that he can no longer feel the cold. "I'm sorry, Yusei. I was about to get you involved in this entirely fucked up situation that I'm now stuck in. I won't allow that. Those crazy bitches have another thing coming if they think I'm going to play their little games."
"Games? Kiryu…" Yusei sits up and brushes Kiryu's bangs aside. "Tell me what's going…"
He pauses when he sees how Kiryu's eyes are a black color, devoid of any light, like miniature black holes. And the yellow criminal tag that falls down his right eye is the color of dried blood.
Kiryu looks away in shame, more tears falling down his face.
"Yusei…" he whispers. "Please leave...leave before I have to kill you and drag you into this mess."
"...Not until you tell me everything," Yusei states firmly as he sits up. "Kiryu, what happened last Saturday? Where did you run off to?"
Kiryu looks into Yusei's eyes, the latter not afraid of those dark orbs before Kiryu unleashes a long sigh.
"Yusei," he begins. "When I went to confront Magician's Four, I met up with these five chicks in black robes who began to feed off of the 'sin' carried within their souls. Yeah, I know, it sounds so fucked up, but it's the truth. I tried to escape, but one of those Magician's bastards had a gun and manage to shoot me in the heart. I didn't realize what he had done and was knocked unconscious for a while. When I woke up, I found out that those five women were everywhere, chasing after me with no reason. But I was the only one who saw them...or rather, the only one who they wanted to see them.
"You and Jack and Crow...you all kept saying that I was having some breakdown after seeing Magician's Four, those bastards, dead in front of my eyes. I started to believe that myself, but I was wrong...oh, so wrong.
"And on that night I went crazy trying to attack Kaibaman and while you raced to get Security, those girls arrived and told me that I've been dead - even the goody-goody superhero confirmed it, that bastard - and brought me to this place, this sanctuary for lack of a better term. They told me everything... everything about what they want to do with Satellite."
Kiryu stops as Yusei looks in shock, trying his best to stay calm before leaning close to Kiryu and places an ear on his chest, hoping to hear a heartbeat. Instead, Yusei hears nothing.
"Y...you can't be dead," he whispers, denial and fear replacing lust and pleasure and relief that Kiryu is with him in his mind. "How...how is…"
Kiryu smiles sadly. "These Dark Signers revived me both out of pity and because their master, this Dark King of the Afterlife, saw that we would all become his 'Enforcers' and protect Satellite against any and all threats that would interrupt his return to the mortal realm."
"The what?"
Kiryu sucks his teeth in. "It's a lot to take in, I know. But from what those Dark Signers told me, Satellite is built above what they are calling the Gates of Hamunaptra, a portal to this other world where souls wander in a sort of dream-like paradise ruled by the Dark King of the Afterlife. The Dark King is the highest authority of those girls (and two guys); his word is law around this place.
"I spent all of yesterday and today in this place learning about it, actually communicating with this King and, surprisingly, the guy's not evil, but rather he works with dreams, a Sandman if you think about it. He showed me what Satellite could be if I joined him; a paradise that we can all be satisfied with, where we don't have to live in fear from some of the nastier things that lurk in the shadows." Kiryu laughs a bit. "And we would just be doing like what we are now when we aren't working at Satisfaction Town; patrolling the areas and ensuring that everyone is taken care of...the only difference is that Hamunaptra is (mostly) filled with creatures of a gentle sort and souls who are filled with vice will become our food source. We'll never have to go hungry ever again.
Yusei looks slightly disturbed at the idea of Kiryu becoming a cannibal, but Kiryu continues with a mirthless laugh, "Oh yeah, did I mention that already? These Dark Signers absorb the sin found within souls. After they had their share, the soul has a choice whether to go back to their vices or perhaps have a chance of doing something better. If the soul is too corrupted though, then they consume it or gives them a proper punishment wrenched from the shadows themselves, no questions asked.
"But the price to pay for this paradise is that you, Jack and Crow have to die for this to happen. The Dark King saw my past, saw into my very soul and he said that all four of us are the reincarnations of the original Enforcers of Hamunaptra, the King's elite guard, who offered their lives to ensure that Hamunaptra would be safe from the Warlord of Destruction…Reshef."
Yusei blinks as he absorbs everything, and Shooti has pulled out his notepad and written notes to research later. Kiryu continues, oblivious to the green haired boy in the wardrobe.
