Alright people! Chapter eight is here! I just wanted to clear things up before we get started. Alissa still doesn't have all her memories back. She has a few here and there, but mostly everything is still forgotten. I know that was probably unclear since the story jumped from Alissa and her amnesia to the Waking Dragons arc pretty quickly, but don't worry. Alissa's amnesia will be addressed again in an upcoming chapter. Anyhoo, enough rambling from me! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
xxxx
Alissa sat in Seto's home office as he typed. They had returned from Industrial Illinois only a few hours prior. Upon reaching Industrial Illinois, they had run into Yugi and the gang. She had wanted to stay behind and help them figure out how to stop the evil bikers, but Seto had refused. Now she was beginning to have second thoughts of allowing him to make her leave them.
"We should've stayed to help them."
"It's not our fault that they decided to stay behind and play hero. As far as I'm concerned, it's not my problem."
"But it is our problem! You heard what the message that Pegasus left said! The same people who got rid of Pegasus are the people who tried to get rid of you and tried to get rid of them at that gas station!"
"The dweebs can take care of themselves. I'm not babysitting them because they decided to believe in this stupid magic trick!"
"Ugh! You are so infuriating! Why do you hate them so much? They never did anything to you!"
"I don't need to explain myself." She rolled her eyes and stomped towards the door. "Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving before I get too upset with you and can't stop myself from punching you in the balls." She left the room before he had time to respond. Once she got to her room, she slammed the door and sat on her bed. His cold attitude was irritating her. She didn't understand why he had to be so difficult. She suddenly realized how tired she was and decided a little sleep would do her good. She climbed under her blankets and shut her eyes, letting herself drift into unconsciousness.
xxx
"Give it back!" The five-year-old boy stood on his tiptoes to reach his toy that the bully held high above his head.
"How about you get lost?" The taller boy shoved the smaller boy to the ground. The taller boy's group of friends laughed as the younger boy sniffled.
"Hey! Leave my brother alone!" The group of bullies looked up to see a girl with dark hair approaching them. Her green eyes were narrowed in fury.
"Oh look Benvolio. Her comes your older sister to the rescue. How lame that you have to be saved by a girl."
"Oh yeah! Well you're about to get your butt kicked by a girl!" His older sister punched the group's leader in the face, causing his nose to burst. He let out a shriek and dropped the toy to cover his bleeding nose with his hands.
"Now get lost before I really lose my temper!" The older boys visibly recoiled then ran from the park. The older girl got on her knees next to her fallen brother.
"Here," she said, holding out his toy car to him. "Are you okay Ben?" Ben flicked his tar colored bangs out of his face and nodded. He hugged his sister tightly with a relieved smile.
"Thanks Alissa."
"You're welcome Ben. They won't bug you anymore okay? I'll make sure of it."
"We'll always be together right?"
"Of course we will."
"And you'll always protect me?"
"Yes. I promise." Ben suddenly pulled away and glared at his older sister.
"You promised me!" The park suddenly disappeared and surrounded the brother and sister and darkness.
"You promised you'd always be there for me! But you weren't! You promised me that nothing would happen to me! But you let me die!" The young boy suddenly began to disappear into the darkness.
"Ben! No wait! I'm sorry! Come back please!" Alissa stood and pursued her quickly disappearing brother.
"It's your fault! You killed me! You let me die!" The boy disappeared completely into the darkness and Alissa fell to her knees in tears.
"Ben no!"
xxx
"Ben no!" Alissa let out a loud scream as she returned to consciousness. She sat up quickly, her whole body shaking with sobs. Sweat glistened on her brow. She was sobbing so violently that she didn't hear Seto enter her room.
"Alissa? Alissa what happened?" She immediately clutched onto him when he sat on the bed next to her.
"It's my fault! I killed him! I was supposed to protect him! I was his older sister, it was my job! I killed him! It's my fault!"She sobbed uncontrollably into his chest.
"Don't you dare speak like that. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident what happened to your family." After a few minutes, when her sobs finally subsided, she pulled back from him.
"Sorry," she said quickly, wiping under her eyes. She wanted to kick herself. She hated crying in front of people.
