"So you just have the urge to burn things?"
Katsuya nods, tossing more wood on the pile as he gives Mai the side-eye. "Yup. It's kinda...we have an inner fire, right? That inner fire can't feed on anything if we keep it in, so we gotta use it. It's not something you can suppress."
"Yeah, I've seen him go off to burn paper and stuff after school. It's something he has to do." Honda pipes up as he sets a bucket of water on the ground. "Don't know if I've ever seen Bakura do that though."
"Ah!" Katsuya glances at Bakura. "You wanna come here and light this? I know you haven't really used your flames since before the boat here."
"Alright." Setting aside the vegetables he was cutting, Bakura walks over, hands already lighting up with purple flame even before he reaches the woodpile. All it takes is one touch for the wood to go up in flames, the unnaturally coloured fire reflecting in Bakura's red tinted eyes as he watches it for a moment.
"And what will you do if someone sees that fire and comes looking?" Mai looks around the clearing, as if expecting someone to leap out of the bushes that very moment. "You know how people are with Burnish."
"I'll Duel them, that's what I'll do! That's what we're all here for, right?" Katsuya grabs a stray chunk of wood and lights it aflame, the technicolour fire shining bright in the light cast by the setting sun. "Besides, I've got no reason to hide that I'm Burnish!"
"What about your-" Anzu is cut off by Katsuya's frantic gesturing, the chunk of wood in his hand throwing angular sparks through the air as he does.
"N-Not in front of Mai!" Katsuya shoots another side-eye at Mai, his distrust rising up again. There's no need for Mai to know about his excuse of a father, no need to talk about the lack of money and the divorce and how he can't trust his own father to know he's Burnish.
"And it's not like how it was thirty years ago. A lot of people know that the Burnish aren't wild pyromaniacs out to burn everything." Yugi glances over from where he stands cutting vegetables. As Bakura starts over to rejoin Yugi he waves him off, gesturing towards the campfire. "No, I've got this. You keep feeding the fire for now."
Mai watches the group for a moment, her expression unreadable, before she turns to walk away towards the edge of the little camp. "I'm going to set up the shower. You boys try not to eat any wild mushrooms while I'm gone."
"That was one time!" Katsuya yells after her back, but Mai doesn't respond. Katsuya huffs, tossing his chunk of burning wood onto the fire as Bakura tends it. "Whatever, she really gets on my nerves. Hey Bakura, you doing alright over there?"
Bakura looks up, blinking. "Yeah, why? I'm fine."
"I mean, it's only been a month since that Monster World game. You almost died, you know?"
Bakura glances away, clearly remembering how he'd shattered his soul to stop the spirit from killing everyone at the table. "Like I said, I'm fine. I came back alright, see?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Shush!" Honda interrupts the conversation between Katsuya and Bakura, looking into the nearby woods. "I heard something out there."
For a moment it's silent, the only sounds coming from the fire and Katsuya slowly reaching for his deck in case it's another Duelist, but then rustling can be heard coming from the nearby bushes, growing louder as the source of the noise approaches.
"I swear, if it's a rabbit or something - Oof!" A small form abruptly bursts out of the bushes, lunging right for Katsuya and ramming into him before he can finish his thought and forcing the air from his lungs. Wheezing for breath as he recovers from being knocked back, he looks down at the attacker only to see-
"-Mokuba?!" Katsuya stares wideeyed at Mokuba, who continues to try and cling to him despite the bulky cuffs binding his hands together. "What're you doing here?"
Mokuba doesn't respond, instead shoving away from Katsuya and glaring at the rest of the group (plus Mai) as they run over. For a moment, it looks like he might flare, tiny purple flames emitting from under his cuffs, only for the cuffs to abruptly beep and coat themselves in thick ice. Mokuba staggers, yelping in shock as he waves his trapped hands around as if to shake the icy cuffs off.
"Guys, stop! Someone put him in anti Burnish cuffs!" Everyone freezes in place, all eyes locked on the cuffs ensnaring Mokuba's hands as he glares them down. Only Katsuya moves, crouching down to Mokuba's level and giving him some space to breathe. "Alright, Mokuba. What are you doing here and who put you in those cuffs?"
For a moment it looks like Mokuba won't answer, continuing to glare around, but then he caves, turning to face Katsuya. "What do you think is going on?! Pegasus is trying to take over KaibaCorp while my brother is in his coma! The stockholders said that if he could beat Yugi in a Duel, he could become the chief executive!"