"So us meeting years ago, creating Team Satisfaction and Satisfaction Town...it was a matter of Fate itself. We were supposed to form these factions to prepare Satellite for when the Gates open and now we are to offer our lives for a King we served thousands of years ago in exchange for being his obedient pets whenever he sees fit. That is our curse, Yusei. That is our burden, and that is why you have to leave before it's too late."
Yusei stays silent for another minute before he shakes his head. "That's all...it's nothing more than a coincidence. We all joined together because we're friends, not because some ancient ruler of said so!"
Kiryu laughs bitterly. "There is no such thing as coincidence; there is only fate." His eyes water with tears once more. He sounds so defeated. "And Yusei, you and Jack and Crow...you all are fated to die because we're such good friends."
Yusei watches Kiryu move to the side as everything becomes silent, unsure whether to comfort Kiryu, to say something, or just decide to return to Satisfaction Town without even saying goodbye. He reaches towards his boyfriend and places a hand on Kiryu's shoulder.
"...I'll set things right," Yusei murmurs. "I promise."
Shooti watches as Yusei, underneath the bed sheets, slips on his discarded boxers and closes his eyes, taking a long deep breath that seems to last forever. The camera wielding boy expects to see Yusei get out of bed, get the rest of his clothes on, then confront the Dark Signers about how messed up the entire situation is.
Instead, to Shooti's horror, Yusei notices the knife still stabbed through the mattress, pulls it out, stares at the reflection of a single blue eye, then slowly inches it towards his neck.
Kiryu, as if having a sixth sense as to what Yusei is about to do, lashes out and grabs the blade, not caring how Yusei accidentally cuts him by wrenching the knife out of Kiryu's grasp as Yusei places the knife near his throat. Kiryu looks in horror, and so does Shooti, whose heart beats so loud that it's a wonder that nobody hears it. He grips onto his notebook and bites his tongue, all while it feels like time is slowing down.
"Yusei, don't do this!" Kiryu exclaims, his body trembling as he grasps onto Yusei's shoulders. "Yusei, please, I beg you!"
Yusei just smiles. "Kiryu…" he says as a tear falls down his face. "I won't let you suffer through this alone. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you encountered those women, but I'll be here with you from now on. Jack and Crow will understand this too. Team Satisfaction will always be together. Fate decreed it, after all."
"Yusei, don't…"
But Yusei leans forward, places a kiss on the mark down Kiryu's right eye and whispers, "I love you."
And with one fluid motion, the blade slices his throat, Yusei's hand drops the knife onto the floor with a loud clatter, and Yusei drops into Kiryu's arms as the spark in his blue eyes fades away. Blood sprays everywhere and then drops down to the floor like a trickle of wine. Kiryu is reduced to sobs as he watches his boyfriend die with a peaceful look on his face, the spark of life in his sapphire eyes fading away with each passing second. Shooti stays quiet and also cries silent tears alongside Kiryu before pulling out a spare tissue to dry his eyes. Seconds pass before Kiryu slides Yusei's eyes close with a trembling hand.
This...this isn't how tonight is supposed to end.
As the boy watches Yusei's life bleed away, he can hear Kiryu croon the first verse of a song Carly once sang and played the guitar on; one that is absolutely befitting the situation. The song echoes in the empty chamber like a funeral dirge.
"Love of mine
Someday you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
"No blinding light
Or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
"If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark"
Kiryu's voice is the only thing that is heard as he recites the next two verses without stopping, even as tears fall down his face. Shooti watches and, ever so innocently, prepares his teal camera, waiting for the perfect picture to present itself, even if he is being insensitive at the situation. The dark room, the four-poster bed covered in white rose petals like snow and a black silk canopy like a veil of shadows, the white candles and their tiny flames, the intertwined red and blue sheets like fire and water, and how Kiryu resembles an angel of death reuniting with his beloved makes the scene so...hauntingly beautiful. Like something out of a Gothic Horror story or a scene from a Supernatural/Romance film.
As Kiryu sings the chorus one last time, he stops as he sees a hand reach up towards his cheek, a thumb wiping away the tears falling down his eyes. Kiryu glances at Yusei's neck and finds the knife wound fading away until it appears as if Yusei never slit his throat in the first place. And when Kiryu looks into his boyfriend's eyes, they are no longer a cool cobalt color, but now the color of obsidian, just like his own. The yellow tag over his left eye is the color of blood, a mirror image to the mark over Kiryu's right eye.
"Yusei," Kiryu whispers in disbelief. "Why did you...h - how could you..."
"...Hey," says Yusei with a soft smile. "Finish the song. Please?"