"Don't apologize. Are you going to be alright the rest of the night?" She swallowed and nodded slowly.
"Uh yeah. I think so." He got up from his place on her bed and headed towards the door. "Uh Seto wait!"
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry. Would you stay with me? I don't want to be alone. Please?"
"Move." He walked over to her bed and took the stop on her bed that she had just moved from.
"Thank you." A brief silence fell before she spoke again. "Are you mad? At me I mean."
"Don't be stupid."
"It would make sense if you were. You've been so helpful and supportive. I've just been a bitch."
"I'm not angry with you. It's your strong attitude that drew me to you."
"Did I wake you?"
"No."
"Good. Night Seto." She turned on her side so her back was to him.
"Goodnight Alissa."
xxx
The next afternoon, Alissa sat in Seto's office with the Kaiba brothers.
"I think I know who is responsible for all this but I want you to trace all transactions anyway. I'd sooner see this company be destroyed than give it up to Pegasus!" The older Kaiba let out a frustrated growl and slammed the phone down onto the receiver.
"Um Seto? Are you sure that Pegasus is really the one behind all this? I mean it could be Alister. He was pretty upset."
"Little Kaiba does have a point," Alissa chimed in. "He did try to steal your soul so I wouldn't put it past him."
"I'm not sure about all this magic mumbo jumbo but you two do bring up a good point about Alister. The phone in the office suddenly started to ring. "What is it?"
"There's a Mr. Wheeler on the phone for you Sir." Mokuba and Alissa gasped.
"It's Joey!"
"Something must've happened! They must've found something!"
"Put him through."
"He took your call?" The shocked voice of Tea filled the room as a close up of Joey's face appeared on the screen.
"What? He did? Hey Kaiba! You in there?"
"Step back from the webcam and it might work better."
"Huh?" Joey leaned back to reveal Yugi, Tristan, Tea, and Duke standing behind him. "Hey you're right."
"What happened guys?"
"Make it quick Wheeler. I have things to do."
"We found some clues about those biker punks."
"What kind of clues Wheeler?"
"I'm not tellin' ya that easy Kaiba. But if ya give us a lift to Florida I'll tell ya all about it on da way."
"Well are you going to help us or not?" Tristan asked.
"We're running outta time Kaiba! Those creeps beat Yugi and took his soul!" The people on the screen all glared at Joey.
"Way to keep a secret idiot!" Tristan hissed. Alissa stared at her friends on the screen in shock. No. They couldn't have taken Yugi. Yami was supposed to protect him. Yugi couldn't have lost his soul. She cast a glance to where Yugi was glancing and her chest clenched up. It wasn't Yugi. It was Yami. Oh no. It's true.
"Yugi lost?" Seto screamed into the phone. The group on the screen froze in shock. "You gave your championship title to some nobody? No one deserves that title but me Yugi! You're a disgrace to the game!" He slammed the phone down, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay Seto?" Mokuba asked, concerned by his brother's outburst. Seto smirked in response.
"I'm fine. Now I have one more reason to hunt down and destroy those thugs."
xxx
A couple hours later, the trio sat on one of the company's jet. Alissa sat in one of the chairs and stretched, happy that this time she wasn't squished by the thirteen-year-old Kaiba.
"Hey come here you guys. You gotta see this!" Mokuba said as he stared out the window of the jet.
"What is it now Mokuba?"
"I don't know but it looks cool Seto!" Alissa and Seto walked to the window and peered out.
"What do you think it is you guys?"
"I don't know Mokuba, but I don't trust it."
"You shouldn't," Alissa agreed. "We aren't at the right geographical position to be seeing the Northern Lights, which means that those lights are something else. I'll bet they have something to do with that Great Beast that everyone keeps talking about."
"Attention. We may experience some mild turbulence. Please fasten your seat belts," the pilot's voice sounded through the jet.
"I don't think flying through this light show is the best course of action. If it doesn't disappear in the next two minutes I'm ordering this aircraft to change its course." Suddenly the lights began to flicker then went off. Seto pressed the small communicator in the collar of his white coat.
"Captain do you read me? Come in now."
"I'm checking it out." Mokuba got up from his seat and headed towards where the crew would be. He froze when he reached an empty room.
