So, ladies and gentlemen (are there gentlemen? because that would be superspecialawesome), here is where we finally get to know Lorna's love interest. It's all very exciting. Plus, you get some more sexual innuendos. I really went all out in this chapter.
Also, I suggest listening to Céline Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' while reading the first half of this chapter to get you into the mood. Just trust me and do it.
Allons-y!
"So do you wanna get some coffee?" the young man asked, gesturing with his thumb in the direction of the nearby coffee shop, and at the mention of coffee, my stomach began to twitch, ache and groan, and judging by that knowing smirk on Zephyr's face, he was well aware of how hungry I was.
I thought for a moment about resisting and demanding answers first, but my stomach lurched in protest and I had no choice but to accept his offer. "Are you buying?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at him properly.
"Naturally, as a gentleman would," he reassured me, his mocking smirk still fixed on his face. I wasn't sure whether to be irritated that he was smirking at me, or really attracted, but I figured that if I was to have any reaction, some healthy suspicion would probably be more fitting. Of course, my hormones weren't up to listening to my brain -typical.
I bit back a giggle and blushed, looking down at my feet.
Fuck you, Lorna.
Fuck you to infinity and beyond.
"Well, I don't see why not," I told him in that really annoying voice that decides to rear its insidious little head whenever girls talked to attractive people.
God fucking dammit, Lorna.
I watched his smirk transform itself into a toothy grin as he stepped backwards, and in that moment I was positive that he knew -Oh, he knew I was attracted to him, and that made this whole situation much worse, because I quite literally had elevator music stuck in my head and was in no condition to make conversation with him, especially very important conversation that required me to be thinking about my fate rather than how blue his eyes looked.
Wait! I knew exactly how to forget about the sudden revelation of my attraction to this possibly evil man; all I had to do was think about my first love, the Triple Mocha Latté.
Too much caffeine, you say?
Well, I say there's no such thing!
The Muto household had left me so caffeine-deprived that you could actually watch as bits and pieces of my soul were eaten away at even without the help of a Shadow Game, and the perpetrator was Yugi's mother, who insisted that caffeine was the reason I was so short, and ardently insisted that I refrain from consuming any more of that "slow and poisonous poison", and I wondered why my height even bothered her so much, or why she bothered to call a poison poisonous. Needless to say, the scent of coffee dancing into my nostrils was like exotic sirens luring me seductively into their lair, and I was definitely seduced; I mean, I may profess to be on the straighter side, but if coffee were a woman, I would do her all night long with Céline Dion playing softly in the background.
The only coherent thought on my mind was "Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee." as I walked over to the café like a brains-deprived zombie on steroids -and that was putting it lightly, for I nearly tore down the establishment, barging through the glass entrance with enough gusto to fuel a man like Maximillion Pegasus for a whole minute. I wasn't sure what became of Zephyr all throughout this outburst, but at the present, I couldn't give two shits about Mr Smirky and his magical name-knowing abilities.
Once I made it to the counter of the café, which just so happened to be called Squarebucks if that four-foot long sign behind the cashier was any indication, I came to the realization that I was completely broke and unable to buy the breathtaking Triple Mocha Latté I had been having erotic daydreams about for the past couple of minutes, and it elicited from my lips one of the heaviest sighs I had ever let out in my seventeen years of life, so I opted to simply seat myself until I could have the fucking irresistible piece of coffee royalty that was the Triple Mocha Latté bought for me by someone who could actually afford it.
Watching my acquaintance make his way to the counter, sending me cautious glances every so often, I pulled my shoulder bag onto my lap and examined the contents, confirming the nonexistence of my wallet. I mean, what good was a fucking purse if I was fucking broke?
As I pondered upon the unfairness of life, I found the subject of my wildest wet dreams thrust before my very eyes on the small table I had been sitting at, standing erectly before me and smelling of chocolate, fuckloads of caffeine, and most of all -hot, hot sex on a beach under the moonlight.
No, being sexually attracted to coffee is not weird.
Shut up.