"I see. I beat Kaiba, so these stockholders need to prove Pegasus is able to beat me." Katsuya looks up and - oh, that's Other Yugi now, not the normal Yugi. "That would explain why Pegasus was so determined to get me to his tournament."
Mokuba nods, glaring at Other Yugi. "It's not like you'll be able to beat Pegasus anyway. Even my brother said he was the strongest!"
"Alright, so what are you doing here then?" Mokuba looks back at Katsuya, still glaring but by now starting to shiver from the cuffs.
"I was brought here by the Big Five! I swallowed a key they were trying to steal to get to some documents they needed, so they cuffed me and dragged me here to wait for it to come back out!"
"We need to get those cuffs off him, Jounouchi. They'll just keep freezing him at this rate." Bakura speaks up, hands clenched in fists and emitting faint pink sparks as he glares at the still frozen cuffs.
"Right, get over here by the fire, Mokuba. Let's see what we can do about these cuffs." Katsuya leads Mokuba over to the fire to warm up, then crouches back down to look at the cuffs.
"Can't you just burn them off? I've heard stories about Burnish overpowering them-" Mai is cut off by Bakura, now truly flaring up as he continues to glare at the cuffs.
"No, I had those put on me when I first Sparked. They'll just keep freezing him every time they detect flames and I don't think Mokuba can take that."
"Besides, only the strongest Burnish can overpower anti Burnish cuffs like that. What we need to do is pick them." Katsuya turns to the group, glancing over everyone there. "Anyone got a hairclip or a paperclip I can use or something?"
Anzu rummages through her pockets, soon coming up with a hairclip and handing it over to Katsuya. "Will this work?"
"It'll do." Katsuya bends it into a rough pick, then sticks it into the lock on Mokuba's cuffs, slowly feeling for the pins within the lock and pushing them into place. "I guess I should be thankful I learned to do this in Hirutani's gang, even if he was an ass who just used me for my powers..."
Katsuya goes silent, focusing on picking the lock as everyone else watches and Mokuba shivers. It's a tense few minutes as he works, poking at the lock pins with his improvised pick, but then there's a sharp click and the cuffs snap open, falling into Mokuba's lap. Mokuba immediately knocks the cuffs to the ground, kicking them away as he rubs his cold wrists together.
"There you go! You're free!" Mokuba just stares uncertainly at the fire despite Katsuya's proclamation until Bakura walks over with a bundle of sticks and hands them over.
"Here, it'll help. Cuffing like that is rough." Bakura settles down on Mokuba's other side, sharing his body heat as he tosses a stick at the fire. Katsuya also settles in, glancing at Mokuba and Bakura as the rest of the group, with the sole exception of Mai, who slips back to the tent, settles down around the fire.
"...You didn't mention being cuffed when you Sparked, Bakura." Honda says after a moment of just watching Mokuba lighting up sticks in his hands and throwing them at the campfire.
"...I was panicking and it happened in front of the emergency services." He glances away, uncomfortable with this topic. "Besides, Pegasus is the bigger problem."
"He's right. We have to be ready to get to Pegasus tomorrow and beat him." Other Yugi shuffles his deck as he speaks, looking amongst the group with intent.
"I told you, Pegasus is the best Duelist! Even my brother-"
"Has Kaiba actually faced Pegasus before?" Katsuya stares at Mokuba, taking one of the sticks in his hand to toss at the fire. "Or is he just spouting off?"
"He..." Mokuba stares at the fire, hugging his knees to his chest. "Do you guys know how Pegasus beat Bandit Keith during that tournament in America?"
"Yeah, we know that story. But we have a few tricks of our own, right Yugi?" Anzu looks at Yugi, who nods, his confidence never fading.
"We will beat Pegasus-"
A scream suddenly rings out in the distance, and Other Yugi jumps to his feet.
"That was Mai!" He sprints off into the trees, followed shortly by Anzu and Honda, leaving Katsuya, Bakura, and Mokuba to sit by the fire alone.
"...Feeling better yet?" Katsuya asks Mokuba, glancing at him with concern.
"A little. Were you ever cuffed like that?" Mokuba stares at the fire with a look that suggests he's listening to the flames. Katsuya blinks, not quite expecting that question, but recovers quickly.
"Nah, I Sparked on my own and somehow got away before anyone turned up to find out what happened. After that, I just never got caught doing anything that would get me cuffed." Katsuya lies, not wanting to worry Mokuba with stories about gang violence.
