Chapter 3 - Sanguine Shadows

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"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there."

Alexander suddenly woke up in the dead of night to the sound of Nell's voice. He jumped out of bed and looked around his pitch-black bedroom, only to reaffirm that nobody was there. He then rushed out into the hallway, nearly tripping over himself, desperately hoping that he would see her somewhere, but to no avail.

"Hearing voices in the middle of the night," Alex mumbled. "I'm starting to lose it."

He waved his hand through the air to bring up the clock.

"Good god, it's four in the morning," he said, then slowly walked back into the room and leapt to the comfort of his warm bed. He pulled the blanket over himself, and rolled around for a bit until he found a position he was comfortable in. Just as his head started sinking into the pillow, a strange buzzing noise came from downstairs. He ignored the sound at first, thinking that it either came from outside or his head, but realized that the situation was serious once he heard faint footsteps from the bottom floor. Someone was definitely in his house, and was trying to make no noise without much success. Alex carefully got out of his bed, actually succeeding in staying quiet. He crawled towards the door, which he left slightly ajar, to try and see what's happening. Since he couldn't make out who the silhouette was or what they were doing, he was tempted to open the door a bit more. Just as his hand started moving, his sanity somehow prevailed and stopped him from doing it, out of fear that he might be heard.

"I know you can see me," a distinctly male voice came from downstairs.

"Damn it," Alex thought, and prepared himself for the worst.

"I was hoping to go unnoticed, but you had to wake up in the middle of the night for no reason," the man continued. "No rest for the wicked, I guess."

"What are you–"

"Do not interrupt me," the man demanded. "I came here to give you a warning, and now that you're awake, I can say it to your face."

"A warning?"

"Don't go looking for that friend of yours, for your own sake."

"Nell?" Alex asked. "What do you know about her?"

"More than you deserve to know," the man replied. "Regardless–"

"More than I deserve to know?" Alex sounded much angrier, and barely stopped himself from walking out of the room to confront the mystery man. "What the hell are you talking about? She's my–"

"Do not interrupt me, scum," the man screamed, and Alex could hear his voice crack slightly. "She should've been forgotten, and I recommend you stop searching for her if you don't want to suffer the same fate that she did."

Just as Alex got up on his feet, and decided to leave his room, the man started heading for the door. Before he walked out, he said one more thing.

"Oh, and I paid a visit to your friend Laura earlier, and she was even more stubborn then you," he said. "Another piece of advice, though. Watch out for her. She's not as innocent as she might seem at first. I wouldn't blindly trust her if I were you."

"As if I have a reason to believe you."

"You're so naïve," the man laughed, and walked out the house without saying anything else. Before the door was even fully closed, Alex rushed down the stairs. Guided by blind rage, and without a clear goal in mind, he reopened his front door and decided he wants to confront the man, only to find that he seemingly vanished into thin air.

"I literally just saw him walk out," he thought. "Where's he gone?"

Defeated, Alex walked back in to his house. Despite the fact that he was immensely tired, he felt too uneasy to even consider going back to bed. Unsure of what to do, he decided to call Laura, figuring that she'd also be awake right now if the man wasn't lying about visiting her. She picked up the phone surprisingly quickly.

"I thought you might be awake," Alex said.

"You thought right, and I presume he visited you too since I can't think of any other reason why you'd be calling me at five in the morning."

"So, who was that guy?"

"No idea, I couldn't make out his face. And even if I could, I doubt I'd recognize him," Laura replied. "I presume he went through the same spiel with you as he did with me."

"He threatened me, and told me that I should give up on searching for Nell," Alex said.

"And are you going to?"

"Of course not."

A brief pause followed as Laura flicked through some of the papers on her desk.

"Oh yeah, one more thing," she said after finding what she wanted. "I'm about to head to sleep, but I was thinking of visiting you at some point later today, if that's okay with you."

"Should be fine, but I'll call you if anything comes up."

"Right, see you later then," Laura said, then hung up, leaving Alex alone in the silence of his living room.

"Should I tell Laura that he warned me about her?" Alex thought. "I mean, I have no reasons to distrust her, right?"

Alex waddled over to the couch in front of his TV, but changed his mind and decided he wasn't going to sit down, before continuing to wander aimlessly around his home.

"I mean, she claims they were friends, but Nell never mentioned her…" he said, then shook his head. "I should stop thinking about what he said, the bastard's clearly just trying to get into my head."

Two hours later

Alex woke up after someone furiously started knocking on his door. He got up, and being slightly disorientated, thought he just came out of his bedroom and that he needed to walk down the stairs, before realizing he fell asleep on the couch. Once aware of his surroundings, he went to answer the door, expecting Laura to be on the other side of it.

"I didn't think you'd wake up this early," he stuttered by the end of the sentence, as he slowly came to a realization he was talking to someone he had never seen before. A dark-haired man, roughly in his mid-twenties, was standing in front of him. He was shorter than average, and dressed a bit too formally for Alex's liking. His entire appearance gave off the impression that he was trying to sell something. Alex immediately became suspicious of the new face at his doorstep, and took a couple of steps back, halfway ready to close the door.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, not the least bit worried about making a good first impression.

