Chapter XXXVIII: Torture
Welcome back, folks! Sorry about the delay! Peach was trying to update Whisper and watching her nieces. So anyway, thanks to all our reviewers and readers for checking the last very long chapter. We're going to try to have shorter chapters. So onto the next chapter!
Last time, Jaden met up with Darkness, aka the Grim Reaper in a dream and discovered that something worse might be coming. Violet had a horrid nightmare of what her darker half might be capable of in another time and reacted badly. Two couples grew closer and Adrian and Echo welcomed Sid and Rachel Gecko to the island. And little Belowski seemed to remember a shadow of his own past. So what will happen now?
Disclaimer: Stop calling us! We don't own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise!
Warning: Gorier nightmare images. This might be scary.
Back in the infirmary, one part of another couple was shaking in his bed. Part of it was his fever, but another part was a nightmare.
Bastion found himself in a desolate wasteland. "VIOLET!" he screamed out.
And then... a figure from his past appeared. "Hello, murderer," Taniya said, her blue eyes piercing him. Her skin was white as ashes and bruised from the power of Water Dragon's final attack on her. Her eyes were bloodshot from the water stream, but they conveyed her anger and hatred toward the young man who'd ended her life.
"Taniya... you chose that path... I didn't want to fight you, but you left me no choice!" he moaned, still tortured that he'd had to take a life.
"No... you had a choice... you could've let me finish her," Taniya countered angrily, bloodshot eyes flashing.
"No, I didn't... you could've surrendered and let us both go... or you could've accepted that I was happy!"
"You mean to say that you're happy I'm dead, Bastion?" a feminine voice stated coldly. The beaten and bloody corpse of Violet lay on the ground a few feet away, though her eyes held the spark of angry life as she glared at him.
"No... Violet... I wanted to be happy with you... alive... and vibrant," he stated, feeling his heart breaking all over again.
"Well, I was alive," called another voice, the same as the last but from a different direction. It was another Violet corpse, this one entirely mutilated as she hung from a dead tree by shadowy chains. She, too, had that angry life in her glare. "Until you FAILED and KILLED ME."
"Violet... I didn't kill you... but... I did fail... and... I deserve... death for that," Bastion moaned, falling to his knees.
A pair of very familiar hands pressed down on his shoulders from behind, followed by the same voice. Except this time, there was something slightly off about it. "Ooooh, so the genius finally gets it! Good, good. It'll make this so much easier!"
Bastion turned. "Violet... wait... You're not her!" It was her body and her hair, but her eyes were glowing a bright, hellish red. "Who... who are you?" he managed in a terrified whisper.
"Violet" laughed, hands moving to her hips. "Aw, how sad. You want to protect Violet oh so much, and yet you don't even know who I am. How can you protect her if you don't know even that much?"
The faces of the dead accused him, and this perversion of his love chilled him to the bone. And then, something whispered to him... "Your... name... is Mary," he gasped.
"Bingo!" Mary exclaimed, grinning. A knife materialized in her hand, and she tossed it up and down impatiently. "Saved me the trouble of telling you. And that means we can get straight to your punishment! Lucky!" Mary giggled, but in a way that was practically demonic.
"Then do it... I don't deserve my life..." Bastion's depression from his own imagined failure and the dead images around him had done their damage. Part of him welcomed this execution. And the demon named Mary was all too glad to oblige.
"No, you don't. Failing Violet...unforgivable. The only acceptable punishment?" Mary caught the knife by the handle and shoved the blade deep into Bastion's chest, up to the hilt. "DEATH. Blood for blood! Give up your beating heart for the woman you love, Bastion Misawa!" she growled fiercely, pushing him onto the ground. He saw the gout of blood from his own chest, oddly feeling no pain as she made a cut. And then, he felt searing pain as she punched her hand through the opening and pulled out his beating heart.
Arteries and veins made a sickening snap as the still-beating lump of bloody muscle was cruelly tugged out of the gaping hole. Uncaring whether her victim was still alive and feeling the pain or not, Mary continued to tug as a few pieces still desperately clung to the young man. Each new tug sent a fresh wave of agony through the dying person below her, until finally she grew tired of that game and cut the remaining pieces with one slash of her already bloody knife.
The pieces slithered back into Bastion's chest like a snake retreating into its hole as Mary triumphantly held up his heart. It continued to beat weakly for only a few moments longer, hot blood dripping down between her fingers and sliding along the deathly pale skin of her forearm. "Yes... this will be the perfect gift for Violet. To show her just how much I care for her. I shall give her your heart for you... since you never did. Goodbye, Bastion Misawa," she hissed happily. The black-haired Ra's vision faded out with that image, the words echoing through his brain with each reverberating beat of his living heart as he was thrown back into reality from his horrifying nightmare.
In the real world, Bastion was mumbling in his sleep. "No... no... Violet..." And then his eyes snapped open, confused. "Violet?" he called weakly.
