Hey guys! Classes started again on Tuesday and I'm super excited for my second semester of college. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm done with classes at two forty so now I should have a bit more time to write. I'm going to set myself on a weekly schedule and see if I can get an update a week. We'll see how well that goes:P. Anyhoo, I hope everyone enjoyed the last chapter! Read and enjoy!
xxxx
The girl let out a heavy sigh and let her hand drop from the bars that kept her trapped. She blew a wayward strand of white hair out of her face and drew her knees in closer to her chest. How could I have let them capture me, she mentally cursed herself. The sound of someone next to the door of the cage had her gasping in surprise and fright. Now what did they want? Her brows furrowed in confusion when she saw not one of the ruffians, but a boy not much older than her fiddling with the lock.
"What are you doing?"
"Shh," he hushed, pausing to place a finger over his lips. "Saving you." The girl watched him as he continued to fiddle with the lock. He was tan skinned with long and shaggy brown hair. Pieces of his bangs fell into his deep blue eyes. Finally, the cage was opened. He held his arms out to her and helped her out of the cage. Before the duo could get far, one of the ruffians spotted them.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" The man charged forward but was stopped when the young boy grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over his shoulder. He grabbed onto the girl's hand and began to run in the opposite direction.
"Come on we've got to go."
"They're getting away! After them!" The girl could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she ran behind the boy. The boy stopped when they reached a brown horse. He climbed onto the large mammal and held out his hand to the girl.
"Come on." She tentatively took hold of his hand and he pulled her up onto the horse. As soon as she was safely seated behind him, he took off.
"Are they following us?" The boy asked after several minutes of riding. The girl looked over her shoulder to find her captors and their camp nowhere in sight.
"No."
"Then my work is done," the boy replied, jumping off the horse. "Keep riding until you reach the next town, even if that means you have to ride through the night. The people who live there will be able to help you."
"Why are you helping me? Who are you?"
"I'm Seto."
"Thank you Seto! I promise I'll make this up to you someday!"
xxx
The sound of an engine pulled Alissa back into consciousness. When she opened her eyes, they met with a pair of concerned cerulean ones.
"Alissa."
"You're back!" Before the young CEO could react, Alissa's thin arms were thrown around him in a tight hug. " I was so scared. When that thing sucked out your soul I thought we'd never get you back."
"Pft. Don't be ridiculous. It takes a lot more than a joke like Dartz to get rid of me."
"Now isn't the time to joke. I was scared that I lost you too." Her voice was slightly muffled due to the fact that her face was still pressed into his chest.
"Surely you remember that I hardly ever joke. Besides, I never left. I just fell unconscious. Everything that happened was just a mind trick. Don't be stupid like the rest of your dorky friends."
"Hey! Why dontcha shut it ya big jerk?" The Brooklyn accent of her hotheaded friend made Alissa grin broadly.
"Joey!" She moved from Seto and attacked her new victim with a tight hug. The force of the hug nearly sent the clumsy blond backwards.
"Whoa easy there Alissa."
"Sorry. I'm just glad that you're back too." Reality suddenly dawned on her. If both Seto and Joey were back, then that must mean that Yugi was back too. She pulled away from Joey and looked at her small group of friends that stood behind Joey. Her grin widened when her gaze rested on the small form of Yugi. She moved to him and embraced him tightly.
"I'm glad you're okay."
"The whole gang is back in business!" Tristan cheered, throwing his arms around Yugi and Alissa. Tea and Joey laughed and joined in on the hug. Seto frowned. Pft, dorks. Alissa saw the Kaiba brothers standing outside of the group hug.
"Well. Are you going to join? You're part of our group too."
"I don't do hugs. Especially with the dweeb patrol."
"Watch it ya big jerk or I'll kick your keester!"
"Let it go Joey." Well it's nice to see that everything is back to normal with those two, Alissa thought.
"Alissa what happened to you in there?" Mokuba's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean how did you call a Blue Eyes? My brother has the only three Blue Eyes cards left in existence. How did you summon one?"
"I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused. What Blue Eyes? I didn't summon a Blue Eyes."
"If you didn't summon a Blue Eyes then that means that the one we saw must've been real." Tea's announcement made Alissa's brows furrow in confusion. Before she could ask what Tea meant, Seto scoffed.
"Don't be ridiculous. Do you dorks even hear yourselves? Real monsters? Pft, give me a break."
"What would you know Kaiba?" Tristan snapped, annoyed with the young CEO's attitude. "Your soul was gone when it happened."
"Hmph. Whatever."
"What do you mean a real Blue Eyes? Can someone tell me what's going on?"
"After Kaiba lost his soul you kind of freaked out." Alissa nodded. She remembered watching Seto's body go limp. She remembered the heavy feeling she felt around her heart when she lost another one of her friends.
"Yeah, I remember that. What happened after that?"
"This is the thing we aren't too sure about. All of a sudden your hair and eyes changed colors. Then you started glowing. When the light cleared there was a Blue Eyes in front of you. It tried to attack Dartz but couldn't make it through the Seal. It disappeared and you returned to normal before you fell unconscious."
