Interregnum
It was dark in the dungeon, but not so dark that he couldn't see, like in the hall he'd dumped that guard's body in. After all, there were candles lining the walls behind him, and in the case of the cells where he stood there was a small amount of sunlight pouring through the one side to illuminate the room. Katsuya stood in front of the cell door at the end of the hidden dungeon, staring in silence at the prone form of a normally proud and overly confident Seto Kaiba. Soulless eyes stared forward, strands of now damp hair falling across them, but with the light from the barred window behind her it looked almost like she was glowing despite all that. "S...Seto-chan..." No answer... Nothing but silence filled the air, and he continued to stare. "Se... ..."
The blond swallowed, looking over the cell door as he fell silent. Locked in a cell... Couldn't even move and she was locked in a cell... He shook his head, moving one of his hands to the lock on the door. He needed to hurry... Pegasus had to have cameras down here right? He pulled the lock picks from his pocket, moving to the lock and getting to work. Alright... One down, Mokuba to go, he could at least live with that couldn't he? He'd have to hurry it up though, if he was going to keep hidden in this place while carrying Seto. The picks were slipped into the lock, quiet clicks coming over the now silent room as he worked. There'd been no response to her name... No response to anything at all.
Briefly he paused, before biting his lip, continuing his work. It wasn't right... It was one thing when he could tell himself she was only 'sleeping', hell, he was almost never in the room back at the house when Seto's eyes were actually open but...
Half lidded eyes continued to stare off blankly as he worked on the lock, and all in all it gave him the shivers. Even so, he had to shake that off! Alright... One more move and... -clack-
The rusted iron gate swung open, and the blond hurried into the room to work on the shackles around Seto's wrists. The rusted door behind him swung slightly on its hinges as it moved back into place at a half opened angle, but really that didn't matter at the moment. Moving to search the shackles for a key-hole, the blond carefully picked up the metal brace to frown. "Sheesh..." He lifted the woman's clenched right fist, lips pursed as the limp hand abruptly slipped through the shackle. Katsuya tensed, catching the woman as she fell to one knee before hefting her up to pull the second wrist out. "You're way too skinny Seto-chan..." Not even the shackles fit? Man, what kind of prison was this... Was there even a point?
And of course, there was no answer to that question. He sighed, slowly adjusting his hold on the woman while replacing his lock picks in his pocket. Well, he'd gotten her out... Now how to carry her? Without ending up in an awkward situation at least? He bit his lip, before slipping one of her arms around his shoulder. There was always this... Though thanks to her damn height he couldn't just drag her around like that. Again the blond adjusted his grip, hesitantly moving the woman's body to his back before placing her second arm on his shoulder and hoisting her up until her head slumped above his shoulders. Alright... Piggy back worked... Kinda. Little awkward given she was taller than him by about half a foot really... But he could live with this.
He grunted, kicking the cell door open further than from where it sat now and walking through, a low creak sounding behind him as it shifted back into place. Nothing but empty cells and hanging shackles behind them... A few quick 'tosses' had Seto in a relatively 'safe' position on his back, and Katsuya didn't look back once as he came up the stairs he'd come down. Crawling through the door of the tunnel however, he frowned, almost lying on his front as he wormed his way out of the small square door.
"Found Hiroshi in the ball-room hall," someone muttered faintly in the distance, Katsuya freezing as a few English voices came from past the end of the hall. Oh hell... Someone was coming... "Has a killer headache, they said he'll be off work for a few days at least."
The voices grew slightly louder, Katsuya backing away from the source with wide eyes. Shit... He'd have to be quiet... Maybe if he was careful, they'd pass this hall by... "You think it was the kid we're looking for," another was muttering, the subject of the conversation in question wishing he knew what the hell they were saying. Damn it... Even if he bothered paying attention in English he doubted he'd get what they were saying... "I mean, he knocked Saruwatari for a new one didn't he?" Saruwatari? Were they talking about..? He continued to back away, feet quietly padding along the ground in silence. Definitely needed to get out of here then... Definitely-
"Yea but Saruwatari is-"
-CRASH!- Katsuya turned, eyes shooting open as the vase of 'not-roses' he'd moved to the side beforehand clattered to the ground. A mess of water and porcelain littered the floor around him, cut flowers sitting among the pieces like a warning sign of the inevitable. Shit... Shit..! "What the hell," the voices were saying, Katsuya turning to watch as a few beams from a flashlight began peeking around the corner. "What the hell was that?"
Shit. He bolted in the opposite direction, glass slicing at his bare feet as he charged down the hall. Ow... Ow ow ow! Blood dotted the ground as he ran, mostly hopping on his toes as he got out of the small 'mine field' to continue running. The shouts from behind grew louder as the blond ducked down another hall, gritting his teeth as he ran. Damn it damn it damn it, couldn't he just catch a break this time! Seto's limp form was on his back, head slumped over his shoulder and her coat was flapping in an arc behind them as his bloodied footprints slapped across the ground. Ouch... Ouch ouch ouch this hurt like hell, but if he didn't keep running... Shouts had again faded as he turned another corner, Katsuya chancing a look back as footsteps continued to sound through the air. No one behind him, just dim flashlight beams from the devices that the guards hadn't bothered to turn off in the lit hallways between 'here and there'. He turned back, picking up speed with ragged breaths as the carpet fibers continued to dig into his skin. Another corner turned... And another, and another... He slowed, turning the next one to a dark hall and glancing back around as he ignored the sting on his no longer bleeding feet. The guards took the left turn as opposed to the right... The footsteps in the distance faded, and he smirked, turning back to look over the hall he was in. Phew... He'd avoided them this time around.
Now... He stared at a vase of iris' at the side, frowning as the sunlight from nearby windows fell over himself and the woman on his back. Where to go now... These flowers made a map of 'some sort', but he'd gone down and up a few staircases in his run as well... He was probably on the third floor by this point, so there was no way in hell he'd be able to put what he remembered of the flowers to use right now. Turning away from the vase to start walking again, he found himself staring up at the ceiling, before turning his attention to the individual paintings along the wall. Lots of scenes of what was probably Europe... A fair number depicting Egypt though, he noted with raised eyebrows. Well... This millennium item crap sure had a bad habit of heading back there didn't it...
He adjusted the weight on his back, continuing through the hall before turning a corner to a far better lit path. It was a single, straight forward hallway; he could turn on one end or the other, but if there were any doorways here he didn't see them. Instead, there was nothing but a series of portraits on the wall, all similar in appearance to the two he'd seen the night before in Pegasus' dining room. Most were just as the name stated of course. Portraits, of a young blond woman. However, a good number of them depicted scenes and events as well, and walking down the hall he found himself silently staring at them as though it were a timeline of sorts. Faceless people without identity sat in them, people whose faces never once registered with a living person in his mind. Nonetheless, the entire length of the hall appeared to be filled with the pictures. There was one depicting two young children meeting at what looked to be a ball... A small boy with grey hair, standing across from a slightly smaller blond girl. Another of those same children on the beach... In a garden... 'Time' passed in the photos, moving further as the 'boy with grey hair' was identified as 'Pegasus' much to Katsuya's distaste. Even so, the paintings kept coming... A picnic, a tree swing... "Lil' obsessive," he muttered, continuing down the hall as he came near the end. Abruptly he froze, stopping in place as a sudden chill raced down his spine. There was no one around him in the lit hallway of course, nothing but the portraits; he'd have known by now after all, he had no where to run! Even so... Somehow, it felt as though someone had just...
Died. No warning, no reason... They were just gone. "What the hell," he whispered, frozen in place as the feeling intensified, before fading away just as quickly as it appeared. "What was that..?" His eyes were even watering... Hell this feeling was worse than when Mokuba was taken, when Yugi was being strangled in the warehouse, or even when Honda had just told everyone to move on ahead of them in Death-T. But why the hell did that feeling even happen, all he was looking at here pictures of two happy, playing kids, and while he'd admit that the fact that it was Pegasus and some lady was creepy... He tooth a slow breath, moving down the hall yet again as the portraits continued to fill the side. Was it just her, or was the woman looking a little paler? They looked otherwise cheery of course... But something seemed off. The frown on his face deepened, before plummeting with silent surprise as he came to the last portrait in the hall. At first glance it seemed normal. The woman sat slightly slumped in a bed, blanket pulled up to her armpits as she turned toward whoever was painting at the time. A vase of bunched up, almost pin-prick sized flowers sat on the sidetable, and the curtain beside the woman was drawn back to coat the room in a calm ray of sunlight.
But something was wrong here... Hidden by the numerous flowers alongside the woman was a monitor of sorts, with cables that fed into the bedside. Looking closely at the woman's wrist there was a 'bracelet' of gauze, where the cables... Tubes really, were retreating. There was a chart at the end of the bed... And as he looked close he realized that the hair the woman had now was faded in colour, lacking the sheen of the many pictures back. Her skin was pale and sallow, and the woman's eyes were barely held open for all the weakness there was there. This woman... The same woman who had been depicted in the dining room..
'After all,' Pegasus had told him back in the other room, an oddly depressed gleam in his eye as opposed to his normally eerie stare. 'I myself have someone I would do the same for...' Oh god... For all the asshole Pegasus was... There were no more portraits after that one, just the end of the hall as it turned into another one. His wide eyes closed slightly, and he bowed his head as he turned from the painting. Guess Pegasus wasn't as full of it as he thought... Didn't excuse him worth shit but... He shifted his feet, the numb sting against the cuts only slightly registering in the back of his mind despite the intensity. Those two were dueling right now he bet, Pegasus and Yugi... Two spirits sharking a body versus the owner of a creepy eye. He turned down through the hall that the current one split into, lights completely missing from the path as he moved into the darkness. How was he doing right now? Against that eye, nothing would be hidden after all, not for long. How was he making out..?
The blond stared at the ground as he walked slowly, silent as he thought about the duel he wasn't seeing. He couldn't be there to watch... Best friend was fighting with his soul, both souls on the line and he couldn't even watch. He wanted to be there though, he thought as his vision began to blur, steps slowing. He wanted...
Face first he lay on the ground with those thoughts, eyes closed in a peaceful sleep as the body atop him shut her eyes as well.
Where was this place..? The first thing he felt was a numbing loss of pain, the sudden absence of it almost jarring him completely. Eyes slowly opened as he overcame his 'drowsiness' and he looked around, seeing nothing but darkness. Yet it wasn't cold, he decided with slight surprise. Unlike any other time he'd been tossed into darkness, it wasn't the slightest bit cold in anyway. In fact, he noted as he looked himself over, he wasn't even injured... His feet were perfectly fine, socks and shoes still in place... It was no wonder the pain was gone, but even so... He looked back up, eyes wide with confusion as he took a few steps forward. There was nothing... Just nothing... "Where..."