Violet groaned and opened her eyes slightly, yawning. This night hadn't plagued her with a nightmare...likely because Mary had been having plenty of fun in Bastion's. "Bastion...?"
"Violet, are you alive?" he asked, shaking and frightened, turning to look at her. "And... your eyes are still green?"
She blinked, opening her eyes fully and looking over at him. "Uh...yeah, I'm alive... I'm talking to you, right? And I think they're still green..."
He looked up at her in the moonlight. Her eyes were still green, and there were no marks on her. And then... his face turned green as what little he'd eaten was about to make a reappearance. She saw the change and quickly slid out of bed, grabbing her wastebasket and rushing over to him. Violet held it, knowing what was coming and helping her fiancé to sit up enough. And she was just in time, for Bastion threw up very hard and shook. Dr. Crowler came running down the rows of beds. "Oh, my!" he exclaimed.
Violet patted Bastion's back gently, glancing over her shoulder at Dr. Crowler. "Dr. Crowler! Get Miss Fontaine! Bastion looks really bad..."
"Fonda!" Vellian shouted.
The nurse came out from Rosa's cubicle, eyes wide with concern. "Oh, my goodness... Bastion... here, honey... rinse out," she stated, getting Bastion to clean his mouth. "It's going to be okay... lie down..."
"I... Violet... someone named Mary... killed me... I deserved it..."
Violet instantly froze, eyes wide with shock and horror. She stumbled back against the edge of her bed, legs shaking. She swore that she could hear Mary laughing maniacally in her head. "M-Mary..??"
"I... deserved....to die," he moaned again, face sweaty and pale.
Fonda and Vellian looked at each other, very frightened for the Ra boy. "No... Bastion... you don't deserve that," Fonda tried.
Violet would have agreed, and added something to the argument. However, she was busy with another argument, one in her own mind. 'Why did you do that to him?!' she thought angrily.
'Because he deserved it, of course,' Mary answered simply.
'No he didn't! Mary, he never failed me!'
'He couldn't protect you! That's failure enough for death!'
'NO, IT'S NOT!! LEAVE THE PEOPLE I LOVE ALONE!!' Violet closed her eyes tightly, barely able to stop herself from screaming those last two sentences aloud.
Bastion gritted his teeth. "I keep failing... I'm failing her now..." Something within the young man had felt Mary's presence and now feared she was falling to it.
Dr. Crowler met the Ra's fevered gray eyes with his blue ones. "How are you failing her, Bastion?"
"She's... in pain... and I can't stop it..." The young man sank against his pillows, out of breath. Mary had only deepened an existing wound.
Finally, Violet simply cut off the thoughts connecting her and Mary and opened her eyes. She went to Bastion's bedside, gently taking his hand. "Bastion, please don't be upset over this. Or anything that's happened. It only hurts me more to see you like this..."
Bastion, too exhausted to talk, fell back to sleep. Miss Fontaine checked his temperature, eyes narrowed in concern. "It's dropped a little... but it won't break... In the morning, I'm going to put him in a bath and see if that'll help... Violet, he's not really himself right now..."
Violet sighed, head dropping as she closed her eyes. Mary wasn't helping this matter at all. "I know... It's my fault he's not getting any better," she muttered.
Vellian met her eyes now. In as gentle of tones as he ever used, he said, "Violet, my dear, this isn't your fault... His immune system is fighting back; it's just taking a while... And you need to concentrate on letting yourself get well. You're still not all right..."
Violet could have laughed at just how true that statement was, and the fact that she could have scared her. Mary was starting to get to her, too; into her personality. Biting her bottom lip, she went and sat back on her bed. "You're right... But I'm not talking about him being sick."
The teachers exchanged alarmed glances. "Violet... what are you talking about?" the nurse asked as she got Bastion tucked back into bed.
The purple-haired girl frowned. "It's my fault he's not getting better...mentally. He's only getting worse... And it's all because of me..." The fact that she was hurting him in such a way pained her deeply, and she held back tears as she said this.
Fonda Fontaine was really worried now... "Violet, what are you saying, sweetie?" she asked, sitting down next to the girl and gesturing to Dr. Crowler to sit with Bastion.
Violet buried her face in her hands, wondering if she'd be able to say it this time. "Th-There's... someone, or… something... making Bastion worse," she stammered.
Fonda gently put her arms around the frightened girl. "Who or what is it? Violet, I want to help, if I can, okay?"
Violet shook. "You can't help... No one can... She'll hurt you..." The images of her nightmare came back to her as a horrifying reminder.
"Who will hurt me?" Fonda asked, really worried for Violet's sanity.
Violet looked up to meet the nurse's eyes, and for a split second they looked blood red rather than grass green. "Mary," she managed in an almost inaudible voice.
Fonda caught the change, but it happened so quickly, she dismissed it as a trick of the light. "Mary? Who is she?"
"I don't know... She said she's me," Violet moaned, head dropping again. She could feel the other entity in her prodding at her consciousness, as if trying to be on top.