I hesitantly reached down, feeling the warmth emanating from the beverage, feeling electricity run through my body, excitement at this moment I had been awaiting for so long, the reunion of two lost lovers after an eternity of darkness and strife. My skin made contact with the paper cup, pain shooting up my arm at the touch -a burn.
Why do you have to hurt me like this, baby?
I clapped my hands together, rubbing them against each other and massaging my burnt palms slowly.
I thought what we had was special, but I guess I'm just another customer to you, right?
I felt my eyes tear up at the pain, and don't be fooled -the pain was indeed the very ache as my heart split in two at such devastating rejection, and it had absolutely nothing to do with my scorched hands and the light red that spread over my palms. I reached with shaky hands towards the straw on the table, unsheathing it from its paper cover and piercing into the top of the cup, dealing it the vengeance it was due and making it feel the physical equivalent of the sheer agony it had caused me in my heart.
As I leaned down to take a sip from the boiling hot drink through the straw, I heard someone clear their voice and shut my eyes tightly in irritation, deciding that whoever that was would rue the day he decided to interrupt my moment with my Triple Mocha Latté.
"So..."
My head shot up mechanically and my eyes bore laser beams into his skull so hot that he should have been thanking God that looks couldn't in fact kill or he'd have been nothing more than bits and pieces of a once-functioning brain scattered around a filthy café floor with nobody to thank but his own insolence.
"Yes," I spat at him, my index finger and thumb tightening around the slim straw I had been attempting to drink with, gathering all my restraint in order to keep myself from flinging the object straight into the young man's steadily beating heart, piercing his fragile skin in the process.
Zephyr caught my bloodthirsty stare and exhaled heavily, setting his elbows down on the table and hunching his back. "I'll just wait until you finish that..."
Wise decision, young mortal.
It took around ten minutes of small sips, long inhales of the heavenly scent, and wanton moaning for me to fully empty out the eight inch monster of a drink, and I found myself shivering in excitement and breathing heavily as I stared at the empty cup standing on the table, still bearing the deceitful scent of coffee, even after I had had my way with it.
"You done with that?"
I glanced up at the speaker slowly, my eyes meeting up with his deep blues, but the harshness my eyes held before had died down and Zephyr could now look at me without having parts of his soul disintegrate in the process. I called that progress.
"Why yes. Yes, I am done with that." I slid the cup over to the center of the table, dismissing it since it no longer held that warmth I had been craving for almost a week. Before Zephyr could say anything in response, I spoke up again. "Tell me what you know and how you know it before I walk out of here one Mocha Latte richer and leave you here all alone wondering where it all went wrong."
The look that the young man gave me was priceless. "Wait; what?" I watched him bite his lip slightly then shake his head, ruffling his dark, shaggy mop of hair before raising a hand as though to say "Forget about it" before carrying on. "Do you believe in the concept each living creature having a soul?" he asked.
I raised an eyebrow, but thought quite seriously about the question nonetheless, recalling every instance where I had actually given anything spiritual any serious thought. Being raised by two self-proclaimed hippies. I guess you could say I grew up with a very spiritual mindset, even though my parents weren't exactly the most religious of people. They always told me that, though the living creatures all lived differently, were designed differently, they all shared the same earth, the same sky and the same soul. They told me that we were all connected to the earth and that "her" pain was our pain, which meant that you didn't really need me to tell you that my parents were the environmentalist type.
I suppose I always took what my parents said for what it was, but I never actually thought about it enough to build a firm opinion on the matter. Did I care about the environment and all the animals (except reptiles -those sneaky little fuckers)? Yes, of course I did. Did I actually believe in half of the things my parents taught me? Well, I wasn't so sure.
"Lorna?"
"I don't know..." I replied silently, feeling a bit down that I couldn't answer that question confidently and in exactly the way my parents would have wanted me to. It was like the simplest thing my parents wanted me to believe in wouldn't even stick in my mind. "Do you?" I shot back, trying not to look at him with that pathetic look that I was absolutely certain was gracing my face at that moment.
Shutting his eyes for a moment, Zephyr nodded his head once and smiled at me. "I didn't before though."
"Before what?" I asked.