Kiryu pauses as he places a hand over Yusei's own, then returns the smile as he sings the chorus one more time.
"If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
"I'll follow you into the dark…"
Shooti smiles as he watches Yusei sit up and embrace Kiryu, arms wrapped tight around Kiryu's torso before the two share a breathless kiss, and begins taking photos of this sequence of events on his camera (glad to know that the flash is off). As the two men continue their kiss, and are ready to begin another round of lovemaking, Shooti takes a look at his photos with pride…
And then pauses when he hears his phone ring in his satchel, blaring Ergo Proxy's melancholic opening.
Kiryu whips his head towards the sound as Shooti hastily opens his bag and pulls out his phone, briefly glancing at the caller ID and wondering why Carly is deciding to call him now of all times, just before the wardrobe door opens and Shooti is face to face with a half naked Kiryu Kyosuke glaring at this "Peeping Tom". Shooti's phone still plays that ringtone - now in the first verse - in his hand as Shooti gulps.
"You...uh, you have a nice singing voice?" he stammers out just as Kiryu yanks the boy onto his feet, hands gripping the boy's jacket. Shooti takes this time to hang up and slip his phone, notepad and camera back into the satchel.
"You…" Kiryu snarls as he looks Shooti over from head to toe. "You're that wannabe hero from two nights ago, aren't you? How the hell did you get in here?"
"By 'here', are you talking about how I entered the Sanctuary or this very room?" asks Shooti, looking all around. "You have to be more speci…Whoa!"
With his newfound strength, Kiryu hurls Shooti into the bed with a thud, the boy scrambling to pick up the bloody knife on the floor to defend himself and ignoring Yusei staring back at him and the blood stained sheets that he landed on. Kiryu cracks his knuckles and spits at the ground.
"The little mouse thinks he's got a good scoop, huh?" he snarls. "What did you learn?"
"That story about the Dark King, something about Hamunaptra, how the Team Satisfaction of the past offered their very lives to stop this guy named Reshef and that you and Yusei…" Shooti's face turns red and looks at the bedsheets. "Um...like to perform acts of carnal embrace?"
Kiryu lunges toward Shooti and hisses, "I swear to Hamunaptra if you mention any of that, I will make you wish…"
"Let him go, Kiryu."
Kiryu turns to see Bel, in her black and orange cloak, behind him, the Dark Signer of the Hummingbird staring the older man down as she pinches the flame of a candle between her pointer finger and thumb, before, with a flick of her wrist, a ball of fire hovers above her palm.
"You heard me," says Bel, taking a step forward. "Let Shooti go, or I shall see to it that you spend the next week encased in amber."
Kiryu snarls, ready to fight the much younger girl. But after a few seconds of contemplating on the consequences of beating Shooti within an inch of his life, Kiryu surrenders.
"Fine," he grumbles. "I doubt your little boyfriend would be that much fun to torture anyhow."
Shooti sighs in relief as he turns to Bel. "How did you know I was here?"
Bel smiles as she approaches Shooti. She lifts his hand, where her ring is still on his ring finger. "I placed a tracking spell on this ring before you left with Korni. And when Wataru told me how you got stuck here, I just phased through a few walls to make it easier to reach you."
Shooti blinks. "You can phase through walls?"
Bel nods her head. "It makes it easier to traverse this place; we made the interior to be pretty massive to satisfy our needs and all."
"Ah…"
Bel giggles all while Yusei tilts his head like a bird.
"Kiryu," he says slowly. "Who are these people?"
Kiryu jerks a thumb at Bel. "The witch is the Dark Signer of Greed. And the boy's her apprentice, most likely."
"I'm alive, first off," says Shoot.. "And second of all, Bel is no witch!"
"And how would you know such a thing?" Kiryu asks, raising an eyebrow.
Before Shooti can answer, Bel hurls something at Kiryu's face: a towel. Kiryu looks at it in confusion before Bel points down, which is when Kiryu notes how his stomach is still coated with secretions from the sex he and Yusei had before everything went crazy. She then summons another towel from the shadows and tosses it on the bed, which Yusei picks up.
And this is when Shooti realizes that the bed sheets are stained with semen and he jumps off the bed and hides behind Bel, cheeks flushed. Kiryu snickers at the boy's predicament as he cleans himself up. Meanwhile, Yusei hastily wipes the sticky liquid off his chest, picks up his discarded clothing and puts them on. Kiryu does the same after tossing the dirty towel in his hands to the floor (which disintegrates into darkness when it hits).