"Heh." Katsuya turned, jumping as he came face to face with Honda. What the... He stumbled back slightly, eyes taking in the sight of his friends all crowding what looked to be an enormous blank tablet. "Took you long enough!" As the blond stared, the others behind him nodded, small smiles on their faces as they held their place. Bakura... Anzu... Wait, was that-
He moved past Honda, blinking at the sight of Yugi's limp form in Anzu's grip. Oh god... "What th'... What happened..."
Bakura sighed, following the blond's gaze to the injured boy. His face was red and still scabbing from the injury the night before... Despite there not being any dirt in the area, he still looked as though he'd been dragged behind a horse on the ground. "Yugi was..." He swallowed, turning back to Katsuya with a slight frown. "During the duel, they found a way to beat Pegasus' mind scan... By switching places with each other..."
At the side, Anzu nodded, a sad smile on her face as she continued to explain. "They beat Pegasus' toon world with it," she said, adjusting her careful grip on Yugi. The boy didn't move an inch in response, continuing his silent and labored breathing in response. "You should have seen it," Anzu was whispering, looking back down at the one in her arms. "In one shot, the duel was almost completely turned around..." Completely..? Hah... That sounded like him!
But where was this..? Endless blackness surrounding a single stone tablet, still others behind it... He continued to stare, silent as the others did the same in an almost awkward manner. Darkness, and a slight pulsing feeling of what was possibly despair. Finally however, there was a voice from behind, echoing clearly through the air. "Isn't it obvious," came the childish voice he'd heard the night before, the others turning with raised eyebrows to the sight of what looked to be a small girl in a patterned vest and shirt. "If you don't know where, or how" 'Seto' continued, hands in her faded and 'leg-less' pockets, "Then it's not yours to know!" Not theirs to- Wait... Was this the 'other Yugi's mind!
"What..?" He frowned, the others as well staring in silence. Pretty good idea why that was of course... No one knew 'little Seto', and if they did it'd get a little awkward. Moreover, unlike the last time he saw her she looked even... Younger. Hell, more like a girl than he could ever remember, especially compared to the night before. Even so... "Well then how'd we get here," he asked the girl, only receiving a shrug in response.
Anzu spoke up, still sitting as the others 'hovered' around in the darkness. Her expression of confusion had quickly shifted into complete confidence, and she turned to Katsuya with a curt nod. "We wanted to help Yugi," she said frankly, eyes serious as the others nodded in agreement. "So I prayed, more than anything that somehow I could help... And suddenly, I was in here," she gestured, looking around a few moments before turning back to the others.
"And you know me," Honda said from the side, smirking as Katsuya's attention was drawn to the teen. "I couldn't be left out of something like that..."
Bakura nodded, giving a small smile as he held his hands behind his back. "If I can help... I'll do all I can! After all, Yugi's done a lot for us..."
He continued to stare as the albino trailed off, watching as 'Seto' moved over to the side of the group and 'sat'. "Guys..." So wait... They were all there just because they wanted to be? ...Well, those had been his last conscious thoughts himself come to think. But how did that even work..? How did... Ahhh whatever. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind before grinning. "Hah! You can count me in then!" The others broke into grins as well, before Seto's voice came from the side to pull their attention.
"If you want to help," she stated plainly, an unamused look on her face as she crossed her arms, "Then you should probably hurry..." Her voice was fading... Katsuya stared, eyes wide as bits of the girl began to fade out of existence. Her legs weren't the only thing gone... There was almost nothing left as the darkness ate away at her torso, save her arms and anything above her shoulders. And yet wry smirk was on her face as she continued to dissolve, crossing her arms with a snort. "Better not fail," she whispered as her arms vanished, head finally following after as she closed her eyes. Gone... She was gone. And in her place, far in the distance, a darkness could be seen.
And endless darkness, with a single gold speck in the center, the sclera devoid of the gold it had held the night before. "Oh fuck," he muttered, the others looking past him with frowns as the darkness increased. The hell was this thing, a storm? Some kind of creepy manifestation of Pegasus' eye? "Not this thing..."
Large and imposing the eye began to appear before them, slowly opening its eye as it approached. The others shook slightly for a moment as shadowed arms began to reach forward, Honda turning to Katsuya with a frown. "'This thing'," he asked incredulously, eyebrows raised. "What do you mean, 'this thing'? You've seen this before? What the hell is it?"
The blond narrowed his eyes, clenching his fists as the eye approached. Last time... He'd jumped through the thing, and he'd managed to escape it. Before that though, he'd stopped it somehow hadn't he? Rendered it nothing but a floating eye with small mists of shadows on the back. What was this thing? Hell if he knew. "'xactly what I said," Katsuya muttered, staring down the eye with a growl. "'That thing'! You have any other words for it?" The eye began to move closer, met with scowls from Anzu and Bakura, as well as a light frown from Bakura to the side.
"No," Honda was muttering, crossing his arms as the thing approached. Scary as the thing was, they couldn't budge... They wouldn't budge! "No I can't say I do..." And he had an idea of how to get rid of it this time...
The eye before them loomed, narrowing at the sight of Katsuya's form. Heh. Recognize him? 'You again, it muttered darkly, the blond merely smirking in response. Yea... Him. The others continued to frown, ignoring the statement for the sake of dealing with the 'main problem' for the moment as the eye continued. 'Move aside,' it demanded, shadowed arms waving about them in an eerie mimicry of a flickering flame. 'I've come to observe only... Not take, as with last time. Surely you can be satisfied with that?'
He smirked, before dropping the expression into a dark frown as the others behind him looked to the blond with wide eyes. "Hah! Yea right," he growled, moving slightly forward as the shadows retreated from the teen. They probably figured that meant Pegasus used his eye on him... Probably better than explaining everything else really. Even so... "Don't y' even think abou' gettin' through Yugi's mind," he shouted, the eye retreating with a narrowed glare. "Get outta here!" As the others behind him nodded, the eye continued to narrow, almost growling in response.
'You dare to think that a mere command will deter my purpose,' he shouted, Katsuya narrowing his eyes further.
"No," he said with a smirk, cracking his knuckles. "I think that jus' sittin' here, keepin' yah from doin' anything outta do th' trick!"
For a moment, the eye looked as though it were about to chuckle. In fact, after staring downward incredulously it did begin to laugh, a quiet nearly inaudible sound that grew into a loud and echoing cackle. 'Hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA! You actually believe such a thing,' it roared, growing even wider before the group as its hands reached forward. A few were moving to grab at the others, each target moving back against them. Katsuya held silent as the eye continued, merely staring it down. He'd done this before... Somehow, he'd done this before... If he just pulled up that same feeling... 'FOOLS,' the eye shouted with a laugh, rolling back in mirth before turning back on the teens below. 'It's almost enough to make me pity your pathetic souls! Very well,' he continued, seemingly widening into a 'grin'. 'Say good-bye to your bodies in the mortal realm...'
There. Katsuya's eyes snapped open, and he looked upward as the eye began to grab him. Amid the feeling he'd reclaimed, there was a wash of weakness and fatigue over him but just as quickly as it began the eye widened in what could possibly be fear. "I don' think so," the blond growled, a low earth-quake-like sound beginning to fill the room. Sounds of rumbling began to increase in volume, and as with the room 'Seto' had been in the night before the 'darkness' began to crumble. Cracks appeared in the very sky and ground, Katsuya's fists clenching and tightening as the cracks widened with an echoing boom. Blocks of the eye's 'form' eroded away into dust, the hands pulling away as Katsuya and the others stood firm in defense against the monster. He was dropped to the ground, still staring the beast in the 'eye' as it looked around frantically. 'You... Again,' the eye howled, black and empty eye wide with rage. It whirled back on the blond, the shadows around them continuing to pull into its form as it became the same shade as it had in the 'dream' before. 'How are you doing this! How is this even possible..! Ngk... STOP THIS!'
Katsuya merely smirked, watching as the eye's 'rim' began to twist and bend before them. Honda, Anzu, and Bakura... All three of them were fixing the eye with a similar glare, their own grit determination fending the beast off. They weren't moving... Not really, but all the same this was a battle. A battle they could not lose..! And with those thoughts in mind they watched the rim of gold evaporate completely, the remaining shadows turning on the gold 'iris' in a frenzy. Within seconds, the darkness was gone... Reduced to nothing but a small golden disk that clattered to the ground before fading out of existence with a moan. "Heh... Figure out yerself," he muttered, before turning back to the others. The eye was gone... The others shared a look with him before turning back to the boy whose mind they were currently sitting in. Yugi was still mostly out of it... But he wasn't completely gone. As though in reaction to the 'eye' disappearing his eyes were opening slightly, a quiet and inaudible mumble coming through the air. Yugi... "He alright," he asked, deciding against trying to wrap his head around them all being in 'Yugi's Head' with the boy inside it at the same time. He took a few nervous steps toward them, choking slightly on his words. "W...Will he..."
Before Anzu could answer with more than a nod, still another voice came over the air, the others turning upward. "You guys..." The... Other Yugi? A feeling of elation washed over the group from above, the voice of their friend continuing on. "You stopped him from..." From reading his mind? Heh!
Anzu grinned, turning briefly to Yugi before looking back up. "Yugi..!" The grin softened into a smile, and she continued as the others 'looked' toward their friend with similar expressions. "Yugi... Your other self is fine ok?" The others watched as Yugi himself gave a small smile, looking to the others with partially closed and nonetheless hopefilled eyes. "Don't worry about this," she continued, Honda nodding in agreement as the boy behind them attempted to pull himself up.
"We're right by your side man," he shouted, arms still crossed as he leaned on thin air before Katsuya joined in.
"Yea! We got your back... Er, yer head," he corrected with a slight laugh. Back, head, what the hell ever... Even so, that eye was still going to come back, wasn't it... "You jus' focus on beatin' Pegasus, y'hear?"
There was little hesitation after those words, and had he been watching he decided that Yugi would have given a determined nod. A set and steady look of determination as he stared his opponent down, moving on with his fight. "Right," he shouted, the dark room filling with a pale and glowing light in response to the mood. "Thank you... All of you!"
He nodded, expression once again serious. They couldn't see the eye right now, but he had no doubts it was still out there... He doubted he could really kill it. "Yugi," he said, turning to the 'real' one with a set nod. The boy in question stared back with a slight frown, listening as his friend continued "As long as we're here, we won' let Pegasus read yer mind alright, same with th' other you... So don't y' worry about a thing alrigh'?" Shadows began to appear again, and before anyone could respond to that they ended up turning back toward the appearing eye.