"Why don't you dorks grow up? It's bad enough that you've poisoned Mokuba's mind with this junk. Stop wasting everyone's time with your fairytales." Alissa zoned out as Joey and Seto began to argue with each other. None of this makes sense. How was I able to summon a real monster? Damn amnesia! Maybe if I had all of my memories I'd be able to understand why that happened. Fuck amnesia.
xxx
After dropping Yugi and the gang off with Rebecca, Duke, and Professor Hawkins, Kaiba had Roland fly them back to Domino. Alissa lay sprawled out on one of the seats with her eyes closed, the sound of the engine creating a sound soft enough to lull her to sleep. She awoke not much later to find herself being lifted into Seto's arms. She cracked open her eyes and smiled lightly before shutting her eyes again and pressing her cheek into his strong chest. Seto saw her crack open her eyes and smirked.
"You know if you're awake you can walk back into the house." The corners of her mouth twitched upwards into a wider smile and she let out a fake snore.
"Hmph. Brat."
"Pot. Kettle. Black." She opened her eyes and stared up at him with a smirk. "If I'm really that heavy then I can walk."
"Don't be stupid. I was kidding."
"I thought the great Seto Kaiba doesn't kid."
"I do on occasion."
"It's good to know that you have a sense of humor under that icy exterior. Well now that I was rudely awakened," she paused to toss him another smirk. "I might as well walk by myself." She climbed out of his arms and landed firmly on two feet.
"Mokuba I want you to head straight up to bed," Seto said to his younger relative as soon as they entered the mansion.
"Okay Seto." Mokuba hugged his brother tightly around the waist. "Goodnight Nii-sama."
"Night Kiddo." A small smile tugged at Seto's lips as he watched his younger brother head upstairs to bed. He was glad that Mokuba was able to make it out of the whole Dartz fiasco unharmed.
"I have work to do. I'll see you in the morning Alissa."
"Goodnight Seto."
xxx
"No!" she screamed, wrenching herself free of the cop's grip. "Stay awake Seto. Please! You need to stay awake!" Seto's eyes slid to hers. A small trickle of blood came from the corner of his mouth. Her eyes widened in fear as his eyes fluttered then closed.
"No Seto! Please, wake up! You need to stay awake!"
"Miss you need to step back," the officer said sternly, pulling to her feet. He blocked her from returning to Seto's side.
"No please-."
"Let the ambulance do their job Miss." Alissa was so caught up in fear that she didn't notice that the ambulance had arrived. The first responders loaded him into the back of the ambulance. As they were doing this, she looked down at her shaking hands. They were covered in blood. She moved to climb into the vehicle behind him but was stopped by one of the first responders.
"I'm sorry Miss but I can't let you get in there."
"No. Please! I need to go with him. He needs me!"
"You need to let us do our job." The EMT that spoke hopped into the back of the ambulance and shut the doors. Alissa watched the ambulance drive away, closely followed by the second one that held the injured cop. If he dies it'll be my fault, she thought darkly. I'll never be able to forgive myself.
xxx
Alissa sat up quickly her breathing coming out at a rapid pace. She raised a hand to wipe away the beads of sweat that had started to gather on her forehead. Can I just go one night without having fucked up dreams? Is that too much to ask? She didn't understand where that dream had come from. Was it a memory or just a manifestation of her worries of losing Seto earlier on that day? Her uncertainty made her stomach twist. She swung her legs off the side of her bed and stood, deciding that seeing the CEO would help alleviate her sudden uneasiness. She found him in his home office, typing furiously on his computer.
"Hey."
"You should be sleeping."
"I could say the same for you." He finally lifted his gaze from the screen of his laptop.
"What's wrong?"
"I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You took a knife for me?" He sighed. He should've known that she would remember that sooner or later. He just thought that it would take longer for her to recall that particular memory, especially since it was such a traumatizing one.
"Yes I did."
"I've been having so many strange dreams lately. I'm not sure which ones are dreams and which ones are memories. Why did you take a knife for me?"
"Because I've always had this hidden fantasy of getting stabbed in the chest by some psychopath."
"Do you always have to be so condescending? I was being serious."
"The answer is pretty apparent. I didn't want you to get stabbed so I reacted quickly."
"So you put yourself in danger?"
"Being the owner of multi-million dollar corporation, my life is in danger every day."
"The fact that you're brushing this off so easily is kind of concerning. Do you want to get yourself killed? Actually, I can answer that. Based on the display of your blatant disregard for your own life, I would say that the answer is yes."
"Hypocrisy doesn't suit you. Do you not recall going after Alister and his group of stupid biker punks with those dorky friends of yours? Or how about the time you almost forfeited the duel so I would win?"
"Fine. We're both idiots. And don't talk about my friends that way. They helped save your ass so perhaps you should show more respect."
"I don't have time for this. If you have nothing important to say then leave."
"I was scared."
"What?"