"I'm terribly sorry if I woke you up, but this is quite urgent," the man seemed almost too polite, but skipped straight to the point right after that brief introduction. "Was there a break-in earlier this morning?"

"Not as far as I'm aware of," Alex said, hoping that it wouldn't be obvious he was lying through his teeth, given how he was still half asleep.

"Really? Because I, uh…" the man stuttered, as the conversation clearly didn't go the way he intended. "We received an anonymous tip from one of your neighbours that they saw someone suspicious loitering around your house, and I just wanted to check…"

"Anonymous tip, my ass," Alex thought, "Nobody even had their lights on when I walked out."

Despite being completely disinterested in the conversation, and somewhat doubtful of the person that initiated it, Alex decided that he'd continue toying with the man, if for no other reason than to waste his time.

"So, at roughly what time did you receive this tip?" he asked.

"Around five in the morning," the man replied.

"So, you had reports of a break-in two hours ago," Alex continued. "And you waited until now to act on it?"

Completely stumped by what was just said, and unsure of what to do next, the man was left red-faced, and just stared at Alex, who barely succeeded at holding back a fiendish grin.

"You're not that good at your job, are you?" Alex continued. "You look quite young, so that'd probably explain–"

"There must've been a mistake, my apologies," the man mumbled, and rushed off as quickly as he could.

"Who was that guy?" Alex asked himself as he closed the door. "And how did he–"

"Yeah, I have no idea either," a voice came from behind his back. "Though, you really didn't need to be that rude to him."

Alex froze, and a chill ran down his spine. He immediately recognized the speaker as the person who broke into his house earlier. He started turning around to face the man, but a painful sensation surged through his neck before he even got halfway there, and he blacked out shortly after.

"Come on, pick up," Laura said, laying down on her bed. Once someone finally answered the call, it didn't turn out to be the person she was expecting.

"Haven't heard from you in a while."

"Who are–" she asked, but quickly realized who she was talking to.

"I think you should know me by now," the voice on the other side of the phone said. "After all, I paid you a lovely visit earlier today."

"Why do you have Alex's phone?"

"Well, that's very rude," the man replied. "Not even a greeting, just cutting straight to the chase."

"Answer me!"

"I don't remember you being this assertive."

"Why are you talking like you know me?"

"Look, here's the deal. I warned both of you earlier today that you should stop looking for that friend of yours. Initially I wanted to leave you alone after that, you know," the man dodged that question, and went back to the matter at hand. "But both of you refused to listen to me. Both of you! I thought, maybe if one of you is reasonable, they could convince the other, but no, both of you just had to be selfish, stubborn pricks. It really got on my nerves, and I just grew tired of playing nice with you two."

"What have you done?" Laura asked, expecting the worst.

"Don't worry, your boyfriend is fine, at least for the time being."

"He's not–"

"Let me speak," the man demanded. "If you care about his well-being, you'll come and duel me, and when I win, both of you are as good as gone. I'll send you the location info, though it's the place where I caught your friend snooping a couple of days ago, so you should be well aware of it. You have one hour."

The call ended, and Laura was left in the quiet comfort of her bedroom. She started nervously pacing back and forth, realizing that whatever decision she makes, at least one person's life will be in danger.

"What am I even supposed to do?" she thought. "I mean, I dragged Alex into this, but on the other hand, this guy's really dangerous. He broke into my apartment like it was nothing, and he easily kidnapped Alex. Despite how dangerous he is, I don't think my conscience would…"

She interrupted her train of thought to make an off-hand remark.

"Nell would kill me if I didn't go, though," Laura smiled.

She glanced over at the pile of papers on her desk, which represented weeks of work on the missing person cases. She sat down on her bed, and put her hands on her knees. She reminisced about the last time she saw Nell, which was roughly a week ago. Most of that evening was unfortunately gone from her memory, but she did distinctly remember one thing Nell told her that night.

"It annoys me to no end that you can be so lazy," she said as their hour-long argument was about to reach its end. "I thought inviting you to work with me on this project would be a good way to persuade you to finally get some work done, but I guess I was expecting too much."

She remembered how Nell was slowly became more and more furious as her rant went on, to the point that she nearly kicked over Laura's deskside chair as she got up. She couldn't leave yet, not without delving further into her thoughts.

"Help me with this project, or don't, I really do not care," Nell turned her back to Laura. "But just know that one day, someone will depend on you. They will rely on you, and you will let them down because you're too lazy to get off your sorry ass."

Nell took a deep breath, then carried on with a much more reserved tone of voice. Laura sat on her bed, quietly taking in Nell's scathing criticisms while knowing that she had no rebuttal to anything that was said about her.

"You're incredibly smart. That's why I invited you to work with me in the first place, because you have potential," she said. "But it's going to waste right now, and I cannot stand it anymore."

Nell walked most of the way out of the room, before turning around to face Laura again.