"Great," Honda muttered, rolling his eyes at the sight. "This going to be the same as last time," he asked, arms still crossed. The shadow began to weakly develop in the back, the teen stepping forward as a smirk came over his face. "Hah! Give your best shot," he challenged, Katsuya glaring at the 'spot' as it came near. This would be just like last time! They'd get rid of it, Pegasus would get slammed back...
The shadow across from them merely snorted as it developed, rolling itself before fixing the group with a glare. 'Oh please,' it muttered, shadowed arms waving as they held a safe distance from the group. Weird... Was it just him, or did it seem different..? 'I don't need to take these thoughts in order for my task to be fulfilled...' What..? What the hell did he mean, what was it doing..? 'I'm more than content with just taking you with me this time around...' Katsuya narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth. Taking them with him? What the hell was that supposed to mean? They weren't going anywhere, they could easily beat- 'Don't think that your little trick will work again,' the eye growled, arms and shadows around him abruptly snapping to the ground as the 'center of the beast' rose high above them. 'Fool me twice and shame on me... But a third opportunity is nigh impossible for mere children like you!'
Impossible? Hah! Like that would- He froze, tensing as a wave of shock washed over the room. This place was keyed into the other Yugi's head wasn't it..? So then... This last wave meant... "No..." The group looked upwards, toward where they had heard his voice as the mood shifted into despair yet again. Something had happened... Something had... "Yugi," they shouted, the 'original' beside them slowly standing up with haggard breaths.
"H...Hnn..." They turned, watching as the boy pulled himself up with a cough. No... He wasn't in any shape to stand up right now, they couldn't. "Gkh..." He choked, stumbling forward with weary eyes as he looked to his friends. "G...Guys..?"
...He wasn't backing down either though. He smiled slightly, moving to catch the boy as he began to fall again. "Hah... Yugi," he said, helping the boy up to his feet yet again. How could he expect him to, that wasn't Yugi after all... "You alright?"
The boy nodded, before turning to look at the enormous eye before them with a frown. "Y-Yea..." He swallowed looking at the others in silence a moment. Hah... Yea, seeing them all there must have been one hell of a shock right..? "...How did you all get here..?"
Anzu gave a small hrug, Honda merely shaking his head. "Not completely sure," he said, the light in the room beginning to pick up again despite the dark eye hovering there. Their voices were weak... Hell he was feeling weak too... What was this..? "Just wanted to come here... And here we were..."
"You..." Was this the eye? Yugi blinked, before smiling at his friends despite what was likely happening around him now. "Thank you," he whispered, before turning to the enormous eye before them. In the silence that resulted, it was plainly obvious that he knew what it was. What it was doing to them... How was it even doing that anyways? Pulling them away when it had been dispatched so easily before? "...You," the boy said confidently, voice appearing stronger than he had ever heard before. The eye moved in, 'face to face' so to speak with the boy as the others found themselves standing stiff in response. They weren't going to leave... They couldn't leave, not in the face of even this! They stood close behind the boy, at the side of their friend as he continued. "Get out of my head," he ordered, eyes narrowed as the shadows continued to whittle away at them. "NOW!"
A flash of light filled the room, the others throwing their arms above their eyes in response. Gh... What... This didn't happen before! All that happened last time was the darkness rebounding on the eye, before it disappeared... But this time... Looking past the blinding light he stared, watching as the eye literally began to dissolve before them, splitting and cracking into fragments before their eyes. And somehow, Yugi was the source... 'HOW,' it screeched, pained cries far more horrified and rage filled than they had been earlier on. 'HOW CAN YOU DO THIS! HOW! HOW!'
Because it was Yugi's head. That was the conclusion he came to in the blinding, seemingly non-existent fight. The eye was widening beyond its possible proportions, and rather than the shadows retreating they simply vanished completely. Like 'Seto' had said... If they couldn't figure out how to get out, then it wasn't their head... But if it was Yugi's head, then...
Heh... He never liked fighting but... It looked like he'd really saved their asses, hadn't he?
So bright...
'Pegasus,' he heard Yugi say, Katsuya closing his eyes against the force of the light. He was moving again... Drifting away... Was it all over then? The eye gone? 'We win...'
Opening his eyes again, he watched numbly as the others as well started to fade away, both 'Yugi's standing before them. The light had faded into nothing but background, and though he couldn't hear much what he saw told him all he needed to know. The 'original' was talking to his other half, giving them all a thankful smile... 'We all helped,' Yugi was saying. 'Everyone...' "Heh..." He smirked, giving one last thumbs up before fading out completely. They won...
And now... It was time to wake up.
"HAH!" Katsuya's eyes flung open, the teen giving a sudden jolt as he woke up. Eyes wide he swallowed, breathing rapid as he stared at the wall to the side. Pedestal... There was a pedestal across from him, and on his shoulder there was an arm in a deep purple sleeve... Hey, was this thing patterned? He shook it off, wincing as the pain of his previous injuries came back to him at full force. "H-Hah... Hah... Gh-Ungh..." Owwww... His face... Not to mention most of his torsto... He fell on the ground hard damn it... The blond shook himself, pulling himself up with Seto while making sure her arms didn't fall off to the side. A little awkward sitting up without using his arms, but all the same he thought, wincing as the soles of his shredded feet touched the carpet again, at least she didn't end up falling as a result of not doing it. He turned to the woman, Seto's head still limp on his shoulder with now closed eyes. "...Seto-chan," he whispered, frowning. Any time now... She'd wake up anytime now, to yell at him for calling her this... "...Seto-chan..?"
No answer... Not even a twitch. Just closed eyes and steady breathing, the same as before. He bit his lip, turning his head back to the ground as he shook. Still not waking up... Damn it... But he'd won hadn't he? Yugi had won, against both Pegasus, and if he was right, against the eye itself! He'd won hadn't he? He'd...
"Found you," a voice called from behind him, Katsuya's eyes opening instantly at the sound. That voice... He swallowed, turning with wide eyes as he made to adjust his hold on Seto. Saruwatari... Looked like he'd avoided the hospital bed huh... He stepped back, watching as the man slowly moved to pull his gun from the side and aim it toward him. Shit... Of all the times... Low chuckling filled the air, the guard's finger pulling back the safety as he spoke. "Pegasus-sama should be pleased to hear that we've finally tracked you down..." The man had a dark smirk in place as he stared the teens down, second hand reaching for his radio as he allowed his words to sink in. Looked like the message hadn't quite gotten out yet huh... What to do... There was nothing but vases at the side, vases filled with more flowers. And across from him, with a gun pointed toward where Seto's head lay... He tensed, watching as the man before him looked down to his radio. One look down was all he needed... Eyes switched over to a vase at the side, the bouquet of orange lilies sitting innocently in place. One hand was all it took, despite the weight of the object in question. He grabbed the vase, gripping it tightly by the handle and lobbing it forward as Saruwatari looked up. One throw was all he needed. "What the-" After that it was all instinct after all.
In the same instant the shout was made Katsuya hurriedly rushed back down the hall, shifting Seto's body to his front in an attempt to somewhat prevent any bullets from striking her. She'd never forgive him for this if she found out... But hell, she probably wasn't the forgiving type anyways. The sound of gunshot against the vase and the wall ahead of him forced him to charge down the hall to the side as he ducked, arms tightly clasped around the dead weight in his arms. Run... Put as much space between himself and the guard as possible, just run... Saruwatari was quick to catch up despite the porcelain 'bomb' he'd tossed though, coming behind him with a roar of anger and another shot that ricocheted off the side of a stair railing That wasn't crap aim to thank this time either... That was his last minute turn around a second corner! Shit... He picked up the speed, the man behind him halting his chase to take aim as he came to a flat space on the stairs. Shit... He had to get down the next flight at least, just the next flight... Shi-
-Phst!- "G-"
Something hit his head... He'd heard the sound of a bullet as he charged down the stairs, and something hit his head, grazing him on the right side... Katsuya tripped on the next stair, senses briefly growing numb as he tumbled forward. Falling on the dark staircase, blood fell to the ground in his wake... He felt something wet on the side of his head, but the blood couldn't be from him or Seto could it? Nose hit the stairs first as he attempted to turn, dull thoughts reminding him to at least keep the body in his arms from falling to her death. He'd been on the third floor when he ran, the second when he was shot... Over and over they rolled down the stairs, falling off the path to a separate case as shouts continued behind him. Round and round... Wasn't the staircase supposed to be straight? So dark... He closed his eyes for a moment, holding the unconscious woman in his arms close as they continued to tumble down the steps. It didn't hurt, it didn't... Finally it stopped... After flipping off at least eight or so steps it stopped, ending with his back and head landing on the ground in a partially limp collapse. It didn't hurt... It didn't...
The last thing he saw before he blacked out, eyes open just slightly as he looked around, was Seto's face... Coloured lights from above streaming down on her silent and still unwaking form.
She wasn't bleeding though... That was good... He'd done at least that, so Mokuba would be able to see her again wouldn't he?
...The lights... They were fading... His eyes began to close over, his grip loosening around Seto's body as his head tilted to the side. Dark...
...It was... Dark...
...
.
"Gnnh..." Where the hell was she..? The last thing she remembered she was sitting at a table, staring down the man across from her as his 'Bikuribox' destroyed her only defense monster... And hearing her brother again... And then suddenly, she was somewhere dark, and cold, and endlessly painful in a way she couldn't describe. And yet at the end of it all, someone had grabbed her by the hand... Someone with white hair... "Ng..." Seto groaned, something brushing against her face as her eyes opened. What was that, a bunch of straw? ...No, it was different... Fingers brushed against cold marble, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly at the touch. She was laying on something... Something soft... The woman mentally shook herself, eyes blearily taking in the side of the room she was in. Where was she... Blank, sunlit walls were all she saw across from her, but the light shining on it was coloured in enough shades of the rainbow to have her frowning in slight confusion. Strange lights... This pattern... Stained glass? But if it wasn't from the walls, then that would mean the ceiling... And the only room in Pegasus' castle that looked like that was... She continued frowning, mouth held slightly opened as her eyes moved to to look at what she was laying on. "Gh..." Wait... She frowned, a collection of 'gold' meeting her eyes before she shook her head. Something rough brushed against her cheek, and as she lifted her head slightly she continued to frown. Looked almost like the mutt's hair... But why...
She groaned, moving her hands up to pull herself up before freezing. Wet... Something was... She looked down, eyes widening. She wasn't sitting on something, she was sitting on someone... What the h- What was Jonouchi doing here?