"She's you? I don't understand..."
"Neither do I... B-But... I should stop." Violet was fearful Mary was trying something, and she quickly pulled the covers over her head like a scared little girl. "Bad..."
"Violet... honey..." Fonda pulled back the covers. "It's going to be all right... somehow..."
"I... I hope so," Violet whispered, turning away. For now, it seemed, the old, fun-loving, carefree Violet was gone.
"Just try to relax, honey." Fonda watched Violet try to drift off and thought quickly at what to do. And then she decided. "Vellian... I think we need to call Annie... I hate to do it, but she may be able to help here..."
"Hmmm... Fonda, you may be right... and it can't wait until morning..." And so, Dr. Crowler dialed the landline number for Annie and Sy's room.
Syrus woke to the phone ringing, and blindly reached for it. After missing three times in a row, he groaned and opened his eyes. Finally able to grasp it and answer, he yawned. "Hello?"
"Syrus, this is Dr. Crowler. I'm sorry to wake you, but we need you and Annie in the infirmary right away..."
"H-Huh? The infirmary? Why??" Syrus asked, more awake now as he gently shook Annie awake.
"Sy... honey, what?" Annie murmured groggily.
"Violet and Bastion seem to have had nightmares and it has especially disturbed Violet. Miss Fontaine thinks you both can help Violet through this... Is that all right?" Dr. Crowler explained.
"Oh, man," Syrus muttered, turning to Annie. He told her what Dr. Crowler had just told him before turning back to the phone. "We'll be there in a few minutes, Dr. Crowler."
"Thank you, Syrus..." They said good-bye and Syrus hung up the phone.
Annie, wide awake now, was pulling on a pair of slippers. "I can run over there in these." She grabbed a robe and put it on over her nightgown. "Darn it..."
Syrus tugged on a pair of sweatpants and slippers as well. "Annie?" he asked, glancing over at her.
"Darkness messed with their minds... Why didn't I see this coming," she groaned, tying the robe, black with white stars, around herself. Her eyes were narrowed and her forehead was furrowed in frustration. That she had possibly missed this made her angry with herself.
He moved to her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "Annie... we were all just so happy to have them back... And we've been more worried about their physical health... don't be mad at yourself, please..."
"The mental goes along with the physical, Sy... Violet's fighting something off and Bastion... he's fighting something off too, but not as well... If he keeps up the emotional pain and negativity, it lowers his immune system strength," she groaned again, grabbing an overnight bag and heading to the closet.
"Well, then we'll help them... But it'll be harder if we have negative feelings too, right? So let's not be upset with ourselves... and just go and help. Okay?" he reminded her.
Annie nodded, also packing a small bag of clothes for them both. "We may be there until class in the morning... We may need to get dressed at the infirmary..."
"You're right... Is that everything?" Syrus asked, grabbing his PDA and putting it into his pocket.
She grabbed her PDA as well. "Yeah. Let's go..."
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It took the couple a few minutes to get to the infirmary, and by that point Bastion was still asleep. Violet was dozing on and off, afraid that if she fell into a deep sleep she would have a nightmare or Mary would do something. "Violet?" Annie called softly, so as not to disturb Bastion. "It's me..."
Violet opened her eyes and looked up at her best friend. "Annie??"
"Yeah... I told you I'd be here if you needed me," the girl answered softly, coming in and sitting down on a chair next to the bed.
Violet turned to face her, quickly reaching out to shakily take her hand in both of hers. "Annie... I'm sorry... You came all the way here for me..."
"Violet... what did I tell you before I left the infirmary? I'm here for you no matter what," the other girl countered, putting her other hand over her friend's. "And that means even in the middle of the night."
Violet frowned. "Okay... But... I don't know if you'll be able to help," she murmured.
"Violet... please tell me what's wrong," Annie stated softly. "Please..."
"But..." Violet glanced away. "The more I talk about her… the more she gets to me..."
"Who's talking to you?" Annie asked calmly.
"Mary," Violet whispered again, and yet again her eyes flashed that same striking red color. It seemed every time she said that name, she lost a bit more ground.
Annie saw it and just suppressed a shiver. "Violet... your eyes..."
Violet blinked. "W-What? What about my eyes??"
"They... they flashed red..." Annie's blue eyes were wide. "It's like when Tyson turns dinosaur..."
"R-Red? Oh no," Violet moaned, covering her face with her hands. Mary's eyes were red; it was obvious what the change meant. "I have to stop… no more... I can't...." Talking about her dark side was only making it worse, so she buried her face in her pillow and decided to simply stop.
Annie, however, wouldn't let her. She pulled Violet up into her arms and held her in a strong hug. "No... you're not going to stop... If whoever this is wants a fight... she has to get through me... I'm not letting her take you..."
"Says you... Don't get in my way... it's too soon," growled a voice that was Violet's and at the same time not hers. But when Violet looked up again at Annie, her eyes were their normal green.