"There, we're clean," Kiryu grumbles. "Now tell me, little witch...what's so important that you interrupted my interrogation?
Bel's smile becomes solemn before she says, "Yusei Fudo, can you tell me what you saw when you briefly had a brush with death?"
Yusei stays quiet before he closes his eyes. Shooti turns to Bel, who just winks at him. Then, after a few seconds, Yusei opens his eyes, the color of the ocean once more.
"I saw him," he answers, voice empty. "I saw my father."
This causes everyone to look at Yusei as he continues, oblivious to the stares. "He waited for me at the Gates of Hamunaptra, showing me what a paradise it is. A place for the weary, for those who wish to find a home...all while the Dark King of the Afterlife sleeps in his palace.
"My father, who died during the incident that was dubbed as 'Zero Requiem', explained that this was his doing...He…"
"Your father caused Zero Requiem?" Shooti interrupts. "B...but your father was supposed to be the martyr who sacrificed his life to stop Zero Requiem…"
"Zero Requiem"...the event that caused Domino Below to be created. It is said that the sky opened up and tore through what used to be the old Domino City during what was supposed to be a routine check on the reactors built to harness the energy source that the media simply called "Momentum". It was made as an alternative energy source to the shut down nuclear plants without any of the drawbacks of living in a country plagued with earthquakes and tsunamis. It was supposed to change the world…
And change it is what it accomplished.
The boy was only a kid at that time when that happened, but from what Carly has told him, she was lucky to have made it to Domino (Neo-Domino as most of the elite families of the city call their home sweet home) before Zero Requiem reared its ugly head. Fortunately, Domino Below was quick to recover-since there would be no Satisfaction Town if that was the case-but it is said that the Momentum energy opened a hole that unleashed a sea of strange and supernatural phenomena that ended up relocating there. Not only that, it also caused the birth of Chasing Shadows and its pursuit of uncovering secrets that will end up intertwined into the infrastructure of Domino City itself.
Dr. Fudo, Yusei's father...orchestrated Domino Below's creation?
Yusei nods his head. "Yes, my father died in the fallout that is now called 'Zero Requiem', offering me up so that I would learn of my destiny, along with the destinies of my fellow Enforcers of Hamunaptra."
Kiryu blinks, slate eyes looking on in concern. "You saw how Jack and Crow would…"
Yusei nods again. "But that is for later. My father took me to the King of the Afterlife himself and the King told me of his vision...to bring Hamunaptra back to the land of mortals. The Dark Signers were his envoys, vessels connected to the Earthbound Immortals that feed on the sins of people's souls. With this sin, the Earthbound Immortals help their vessels maintain their forms, any excess sin can be used for their Vessels for their own desires, and the Earthbound Immortals would record the person whose sin they have absorbed for the Dark King to document."
"Like something out of Ancient Egypt…" Shooti mumbles, recalling something like this at school this morning.
Yusei nods. "Whether they have sinned or not, all who walk in Hamunaptra are the Dark King's responsibility. He wishes to save as many souls as possible before the Gates of Hamunaptra truly opens. Unfortunately, some of them might be impossible to cure, but still he shall remember their names even as their soul is devoured and becomes nothing more than a fuel source for the Immortals."
"It's not something we like to do, but it's either that or…" Bel trails off. Shooti can see a tear fall down her eye that she quickly wipes away.
"And when I learned of my destiny, when my father told me how happy he would be if I followed in his footsteps...it is then I knew what my destiny was after all this time," as Yusei says this, his mouth turns into a smile, his eyes light up, and his voice grows louder. "After all these years, like Kiryu said...I found my satisfaction. I would be the one to help all of these lost souls and bring them their satisfaction whether it is in this life or for the life after that. If this is what my life has brought me to, then I shall use it to its fullest! That is what my father has asked of me! And father, I shall obey!"
At this, Yusei laughs, and for a moment, Kiryu looks like he is watching the end of the world present itself. Shooti looks back at forth, at Yusei laughing, at Kiryu looking confused at his boyfriend's behavior…
And then, Kiryu also begins to laugh.
"Yeah, yeah that's right!" he snickers. "This is our satisfaction! Satisfying ourselves when we have nowhere else to go, where no one else can accept us. That's why we made Team Satisfaction in the first place. That's why that king asked us for our help! Why didn't I realize this sooner?"
Kiryu just leans onto Yusei's shoulder as he continues his laugh, the two men combining their laugh into one like singers in a duet all while Shooti looks on in horror and disbelief. Then, a third laugh joins in, a feminine one though.