...Scratch that, why the hell was she on top of him! ...Why the hell did she wake up on top of- She grit her teeth, pulling herself to her feet with narrowed eyes and taking a step back from the blond. There was a small but very much bloodied patch on the side of his head... The blood from it had dripped down the side to gather near his neck, but given his moving chest he was obviously still alive, and no longer bleeding if the slight mat in his hair was any sign. Tch... And now there was blood on her hands... It figured that moving her hand to get up would put it right in the puddle by this moron's neck... She shook her hand free of the blood, snorting. She wasn't about to wipe her hand on her jacket... Wiping blood from a duralumin case was one thing, getting it out of her jacket was another... Psh... Well... At least she wasn't in some prison, though as to how that had happened... She shook it from mind, deciding not to give it much thought for the moment. She was awake... Obviously someone had put Pegasus in his place; it would only take one guess as to who...
The woman brought her hands back to her sides, turning away from the unconscious teen before her and moving toward one of the doors with shaking breaths. The light coming through the ceiling was strong, strong enough to almost completely illuminate the room so it was likely only early afternoon. It'd been the early evening when she fought Pegasus though. She continued walking, turning her eyes back from the ornate windows above and steeling herself. She was still tired... Couldn't see very well either, but that didn't matter... It didn't... If she was awake, she could at least put herself to good use after all; Mokuba was around here somewhere wasn't he? She had to find him...
She stumbling slightly as something pulled at her coat, eyes widening briefly before narrowing to aggravated slits. "Gh... I'm not in the mood Mutt," she growled as she turned, fully expecting to see the idiot blond that had been unconscious only moments before. Instead however, her eyes quickly widened again, the coat having been let go from the grip of the small girl before her. "...Impossible," she muttered hoarsely, the familiar guise she had taken years before staring up at her with wide eyes. Neatly trimmed hair in a style that had been relatively common at the time, or so Gozaburo had said the day she and Mokuba were taken in... The vest and shirt she'd worn the drive to the house... "You're..."
It was... Her. But how... The spirit pointed back to the blond laying on the ground, expression resembling almost a pout as it's larger counterpart frowned. Oh come on... This couldn't seriously be happening could it? What did it want her to do, get a doctor? She frowned, eyes still wide as she watched the spirit float over to the body and attempt to move it. Strange... Keeping true to 'ghostly nature' it was floating, but it had perfectly useful legs... The spirit knelt down beside the body on the floor, reaching out with a frown. Tiny hands passed right through the teen however, and Seto continued to stare as the shade turned back with a frown. It couldn't speak... It was completely silent, but all the same she could easily put a voice to the words it appeared to say. 'Taskete,' the spirit mouthed, the woman's frown deepening with confusion. The hand held at the side sunk through Jonouchi's arm, and the spirit stood to turn its attention to Seto completely. 'Taskete...'
"Tch..." She grit her teeth, moving toward the blond on the ground as the 'spirit' stepped aside. Help? Why should she even bother? And this ghost... Smiling like an idiot at her side as she stood there... What was this ghost beside her, some sort of hallucination? ...Or was it something else... Seto turned away from the 'ghost' and stared at the body, before rolling her eyes and stooping down to shake the blond's shoulder. Damn it... She mind as well wake the moron up she supposed. "Hey," she muttered, eyes narrowed. The blood on the blond's left cheek had long since dried up, leaving nothing but a red trail. As for the other side... Well, it was stuck in a puddle, so she could guess. Seto continued to shake the blond's shoulder, glaring as she continued to receive no answer. "HEY," she growled, shaking the blond harder as a groan came over the air. "Wake up..!"
He stirred slightly, wincing as he pulled his head back. "Ghnn..." Good... Awake. ...Mostly.
The woman sighed exasperatingly, pulling the blond up by the shoulder as Jonouchi in question gave a rough yelp of surprise. Lets get this over and done with so she could get her brother and leave damn it... "Get up," she demanded flatly, roughly releasing the arm only to find herself catching her 'security guard' as he stumbled forward. Oh come on, he couldn't even stand on his own? "Tch..." She sneered, her slightly bloodied hand leaving red smudges on the blond's white shirt as she pushed him back up on his feet. "Honestly, how pathetic are you that you can't even walk on your own two legs?"
Jonouchi merely laughed, shaking his head as he threw an arm around his 'boss's shoulder. Gh-! Don't touch h- ...Damn it, fine, not like he could move otherwise... "Hahaha..." He coughed, stumbling slightly as the woman sneered with evident distaste. That did not mean she would do more than barely tolerate this... "Ev'n if I can't," he muttered, turning his head toward Seto with a weak grin as the woman's frown shifted, "Least I'm still doin' what I promised righ'?" Promise...
'No matter what,' she remembered someone saying in the distance. 'I'll bring 'im back! It's a promise!'
...A promise... "...Hn!" She smirked, shifting her arms around the blond and turning to the door. So that was why a moron like this had attempted to come here. Made it farther than expected too... She'd give him that. She moved the bloodied hand to Jonouchi's arm, adjusting the weight on her shoulder as Jonouchi attempted to stand straight. "I suppose that's one way to put it," she muttered, before nodding her head over to the exit. "Think you can at least try, or do you plan on proving to my brother just why you should never have been hired?"
The blond laughed again, shaking his head as he fell into a slouch again. He wasn't wearing shoes... Seto looked down only briefly, before looking back to the door. "Hahaha... Figured y'would say that... Looks like yer right though," he added, weak grin turned toward the woman. Right? "Can't ev'n walk on my own two legs, pretty pathetic huh? Leanin' on th' one I w's s'pposed t' protect f'r th' las' few months..."
Seto's eyes narrowed, her initial scowl fading. Weak steps were made toward the door, her own fairly steady and confident ones accompanied by a hobbling limp from the blond. No... He wasn't supposed to admit she was right... He was supposed to argue against it, shout and bicker and complain about it! Not just rollover as though it meant nothing! Gh... Her eyes drifted over the blond's head, a small slice on the side where blood had gathered and clotted. A bullet wound... Straight as it was, the hair clung thickly to it, the blood a more murky and sticky black-red where it had started to dry. "Tch..." She turned away, half pulling the blond and half allowing him to walk on his own as they made their way to the door. "Whatever mutt," she muttered under her breath, the odd pair limping along the smooth marble floor before exiting into a well lit hall with plush red carpet. "Just realize that someone won't always be there for when you get yourself shot."
He frowned, turning upward. Hn? Didn't he realize he'd been sliced across the side of the head? "Shot..." The frown deepened, and he stared. "What're y' talking abou' Seto-ch-" He paused, the woman's eyes narrowing dangerously at the name before both of their gazes were moved to something in front of them. The ghost... "What th'..." She frowned, turning to look at the blond at her side with a frown. "Two..." He saw it..? What..?
She raised her eyebrows, narrowed eyes continuing to stare at Jonouchi before turning back to the hovering form of her younger self. The sight seemed to render them both silent really... Or maybe they were just tired of talking. Her own throat was slightly dry really... Not so much that her disguised voice was coming with difficulty, but even so, neither she nor the blond beside her really sounded too healthy, she'd admit that much. On her side it was hours upon hours of fatigue rending her throat dry, and on the 'mutt's it was a chase through a mansion culminating to a fall down the stairs... She'd assume as much at least. Even so, with just a glance at the other they followed the 'spirit', the ghostly figure rushing ahead and gesturing for them to follow with an overeager and by her standards uncharacteristic grin on its face. 'Follow me,' it seemed to call, the two doing just that. 'Follow me..!' Silently moving down the halls, they swallowed back whatever words they had for the other after that. Sunlight poured through the windows at the side, portraits hung on the walls... They were in the eastern hall, she told herself idly. Likely the furthest possible point from the exit, but nonetheless that was where this ghost was headed.
It was a long walk... Looking down at Jonouchi's feet had revealed sliced and shaven lines across the soles, the woman turning back to look at the spirit rather than dwell on the no longer bleeding feet. Idly, she wondered why she wasn't simply looking for Mokuba... Or why the idiot at her side had bothered pulling her out of whatever hole Pegasus buried her in instead of leaving her to find her brother. Pulling her out and getting his feet torn up, a bullet to the head... It was strange, and stupid in her opinion. Completely moronic... She was the one who Pegasus had locked away, and yet she was the one carrying this moron out of the castle. This injured, bleeding moron who was still grinning like the entire god-damned world had turned and worshiped him! This stupid, god-damned dog who had...
She couldn't bring herself to hate him for that she realized, continuing to follow after her 'other self' in silence. Couldn't bring herself to just rub the pathetic loser's face in the ground for that fact, for pulling her out of wherever the hell she was instead of just leaving her be! Why the hell had he gotten himself shot up? His feet sliced into tatters, shoes gone, hair matted and stained? To spite Pegasus? To spite her? ...Or even just... For her? She narrowed her eyes, continuing on the walk. Why the hell would anyone, this moron in particular do such a thing? He hated her, and she hated him, end of story! The only reason why she had initially tolerated him, if one could have even called it that, was to use him against his own friend... To build up adequate rage and fear to make it all the more sweet when she won the match of that stupid, disgusting waste of time and money. She hadn't even won that match, only lost...
After which she hadn't seen anything... Just darkness... And maybe a puzzle? Eyes narrowed with thought for a moment she shook it from mind yet again. They were coming to the entrance now... The ghost was just hovering there now, staring at them expectantly as they came through the courtyard to the final door. Seto tensed, Jonouchi suddenly moving his arm off her shoulder and falling off to the side of the main gate's door. Gh... "...What the hell are you doing," she muttered, eyes narrowed. What was this, some last form of bravado, some way of preventing anyone from seeing how weak he was? ...How close to passing out they both were? Hn! "Unwilling to show your 'friends' just how far gone you are, 'Mutt'?"
Again Jonouchi merely laughed, leaning against the statue that stood along side the gate entrance and shaking his head. Gh... Stop taking her comments so lightly! "Nah," he said, looking toward the small 'spirit' to the side and smiling. "I jus' figured y' wouldn' want me in th' way f'r this..." What... The blond nodded his head towards the stairs, his same 'stupid smile' seeming less stupid and more... Something else she couldn't actually think of, much to her annoyance. "There's someone who wants t' see yah," he muttered, letting himself slide to a slumped and seated position on the ground. What..? "Someone who's been waitin' f'r a long time, Seto-chan..."
"Gh..." Don't call her- She froze, as from behind a loud shout pierced the air.
The ghost was gone from its original position... "Nee... Nii-sama..!" The woman turned eyes wide as she moved toward the edge of the staircase. That voice... That voice, that was... Eyes widened as she spotted her brother, the boy charging up the stairs with tear-filled eyes. It was him... He was... "SETO-NIISAMA," the boy shouted, locket swinging through the air alongside his bandanna, feet skipping every second and third step as he ran. She couldn't move... She just stared with wide eyes, breath caught in her throat.
He was alive... He was alive and he was... He was there... "Mokuba," she whispered, taking a weak step forward before finding her voice again. "MOKUBA!"