Annie could nearly sense the other presence, but she used her friend's name. "Violet... what is it too soon for?" she asked.
Violet blinked. "Huh? What do you mean, Annie??" she asked in obvious confusion. Whatever had happened, Violet obviously has no idea it had.
"Violet... it sounded like you... but you said, 'Says you... don't get in my way... it's too soon,'" Annie answered.
Violet blinked a few more times, frowning. "But, Annie... I didn't say anything..."
Annie sighed, a grim possibility coming to her. "Okay, Violet... let's see if you can get back to sleep... You need to sleep or your body won't start to heal..."
Violet frowned, still confused but deciding to just do as Annie said. "Okay, Annie... I'll try," she muttered, lying back down.
Annie reached out and sang softly, rubbing Violet's back as she did. 'Help me, Lord,' she prayed in her head. 'Help me fight this evil that's trying to hurt my friend...'
Violet was soon asleep, soothed by her friend's gentle singing. Syrus walked over to Annie and sat beside her, placing his arm around her. "Are you okay, Annie?"
She looked up at him, eyes worried and weary as she moved her hand from Violet's back. "She's breaking... Syrus, she's breaking... Something is going on with her..."
He frowned, taking her free hand into his. "Annie... What can we do? She and Bastion both… they're still so weak."
"I don't know... and we can't duel our way out of this..."
Syrus sighed. "We need to talk about this with the others... There has to be something we can do..."
"Yeah," she answered. "Let's... wait until morning, though. Miss Fontaine and Dr. Crowler just needed us to calm Violet down... The Darkness did something really bad to her..."
He nodded. "Good idea. Maybe after classes... I think today was the only study day."
"Yeah... no way after nearly two weeks, the teachers will let us miss any more," she said softly.
Sighing, he stifled a yawn. "So do you want to sleep here? Or go back to our room?"
"I think I need to stay here with Violet and Bastion," she answered, unable to hide the yawn. "I can't leave... in case whatever that is comes back. She might not hurt Violet physically... but she's doing mental damage..."
"All right. I'll stay here with you to help," he replied, closing his eyes, intending to sleep on the chair next to his love.
"Go lay down on one of the beds, hon. I need to stay right here."
Syrus shook his head. "I'm staying right here, Annie. In case you or Violet needs me, I'm not moving."
"I'll call you... there's an open bed right behind me, Sy... you definitely need to sleep," she countered, gesturing at the curtain.
He opened his eyes, frowning stubbornly. "Annie...."
She managed a smile, opening the curtain to the next cubicle. "Honey, you may have to take notes for us both in a few hours and you need to be awake..."
He sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to win this argument. "All right, fine... But if anything happens, or you need anything, just call me. Okay?"
She caught the edge in his voice. "Honey, please don't be mad. I just..." And her voice caught in her throat. She hated sensing he was upset with her, and between that and Violet, Annie's emotions were on edge.
He blinked, then smiled softly and placed a gentle hand on her cheek. "It's okay, Annie. I'm not mad... I'm just worried about you, and Violet, and Bastion..."
She reached up and took his hand. "Honey, you're here with me... And I'll be all right as long as you're close. Go ahead and lie down... I'm just going to sit here..."
He sighed again. "Okay..." Syrus gave her a quick kiss and then stood, going over to the bed and laying down.
And so Annie sat up the rest of the night. 'I'll fight every step of the way with Violet... I have to,' she thought. 'I will not falter... not now...'
And as Violet slept, Mary sat brooding in the deepest part of her mind. "I WAS going to kill that failure of a man first, but... This girl annoys me. We'll see how long she lasts... I wonder... what her blood tastes like..." Needless to say, the next few days were going to be tense for everyone.
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Morning came to Academy Island, and everyone woke up to find that yes, they did have class. At the Slifer dorm, Jaden Yuki woke with his hair sticking out every which way. "Lex... we gotta get up. We have class," he murmured into her ear at 6:30.
Alexis's hair was a little less wild, but still a bit tangled as she yawned. "Okay... I'm up," she muttered. Sitting up, static clung to her, threatening Jaden with its shock. And Jaden made the mistake of touching her.
"Glad you're... OUCH!" he yelped, jumping back... and falling onto the wood floor.
Alexis blinked, opening her eyes fully and looking over the edge of the bed. "Jaden??" she asked in confusion.
He sat up, sore on his behind. "Lex... you shocked me!"
"I did?" She looked at her arm, but by now the static had worn off.
"Yeah! Were you wearing your fuzzy socks?" he asked, trying to get a good look at her feet.
"No...but I am wearing a cotton nightgown," she explained.
Jaden grinned sheepishly as he got up from the floor. "You must've rubbed against the sheets. But that was as good as the shock you gave me at Christmas when you were wearing those fuzzy socks!"
Alexis smirked. "At least it woke you up, right? Now you're wide awake for class."