"Glad you came to see things our way."
Shooti looks to see Kamitsure appear by the bed, with Molly by her side, as if the two have been in the room the entire time. She places a kiss on Yusei's forehead before running a hand over his face. An intricate red web design spreads out from forehead to chin as Kamitsure begins to chant in a tongue that is nothing Shooti has ever heard of before. Kiryu has calmed down at this point as blue helixes manifest throughout his own arms, his grey eyes darkening as he realizes how the two are about to step past that dreaded point of no return.
"W...what is Kamitsure doing to Yusei?" Shooti stammers.
"She is marking him," Bel answers. "Yusei took his own life and was resurrected by the Dark King of the Afterlife, but Kamitsure is unlocking the seal that will help him remember his past life as an Enforcer to the Dark King, transforming him into an 'Umbral Soul'; they're sort of like us, except they call upon the powers of their past lives and they usually have an ability connected to the Signer who awakened them."
"And Kamitsure is the Dark Signer for the…" Shooti hastily pulls out his notepad and leafs through his notes. "Spider, right?"
Bel nods her head. "Kiryu has also been transformed into an Umbral Soul, working under Natsume."
"The one with the sin of Lust and Dark Signer Of the Giant, right?"
"Yep. Kiryu's base powers revolve around lightning, but they'll start evolving the more he trains with it. I'm not sure what abilities Yusei will be given, but since Kamitsure is into Cyberpunk and Ray Bradbury stories, I bet she'll mix it up."
"Yeah I bet she will!" Molly adds, tilting her head at Bel. "Ooh, maybe Yusei will be able to conjure blades from his fingers and work with light in a way, right?"
Kamitsure smirks as she lowers her hand and Yusei closes his eyes. "Molly, it's like you read my mind in making Yusei a genuine razorguy."
The, she thrusts her hand straight into Yusei's chest as more and more red lines form around his heart, causing Yusei to open his eyes (with them darkening into a black color similar to what Kiryu sports) and choke and gasp for the air he will never need again. Kamitsure waits for five seconds before stepping back. Red sparks circle her fingertips as she walks away and Yusei slumps onto the mattress exhausted and his eyes empty. The lines on his face and chest dim as Molly bounces on the balls of her feet.
"What kind of cool powers did you give him?" she asks, smiling as Kamitsure chuckles.
"Have you heard the tale of the April Witch?" says the Dark Signer of the Spider. When Molly shakes her head, Kamitsure answers, "It is said she is a girl who lies in bed all day, yet her mind soars and leaps into plants, animals and even humans at night. She has a wish to fall in love, even if it means losing her magic abilities.
"Yusei is my April Witch; he represents the 'bonds' one carries with other people. And thus he can see through the eyes of whoever he wishes as long as he has visual contact with them."
Molly tilts her head. "But what else can he do?"
Then, there is a gasp from Kiryu, who groans and places a hand over his face as he falls to his knees.
Kamitsure chuckles and turns Molly away from a now kneeling and panting Kiryu. "I gave him an ability to talk to a person he inhabits through their mind and can even...coerce them to do what he wants with enough willpower."
And this is when the boy realizes how utterly terrifying such a power can be.
Kiryu glances at Yusei slowly sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. Kiryu, eyes back to normal, promptly slaps Yusei across the face, causing Molly to shriek and hide behind Kamitsure.
"You are pure evil," Kiryu chuckles, pushing Yusei back onto the bed with a lecherous grin. "I know a good use for that skill now."
Yusei chuckles, lifting his gaze to show his eyes now similar to blue mirror-like lenses, making Shooti recall the old sci-fi novel Neuromancer that he glimpsed through once (he should have made the connection when Molly gave the suggestion of those cybernetic blades beneath Yusei's fingers).
"We can do that later," Yusei smirks, his nails growing into four-inch glowing blue razor blades. He traces Kiryu's jaw with one of them, but not too deep to cut through the skin, and lifts Kiryu's chin slightly. "We should rest and prepare for when we get Jack and Crow to become Enforcers. And then…" He chuckles as he leans in to deliver a bite mark on Kiryu's pale neck, causing Kiryu to lean his head back with a gasp. "We can really have our satisfaction."
This causes Kiryu to howl in laughter as Shooti turns red and Bel just pats him on the back. Molly also laughs (even though she has no clue what Yusei means by "satisfaction", let alone what the word is). Then Kiryu places a kiss on Yusei's lips, the two ready to have another round of "carnal embrace" before Kamitsure clears her throat.