Mokuba charged up the stairs, arms held out as Seto herself did the same. He was alive... The boy jumped the last few steps, arms latching around her waist and easily knocking her off her feet. He was alive, and healthy, and... She held him close, eyes squeezed shut as her brother cried into her arms. And he was there. "Nee-sama," he whispered, burying his head into her jacket to the point where he resembled little more than a mop of black hair. He was here... He was still alive, and he was here... "Nee-sama," he cried quietly, the sounds of footsteps halting part-way on the stairs becoming nothing more than a mere whisper in her ears in comparison to the words. Like anyone else mattered, this was her brother damn it... This was... "You're here," he whispered, as though not believing his own words. "You're here... You're here... I... I was..."
"It's ok," she whispered, sitting up and holding him tight. It was ok, everything was ok... She swallowed, her own head bowed into her brother's shoulder as the boy cried. She was shaking wasn't she... A bunch of morons were watching her sit there and... Who the hell cared anymore, her brother was... "It's ok Mokuba," she whispered, partially reassuring herself as well. It was ok... It was all over... "I'll never leave again, never... Never again," she repeated, almost in a mantra. "Never... I promise you..."
As they sat there, for some reason, she felt something 'click' into place, completing itself... Filling itself in, removing an absence that had been sitting in her mind since she woke up. Filling in a shadow, a void... An empty space that hadn't belonged... "Never again," she repeated once more, still shaking as they sat there. "Never again, Mokuba..."
It was a promise...
It had been really hard to walk, with his feet cut up like they were. Probably his own fault knocking the vase over and then running over it but... Well, for the moment, just sitting there was a good break really- much as he wanted to tell the others he was fine, he didn't feel like interrupting the two in front of him. Sure, it hurt... Everywhere really, thanks to all the crap that went on at the stair case. Feet, shoulders... He was in so much pain right now... But watching those two, he couldn't keep the smile off his face, the blond holding his tongue and leaning back against the statue in silence.
Man... He turned his head, watching as the small, spirit-counterpart of Seto gave him a similar smile. "Hey," he muttered, mostly under his breath as the girl continued to smile. "Looks like you c'n jus go back t' bein' you now, right..?" The ghost nodded, hands held outward as something shimmered into existence. "Huh..?" In her hands... The smile on the girl's face grew, and from nothing but thin air came a small piece of gold matching the sphere in her grip. And the sphere itself... Lines filled it completely, like a puzzle almost. The girl leaned over, coming to her knees as the piece slipped into the puzzle perfectly. For a brief moment, it glowed brilliantly... And then it misted away, its owner whispering just one thing as she evaporated into the air.
'...Thank you...'
"Katsuya-nii..." Katsuya turned his head blankly from where the ghost had vanished, watching as Mokuba looked up from where he was still clutching his sister tight. There was visible confusion (And possibly anger) on the woman's face with the name... He expected it really, given that last she'd heard he was still 'Jonouchi' to the boy but really, good on her to keep quiet and let the kid run over when he pulled out of the hug. "K-Katsuya-nii," the boy repeated, eyes looking over the blond's feet and head both. "What happened to you..!"
What happened? His eyes drifted down to his torn up feet, moving back to the boy in question as Seto stood up from where she had been sitting. There'd been something sticky on the side of his neck too... He didn't bleed that much though right? "Eh," he muttered, still smiling despite the pain. Feet were probably the worst of it for now... "It'll heal righ'?"
Mokuba merely stared, eyes wide as he turned to his sister. "Ne... Nii-sama," he asked, the woman merely staring at the blond blankly. "What happened..?"
The woman blinked, before moving over to stand beside her brother in silence a moment. Was she frowning..? "He took a bullet," she said bluntly, before moving to pull him to his feet. "Among other stupid things..." H-Hey! It wasn't stupid! ...Hell, she didn't even know what happened and- W-Woah... He shook, gripping the statue at the side and looking at Seto oddly as the woman continued. "...Come on Mutt," she muttered, looking down at her brother and nodding her head toward the stairs as they moved. "I'm not leaving a member of my staff in this hellhole." Was that possessiveness there?
He turned, blinking as he was pulled toward the stairs before pulling out of the woman's grip and grabbing the railing at the side. "Heh..." Katsuya shook his head, smirking lightly despite the sting of pain in the foot on the ground. "Don' think about it," he said, limping down the stairs. "It's no big deal," he continued, hissing as he stepped on a particularly sharp bit of rock on the steps.
"K-Katsuya-nii," Mokuba muttered, Seto again wincing at the name he used for the blond. Well, it was better than a voice protest he supposed... (He'd kinda expected one...) "I don't think you should be walking, your feet are really..." The boy swallowed, before the three all turned their head to the group that had gathered in the middle of the stairs. The others had just made their way up the final flight, only to freeze at the sight of them. Mokuba stared as well for a moment, before finishing what he'd been saying quietly. "...Cut up..."
Yugi was there, the 'normal' one... And Honda, Anzu, Bakura, all of them... He smirked, the expression growing into a grin despite the wide eyes that the others had. "Hey," he said weakly, the two behind him keeping silent. The others all had about the same expressions on their faces... Wide eyes, slightly open mouths... "How y' doin?" Probably better than he was... Owwwww his throat hurt... How the hell did falling down a staircase affect his throat..?
Anzu was the first to speak, Yugi merely walking forward as he gripped an envelope in his hands. "J-Jonouchi," she said with a cough, eyes wide as the blond slumped over the rail. Oooh boy, screw his neck and feet, his arms were pretty shot too. This was kinda pathetic... Seto was keeping oddly silent now that he thought about it though... Kinda expected a comment on him being a worthless dog really. Course, she was probably just keeping quiet because wasn't complaining, and was instead looking at Katsuya with the same if not more intense expression that Anzu and the others were sending the blond's way. Something to keep out of, for Mokuba's sake he supposed... Or at least keep out of until the woman figured out why Mokuba was acting like that. "Jonouchi," the woman repeated, moving forward to bring a hand toward the scrape on his head. "What..."
"Ack!" He hissed, pulling back as Anzu did the same. Shit... Whatever the hell happened to his head, it hurt a lot!
Anzu swallowed, pulling her hand back before taking a step back. "Sorry," she muttered, biting her lip. "It really does look..." Bad? Someone get him a mirror or something so he could see for himself damn it, he knew it hurt but...
In front of him, Yugi was still staring, before finally opening his mouth to speak. "Jonouchi-kun," he whispered, eyes not moving from the bloodied mat on the side of his friend's head. Was it really that bad..? Really? "You..." He swallowed, handing the blond the envelope with shaking hands. Eh..? What was this...? "I want you to take this, for your sister alright?"
As Katsuya blinked, Seto turned from beside them. Right... She probably didn't know about his sister huh... The envelope in question looked like it was thickly filled, a small wax seal over the center of it. Was this... This was the prize wasn't it! Two hundred thousand dollars US... Sixteen million plus yen... He hesitated, before taking the envelope with a nod. "...Yugi," he muttered, frowning as he looked from the envelope to his friend. "Yugi... 's it really ok if I take this money..?"
"W-What are you talking about Katsuya-nii," Mokuba protested, the woman behind him turning with slightly raised eyebrows. The boy frowned, staring at him as Katsuya turned. "If... If you take this, doesn't that mean Shizuka-chan will..." He shook his head, turning up to Seto for a moment with an odd look as Yugi continued.
His hands were held firmly at his sides, eyes wide and almost eerily certain of themselves. This look... "Jonouchi-kun," he said clearly, the others falling silent as he spoke. He wasn't changing his mind on this. "I never intended to keep this money," he stated rather clearly, frowning slightly. "And even if you hadn't made it this far," he continued, "I would have given you this prize... But Jonouchi-kun... You were the real champion of the kingdom! Even though you didn't fight against Pegasus through a duel... Even with that..." He smiled, Katsuya watching as the boy stepped back and continued. "I don't know what happened after your duel with Keith," the boy said, smile widening. "But with all that happened... My words are still the same, understand?"
"Y...Yugi..." He jumped slightly, watching as Honda lightly pushed past the others to grab him by the arm and pull him over his shoulder. "O-Oi," he muttered, grumbling as Bakura joined in on the other side to grab his second arm. The two teens slowly made their way past Anzu and Yugi to help him down the stairs, the blond growling at the effort. H-Hey! C-Come on, at least with Seto she'd left him alone at the top of the stairs when he'd refused help..! He could do this on his own, really! "I'm fine! Let me down!"
The taller of the teens merely snorted, adjusting his grip on the blond's arm. "That's bullshit and you know it," Honda said with a frown, hoisting the blond awkwardly off his feet. Toes dangled just above the stairs a moment, Katsuya frowning as he looked at his friend. "Come on man," the teen continued, "We gotta find a boat, get off this island... Yugi's right you know," he continued, turning to Katsuya with a slight frown. H-Heh..? What..? "I don't know what the hell went on in there but..." He shook his head, giving the blond an oddly honored stare as he spoke. "Compared to what Bakura and I did to get Mokuba out..."
Bakura nodded, looking at Katsuya worriedly with those words. "That's right... We knew that you'd been pulled to the side, like Yugi-kun said but..." He swallowed, the others following slowly behind as they walked down the stairs. "Well... To be frank, I don't think we expected you to come back in this condition..." 'This condition'? Come on... It was just pain, he could deal with it!
He snorted, shaking his head as the two carrying him adjusted their hold once again. "Aw c'mon," he muttered, deciding to just let himself get carried down the stairs at this point. Given that they obviously weren't planning on it anytime soon... ...And it did hurt like hell to move right now... "It ain't that bad... What abou' th' time I w's off school f'r my eyes," he asked Honda, raising his eyebrows as he gave a weak nod. He even had scars for that one! ...Scars on his eyes...
Honda merely shook his head, still frowning. "Your head's bleeding man, I don't think that really compares for the moment if you can't even walk." Eh? His head was bleeding?
He shook it off, instead focusing on the other matter at hand. "Heh! I would walk if y'd let me," he growled, a quiet and weak laugh coming from his friends in response. Oh sure, laugh at his expense damn it... "Hahhh..." Looked like it was pretty much hopeless really...
Walking down the stairs was mostly filled with silence after that point, the group slowly making their way down the stairs. The mood would have been destroyed by words, and the fact was, with all that happened Katsuya was just looking forward to getting back home. Getting back to Seto and Mokuba's house, and collapsing on the bed that had finally started feeling like 'his'... Getting to the bottom of the stairs however, the mood was partially interrupted as Mokuba ran forward to grab Seto's briefcase from the ground, carrying it off with the woman as they both turned to the group. Huh... Well, at least that didn't end up lost then. The blond stared at the two, watching as they stood there in silence for a few moments. It was an odd look in Seto's eyes, that was for sure... As though she was attempting to hold a glare but only serving to stare blankly at the group in confusion. Like something was just bugging her so much that she couldn't even hold the usually ice-cold stare. "Yugi," she finally said, the boy slowly giving a small, slightly hesitant nod in response. "...I owe you for saving Mokuba... But tell the 'Other Yugi'," she continued, turning away with a small nod if her own as the others stared, "That our battle isn't over yet!" Huh... So she knew about the 'two Yugi's' too huh... And still held a vendetta with one...