"Yeah... heck of a way to wake up, though, babe... I'm going down to the bathrooms and getting a shower," he grinned sheepishly, getting the stuff he needed.
She yawned again. "All right. I already had my shower last night, so I'll meet you in the cafeteria."
"Okay, babe," Jaden answered. He headed down, got his shower, and in about half an hour, was in the cafeteria with his fiancée. "Man... where's Sy," he wondered. "Lex, they should be here..."
Alexis frowned. "I know. Usually they're the first ones here... Should we try calling them?"
"I'll try Sy," Jaden said, picking up his PDA and punching in Sy's number.
Syrus was up, and had just finished getting dressed in his cubicle in the infirmary. He pulled his PDA out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey, Sy," Jaden greeted, a slight worried edge in his voice. "Where are you guys?"
"Oh, hey, Jay. We're at the infirmary," Syrus answered, sitting in a chair.
"Infirmary?!" Jaden yelped, startling the other Slifer boys and his fiancée. "Sy, what happened?!"
Syrus nearly fell out of the chair at Jaden's exclamation, and grinned sheepishly. "It's okay, Jaden. Last night Bastion and Violet had some problems. Annie and I just came here to help, that's all..."
Jaden took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself. "You just had to go up there? What happened last night?" he asked in a calmer voice.
Syrus explained how Bastion had had a nightmare, and how Violet had been really messed up by it. "Annie and I think we should have a group meeting about what to do after classes."
"Okay. Are you coming to class?"
"Well, I am. I might let Annie sleep... I think she stayed up most of the night."
Jaden had come a long way in the last year and a half in the area of concern and perception. And so he asked, "Was it a bad night?"
On the other end of the line, Syrus sighed, glancing over at the bed Annie now occupied. Miss Fontaine had moved the girl at dawn. "Yeah... Annie and I didn't get here until after most of it, but Miss Fontaine told us what happened..."
The Slifer sighed. "I'll meet you at the infirmary before class... Sy... just hang in there, bro..."
"Okay... Bye, Jay."
"Bye, Sy." Jaden terminated the connection, worry written all over his face. "Lex... did you hear that?" he asked.
"No... What's up, Jay?" she answered, frowning at his expression.
"Sy had to go to the infirmary with Annie last night. Bastion and Violet had a really rough night, it sounds like. And I think Annie stayed up all night."
"So you're going to stop by there before class?"
"Yeah, he needs me, babe," Jaden explained gently as Jesse, Jim and Axel came into the cafeteria.
"Hey, Jaden, Alexis," Axel greeted.
Jim and Jesse gave similar greetings, but all three boys could tell something was wrong by their expressions. "Jay? Alexis? Is somethin' wrong?" Jesse asked.
Jaden told them quickly. "...So we just saved the world, but it looks like... I don't know... stuff was just too much, you know?"
Jim sighed. "It seems we're not done yet, mates. There are still some obstacles we need to overcome before we can relax."
"Yeah, so much for the 'I've saved the world and I'm going to Disneyland' ending," Axel said drily.
Alexis smirked. "It doesn't work that way for us, does it?"
"Nope," Jaden sighed. "But... at least we're together through this..."
"We were going to stop by there before class. Did you three want to join us?" Alexis asked.
The three young men nodded. They ate their breakfasts and headed over to the infirmary. As they walked, Jaden reached to pet Shirley on the snout. "Hey, Shirley..." Shirley growled softly in acknowledgement, looking over at Jaden from her spot on Jim's back. "Sorry you can't be a flower crocodile yet," Jaden apologized, "but everybody's gotta get feeling better first. Rosa needs to gain some weight... Bastion and Violet need to get better…"
The crocodile seemed to nod, and growled again. Jim smiled. "It's all right, Jaden. Shirley understands."
"Yeah... well, still she deserves an apology," Jaden stated simply. They arrived in the infirmary about 20 minutes before class was to start.
"Darlin', I wish I didn't have to go to class," Tyson was saying in Rosa's cubicle.
"It's all right, Tyson. You need to go to class. Don't worry about me...I'm fine," Rosa replied reassuringly, holding his hand and offering him a small smile.
"I just hate leavin' you," he said softly, brushing her hair back with his free hand.
"I know. But it won't be for long... You can come back after classes, okay?"
"Yeah, Spanish Rose... I love you..."
"I love you, Tyson." Rosa moved up, giving him a quick kiss. Tyson kissed back, fluffing her pillows and making sure her blankets were in the right place. He stepped out of the cubicle and greeted the group.
"Hi, Tyson. How's Rosa doing?" Alexis asked.
"Gettin' her rest and she's eatin' more," Tyson smiled wearily. While he'd managed to sleep the past couple of days, the young man's face still displayed the worn look of a dedicated caregiver.
Jesse grinned. "You'd make a great nurse, Tyson! You take good care of her." Of course he meant that in a complimenting way, but it was possible to be taken the wrong way.
