Author's Note:
This is Chapter 19 of "The Kingdom [be]Comes".
Here we find out what happened to Aki and finally see Yusei. In fact, this is a very Yusei-oriented chapter.
I also felt like I was quite sadistic writing this and felt really bad for characters. So beware, it's kind of dark.
As always, thank you for all your reviews and personal messages! Always so nice to hear what people think, be it praise or criticisms.
I hope you like this chapter and thank you for reading!
NineInchNailed.
"Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil."
~Aristotle
Yusei awoke from his deep slumber with a start due to the burning sensation in his right forearm. He slowly sat up and turned his attention to the glowing red birthmark of the Crimson Dragon.
"Aki…" he whispered automatically, feeling drowsy and confused, and looked to his side: instead of sleeping Aki all he saw was an empty side of the bed. He reached out and dazedly touched the imprint of her body, feeling the coldness of the bedsheets.
As Yusei returned his gaze to the glowing mark the last tendons of sleep have finally released him. "Aki?" he called out, now wide awake. He quickly noticed that her clothes were gone, that the door to his bathroom was open, and that it was a quarter to four in the morning. The Signer mark began emitting a faint pulling sensation and Yusei understood that Aki did not simply go to her own room or to get something from the kitchen.
She was far away and something had happened.
Aki, where are you? he thought with alarm and then heard sounds of footsteps and voices outside. Yusei scattered to put on pair of jeans and a t-shirt and then quickly opened the door of his room to see three of his friends standing in the hallway with displeased expressions on their faces. Ruka and Rua wore rather adorable matching pyjamas and Jack wore a black muscle shirt and baggy pyjama pants.
"What's going on?" Jack asked dryly, looking extremely irritated, and gestured to his own shining birthmark, "Why are we up?" He was ogling him and so were Ruka and Rua, as if expecting him to have answers to everything. Although, to be fair, Yusei should have known what was going on since Crimson Dragon was alerting them about Aki…and he was obviously the last one to see her. In his bed.
"I don't know," Yusei answered honestly.
"But…is there something wrong with Aki-neesan?" Rua asked, looking kind of uncomfortable as he peered through Yusei's bedroom door.
Yusei sometimes forgot that Rua and Ruka were no longer just children and that they understood about adult matters much more than given credit for.
He opened his mouth to answer his confusion again when Crow ran up the stairs and finally joined the rest of the Signer conference. For some inexplicable reason he was wearing only his boxers and nothing else.
"Alright, Yusei, what are you doing to her?" Crow sighed.
"Aki's gone," Yusei replied, the alarming feeling within him growing stronger. He completely ignored the sexual connotation in Crow's question. "Something happened. She's vanished."
"Oh," Crow no longer seemed unconcerned, "I just thought that since…well, that maybe you two were doing something and that's why the Crimson birthmark…well, never mind. Then what's wrong?"
Yusei could no longer just stand there and listen to unconstructive opinions and theories. The Crimson Dragon birthmark never activated without an important reason and he knew that this was no exception. So he quickly retreated to his room where he grabbed the keys to his D-Wheel, his duel deck, and his blue jacket. With those he finally ran out and rushed downstairs to the garage.
With the addition of Carly the rest of the house was awake now and all of his friends followed after him while showering him with questions.
"Yusei, what are you doing? Are you leaving? Do you have any idea what happened?" Crow was asking him.
"Yusei, where are you going?" Jack was asking.
"I can't see anything without my glasses, what's with the commotion? Why is everybody up?" Carly was whimpering while somehow skipping over the stairs without tripping as Jack pulled her after him.
"Why is the Crimson Dragon telling us that Aki-neechan is far away and that she needs us?" Rua was asking.
"Wasn't Aki-san home just a few hours ago?" Ruka was asking as she continued from her brother's question.
"I'm so confused," Bruno was groaning as he sat on the mattress in the corner of the garage and groggily rubbed his eyes after a loud crowd of people suddenly showed up.
Yusei slipped on his jacket in a hurry and began wheeling his red D-Wheel outside. "I need to find her," was all he said and mounted the motorcycle.