"Before I came here." I had a feeling that by here, he didn't just mean Domino City, Japan.
"Where were you before you came here?" And was he the one that brought me here? Did he know who brought me here?
He tilted his head to the side, silently contemplating what his next words would be and I felt my heart rate spike, not sure what to expect. Why wouldn't he just come out and say it?
"I came from a different dimension..." he said and then directed his gaze at the empty Latte cup on the table in front of him, waiting for this new information to sink in.
Another dimension?
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What do you think it means, Lorna?" He looked like he was at a loss for words, unable to clarify his words beyond that point, but that shit wouldn't fly by me.
"Don't fuck with me Zephyr," I threatened, glaring at him and leaning back in my seat.
What was I supposed to think? What was I supposed to get from his words? Who was-
"Holy shit..." I gasped, covering my lips with my hand and putting the other hand on my leg, nails digging into my thigh nervously as I tried to process what he was implying. "You mean... we're the same? I'm not the only one here?"
He shook his head, looking relieved that I had finally understood the meaning behind his words. "What made you think you were the only one?"
"Well..." He was kinda right. How unlikely was it that I, of all people, would be the only person in Domino City to have come from a different dimension? How pretentious of me to think that I was special in any way. "Do you also have to save the world so you can wake up and go home?"
There was disbelief on Zephyr's face among other things and I waited for him to speak because I couldn't bring myself to wonder what his expressions were saying. "Wake up? Lorna, there is no waking up from this," replied quietly as though he didn't want me to hear what he was saying; I still did. I heard every word.
"I'm in a coma, Zephyr. That's why I'm here. I have to save everyone so I can go home," I insisted, clutching my pant legs in my fists. My brain refused to work, refused to register these ideas -the idea that I was stuck here forever -the idea that I would never wake up.
Zephyr shook his head solemnly and silently, looking straight into my eyes. I could see regret and pain washing over his face and I did all I could to make myself believe that he was wrong about me and that he and I were completely different, but the look in his eyes told me that he knew much more about our situation than he was telling me.
"Why was I -" I paused after realizing my mistake and started the sentence all over again. "Why were we sent here? Are there more of us?"
With a grave nod, he replied, "There are more of us. I've only met one other, but who's to say there aren't any others running around here. Though, as to why we were brought here... Doc told me pretty much the same thing he told you."
"Doc?" I asked puzzled at the mention of this person that Zephyr obviously thought had communicated with me as well as him. Wait... "Are you talking about that weird voice in my head?"
"Yeah..." he confirmed, drawing out the syllable for a little while before continuing to speak. "I called him 'Doc' since I kinda thought he was a doctor at first... and it just stuck since I didn't really have anything else to call him -"
"How did you know it was a he?" As far as I knew, Voice's gender was as ambiguous as the gender of a newborn infant -assuming you weren't looking at the genitals like a proper pedobear... or a pediatrician.
Zephyr tilted his head up thoughtfully, then looked back at me with a shrug. "I just thought he seemed like a guy, though, now that you mention it, it could be a girl, too -" His gaze trailed over to the window and then his brow furrowed in anxiety, his eyes narrowing, and he spoke in a tone that had lost all of its former lightness. "Shit..."
I looked through the window, following his gaze only to see normal people passing by the café and going about their own business. What had he just seen?
"Zephyr?"
The young man shot to his feet and grabbed my arm from across the table, dragging gruffly me up to my feet as well. What gives? I fidgeted in his grasp, trying to free my arm from the long fingers trying to dig tunnels into my skin; his nails were definitely going to leave a mark
"Listen," he hissed, tugging me closer to him and mumbling against my ear. "If you want to live another day, you're gonna have to follow me as closely as you can. If you fall behind, I won't go back for you." What a reassuring thought, but what were we running from anyway?
I held my tongue before attempting to ask about that because Zephyr was dashing for the door to the café and I didn't want to end up with whatever was chasing us, because if the look on my companion's face was any indication, they probably weren't looking for some friendly negotiation; they wanted to hurt us.