Tyson actually blushed. "Tyson, why are you blushing?" Jaden asked curiously. Jim and
Axel's jaws dropped, having understood the accidental double meaning. "Uh… Sarge... dang it," the Texas Ra groaned. He didn't want to have to explain that.
"Uh... Jesse? Did you say something bad?" Jaden wondered.
Jesse blinked, scratching his head as he shrugged. "I don't think so, Jay. I was just tryin' to compliment ya, Tyson. Why are you, Axel, and Jim actin' like that??"
Jim face-palmed. "Crikey..."
Tyson whispered quickly. "Well... it could be a double entendre, Private Jesse... just surprised it came from you..."
Jesse simply sent the Texan a blank stare. "A what now???"
Axel whispered what that meant, making the North Academy boy blush. "That's what it means," he said in a louder voice.
Jesse laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, well... Tyson, bud... I really didn't mean it like that... Heh heh..." He was as red as Jaden's jacket.
Tyson grinned sheepishly. "I knew that. Just reacted..."
Jaden grinned. "What's a double entendre?" Everyone fell over.
And then Sy emerged from behind one of the curtains. "Hey, guys. Uh...why's everyone on the ground?" the small Obelisk asked in confusion, sweat-dropping.
"Me being me," Jaden answered. "I didn't know what a phrase meant..."
"What word?"
"Double entendre. Any idea what it means?"
Syrus blushed. "Uh..." He walked over to Jaden and quickly whispered to him what the word meant.
Jaden's reaction was priceless. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "That's what it means?!"
Syrus nodded, face still red. "Y-Yeah..."
"Wow... Well... Jesse didn't mean that!"
Jesse sweat-dropped. "Nope. Not at all, Jay. Sorry about the misunderstanding, partner," he stated, turning to Tyson.
Tyson grinned sheepishly. "It's cool!" he said, slapping Jesse on the back.
Jesse yelped at the strong hit, face-planting the floor. The others sweat-dropped.
"I think you overdid it, mate," Jim muttered, Shirley growling in agreement.
Tyson chuckled in embarrassment as he helped Jesse up. "Sorry, Jesse... didn't ease off that time..."
Jesse grinned. "It's all right, Tyson! I'm fine."
"Sy, is Annie awake yet?" Jaden asked.
Syrus shook his head, glancing over at the curtained cubicle where the would-be doctor slept. "No, she's still sleeping."
"And that's okay?"
"Yes, Jaden... she stayed up all night with Violet," Miss Fontaine answered, coming out from Atticus's cubicle. "Both your brothers are sleeping and they're fine, Alexis," she added in response to the Rhodes girl's unspoken question.
Alexis sighed in relief. "That's good. How are Violet, Bastion, and Marcel doing?"
"Marcel's still asleep. His dad was in here a little bit ago to check on him. He had a little breakfast and fell back to sleep. Bastion and Violet will need a lot of TLC, I think," Miss Fontaine explained. "Bastion's still running a bit of a fever and Violet is under the weather..."
"TLC?" Jesse asked, unfamiliar with the term, but familiar with the TV network.
"Tender loving care, Jesse," the nurse explained. "They're going to be treated especially carefully..."
"Oh."
"Miss Fontaine, should Annie miss class? She stayed up so late," Syrus said, frowning.
"She's going to miss first and second period. I'll wake her, Sy, in time for the third class... She's got the makings of a good doctor..."
"Okay. Thanks, Miss Fontaine."
"No problem, Sy... now get to class, all of you..."
"Yes, ma'am," Jaden answered for all of them, and they ran off to class. The first class was Professor Stein's class and a review period where students could check their books and study materials and ask the teacher anything.
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The school day went by quickly for the gang and after class, they met outside the infirmary. "Man, what a day," Jaden groaned.
"Yeah... know why they call it dead week?" Annie asked sleepily, referring to the week before finals.
"Why?" Syrus replied.
"Because you're so tired, you feel dead," she sighed.
"Oh... I guess we're all tired, huh?"
Jaden groaned. "Yeah..."
Tyson too, yawned. "I'd take a nap... but Rosa needs me..."
"Okay... guys... you're all wondering what happened last night," Annie stated. And so she told them all that had occurred that she knew. "...And Violet... it was like... she was a different person for a moment..."
"It's strange... Doesn't Mary sound familiar?" Syrus muttered, trying to think.
And then Jaden went pale. "It's...oh, man..." He still vividly remembered the nightmare of his dead friends, a very evil Yubel, his dark side and of course, a psychotic murderer who looked like Violet and yet called herself Mary. "Not her..."
Alexis looked at him with a frown. "Jaden? You know who she is??"
"Y-yeah... she was in that nightmare, back when my post-traumatic stress disorder gave me trouble... That nightmare, where everybody was dead, except for me, Yubel, the Supreme King... and Violet... but she wasn't Violet... not with those burning red eyes." The Slifer couldn't shake that image from his mind, even after extensive therapy. And then Annie's face went white as she sagged against the wall.