"Um weren't there people here like two minutes ago?" Alissa asked, coming behind Mokuba and noticing the empty room.
"Our whole team is gone Seto!"
"Sorry you three but this is a private party," a voice laughed over the loudspeaker.
"It's Alister!"
"We have some unfinished business to settle Kaiba."
"Show yourself Alister you coward!"
"He must be in the cockpit Seto!" The trio ran up to the cockpit to find it empty as well.
"What did Alister do with the rest of our crew?"
"He couldn't have taken them far."
"You guys just don't get it do you?" Alister's voice sounded over the loudspeaker again. "They were all an illusion. It was always only the four of us on the plane."
"I've had enough of this! Tell me where you are you coward!" Seto began to walk through the plane with Alissa and Mokuba following close behind.
"You're getting warmer Kaiba."
"Enough with the games Alister." The trio reached the main room again. One of the spinning chairs suddenly turned around, revealing a smirking Alister.
"Alister."
"Hello Kaiba. How about you and I have a rematch? I have a score to settle."
"What happened to your brother isn't my older brother's fault!"
"Why don't you try telling that to my brother kid!"
"Enough. If we go through with this duel will you get out of my life forever? I'm getting sick of all this."
"Seto don't!"
"You want a duel Alister? You got one!" Seto walked to a control panel on the wall and clicked a button. The table in the middle of the room moved away to clear space for a duel.
"Seto stop! You can't duel him! What if he plays that card again?"
"I never back down from a challenge Alissa."
"Soon Kaiba you're soul will be mine!"
"Let's duel!" As the duel commenced, Mokuba and Alissa watched with worried expressions from the sidelines.
"If Alister plays that Seal of Orichalcos card my brother will be in big trouble!" Alissa nodded and swallowed around a huge lump in her throat. She was hoping that Alister wouldn't draw that card. Yugi had already lost his soul to that card. She didn't want to lose another friend.
"Something isn't right. Alister is already down to 2200 points. It's like he isn't even trying."
"You're right Alissa. He's making this too easy." Alister drew a card from his deck and smirked.
"Soon you won't be so confident Kaiba. I just drew the card I used on you last time and it changes the playing field."
"Mokuba and Alissa get back now!"
"I activate The Seal of Orichalcos!"
"No!" Alissa charged forward and reached out to grab onto Seto's arm in hopes of pulling him to safety. Before she could get a grip, the green dome formed around the two duelists, knocking the two onlookers backwards.
"Mokuba! Alissa!" Alissa staggered to her feet and watched in fear as the seal brought the two duelists on top of the moving plane. She stumbled backwards as the plane began to descend in altitude.
"Mokuba! Mokuba wake up something's wrong!" Mokuba's eyes slowly opened and he sat up quickly.
"Where'd they go?"
"Up there," she responded, pointing above her. "But we have a bigger problem right now." Another jolt sent both her and Mokuba tumbling to the ground.
"Oh no! Alister must've somehow deactivated the auto-pilot!" Mokuba headed towards the cockpit and Alissa started to follow until Mokuba stopped her. "Stay here and make sure he doesn't hurt my brother." She nodded and watched him head up the stairs. She turned her gaze to the duel happening above her. Fear started to build in the pit of her stomach when black smoke filled the dome, causing the two duelists to disappear into its depths.
"Seto! Seto can you hear me? Seto!" When she didn't hear a response she started to panic. No, no, no. We already lost Yugi's soul. We can't lose Seto's too. She released an audible sigh of relief when the smoke cleared to reveal both duelists still standing. Her relieved smile widened when Seto's attack caused Alister's life points to drop to 1400. Her smile dropped when the plane swerved and jolted again. She flew backwards and hit her head on the side of the wall. She fell backwards with a small moan as black spots began to cloud her vision. She heard Seto scream for her and his little brother, and then everything went black.
xxx
"Alissa! Alissa come on! You need to get up!" Alissa groaned and slowly opened her eyes.
"Mokuba?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine," she sat up, holding her head. "Just a little dizzy. What happened? Is the duel over? Is your brother alright?"
"No the duel isn't over yet but I got the plane back on auto-pilot."