I was never a good runner, and the danger that we were so obviously in was making my heart beat much faster than it was accustomed to, and after less than five minutes of running, I could feel my sides aching with fatigue. I suppose I couldn't very well expect any more from someone who spent all her free time watching TV shows online and blogging and got high blood pressure whenever she played Temple Run, so how could I possibly think that I was capable of running in real life.
Yeah, I was really out of shape.
I didn't fucking sign up for this!
I struggled to catch my breath while keeping Zephyr in my sight at all times, knowing that with the way he was running, I would lose him if I spared even a moment to look back at our pursuers; however, in spite of the deafening sound of the wind blowing past me, I could still hear the beating of their boots hitting the pavement along with the clapping of my own ballet flats. Ballet flats were really bad for running, and I just realized this now because I didn't exactly run anywhere unless it was to get my laptop to a charger, and I was usually barefoot for that.
Then I remembered how clumsy I was.
Shit. Don't fall over. Don't fall over. Don't fall over.
I panted heavily, trying to push past the civilians without actually shoving them out of the way because I wasn't an inconsiderate little shit, unlike some people (meaning every Assassin's Creed protagonist ever). "Sorry!" I squeaked, gently pushing past an elderly woman in my way and letting out a high pitched "Excuse me!" as I barged through a lovey-dovey couple. Oh, I hoped I didn't ruin their date... Well, at least they'd have a funny story to tell people, right?
Where the fuck was Zephyr?
I approached an alleyway, slowing my sprint down enough to inspect the small area. Had he gone in there, or had he just continued straight down the sidewalk? How would I know where to go? This was exactly what Zephyr had warned me of...
I turned my head around, looking for the pursuers cautiously, spotting two hooded figures pushing through the crowd who stuck out like sore thumbs. Just perfect! I had to ditch Zephyr, go on by myself, and just hope that we would be reunited later when it was safer.
Thinking fast, I dashed into the alley beside me, praying that it wasn't a dead end.
Of course, by now, y'all should know a thing or two about my luck.
In case you didn't figure it out yet, I'll just let you know that it was a dead end.
I ran over to the wired gate at the other side, attempting to climb it like some faux action hero, only to have my feet slip out of the holes, causing me to stumble down to the ground. I couldn't even breathe as I turned around to face the hooded people.
Man, I really, really needed to work out.
I struggled to catch my breath, managing only to cough a couple of times and wheeze a few more times, while my throat remained too dry for me to formulate any sort of coherent speech. And where the fuck was Zephyr?
As the two unknown people made their way over to me, I spotted a familiar face popping up behind them, with shaggy black hair and a scruffy chin. Zephyr. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't the only one to notice his presence, as my noticeable staring had alerted the bad guys and they had both turned around slightly to acknowledge him.
"After him!" one of the figures spoke, its voice unmistakably female. Her accomplice cast one glance at Zephyr, who simply shrugged and smiled slyly before dashing away from the alleyway and leaving me to fend for myself.
That fucking asshole.
While the female's partner sprinted off to chase down the traitor, she walked towards me slowly, pulling back her hood as she did so, revealing herself to be a very young woman, looking to be in her mid-twenties at most, with her dark hair cut boyishly and her dark eyes ablaze. She activated a duel disk on her arm, which I had just noticed.
So, she wanted to duel me? Well, if I had learned anything these past few days, it was that I wasn't too shabby when it came to dueling, so maybe I had a chance against this woman. Then again, this woman didn't look like she was interested in my rarest card or my locator card; she looked like she was out to do some real harm.
"Wh-Who are you?" I managed to forcefully drag the words out of my throat, which was still parched, and I was sure that its state wouldn't improve much as long as I was still out of breath and hyperventilating. I would probably have to wait until my breathing was back to normal for my throat to feel any less scratchy.
"You can call me Viola," she replied, "and I'm going to be the one to send you where you really belong!" Before I could ask her where exactly it was that I really belonged, she spat out the answer. "Your grave!" Well, that certainly didn't sound very pleasant. "Now hurry up and activate your duel disk, abomination!"
Abomination? What was it with my opponents and giving me unpleasant nicknames?