"Annie!!" Syrus put his arm around her for support. "Annie, are you okay?!"
"Her eyes... last night," she moaned softly, head spinning. The image of Violet, looking possessed was overloading the dark-haired girl's system. And then, for the first time in several months, Anne Charlotte Hanson's eyes rolled into the back of her head and everything went black.
Luckily, by this time Syrus was strong enough to quickly lift her limp body into his arms. For a few seconds his fears of her heart problem returning came to light, but then he told himself it was just out of shock. "This isn't good... Miss Fontaine!" Syrus called as he entered the infirmary, glad they had been standing just outside of it.
Miss Fontaine came running and they got the unconscious girl to a bed. It took a few minutes before Annie came to, but it was quick compared to the times she'd had episodes. "She's fine... what happened?" the nurse asked, laying a cool cloth over Annie's forehead. The entire group, now including Adrian, Echo, Belowski and a very excited Sid, exchanged glances.
"We were talking about what's been going on with Violet... And when Jaden made a connection, she got really pale and fainted," Syrus explained, frowning at his fiancée's still form.
"What was it?" And so Jaden explained his nightmare, and then what Annie had seen. Fonda sighed. "Then... no wonder she was frightened enough to faint and Violet was so frightened..."
"This is really bad. It's like Jaden with Haou... or Atty with Nightshroud. But maybe even worse," Alexis groaned.
"Yeah... from what I saw... Mary's homicidal," Jaden sighed.
Adrian held Sid a little bit closer. "So how do we deal with this?"
"It depends," Miss Fontaine answered gently as Annie weakly squeezed her beloved's hand. "If this Mary really gets ugly... we may have to isolate Violet..."
Little did the group know that in the other room, Violet was only feigning sleep. She could hear every word, and it not only scared her, it seemed to give Mary more authority. 'You see? I told you. Isolation? Ha! Big word for everyone leaving you,' Mary sneered in her mind.
Violet could have cried. 'It's your fault! Because of you-' she thought.
'ME?? Oh no! I've been trying to save you from more of this heartbreak! They're the ones abandoning you!!' The words stung Violet, in her weakened state finding them so easy to believe.
"Miss Fontaine," Annie murmured weakly from her own bed, "no... that...can't happen..."
"Miss Fontaine, Annie's right. We can't do that to her... There has to be something else we can do," Syrus agreed, looking at the nurse.
"If she becomes a danger to everyone..."
"Then... I'll face her," Annie said softly. "She's my best friend... and there's no way... I'll let that thing destroy her..."
"But Annie, what if she hurts you?" Alexis asked worriedly.
"I don't care... She's like my sister... and if it means I get hurt trying to get her back, that's the way it is," Annie asserted, trying to sit up, but still too weak.
"Annie..." It wasn't someone in the group who had said that, but Violet. She stood in the doorway, tears brimming her eyes and having heard every word.
Annie looked up, since the rest of her didn't want to cooperate. "Violet? Are you... okay?" she asked shakily. "You... should be in bed..."
Violet ignored the statement and shakily walked over to her best friend's bedside, sitting down so that she wouldn't fall over. She pulled the girl into a hug, tears running down her cheeks. "Annie... you... Thank you..."
Annie hugged back, tears coming. "I'll fight this out with you... no matter what..."
'Even if you die?' Mary asked in Violet's mind. She suddenly tensed, hands gripping the back of Annie's blazer.
The overwhelming thought of snapping the brunette's neck had slammed into her mind, and it took all the effort Violet had not to move her hands. "A-Ah... no... I won't..."
Annie sensed it. "Leave her alone! I won't let you take her. No one takes Violet without facing me first... you hear me?!"
"Oh, I hear you. But not for-no, Mary!" Violet pushed out of Annie's hug, hands moving to her head as she squeezed her red eyes shut. She took shaky breaths, trying to clear her mind. 'You won't... you won't... you won't... I won't let you! Go away!' she thought.
The entire group heard the voice change. "Violet?!" Jaden gasped, remembering that voice from that months-old nightmare, the one that had made him shy away from her.
"Violet... darling..." Everyone looked up to see Bastion, shaking and pale, standing at the door. "Stay with me," he groaned, as he had evidently struggled with every step to the private room. He was the color of curdled milk, and his cheeks were flushed from the fever. But his eyes held determination.
'Annoying little... I'll leave for now. But I will have her life,' Mary growled out, as Violet's eyes changed back to green.
She took a deep breath, as if surfacing from the deep end of a pool. "B-Bastion," she stammered, sweat beading her face.
"Violet... don't... let her... win," he groaned, falling to one knee.
Miss Fontaine moved to his side, feeling the heat radiate from his body. "Bastion... you shouldn't have gotten out of bed..."
"Had to... Violet's not... going anywhere... won't... let her," he ground out.
Violet shakily got to her feet and went to him, kneeling beside him so that she could hug him. "I-I'm still here... Bastion... It's okay..."