"I was scared today. When Dartz beat you and chucked you out of the Seal I was terrified. You weren't moving and your skin was cold like ice. I didn't think it was fair. First we lost Yugi, then we lost Joey, and then we lost you. I didn't think it was fair, especially since I started remembering more things about you."
"What do you remember?"
"I remember that you're good at astronomy." Her response earned her a small smile.
"I know my constellations."
"Hey Seto?"
"Hm?"
"Whose Tony? You told me that you would tell me after everything with Dartz was over."
"Alissa I don't think now would be a good time to tell you. You've been through a lot today and the doctor said not to cause you large amounts of stress."
"But-."
"Wait two more weeks. If you don't remember him by then, I'll tell you. But I'm letting you know now, he wasn't a good person."
"I don't understand why you can't tell me now."
"Because the doctor said not to disclose traumatizing information so soon."
"Since when do you listen to anybody? I have a right to know."
"Just trust me Alissa. Alright? If two weeks go by and you still want to know, I'll tell you."
"Okay. I trust you."
xxx
A couple days later Alissa sat on the top floor of Kaiba Corp. with the Kaiba brothers and Roland. Seto stared out the window of his office in deep thought.
"Thanks to that lunatic Dartz or company's reputation is shot. It's up to you to fix it."
"Yes Sir."
"Hey Seto I have an idea. Let's plan a big event to celebrate the grand opening of Kaiba Land."
"Good idea Little Kaiba."
"Yes. And I know just what kin of event to hold. The ultimate tournament."
"That's a great idea Seto! We can gather the greatest duelists from around the world and have them duke it out for a chance at the ultimate title."
"Roland, update the tournament contracts."
"Yes Sir. If you don't mind me asking, what will we call this tournament Mr. Kaiba?"
"Call it the Kaiba Corp. Grand Championship."
"Well let's get this show on the road! Fire up the chopper Roland!"
xxx
Not much later, Alissa sat in the chopper next to Mokuba.
"So how is Kaiba Land opening already? I thought you guys just started building it."
"The people who were working on it were further along in production than Seto and I expected. By the time we got there just before the Dartz fiasco, the whole park was almost done."
"I can't wait to see the park."
"Building amusement parks is a dream Seto and I had since we were kids. I'm happy that it'll finally come true."
"I'm happy too. Hey! It looks like we're landing." When the chopper touched the ground, the duo hopped out.
"Alissa? Mokuba?"
"Hey guys!" Alissa grinned at her group of friends."
Looks like you guys need a lift."
"Nah. I'm sure we'll be able to find taxis just fine out here in the middle of the forest." Joey's sarcasm made Alissa grin.
"Well how would you guys like to ride with us?"
"Really? You mean it?"
"Of course, there is one catch. In exchange for our door to door service, you'll have to enter my brother's new dueling tournament."
"A new tournament?"
"Yep! Why don't you guys sit down and Little Kaiba and I will fill you in on the details."
"Have you guys heard about our new theme park?'
"Who hasn't heard about Kaiba Land?"
"Well it's about to open and my brother wants to kick things off with a bang."
'So he's having this huge tournament with only the best duelists in the world being allowed to compete."
"My brother is expecting to see you right away so let's go."
"Now wait a minute. Ya should try askin' us first. Your brother may think he has the world on a string but he's not the boss of me."
"He could've at least had the decency to ask us himself."
"Hold on my brother is really busy right now."
"So watch it Duke. If you're going to talk about Seto, you can at least wait till he's here to defend himself."
"Seto is so wrapped up in his job that he won't even be participating in his own tournament."
"Rich Boy isn't gonna duel?"
"That doesn't seem like Kaiba at all."
"I get it. Your brother is worried about gettin' his butt kicked in public again. That's what it isn't it? One more humiliation and his reputation really will be shot." Mokuba Fixed Joey with a glare as icy as his brother's.
"That's not fair! He can't duel. He has too much to do. Why don't you try opening up a chain of amusement parks?"
"Mokuba is right Joey. Seto wanted to duel."
"Deciding not to duel wasn't a very easy decision for my brother to make."
"Of course not."
"Way to shoot of your big mouth Joey." Joey sighed.
"Alright, I guess I did get a bit carried away."
"Well then let's get down to business." Mokuba began to explain the ideas for the tournament to the group.
"Well Mokuba, you can count me in."
"If Yugi goes, I go."
"What about me? I'm the youngest champion to play the game. Plus anywhere Yugi goes, I go." Rebecca threw her arms around a startled Yugi's neck. If looks could kill, Tea's glare would have Rebecca six feet under.
"It just so happens that I was told to invite all three of you. Here are your tickets."
"Alright then let's go!"
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Hey guys! So there's the next chapter! I apologize for the wait. I got really busy since school started again. I tried to make it this chapter longer to make up for the long gap in between updates but it didn't end up as long as I would have liked it to. Also, I apologize for the kind of crappy quality of this chapter. This chapter was a filler and was necessary to push the plot forward. It also doesn't help that the majority of this was written at two o' clock in the morning. Well, I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all the support through reviews, following, and adding my stories to your favorites. It really means a lot. Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter. Love you all, peace out girl scouts.