"That can be for later," she says. "You two are needed for a 'fitting' for your new robes. Then, return to Satellite and lay low until we need you to bring your friends to the other side. Understand?"
For a moment, it seems like the expressions on Yusei and Kiryu's faces fade away, replaced with a robotic blankness as if someone has placed a "factory reset" on their minds. Shooti aims his camera and takes a photo at them, standing erect, awaiting their orders. Molly approaches Shooti to get a better look at his shot, but Bel gently pulls the child away and shakes her head.
"Of course," Yusei answers, voice void of emotion. "From the darkness we are born, and from the darkness we stand as one."
"We are united under the eyes of our Dark King," Kiryu adds, displaying no sign of nervousness from earlier. He sounds more loyal, more willing to follow. "Let us go."
Kamitsure nods once before she looks at Bel. "Can you be a dear and bring Molly back to my bedroom? We'll be meeting at the Prayer Room when you're done."
"Okay then," says Bel, watching Kamitsure beckon one half of Team Satisfaction to follow her towards a door marked with two hands clasped in prayer. She then looks down at Molly. "All right, it's time for you to get to bed. And don't make me catch you watching those Sesame Street parody videos again."
"Aw," Molly pouts. "But I like them so much!"
"I don't think Kamitsure nor Korni liked how they had to explain those references from the Game of Chairs video to you, especially that line about a 'wedding'."
As Molly giggles and places a hand towards her mouth, Shooti pulls out his phone and sees Carly's message. He then notices the time and his eyes widen in shock.
"Bel, I need to get going," he says, hastily slipping the phone back into his satchel. "Carly is at my house right now, asking where I went. Oh man, if she finds out that I'm with the Dark Signers, she'll flip out and-"
Bel slapping him across the face once more calms Shooti down.
"Right, sorry," Shooti mumbles, rubbing where Bel's hand met his face.
Bel giggles. "No problem. I'll conjure up a portal that'll take you just one block away from your house. But promise me one thing, Shooti."
"What's that?"
Bel narrows her eyes as she takes a step towards him, bringing her hand out. A second later, she smiles. "Please keep my identity as a Dark Signer a secret from everyone, okay? I don't want everyone at school to know that their newest student is a living dead girl and all…"
"Also, would you mind if I borrowed your camera tonight? I want to fill it up with more and more photos since you need to sleep and all.
The boy pauses as he looks at the camera in his hand. He has never let anyone borrow it, except for Jun, and even then it's for taking photos of the boy himself in very mundane situations.
To give it to Bel would mean like the boy is offering up a part of his very soul to her…
Shooti looks at his camera before, with a look of sadness as if saying goodbye to a beloved pet, he places his precious digicam into Bel's open hand. "Take care of her."
Bel winks. "I promise. Oh and one last thing. Shooti , can you show me your cellphone?"
Shooti is about to ask why, but then it clicks and he immediately hands it to her. Bel presses a few buttons and, seconds later, she places the phone back into Shooti's hand.
"There!" she says. "Now I can call or text you if anything important comes up, okay?" When Shooti nods his head, Bel smiles back. "Good! Now, hold still while I conjure that portal back to your house."
With the wave of her other hand, another black swirling portal manifests on the wall. Shooti stares at it before he turns to Bel and says, "About tonight...it was very...interesting."
Bel returns the comment with a tiny smile. Shooti then leaps into the portal, waving good-bye before the portal winks out. Bel then turns to Molly, who has been sitting at the corner of the bed for some time (oblivious to the fact that Yusei and Kiryu have used it for some adult activities that she is too young to understand).
"Come on, sweetie," says Bel. "Time for bed."
"Could you at least read me a chapter from Alice in Wonderland?" Molly asks, making her eyes wide.
After a second, Bel sighs and shakes her head.
"This meeting is super important," she tells Molly, watching the girl jump off the bed with a pout. "But...I can let you watch a bit of the film version with the Alice wearing the yellow dress, if you don't mind."
"Yay!" Molly cheers, taking Bel's hands into her own. "Let's go! Let's go! I can't wait to see it!"
Bel just laughs as the girl leads her out of the chamber, all while clasping onto the camera with a firm hand.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Shooti races down the dark tunnel until he finds himself standing just one block away from his apartment, just like Bel said.
The streets are quiet at this hour. Still, Shooti has a feeling that someone could pop up and kidnap him. That was the reason why he had a curfew and all.