"Not... letting you be taken... I... won't fail you again," he groaned as Miss Fontaine brushed his forehead.
"Bastion... sweetie, your temperature's back up... You should've stayed in bed!" the nurse chastised.
"Had to get up... Violet needs me..."
"I'm fine now, Bastion... Come on, let's get you back to bed... Okay?" the purple-headed girl pleaded, frowning worriedly.
Miss Fontaine couldn't get the Ra to his feet on her own, so Adrian helped. "Okay, we're almost there, Bastion... One more step," the redheaded young man stated calmly. They got him in and he was asleep again in seconds.
"He keeps pushing too hard and he won't relax," the nurse groaned softly, taking his temperature with an ear thermometer.
Violet collapsed onto her bed, also exhausted. "It's my fault... He keeps pushing too hard because of me... I'm making him worse," she groaned, curling into a ball.
By this time, Annie was able to get out of bed and to her friend while the nurse took care of Bastion. "No... Violet... it's not your fault. And it's his nature to push too hard," she explained.
"But he's doing it because of what's happening to me... So it is my fault this time..." Violet countered, tightly closing her eyes.
"Violet... don't keep hurting yourself," the girl pleaded. "Bastion loves you..."
"And that's why he's making himself worse to help me... And it's not even making it any better.... So he's hurting himself for nothing!"
"Then... concentrate on fighting her... And I'll fight her with you," Annie promised, holding Violet's hand.
"I can't... She's too strong..." Violet moaned, burying her face in her pillow again. She didn't want to mention how convincing she was.
"She's telling you what Darkness told you... isn't she?"
"S-Sort of..."
"That you'd always be alone, and that we'd abandon you?"
"Y-Yeah... She said that... you would all leave me... So... she has to punish all of you... And that because Bastion can't protect me, he should be punished too... She said that she's the only one who won't leave me..."
"Punished? How?" Annie asked. She was frightened, but she had to know.
"Isn't it o-obvious??" Violet snapped, unable to stop herself.
"Violet... does she want us... dead?"
The purple-haired girl nodded silently, face still deep in her pillow. "B-But... not just dead... Painful d-deaths... So much… blood..."
Annie decided to take a risk and hug Violet again. "We'll stop her... somehow..." This time nothing happened, and Violet nodded again. She was still exhausted, and was starting to drift. "It'll be okay... and she won't win..."
"I hope... you're right..."
"We can stop her... And I won't let her take you... I'd rather die first..."
"Please... don't..." Violet was finding it harder and harder to listen as she drifted.
"You're my best friend," Annie murmured, laying her down and covering her with the blanket, "and that's what you mean to me..."
"Mmm... best.. friend..." Violet muttered before finally joining her fiancé in sleep.
Miss Fontaine looked worried as they stepped out of the cubicle. "Bastion must be fighting some sort of infection off... That's why his fever is so persistent... But it appears to be a viral infection..."
"Is there any way to tell for sure?" Syrus asked.
"Yes, I took cultures and did blood work. Unfortunately with a virus, there's nothing to do but let his body fight it off," the nurse explained. "Annie, do you know why?"
"Antibiotics won't work and may help you resist them later when you need them to fight off bacterial infections," Annie stated, like the medical student she hoped to be.
"Does Violet have a virus too?" Alexis inquired, frowning.
Miss Fontaine nodded. "Her body's fighting it a bit more effectively, though. All I can do is watch them both at this point. With their immune systems lowered, it's more likely that their systems could be affected by worse than this..."
"So then... the only thing we can really do is help them with their darkness, if it's possible with them in this state," Jim said thoughtfully.
The nurse nodded and looked toward Bastion and Violet's cubicle. "Bastion's in no condition to confront it at this point... Wait until he's a little bit stronger..."
"But we can help Violet, can't we?" Jesse asked hopefully.
"Definitely. Whatever this dark side is... you must fight it with her..."
"She would've fought the Supreme King along with me," Jaden stated clearly.
"Well, first we need to get her to relax. It'll be harder when she's all stressed like this..." Alexis stated, and then got an idea. "What if tomorrow we take her to the girls' hot spring for a little while? She loves it there... and it would help her to relax. Would that be all right, Miss Fontaine?"
The nurse thought a moment. "If she's a little stronger, then I'll allow it. It might do her good to get out of the infirmary... And the fresh air will help her... And Bastion will have a lot of visitors..."
"Yeah... he will. All the Ras want to see him," Belowski smiled. He'd been staying at the Ra dorm with Professor Sartyr, despite his rank as an Obelisk Blue.
"It'll cheer him up a little and give him more time to rest," Syrus added, smiling.
It appears that the gang has scars that have not gone away simply because Darkness did. Bastion is a sick young man and the residual traces of Darkness are wearing him and Violet down. But it seems their friends are ready to fight the presence that is tearing Violet's sanity apart. Next time, please join us for "Murderous Intent." Until then, please read, review and stay tuned! Thank you!