Heh! He smirked slightly, shaking his head. Wouldn't have it any other way really... As Mokuba and Seto started walking away, leaving the others to their business Anzu frowned, turning to the others with a frown. "Ah... Does anyone actually know how we're getting back..?" Eh..?
As the others frowned, Bakura shook his head, a rather sheepish wince on his face. "Not really... I'm sorry to say it but," he continued, rubbing his head embarrassingly, "There aren't any more boats on this island... I looked out from the castle, but I couldn't even see a boat house..."
Aw hell, wasn't that great. And Seto of course was ignoring them with a fairly smug if not slight smile. Damn it... "Well," she said moving off with a slightly more amused (if not clearly happier) air about her. "I suppose you small fry will just have to swim!" Yea, because if it took six hours by boat that made a hell of a lot of sense right? "Come on Mokuba," she said quietly, continuing to move before the boy frowned. "...Mokuba?"
"O-Oi, Nii-sama," he asked, briefcase still held tightly in both hands. A rather clear frown was on his face, and he gestured to the others. "We can take them with us on the helicopter can't we? They're my friends... And there's still enough room for everyone isn't there?" Seto visibly tensed, turning back with wide and incredulous eyes as her brother continued. "Let's take them with," he stated, the frown disappearing into a smile. "We owe them right?"
She merely stared, growing rather still as she took in her brother's words. "...What..!"
Hahahaha! Oh come on, it was like Mokuba had said... They were friends, had been for a while! Wasn't like she couldn't deal with that right? "Please," the boy asked with a small whine, his older sister quite clearly seething before them. "It won't cause any problems, honest!" Oh boy... Mokuba never did this before Seto was awake...
The woman continued to grit her teeth before them, before finally she turned back and walking off. "Fine," she snarled, the others smiling nervously and following after the two siblings as Mokuba quickly and eagerly followed after the woman. "But only because you helped get Mokuba back, understand?" There was nothing but nervous laughter in response, Mokuba grinning the entire trip back to the helicopter as they started down the dirt path. "Once we're back in Japan," the woman continued, likely red in the face for the moment as they entered the woods where the helicopter sat, "We're even! Got it?"
Still more nervous laughter as they traveled on, and Seto and Mokuba both hopped into the cockpit seats the moment they found the helicopter. The others followed, Mokuba busying himself with putting the briefcase at the side before poking his head through the door between the cockpit and cabin room. "Ah... I think there's a first aid kit out there," he stated with a blank look on his face, Anzu walking in to look for it with Yugi as the others awkwardly pulled Katsuya in. "I'm gonna help up here ok? Take off in two minutes!" A grin came over his face as he leaned back on the chair, laughing as muttered 'yes' and 'yea's came through the room in response. "Hehehe... You guys better thank my Nii-sama for letting you on the helicopter alright?"
There was a flurry of nods, the doors to the helicopter closing with some difficulty as the others made themselves somewhat comfortable. It was a tight fit... Still enough room for Anzu to try and clean his head wound of course though, and as the woman pulled out some anestethic wipes for his head he had to wince. Here it came and... "Hsssssffff!" He pulled back as the wipe touched the graze at the side of his head, Anzu frowning in response.
"Oh hold still," she muttered, moving forward again in an action that wasn't unlike the events much earlier in the morning with Yugi. "What are you six?"
He scowled, biting his lip but nonetheless caving in as Anzu continued to work on his head before pulling out some gauze. Sheesh... Either way, he decided as the engine started up. Concerning the room in here... "Ngggh..." He winced as the helicopter slowly began running, rotors spinning rapidly as the vehicle began to rise up into the air. "'S tight..."
Yugi nodded in agreement, laughing nervously as he made to help Anzu with the gauze. "I don't think it's made for this many people..."
There was some growling from the front as Honda also began voicing his opinion on the matter, before Seto's voice could be heard. "Mokuba," she asked somewhat tensely, gripping the controls of the helicopter as her brother buckled himself into the seat beside her. "Would you mind shutting the door so I don't have to deal with their apparently ungrateful whining for the next six hours?" Awww, they weren't that bad were they?
Mokuba laughed, turning around to do just that as he grabbed the sliding door. "Sorry guys," he said with a grin, the others watching as he slowly pulled it over. "But Nii-sama is driving..."
"Heh!" Katsuya merely grinned, shaking his head before wincing when Anzu lightly smacked him for ruining the bandage process on his wound. Ow... He turned back to the door, shrugging. "'S fine Mokuba..." The door shut, and he leaned back against the seat while Anzu finished tying up the bandage. "Man," he muttered as the woman pulled out some more wipes, roughly grabbing his first foot. "What a day... Ffff!" He jerked back, before reluctantly biting his lip after receiving a 'warning look' from Anzu in response. Ehehehe... Right right... Ignoring the sharp sting from the wipes, he pulled out the envelope from his pocket, looking over at Yugi. The boy was currently digging through the first aid kit for more bandage material for his feet... His eyes drifted back to the envelope, before he returned it to his pocket. "Yugi," he said, the wincing frown on his face shifting to a more blank and serious expression. "This money... I really owe y' one man..." With this... There was a chance for Shizuka to get better... Heh! Maybe he and Mokuba could actually drag Seto off to Osaka, have them meet! He pushed the thoughts from his mind, watching as Yugi looked up from the first aid kit to shrug.
Looked kinda interesting, with all those bandages in his arms... "It's fine," the boy said with a laugh, handing a few rolls of gauze to Anzu as the woman wrapped up the now clean foot. "Really..." He paused, eyes suddenly growing blank for a few moments. H-H-Hey... What the he- "Ah..." Yugi blinked, looking down at his puzzle a moment before turning back to the blond as though nothing had happened. "Though the other me says that it's fine if you 'owe him one' until the day you beat him..." He smiled nervously, scratching his cheek. "I just hope he doesn't get carried away with that..." The other Yugi said that? ...Wait, they could talk to each other now? (Was that what the space out was for..?)
Anzu blinked, looking at the boy before turning to an equally nervous Katsuya as she grabbed more wipes to deal with his other foot. "..Why," she asked, frowning slightly as the blond bit his lip against the sting again. "What's your and Yugi's record?"
He gave a slightly pained laugh, rubbing the back of his now loosely bandaged head and forcing himself to think of something other than his foot. "Ehe... Well," he said with a cough, briefly wondering how the hell getting tased and sucker punched in the face could hurt less than this, "Startin' from las' week an' countin' t'day..." He bit his lip, mentally counting up the amount of times before answering. "Eh... Zero wins, a hundred eighty-seven losses..."
At this, the others stared, Honda giving a loud 'oooo-boy' as he turned away with wide eyes. Yea... Yea it was a big number. Anzu kept quiet for a few moments and paused in her work, before shaking her head and continuing. "Wow," she muttered, tossing the used wipes to the side and grabbing the next roll of gauze. "...Good luck with that Jonouchi..."
"Oi oi..." He narrowed his eyes, sitting up with a growl. "What's that s'pposed t' mean..?"
Honda grinned, shrugging from where he was sitting beside Anzu. "Nothing... We're just saying you've got a lot of... Hn... A lot of work ahead of you!" Which was another way of saying he'd never make it damn it!
"Hondaaaa-"
A loud thunk noise came over the air, helicopter abruptly veering to the side as the passengers were flung to the opposite end. Anzu had only just barely finished tying up the last bandage, slowly pulling herself up to sit by Yugi as the boy gathered the fallen items from the first aid kit with a flustered expression in place. "H-Haah!" The copter righted itself within a few moments of the jolt, Katsuya turning to the window with wide eyes. Holy shit... Did something hit them or... "What th' he-" His eyes widened, watching as a familiar blond woman began chasing after the copter from below. "H-Heh..? M-Mai!"
"Oh shit," Honda muttered, peering out the window as well. "She's still here?" Apparently so... He was quickly moved aside as Katsuya grabbed the handle to the door, throwing it open as wind whipped in their faces. Ohhhh shit, this was a lot rougher than he expected... He spat a few strands of hair from his face, before leaning further out the door to look down.
"HEEEEY!" Mai continued to run after them, voice somewhat clear over the sound of the copter. It was kinda hard to hear but... Well, she was down there, bag hanging around her shoulder and helicopter 'winds' pushing back at the woman to a slight extent. "TAKE ME WITH YOU," she shouted, waving her hand above her head as she continued to run.
Katsuya blinked, before smiling and turning down to the side. Take her with eh? Who was he to refuse that after the earlier card deal? He blinked as his eyes fell on something just behind the door, the blond smirking. Well look at that... A rope ladder, bolted to the side and everything! "Heh..." He pushed it out, leaning out the door and grinning as the ladder itself clattered in the wind. "OI, MAI," he shouted, the ladder dangling just a foot or so off the ground at its full lenght. "GRAB ON!"
The copter gave another shudder as they flew, Mai hurriedly grabbing onto the end with a nod and managing to pull herself up a few rungs with difficulty. And not a moment too soon; by the time she was on the sixth rung up, the copter had just passed over the coast line, a loud roar of wind meeting the group's ears in response. "WHOOOOOO!" A loud shout came from below, water misting into the woman's face as she climbed up. "Now that's something I never thought I'd end up doing in life," she continued loudly, making her way up the ladder. "What took you so long," she shouted, climbing up as the copter slowly gained a bit of air before moving on. "I must have been running for ten minutes down there!"
"Hehehe... Least we made it," he shouted back, leaning over in an attempt to hold the ladder somewhat steady against the wind. "W-Woahh.." He shook, gripping the sides of the door. S-Shit! "Aaaaagh! I'm gonna fall!"
His fingers began to slip, blood draining from his face before he was pulled back. "Hold on Jonouchi," Honda said with a laugh, gripping the blond by the back of his jacket and pulling him in. "Sheesh," he muttered, turning his head back down as Mai continued her way up the ladder. "We just finished patching you up, don't go drowning on everyone..."
The blond scowled, pulling himself back into his seat and crossing his arms. "Nyhhh... Like that'll actually happen..." He wasn't about to drown, sheesh...
"Like 'what' will actually happen?" The group turned as Mai came into the copter, the woman pulling herself and the ladder in with slight difficulty before the door was closed behind her. She looked around, blinking as the room abruptly fell silent in the absence of the ambient noise. "...Well," she muttered, resting a hand on the side wall. "Isn't this crowded..."