"You asked for it!" I called out raspily, putting my deck into my duel disk and watching as the simulators ejected from the sides. "I'm gonna kick your ass!" I threatened, adding a little wheeze to the end of the sentence... for flair, y'know. Nothing more kickass than swear words and old person noises; am I right?
The woman, Viola, smirked and drew her first cards. "Then I'll start things off if you don't mind."
Viola: 4000
Lorna: 4000
Here we go again...
"First of all, let's make things more interesting!" Viola snapped with her free hand and I could feel the atmosphere around us become chilling and bleak, almost as though she had pulled us out of this beautiful summer day and into the middle of a pitch black winter night, from the cold breeze that disturbed my bangs to the steadily darkening sky above us.
"What are you doing?" I asked her, my voice shaky, and that wasn't the only part of me that was shaking; my arms were shivering slightly at the sudden change in weather. I suddenly felt a pressure on top of my feet and tilted my head down to inspect the culprit, only to let out a startled shriek when I noticed the murky ground below my feet and the unrecognizable muck that had made its way onto my new shoes. It was dark red and looked like raw meat, but it stung the exposed part of my feet like acid at the touch.
"It's a shadow game, abomination," she informed me with a smile, looking as though she was simply telling me what was on TV, and she took my shocked silence as an opportunity to continue speaking. "The rules are simple. I'm sure you've noticed these filthy little things growing on top of our feet. They're living flesh -the living flesh of vengeful spirits who have risen from the underworld looking for a bite to eat." She gestured to her own feet and I saw that she also had a fleshy mound covering her own feet... just like me. However, she was wearing boots, so it wasn't touching her bare flesh.
I think I'm going to vomit.
"Luckily, they've stumbled upon our game..."
"Get to the point!" I called out weakly, clutching at my stomach and trying my hardest not to look dizzy. I was more than a little squeamish and I had always become lightheaded after seeing gore in horror movies, so it was only natural that, upon seeing what seemed to be gore in real life, I was all but ready to empty out the contents of my stomach at the thought of having that on my feet throughout the whole duel.
"The point is that these spirits will continue to eat at our flesh throughout this duel. Every time either of us loses life points, the spirits will rise up our bodies, consuming even more of our flesh. When either of our life points reaches zero..." I didn't even need her to continue that statement because I had a fairly good prediction. "The loser's body will be completely consumed." The way she said it sounded like that horrid fact actually amused her. "To put it simply: If you lose, you die."
"You're sick!" I cried out, trying and failing to tug my legs away from the spirits that clung to me so tightly.
She simply let out an airy laugh and drew a card, casting a bemused glance over her hand, but it didn't take her long to decide exactly what she wanted to start off with. "I'm going to activate the Sanctuary in the Sky!" she announced, setting the card on her duel disk as the field clouded up and a miniature temple rose into the air on her side of the field. "I'm assuming you know what this does, but in case you're the forgetful kind, this protects my life points if you attack any of my fairy monsters -"
"Yeah! Yeah! I have that card," I hollered back at her in irritation. "I know exactly what it does."
"Then you'll probably know exactly what this card does, too," Viola said, activating another spell card -Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. And she was right. I knew exactly what that card did. It allowed her to summon any fairy from her hand as long as she had no monsters on her side of the field, and since this was just the first turn, it was a given that she didn't have any monsters on her side of the field.
But those are my cards...
"I'll special summon my Agent of Judgment – Saturn using the effect of Valhalla!"
That's not your Agent of Judgment. That's mine!
"And since I haven't normal summoned this turn yet, I'll summon my Shining Abyss as well."
That's not your Shining Abyss. That's mine, too...
"Then I'll end my turn! Do your worst, abomination!" she challenged.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Viola had just engaged us in a shadow game, and what was worse was that all of her cards were strangely familiar, like I had seen them somewhere before -namely, my own deck!
So, how many of you actually thought that I was talking about Zephyr when I mentioned a love interest?
Ahahahaha hahahaha haha ha hahaha
Here. Look this up on YouTube for your troubles:-
/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
(On a completely unrelated note, how does one stop listening to SHINee on repeat? Or is this a no-escape sort of deal?)