Shooti ignores the feeling of being observed as he runs down the sidewalk towards his apartment, climbing three flights of stairs before he reaches the door.
Inhaling deeply, he knocks on it three times.
"Carly?" he says. "Open up. It's me, Shooti."
"Is that really you?" Carly's voice asks from the other side. "Name me one thing that only the real Shooti knows."
Shooti sighs; the two play this game whenever a situation comes up when his mother has to leave for an emergency at the hospital. He already knows what to say.
"We once tried to make our own Cyberpunk RPG," Shooti answers. "We made the characters of Johnny Mnemonic and Molly Millions, trying to traverse through the Gernsback Continuum in order to save a massive amount of people from semiotic ghosts that planned to wreak havoc on the waking world."
There is a moment of silence as Shooti takes the time to slip Bel's ring into the pocket of his jacket and then, the door unlocks. Carly opens the door, her glasses perched on top of her head, and her eyes red from crying as she stares at Shooti.
"Hey Carly," Shooti begins, wincing at the tears flowing down Carly's face. "I'm sorry for not answering but…"
Carly pulls him inside and closes the door behind her before wrapping her arms around him tight, sobbing softly. The older girl's body convulses like she is having a seizure as she looks up at him.
"Where the hell did you go?" Carly asks. "I tried calling you and got so worried...I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, but my boss told me that I had to stay and get photos and interviews and then I saw Jun somehow miraculously intact despite being covered in blood and all those corpses…and…" More tears fall down her eyes. "I just couldn't lose you and I thought you decided to jump off a building and…"
"Carly, I'm fine," Shooti hastily replies. "I just...I went out for some fresh air and…"
"And?" asks Carly, stepping back. "Shooti, did you try and go get information about the suicides? You…"
"No! Um, no, not about that. The truth is…" Shooti gulps as he looks at his satchel. "I, uh, met with someone."
"Someone? What did they look like? What was their names? Did they do anything to you?!"
"They...they…"
Shooti bites his lip as he stares at his feet. How is he supposed to lie out of this?
Answer? He doesn't.
Instead, he pulls out his notepad from his satchel and shows it to Carly.
"What is this?" she asks, taking it into her hands. She opens the cover and her eyes widen in shock.
"It's all about the Dark Signers," Shooti explains. "They found me when I ran out of the apartment to grieve and invited me to their home. I got to know them a bit better and they aren't as scary as what people make them out to be. I mean, they help people and they have jobs too!"
Shooti smiles as Carly reads through his notes, one page at a time, feeling proud of his accomplishments in learning about the Dark Signers and their goals regarding Hamunaptra. But what Carly does next catches him off guard…
She tears all of his notes into confetti.
Every single page is ripped up into smaller and smaller pieces that litter around her feet like snow. Shooti can't speak at all, too shocked to find his babysitter calmly destroying all that he has uncovered.
This...this isn't what Carly would usually do.
When the last page is torn, Carly tosses the notepad to the floor, and snarls as she stares Shooti, eyes never blinking but rather becoming a darker shade of grey.
"Shooti," she states, her voice dropping to a contralto that states, "I am being serious here". She grips his shoulders firmly, her slate-colored eyes staring into his pale grey ones. "Promise me that, starting tomorrow, you don't associate with those Dark Signers."
"W...what for?" asks Shooti. He has never seen this side of Carly before; not even when he decided to duel Shira the Duel Reaper did Carly become this frightening (the duel never happened as Shira vanished during Shooti and Carly's argument).
"Just promise me!" Carly snarls, baring her teeth like a savage dog. "Promise me, Shooti."
The boy has no idea how to react. Sure, Carly did mention how those who investigate the Dark Signers never make it out alive or the idea that anyone who got in their way (be it a small child or members of a Duel Gang) became integrated into their little "cult" for lack of a better term.
But Bel...Bel isn't like that.
Yes, she feeds on the sin of Greed and has been doing this for quite some time. Yes, she is preparing Satellite for some sort of holy ground for an entity known as the Dark King of the Afterlife. And yes, she doesn't see anything wrong with the idea of Yusei Fudo killing himself, the fact that he and Kiryu have time together through "carnal embrace", or of how Team Satisfaction will eventually become loyal undead bodyguards to the Dark Signers.
But Bel is also the closest thing the boy has to a lead as to what's going on to his brother, and a girl that has captivated the boy and made him fall in love with her.