Honda shrugged, the teen currently leaning against the cockpit door to make room for the woman. "Yea well..." He smirked, attempting to keep the blush he had from getting a close up view of the woman's 'shirt' under control. "Try not to let Kaiba know, I don't think he's too happy about his brother letting us all hitch a ride..."
She merely smirked, glancing at the door before her eyes fell on Katsuya. "...Yea," she said quietly, taking in the boy's bandages. "I bet..." She swallowed, before moving toward the blond across from her. "Oh my god," she muttered, Katsuya moving back as Mai brought a hand to the bandaged wound on his head. "What on earth happened to you..? You look terrible..!" Tell him something he didn't know! At least he was somewhat wrapped up now...
Katsuya shrugged, arms still crossed as a small smile came back over his face. "Eh," he muttered, leaning back on his seat. "'S a long story..."
"Is it now," Mai asked with a raised eyebrow, before taking a seat on the floor and leaning against her bag. "Well," the woman decided with a small smirk, her own arms crossed. "I have a feeling we'll be in here for a while... Why not share?," she continued, the others as well turning to listen.
Share that? He swallowed, looking around at the others before snorting in response. Heh... It was pretty crazy but... "Eh," he muttered with a grin, pulling himself up in the seat before leaning back on the side again. "I Guess yer right..." The smirk was replaced with a somewhat thoughtful look, the blond turning himself slightly to face the others as he thought of where to start. "Lesse... Guess I outta begin from when th' announcer guy lead me off..." Now how to do this... Well.
Not like there wasn't a better way to pass the time really. Re-telling what he'd done through the afternoon while obviously leaving out a few... 'Questionable' things, he found the things taking a fair amount of his mind off the pain in his feet really. Not to mention the time the ride was taking, or the fact that his last meal had been a few spoons of soup the night before... All the same, watching as the island outside the window slowly disappeared in the distance he was really only half there with the story... The other half was just staring dumbfounded out the window with disbelief.
It was all over. All of it... The crazy dreams, the card game 'battle fields', the creepy giant eyes... All over...
Heh. By the time his story came to an end the sun had sunk below the horizon, and Tokyo's shoreline was a grey line in the distance. The castle and the island it sat on was long gone in the meantime, nothing more than a spot on the ocean. All over, and all gone, all of it, he thought as he leaned back on his seat. The others were quiet themselves, a few holding muttered conversation or simply waiting for the ride to end. Seats had re-arranged... Anzu was now talking with Mai, the three guys sitting on the bench. And it was all over.
Heh. Staring out the window, only a few words really came to mind as he sat there.
Good-bye, 'Duelist Kingdom'.
AN: And good-bye Pegasus...
Thus ends the Duelist Kingdom Arc! It's been a good run, but there's still more to follow... Keep your eyes peeled for the next 'Original' arc, 'The Holiday Season'! It's more than just a Christmas chapter, trust me on that!
No update on my Durarara chain; I turned all my focus to this chapter, as tomorrow I'm gone to see my Godparents... And for the weekend and Monday after, some more family fun and a Halloween event at Wonderland. WHOO! Happy Halloween indeed! (I've never been to Wonderland before...)
Unlike my art however, the Poll does have a new update!
Poll Results:
For the identity of Seto's past incarnation the priest, we're having an effective slam-down! It's getting dangerously close to the winner literally doubling the combined efforts of the other options...
Female Crossdressing Set - 11 (Three Anonymous)
Obviously Female Priestess Set - 5 (Two Anonymous)
Canon; Male Set - 2
And there's still more...
Anonymous Review Responses
We've got a lot of reviews this time around! First off 'Don't Have An Account', your vote has been recorded up above...
And for you, fsdfsdfsd, your answer to most of your questions above! As for why Pegasus called Jonouchi a 'guardian' of the two Kaiba siblings so to speak, he's mostly building on the fact that not only is the main reason why Jonouchi is there currently Mokuba and Kaiba both, but also the fact that Jonouchi himself was hired as security for them. In other words, his job was to 'guard' the family. Another point is that by guarding the key, he guards a number of very very, very important documents concerning Mokuba and Kaiba, as the key is the only thing that can get into that safe. (And you can bet that some... Important... Health records are in that safe.)
Lastly Iona! Glad to see you're enjoying the action! (I know I am...) What can I say, Jonouchi's an unpredictable person... As is Kaiba's soul shard apparently, but we're not going there. And oh my- Zetsubou Sensei! I read the manga for that... Love it. Anyways... A testament to my talent? You really think so? ...Thanks! Hope you enjoy the next few chapters even more with that in mind then!
And now...
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that saw how long it got last chapter and winces for this one; well, at least you're informed!
'Interregnum', from the latin terms for 'between' ('inter') and 'reign' ('regnum'), is the term for a gap of time between reign. Given that Pegasus and Yugi were both (as a 'bonus') fighting for the title 'King of Games', the gap between when Yugi got the prize and when he won could be somewhat considered as this... And though only a small amount of the chapter occurs then, I found it to be a nice way to end the Duelist Kingdom really.
When Jonouchi says 'You're way too skinny Seto-chan', he's not too far off the mark. Though it's a slight bit less than the intense weight issue that is the original (Kaiba's only 143 pounds according to Takahashi…), due to men having more skeletal muscle mass. (Muscle weighs more than fat.)
Now… Using BMI (Not the most accurate in terms of body types, but for the sake of 'average'-ness we'll use that), the 'healthy' range is a Body Mass Index of anything between 18.5 and about 24. (18 and 22 in Japan.) Now, recently, I found out that Kaiba is actually closer to six feet, one and a half inches than six feet two inches… But thankfully an inch only means a difference of one or two pounds here. So!
For the male Kaiba, at 6'1, 6'2'' and 143 pounds, he's at the BMI mark of 18.9… Healthy range, but in the mark where it seems almost too skinny. (I myself sit at 18.5 even… HAHAHAHA I have hypoglycaemia for an excuse though, anything I eat burns to nothing. I could do with five pounds or so.) Oddly enough, that one inch for 6'2'' puts him at the line for 'unhealthy weight'. If I put '6'2' in the calculator, he hits 18.4… Just shy the 'healthy' number of '18.5'.
As for fanfic Kaiba, using the same measurements… We get the same result oddly enough! So it's not at all crazy to have someone say Kaiba's 'too skinny' (even though she isn't.), nor is it in anyway hard to believe that the shackles wouldn't fit. A clenched fist takes more width, and can hold firm in the shackle. Limp hand curled in on itself does not.
Jonouchi's bleeding feet? Ironically, all that running actually helped to stop the bleeding. Ordinarily, a minor wound to the foot can take up to ten minutes to stop bleeding... However, because of the constant pounding pressure he applied while running, it stopped sooner, despite what gravity would normally have to say about it.
Oddly enough, he's not being followed around as easy either, as once they hit the dark halls, his bloody footprints match up with the carpet amazingly well.
...Yakou and Gekko are gonna have a hell of a time cleaning all this...
Sad to say, but Pegasus' temporarily happy marriage was dub only; in reality, they (Cynthia AKA 'Ceceilia', her dub name. (WHY?) and Pegasus) were making plans to move in with each other (possibly get married, who knew..)… And then Cynthia kinda died
...
Ouuuuch… Fact is, Cynthia was 17 when she died, so I'm not surprised that they didn't actually get married. What the heck did they do to cover the 'high-school marriage' this implies though? 4Kids is normally against that stuff!
Fun fact though, but Cynthia and Pegasus apparently met 14 years prior this. Given that Pegasus is 26, and he says she died 'seven years ago' in the manga, this would mean that she was two years younger than him… So he was 12, and she was ten, giving them seven years together. It's very upsetting…
And hang on! Is that card Pegasus shows Yugi in the manga a personal portrait, or her soul! HAAAAAHHH scary. Would make sense though; Cynthia's body would have been out of commission thanks to death, so if all he could do was hold her soul close… Then again, it's pretty obvious that he only got the small instant of sight he got when the eye was rammed into his head. Such is the price...
Also, Pegasus' father owns (Owned? He should still be alive me-thinks...) casinos in LA. YESSSS.
Pegasus states that Cynthia got sick shortly after he turned 17; given that Pegasus should be two years older than her, I'm gonna say… Terminal cancer. Or something along those lines at least. Poor girl… You even see a shot of her funeral, and of Pegasus stuck with all his paintings of her. It's very depressing… (He originally went to Egypt to get into his art again, as the depression had him staring at an empty canvas. Ended up comparing the endless desert to his heart. Ouch.)
Jonouchi's feeling of someone dying isn't far from the truth; at the exact same moment, Yugi and Yami Yugi were doing their mind-shuffle against Pegasus… And then it turned into a shadow game and Yugi collapsed- Pegasus flat out says 'His soul is dead' in the manga too, which kinda... Pisses the people watching off. Just a tad... It's actually got some humor in that scene, as Jonouchi is completely taken over by grief… But once Anzu mentions that Yugi mentioned neither being able to live without the other, his face takes a comical 'ORLY?' turn, and despite the situation, it kinda made me giggle a bit. Granted, this is the person who described Blue-Eyes rotting away without batting an eye so...
Of course, Jonouchi's no where near the duel at the moment, so he has no clue what happened right now. But the feeling is there, and though we won't have a view of what's going on in the duel specifically (It's kind of implied that not only would this be boring to watch, but that you would all overdose from the Pegasus creepy. Because you can guarantee that man will pull a creepy, more so than his goddamned eye.), we still get a fair amount of 'I'm there for you' in the end. Not to mention bad-assery. Which is always nice.
How did they get there? Takahashi sure doesn't explain it as anything more than the power of friendship when we see this in the manga...
You didn't think Mr. Big Creepy Eyeball from Hell would show up this chapter? FOR SHAME. Of course I'm putting him in there! As to what the hell 'little Seto' was doing there, she's kinda tacked onto the eye right now, as until the 'last piece of the puzzle' is actually inserted into said puzzle… She's not technically part of the soul. Case in point, she's actually floating around on her own after Pegasus lets everyone go. HAHAHAHA. Ahhh… Basically she showed up as a last 'take that!' to the Eye, given that it still didn't manage to lock her away. (Though it certainly succeeded after that.)
Damn it Kaiba, even as a pint-sized soul fragment you're a badass. Pity we won't see you again.
The most amusing thing about the 'Everyone fighting in the heart' scene? (Besides the fact that they're literally just standing there? Hell, I even kept that to a slight extent, though it's implied that this all happens with brain-soul power...) In the manga, once we get to the end of the scene, everyone's returned to their bodies. Jonouchi says 'don't say anything guys, I know what it was like… I felt-'… And then Bakura steals one line he wanted to say (I felt Yugi's pain of fighting and joy of winning!') and Honda steals the other (I feel like… We fought alongside Yugi somehow…), and Anzu steals the most basic one of 'I'm glad…'.