"Nice job Little Kaiba." She peered up at the two duelists above her. "How's your brother doing?" Before Mokuba could respond, Alister's voice filled the air.
"Ziggurat attack Kaiba's life points directly! Say goodbye Kaiba!" Alissa's gaze fell upon the massive machine at the same time that it released its attack.
"Seto!"
"You just activated my trap Alister!"
"Nice try Kaiba. Ziggurat can't be stopped by trap cars."
"This isn't an ordinary trap card Alister! It allows me to use your magic cards! And I chose to use the card from your graveyard, Junk Dealer to bring back my Judgeman in defense mode to protect my life points!" The attack hit, destroying Seto's Judgeman and bringing his life points down to a measly 100. The sound of helicopters had Mokuba and Alissa turning their attention away from the duel.
"It's Roland! I knew they'd be here soon!"
"Kaiba!" As Alister screamed his enemy's name, green bursts of power surged through the dome. Alissa and Mokuba screamed as all the windows in the plane shattered. Thinking quickly, Alissa grabbed onto Mokuba and pinned him between the wall and her body to protect him from the debris now flying through the air. The rescue team disappeared from sight when the plane disappeared behind a thick mound of clouds.
"Keep your head down and covered Mokuba!" The duo held on tightly as the plane quickly decreased in altitude.
"Big brother! Are you okay?" The duo watched as the duel continued and Seto summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragon. However, this didn't do anything to make the duo worry less.
"They may be equally matched, but Ziggurat can't be destroyed because of those stupid robot tokens."
"You're brother better think of something Mokuba and he better do it quickly."
"Soon Kaiba every person on Earth like you will be gone!"
"Would you still try to destroy the Earth if it meant hurting your brother?"
"How dare you Kaiba! It's your fault he's gone!"
"Face the facts Alister! As an older brother, it was your job to protect your little brother. It was your fault that he got captured so stop trying to blame everyone else."
"Ziggurat attack him now!"
"Seto no!"
"Unlike you, I plan to protect my little brother! I activate my trap card, Tyrant Wing! This gives my Blue Eyes White Dragon a 400-point boost! I won't let you endanger my little brother's life! Blue Eyes, attack his Ziggurat now!" Alister's monster was destroyed with a large explosion, sending Alister's life points down to 1000.
"Hm that doesn't matter Kaiba. Remember, I have the Orichalcos on my side and when this plane crashes, the seal will absorb all four of our souls."
"You're pathetic Alister. You know you're going to lose so you're just giving up?"
"Alister please! What would your little brother say if he saw you now?"
"You're just mad because you let your little brother down Alister."
"Well you let yours down too. There's no way you'd be able to win before this plane crashes, even if I did end my turn right now."
"Try me."
"Alright. Go ahead and try to stop me!"
"It all ends now Alister! I play Fang of Critias! Then I combine it with my trap card to form Tyrant Burst Dragon! And finally, I combine my Blue Eyes with my new monster to form Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon! Now destroy all three of his monsters!" The dragon launched its attack, destroying Alister's remaining monsters.
"You win." Alister's life points dropped to zero and the seal began to shrink. The seal surrounded Alister as Seto dropped back down inside the plane.
"That thing's going to take is soul Seto! We have to stop it!" Alister looked up upon Mokuba's approach.
"Mikey?" Alister stood and handed Mikey's old toy to Mokuba. "It's about time I returned this to you."
"Thank you Alister."
"No sweat." Alister released a pained gasp and fell forward.
"Alister no!"
"He's gone. Just like Yugi. The seal captured him." The plane shook again, pulling the trio's attention away from the fallen duelist.
"Both of you wait here!" Seto ordered as he headed to the cockpit.
"Mokuba hold onto something." Alissa grabbed onto Alister's limp form and held his arm in one hand and the side of a chair in the other. She tightened her grip when she felt the plane hit solid ground. When the plane finally stopped moving she breathed out an audible sigh of relief. Seto returned from the cockpit with a frown, though he looked a lot less tense than when he went in there.
"We need to take him with us," Alissa replied, referring to Alister's limp body.