Shooti curls a hand into a fist before he stares back into Carly's eyes with an equally determined stare. Even though he feels like he's being petrified by Carly's Gorgon-like gaze, he stands firm, steadfast, and above all, resolute.
"Okay, Carly," he says. "I promise not to."
Carly narrows her eyes. "Promise?"
Shooti swallows a lump in his throat. "I promise."
Carly stares at Shooti for three more seconds before she nods her head. Then, she slips her glasses back on as Shooti exhales, as if he has just walked past a large pile of trash left to rot in the sun.
After Carly sends a text message to Shooti's mother, she slips the cellphone back into her go-bag and smiles.
"I'm just glad you're safe," she says, leaning forward and patting him on the shoulder. "I have to get going now before Akari thinks I've jumped off a building or something. Don't ever do anything like that again, okay? At least call me so I know where you go, all right?"
Shooti bows his head. "I'll make sure not to make you worried again, Carly. I'm sorry."
Carly smiles, hugs him one more time and then goes to slip her shoes on. She turns to look at Shooti one more time, and says, "Good night." before she opens the door, presses the lock on the door knob and walks out, the door closing behind her. Shooti waits for a few seconds before he quietly gathers what were his notes and tosses the scraps into the trash bin in the kitchen.
He grits his teeth as he marches to his bedroom, not even bothering to change as he tosses his bag to the floor. He sits on his bed in frustration as he tries to process everything. Dark Signers, suicides, Team Satisfaction, his brother…all of this was connected and he feels like he has been swept up like Dorothy Gale and Toto by a humongous twister into Oz.
But it is what Carly did to his notes that angers him the most. She, of all people, should be proud of his accomplishment, going to the Dark Signers and learning so much about them. Of course, this information wasn't going to be posted for everyone to see, but still!
As he stares at the ceiling, Shooti can only say one thing.
"Life is…" he pauses before he finds the right word for it "...weird."
And he says no more as he approached his closet, exchanges his clothes for pajamas, brushes his teeth and then crawls underneath the covers, ignoring his homework in his backpack in favor of shut-eye.
He reached for his phone on the floor and picks it up. But when he turns it on, he finds a message on it.
From Bel.
He sits up and immediately pulls the messenger app on, looking at what Bel has to say to him after the horror of seeing a suicide right in front of his eyes.
But after reading it once or twice, he is quite relieved to learn that the message doesn't revolve around Team Satisfaction, the Dark Signers or Jun.
Bel: I had a good time tonight. Do you wanna do it again sometime?
The boy hesitates as he recalls Carly's strict warning, but then he remembers how Bel and the other Dark Signers are asking for his help. They want him to get involved with some undercover story.
Bel is counting on the boy, and somewhere along the way his best friend and older brother have gotten into the crossfire. The boy just can't ignore something like this.
And, as Carly said, the boy is not to associate with them, which means not to be involved in whatever scheme they have planned. Going to school with one doesn't count as "association". Not to mention that Carly doesn't know that Bel is one of them (thank goodness the boy didn't write anything about her).
So, the boy sits up and immediately types a reply.
Shooti: Yeah, let's do it again soon. See you tomorrow at school.
Shooti waits for a few seconds before he gets his reply from Bel.
Bel: Okay then. Goodnight, Shooti.
Shooti: Goodnight, Bel.
And after placing his cellphone on the bedside table, Shooti lays down in bed, closes his eyes and falls asleep. In his dreams, he sees himself in a masquerade ball, dressed in a suit with a green feathery mask covering his eyes while walking amongst other people equally dressed and masked. Some of these people watch him with interest, and they are all look familiar to him if he decides to look at them: from the little girl with spider lilies decorating her mask to the men that look similar to Yusei and Kiryu wrapped in a warm embrace. They all wait to see who he chooses.
Shooti in the dream notices a lone girl with blonde hair standing by a window wearing an orange dress decorated with black feathers, her bare upper back facing him. He taps her shoulder, and she turns to face him, her hummingbird mask covering lively green eyes. Shooti brings his hand out, and she accepts it. Then, the orchestra begins to play Norwegian Wood, and the two waltz, lost in each other's eyes to care about what everyone else thinks of them.
The other dancers do not matter; all they need and have is each other.
And in the real world, Shooti smiles while he continues to dance with the girl of his dreams.
This should have been the end of the boy's troubles. But as the boy soon finds out, this end will turn out to be the beginning of a path he cannot stray from, and a fate that he has decided for himself.
But until he wakes up, the boy is happy. That is all that matters.