Poor Jonouchi then comments on how he wanted to say all that, and now there's nothing left to say on the topic. But since he's alone at this moment, and Pegasus doesn't return the souls until a few minutes after, he still gets his shot. To himself. Oh well~ Anyways.
Why was Seto still out cold when Jonouchi woke up? Well, for one, as said above, Pegasus didn't return the souls until Yugi brought it up again. Not to mention, it takes until much later for any of the soul-snatched victims to actually wake up, given that there's time for everyone to reach the bedroom that Honda stowed Mokuba's body in... And actually sit there, waiting for the kid to wake up. …In fact, it shapes up to be even more gradual for a brief moment, as Yugi's grandpa just sort of says 'Hey, I feel weird…' as he 'fades out'... Before shooting off into the sky like a freaking rocket. And the souls actually bounce off the walls as they go, meaning they actually have to find an open door or something.
Even better; Grandpa's soul is laughing as he does this. Though it gets a bit creepy after that, as in the next chapter Yugi says that Sugoroku mentioned seeing his dead wife before coming back to his body. HAAAAAHHH! (At least you know why I had Kaiba slightly more confused than normal and thinking about seeing someone with white hair... Yea. That was her mom guys.)
Some more flowers for you! First off, we have 'Iris', which serve as a double meaning here. The first concerns the flower, which typically invokes faith, hope, wisdom, and valour. (Many good traits that Jonouchi is currently exhibiting by running around with his neck on the line I would think…) As a secondary thing however, Iris, the Greek personification of the rainbow, was said to ferry women's spirits to hell, or carry messages from the underworld to the realm of the gods. As someone who is known for carrying around the spirits of women… …Heee. Kaiba isn't exactly a spirit right now so much as a body, but hey, Jonouchi was certainly carrying around at least a portion of her soul earlier on.
Second flower set, orange lilies also have a double meaning. Lilies in general are meant to keep unwanted people away. Orange ones bring the meaning of 'hatred'. Pretty good given that the vase of them was used as a 'bomb' in the face of Saruwatari's gun. (Saruwatari was aiming to hit the blond's shoulder by the way. Excrutiating pain, avoid killing him… Mostly…)
And of course, we have our 'danger begonia' from the last chapter...
And even after that, the flowers in the portrait. This is more because Pegasus would likely see those flowers as the sort of thing to give Cynthia in her last moments though; Yarrow, which is what Jonouchi saw in the vase, symbolize health and healing.
As for how that works, basically the vase throws the bullet slightly off, as there's a crap-load of flowers and glass in the way (also painful, hence why Jonouchi bolted.)... Besides the fact that this throws shrapnel everywhere, making everyone lucky to be alive, (Thankfully, porcelain doesn't really fly that well.) the shot made was also in reaction to the vase being thrown as opposed to Jonouchi himself. Which means it wasn't aimed properly, and was off just enough to avoid hitting the blond as he fled down another corner. It's still a narrow miss though; regardless of the crap it flew through, the bullet will always fly straight. So... If Jonouchi stood still rather than bolting to the side, he quite likely could have gotten both himself and Kaiba killed; the human body is not a shield if it is 'dead' or 'good as', or even just 'in the way'.
Jonouchi, Jonouchi, how are you still alive! Well, it's quite possible (Unlike getting shot in the leg, where MANY VEINS AND ARTERIES ARE) to survive getting sliced along the side of the head by a bullet. Provided it's a graze and only that. And a very, very light graze at that. It'll still bleed a lot, but it won't be fatal... Oddly enough, Jonouchi's unconsciousness actually helps with this, as his heart rate slowed up... Meaning his blood wasn't pumping nearly as fast as it was when he was shot. Blood clots fast when the wound is small though; for all the blood that came from Jou's skull, it likely stopped bleeding a few minutes after falling to the ground. Damn it Jonouchi, you have the luck of a god. (Though it helps that those chasing him were not aiming to kill, and were in fact making a conscious effort to not hit anything that he would likely bleed out from in minutes with. With such few choices, its no wonder they missed really...)
Before anyone says 'But Saruwatari is the one who says 'It's all over, yadda yadda' at the end, he wouldn't be chasing after Jonouchi for the key!', need I remind you that the scene involving the gunshot happened literally right after the match end. This means it was before Saruwatari found out about it all being over, and this is actually what causes Seto and Jonouchi to fall down the second set of stairs and not end up continually fired at. Shortly after they disappeared down the stairs, Saruwatari got a call on the radio concerning the match…
Unfortunately, very few people know about the second set of stairs leading to the ballroom, so really, though he did charge down the first set going 'Oh shit, I killed them!' (Rather, 'I killed the blond!', as the Big 5 /want/ Kaiba dead, and much as Saruwatari hates Jonouchi's guts right now, it's not enough to kill him. ), he… Completely missed them. AUUUUGH.
Another point to make is that Jonouchi severely injured another guard in his flight, and he must be dealt with! Or something along those lines...
Interesting fact; though Mokuba has enough energy to pull back in immense fear after waking up, Kaiba literally staggers and stumbles out of the cell before walking with the standard and apparently healthy gait. A testament to Kaiba's formerly 'non-existent' fatigue? Or just the sheer shock of seeing 'himself' in the manga? (I don't think he sees him in the anime...)
'Tasukete', pronounced 'Tas-ke-te', as the 'su' tends to be sped up to a mere 's' sound in Japanese (Unless you have a fairly thick Kansai-ben accent... In other words, you're from Osaka and your 'desu's come out 'desu' as opposed to 'des'.). 'Tasukete' (Or as written above, 'Taskete') means 'to help', and is also used to simply ask for help... Which effectively makes 'taskete' translate fairly literally out into 'help'. Sometimes, the particle 'yo' can be added, as the particle is meant to convince... So 'taskete-yo' would mean 'help' in a more 'please help' sort of way depending on the tone.
For clarification on Jonouchi's 'head wound'; the bullet clipped the side of his head. This causes a heck of a lot of bleeding but… Not enough to kill so much as just leave a lot of blood around. The passing out was more from a combination of shock and falling down a flight of stairs. (Clotting did the rest.) So yea. Getting barely shot in the head did not make him pass out.
WHY. WHYYYYYY. In the heartwarming, 'MY BIG BROTHER IS ALIVE' scene in the manga, did the translators put 'KAIBA' in Mokuba's speech bubble? In all of Mokuba's speech bubbles? That's calling the guy by their last name, can anyone guess just how damn awkward that is! It'd be like calling your mother or your own sibling by your last name. Not close at all.
Even so... I tear up everytime I look at this scene, watching those two hug… (Damn it why is Proof of Life playing in the background! THIS MAKES THINGS EVEN MORE UPSETTING.)
Proof of Life is Rin's answer song to Len's own 'Soundless Voice' by the way. VERY DEPRESSING.
Originally in the manga, Bakura meets up with everyone after they've left the castle. (And after he… Erm… Took Pegasus' eye and left the replica there. Whoo~.) This time around, it took longer for Kaiba to get out, given that she was ironically pulled away in the opposite direction of the exit by Jonouchi… And then later on effectively carrying Jonouchi out of the castle. This in turn means that they got there after Bakura did his deed and got out...
Not to mention licked that eyeball really really creepy-like… Hihhh!
The answer to Jonouchi's question on his throat? Kaiba kinda landed on it when they fell over the stairs. Also he's been running himself ragged without taking a drink soooo… Besides the fact that every part of him is in pain from that fall...
Yugi's words to Jonouchi concerning the prize money originally came from Yami's mouth. I couldn't well get away with the conversation I moved to the helicopter in the same way I could here though...
As for why Honda and Bakura are bothering to carry the guy off, while Jonouchi can kinda sorta walk (Not really on his own, but still walk), the fact is, his feet are sliced to bits and still open. They're not about to let him walk on a dirt and rock path though… Not only will that hurt like hell, that's a great way to get his feet horribly infected.
You really have to feel for how damn out of place Kaiba must feel during the moments after getting back to Mokuba; his brother's calling this 'moron' by the honorific 'nii' for older brother, talking on about a bunch of things about said 'moron' including a sister, the present injuries… And then flat out says that they're welcome to come back on the helicopter to get off the island.
Poor Kaiba's probably pulling her mental hair out now. It doesn't help that at the end of this trip, Mokuba said that he'd 'have to invite them over sometime'. Obviously not shown in chapter, but ohhh boy… You can guess how that went.
Originally, Mokuba was (of course) quite the little snot about the helicopter in the manga; he essentially made fun of the fact that he and Kaiba had their own private helicopter for the ride, leaving Jonouchi to be pulled back by the others as he yelled at him in response. Before they left however, Mokuba quickly changed his mind and made the offer to take them back... Which of course, threw Kaiba off completely in response.
The conversation between the group in the main cabin of the helicopter is about the same as the conversation they originally had while the Kaiba siblings were catching up. Obviously a little difficult in the fanfic's case, as I have a feeling they wouldn't want to talk about that sort of thing around Kaiba... At all.
Speaking of the conversation, the numbers are real guys; Jonouchi has fought against Yugi 187 times within that week and lost… Aren't you glad that he didn't face off against him in the finals now? That would have been like kicking a puppy. (Oh hey, a pun.)
In the panel of the manga before we see Mai shouting up at the helicopter, we see everyone suddenly fall to one side of the copter. Given that, as tired as Kaiba is (Thankfully, the guards gave soulless Kaiba some food, so she's not as liable to pass out anymore in the fanfic's case), he/she's not going to just send a helicopter that out of control, it's heavily implied that Mai managed to throw a rock at them..
AND HIT THEM.
Originally, I was going to have Kaiba get fed up with them and shut the door after Mai got on… But then I realized that there would be some serious reaming out if that happened, because like hell any of that is safe (for the passengers. Mostly Mokuba.)! (As it is, you can bet that Kaiba was pissed when they got back to Domino.)
Obviously this scene has been extended… It's actually building with what you should expect in the Christmas chapters to tell the truth, though it's very, very hard to spot what does that. Now, I recently fleshed out what I'm doing for Christmas, and due to how extensive it is (It builds up to the point rather than copping out like a filler. You know… Like what I did with the summer (I'm sorry…).), I'll be heading off on that arc first, as opposed to going into the Legendary Heroes. (Interestingly enough, there's time for Rebecca to show up in the anime before that arc... Hn.)
Even figured out how to prevent a plot hole concerning not dealing with the Big 5 right off the bat… You'll see what that is next chapter though. Have fun~
Until next time!