"I know that. Do you think I'm stupid?" Seto gathered the smaller man in his arms then headed towards the exit of the plane. When the trio exited the plane, their gazes fell on the small group of people directly outside their plane.
"Oh great. It's the dweeb patrol."
"Hey look! It's Roland!" Mokuba called, pointing to the approaching team of helicopters. Alissa approached her friends and hugged the tightly. She stopped when she reached Yami.
"What happened to Yugi?" The group fell silent.
"It was my fault. I let my rage get the better of me. I played the Seal of Orichalcos. He let the seal take him instead of me."
"You can't be serious."
"Unfortunately I am." Alissa's palm connected with Yami's cheek with a sharp smack, causing the onlookers to gasp.
"You played that card even though you knew how evil it was? What the hell kind of protector are you?"
"Alissa now wait-."
"For once Joey will you just shut up!" She yelled, briefly turning her tirade onto the sandy haired boy who spoke. "It was your job to protect him! How could you do that?" A hand on her shoulder caused her to turn her glare to the person standing behind her.
"As much as I enjoy watching the dweebs be made fools of, I think you've said enough."
"Don't touch me," she snapped, twisting her shoulder free of Seto's grip. She turned fully towards him, focusing her tirade on another victim. "And you! Don't think you aren't in trouble! What the hell were you thinking? You knew Alister had that damned card in his deck but you still agreed to duel him? I thought you were supposed to be a genius! What the hell is wrong with you? Now because of you." She paused to point at Yami. "And because of you." She thrust her finger into Seto's chest roughly. "Two people had to give up their souls!"
"Alissa stop!" Mokuba's voice made her stop speaking. "I know your upset but you need to calm down." She inhaled deeply through her nose and nodded.
"Fine."
xxx
Alissa sat with her arms crossed over her chest as the group discussed their plan. Shortly after Alissa's breakdown, the rescue helicopters landed. Unfortunately, Roland didn't bring good news. He brought news that Kaiba Corp. now belonged to the mystery investor who had been buying up stocks. As a result, Seto agreed to help Yugi and the gang find out the mystery behind the Great Beast. Seto managed to get a picture of the carving found in Atlantis before the team he had sent to get the carving was attacked. The group was currently on their way to Kaiba Corp's headquarters to get a clearer picture of the stone carving found in Atlantis.
"Alissa," Yami began. "I'm sorry-."
"Don't. You're still on my shit list and unless you want me to hit you so hard that your teeth bleed, I'd suggest you stop talking to me." By the time the helicopter landed, it was dark. Alissa sat with Tristan, Tea, Mokuba, Duke, Joey, Mr. Hawkins, and Rebecca and waited for Seto and Yami to return from getting a clearer picture. Rebecca's computer made a small pinging sound before a clear picture of the ruins popped up on her screen.
"What does it say Mr. Hawkins?" The group listened to him as he translated the text. Suddenly, the connection cut off, causing Rebecca's screen to go black.
"Rebecca where are da headquarters for this Paradius?"
"Let's see." She began typing furiously on her computer than she stopped. "Here it is." Joey stood up quickly with a fierce look in his eyes.
"I'm comin' you creeps!"
"Joey wait! We need a plan first man!" Tristan yelled.
"Joey stop!" Alissa yelled, running after him.
"Alissa stop! We need to stay together!" She ignored Duke and continued to chase after Joey. After a few quick turns down a couple alleys, she lost sight of him.
"Damn it. Joey! Joey where are you?" The sound of footsteps made her freeze. She turned quickly and came face to face with a man with red hair and brown eyes. The Orichalcos symbol was on his head.
"Hello Alissa," he said smoothly. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but this guy seemed familiar.
"How do you know my name?"
"You don't remember me? That's so sad. We were such good friends."
"That doesn't answer my question." She took a step back to create more distance between herself and the red head.
"The name's Sam."
xxxx
And I'm going to end this chapter here. Do you guys remember Sam? The owner of her apartment in the first book that tried to rape her? Well he's back. Are you guys shocked? Anyhoo! This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I expected it too and holy poo I made Alissa a total bitch in this chapter. I apologize if the end seems rushed but it's almost three o' clock in the morning so my brain is a little fried. Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think! Until next time, peace out girl scouts.