"You're lucky, Jounouchi. I didn't even understand what was going on, I just wanted to burn everything to get to my..." Bakura pauses, grimacing at whatever memory he's recalling as he glances at Mokuba. "...Well, I don't even really recall what happened, just the urge to burn and almost freezing my arms off trying after the cuffs were put on."
The trio sits silently for a while, with only the crackling fire and the sounds of insects in the night for noise, until the sound of footsteps nearby draws Katsuya's attention.
"Hey guys, back so soon-" He's cut off by a blast of ice knocking him to the ground, freezing him from feet to shoulders and leaving him immobile. Two more blasts take out Bakura and Mokuba before they can react, leaving them just as stuck as Katsuya.
"Who the fuck-" He slams his mouth shut as three men step out from the trees, holding pistols trained on the trio as they encircle the camp. One man blasts the Burnish created campfire, freezing it within a block of ice. The remaining two men, apparently satisfied no one else is around, stoop to pick up the frozen stiff Mokuba, despite his screams, and roughly drop him back on the ground, cracking the ice encasing him and setting him free. Before Mokuba can react however, the third man swoops in and forces a pair of cuffs onto him, the cuffs immediately activating and reencasing Mokuba's arms in ice as he attempts to flare up.
"No! Let him go!" Bakura wrenches his head around to watch the proceedings, his long hair igniting with pink flames in response to his shock at the abrupt attack. "He's just a kid-"
Bakura takes another blast to the face, putting him out and silencing him in one fell swoop. From his position, Katsuya growls, straining to melt the ice holding him still to get to Bakura and Mokuba.
"You really gave us a lot of trouble, huh kid?" One of the men holsters his ice gun, scooping up the now writhing and shrieking Mokuba in his arms. "Guess we'd better take more precautions with you this time."
The man holding Mokuba turns to leave, while the remaining two men stare at Katsuya and Bakura for a moment longer before turning to leave as well.
"Why? Why go to these lengths on a kid?!" Katsuya glares down the men, trying not to let how cold he is show on his face as they stop and look at him.
"The businesses of Pegasus aren't your concern, brat." And all three men vanish back into the trees, Mokuba's desperate screams fading into the distance as Katsuya helplessly watches.
"Damn it all!" Katsuya seethes as he works at melting the ice he was left encased in, the ice slowly cracking and popping until it gives way, setting him free amongst chunks of half melted ice. From there he scrambles on half frozen limbs to Bakura's side, calling up his flames to work at defrosting him as well. "Damn those I2 goons-"
Running footsteps behind him sends Katsuya's head whipping around in case it's Pegasus' men again, but it's just Other Yugi, Honda, Anzu, and Mai, all stumbling to a halt as they take in the state of the camp.
"We heard screaming from the camp, what happened?" Other Yugi stalks over to Katsuya just as the ice holding Bakura breaks, staring in shock at the state of the two as Bakura gasps and sits up, huddling close to Katsuya for warmth.
"Pegasus' men came and took Mokuba back, that's what happened here! They used freeze guns on us so we couldn't do shit!" Katsuya growls, trying to keep his flames up in his hands for extra warmth as he shivers. "I didn't even think those bastards had freeze guns here!"
"Damn them!" Honda kicks the frozen campfire before turning to face Katsuya and Bakura. "I guess the first thing we should do is get a new fire set up so you two can get warmed up again. Let's see if we can find any more wood out there in the dark."
Honda and Anzu run off to find more wood, leaving Other - no, Regular Yugi - and Mai behind. Mai pulls out a pack of matches and sets it aside, glancing at Katsuya and Bakura with concern as she stands nearby.
"I don't know if you need to save your fire or not, but I'm not letting you two start the fire again. A normal fire will work just as well for getting you warm."
Yugi nods, cuddling up to Katsuya and Bakura to help keep them warm while they wait. "You should both sit and warm up for now. We'll be Dueling again in the morning, so we need to be ready."
And so they sit, huddling together as they try not to think about what might be happening to Mokuba in the castle, or if Kaiba has come out of his Mind Crush induced coma or not. Katsuya continues to seethe, anger at Pegasus growing inside, and off to the side he can see Bakura and Yugi glaring up at the castle as well, both likely thinking of their own reasons for getting to the castle.
"We're coming for you Pegasus, just you wait..."
Welp, another one shot written! I liked the idea of Mokuba being Burnish and Kaiba being protective of his brother on that front.
Big thanks to Usagi for listening to me about this AU and helping me with ideas!