"Seriously, get your shit together," she said, then walked out the room, slamming the door behind her. Given how Laura fell ill the day after, this evening was the last time that two of them spoke face-to-face before Nell suddenly disappeared. Laura couldn't bear the possibility of this long diatribe about her shortcomings being how she and Nell parted ways. She hated the thought that these bitter words were possibly the last thing a beloved friend ever told her.

Once her mind jumped back to the present, Laura went to look through the only window in her room, and looked her own reflection in the eyes. Memories of Nell, even those she didn't remember kindly, couldn't help but bring a smile to Laura's face.

"Alex and I are both in this for her," she whispered, looking over the sunlit city as tears rolled down the face. "And I couldn't live with myself if I gave up this early."

She let her tears flow for a minute more, then gathered her thoughts. With all the motivation she needed, Laura walked out of the room, determined, yet frightened of what was about to happen.

"So you came," Laura entered the mostly empty building where Nell was taken away, and was once again greeted by the man behind the disappearance.

"Were you expecting me not to?" she asked.

"To be honest, I was expecting you to chicken out."

"Apparently you don't know me after all."

"So, do I need to repeat what happens if you lose?"

"I'd rather you wouldn't."

"Alright, then. Let's get going."

They both activated their duel disks, and five floating cards briefly appeared in front of them before disappearing.

"I'll go first, if you don't mind," Aidan said.

Turn 1 - Aidan (LP - 8000 / Hand - 5 / Field - X)

"I'll start by Normal Summoning Apex Assault Swordsman! (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 10/ATK 1300/DEF 2300)"

A bird-like creature leapt onto the field, covered in dark garments. Lightning struck the ground in front of where the monster landed, and a sword appeared in the flash of light. The winged creature grabbed the sword, and pointed the gleaming emerald blade towards the ceiling.

"All Apex Assault monsters can be summoned with any number of tributes," Aidan clarified. "And when Apex Assault Swordsman is Normal Summoned, I can add an Apex Assault monster from my deck to my hand!"

A glowing green ring appeared around Aidan's wrist. A card came out of the top of it, which he grabbed, then added to his hand after revealing it, so Laura had ample time to read its effect.

"Next, I activate the Continuous Spell, Apex Assault Strategy, whose effect allows me to Normal Summon one additional Apex Assault monster every turn," Aidan continued. "And by tributing Apex Assault Swordsman, I Tribute Summon Apex Assault Visionary! (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 11/ATK 700/DEF 2800)"

Another avian being appeared on the field. It was covered in dense dark grey feathers, which were almost impossible to see, as the entire creature was enshrouded in white robes in such a way that only its emerald-green eyes stood out. A green circle of undecipherable writing appeared around it as it landed.

"When Tribute Summoned, Apex Assault monsters gain ATK equal to the ATK of the monsters tributes for their summon!"

Apex Assault Visionary: ATK 700 » 2000

"Then, when Visionary is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon an Apex Assault Pendulum Monster from my extra deck, but its effects are negated," Aidan said, and a sword-wielding warrior that left the field just moments ago, appeared kneeling by his side. Aidan set a card, and ended his turn.

"Now, let's see if she's playing what I think she's playing," he thought.

Turn 2 - Laura (LP - 8000 / Hand - 5 / Field - X)

"Draw!" Laura began her turn. "I'll begin by summoning Songmaster - Graceful Vengeance! (EARTH/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect/Level 2/ATK 700/DEF 1600)"

A faceless, humanoid figure appeared in front of Laura, facing the ground as it knelt before her. Its body was pitch-black, incredibly smooth, and almost no light reflected off it. Its synthetic wings slowly materialized behind both of its shoulders. One silver pyramidal segment continued onto the other, and the pattern repeated. After they all appeared, each slowly gravitated towards the other until they were all almost connected, leaving small barely noticeable gaps in between all the pieces, through which light shone through. After the whole entity was assembled, a roman numeral appeared on its chest. Two parallel lines, representing the number two, shone brightly with a mesmerizing blue glow.

"When Graceful Vengeance is Normal or Special Summoned, I can add one Songbook card from my deck to my hand!" Laura continued. "I add Songbook–"

"Scattered Rhymes, right?" Aidan interrupted her, grinning like a maniac. He couldn't help but laugh once he noticed a genuine look of confusion on Laura's face.

"How do you–" she stumbled back, her eyes wide open in shock. Aidan's demented stare was fixed on her, as he left Laura in suspense for just a couple more moments.

"How would I not know?" Aidan posed a question, which he was immediately about to answer. "After all, I've played against you before, and there's only one card you would ever search in that situation."

"You–" Laura stumbled over her words. "I haven't seen you in my life!"

"As far as you remember."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh Laura, if I told you now, that would defeat the entire purpose of this duel," Aidan sneered. "I mean, if I told you all I know right now, I don't think you'd be able to endure the shock, and that's no fun! I don't want you to fall this early, I want to take my time and break you."

Laura stared at Aidan as his tirade continued, growing more terrified by the second.

"Forget never seeing Nell again, I'll make sure you never see the light of day again!"