"Then wait for us, we're coming with," Jack requested but Yusei wasn't listening and already started the engine and sped off.
"Come on, we're going with you!" Crow yelled after him while jumping on one leg as he struggled to put on pants.
Yusei couldn't think and just drove as a man possessed to where the Signer mark was pulling him. He found his cellphone in his pockets and called Aki's number, over and over again, only to get 'Number unavailable at the moment'. Her phone was either off or she was in a no-reception zone.
What happened to you, Aki, where did you disappear? he was thinking frantically as he relentlessly reached her voicemail for the tenth time.
He drove off a highway ramp and passed by the Daedalus Bridge, still driving in the indeterminate direction and where the Crimson Dragon called him... when, suddenly, the red glow of the birthmark disappeared.
What's happening? Yusei thought with increased anxiety and slammed the gas, accelerating to what was borderline Accel Synchro speed as he raced after the lingering sensation which drew him to Aki – the sensation which rapidly dissipated.
He took a sharp turn into an adjacent street and nearly smashed into a moving car – which breaked with a piercing screech – and continued driving as if through a thick fog in search of a disappearing light. Without decelerating he took another risky turn into some narrow alley and then…he no longer knew where to go. He no longer had a sense of direction to where she could be.
He could no longer feel her.
Yusei slowed the D-Wheel down to a stop and looked around as to where he was. About a hundred metres forward and the alley would lead to a main street leading towards the edge of Neo Domino. This route was also, coincidentally, a middle way between the ocean harbour and the Free Duellists Association.
His phone began ringing and Yusei nervously looked down only to see that it was Crow. "What?" he answered.
"Dude, where are you? We've lost the signal…" Crow said over the phone.
Yusei looked up at the rusted street sign and said, "North of the intersection of Karasuma and Shiokoki streets."
"That's half a mile away from where we are," Crow sounded frustrated, "Stay there. Five minutes."
Yusei hung up and drove slowly towards the main street, feeling a heavy knot forming in the pit of his stomach. On automatic he called Aki's number again just to get the same unavailable message.
"Aki..." he whispered, gazing at the mark of the Crimson Dragon on his forearm. He desperately tried to remember everything that happened yesterday and to try to make sense of it all. He had to understand why she was missing when she was with him just mere hours ago, why the Signer bond activated summoning all of them to her – and why it deactivated now – and why her phone was dead. Could she have been taken away by someone…somewhere, somehow? But in the middle of the night and out of bed?
Yusei parked by the side of the road and looked out to the starless black sky and the crossroads leading either to the ocean or the baffling FDA stadium.
The most logical thing was of course that Aki had left on her own…but why? And the Signer mark…it left him with an alarming feeling, like something awful had happened. And if Aki did leave somewhere and got into trouble…then where was she? It seemed like the whole story had begun by the ocean harbour – where Aki had faced the very first sacrificial duellist – but it could also have been the FDA – where the strange circumstances have presently brought them. So where could she have gone to? To a place where everything had begun or to a place where everything up until now had been progressing?
"Yusei!" Crow called out and Yusei turned to look as his two best friends stopped their D-Wheels next to him.
"So the Crimson GPS is no longer working," Jack commented.
Yusei didn't answer and instead looked over their heads to see Bruno turning the corner and catching up to them on his shoddy D-Wheel, followed by Carly's car where Rua and Ruka were probably in too.
They all came to the crossroads and now no longer knew where to go.
"Do you think that…something really happened to Aki now?" Crow asked him hesitantly.
Yusei turned back to look upon the dark horizon. Everything was uncertain now. "The storm is coming," he said quietly, clutching to his right forearm.
A middle-aged man in a Public Security uniform watched with discomfort as, right before his eyes, Mahdi was tying some unconscious girl to a chair. The man noticed the girl's dishevelled burgundy red hair, then what looked like tear stains on her cheeks, and then her ashen complexion. By the time Mahdi unwaveringly finished tying her hands to the arms of the chair, the security guard was feeling very anxious.
"Isn't that a bit excessive, boss?" he finally spoke up and cast a side glance at his co-worker who was also a member of Public Security and who appeared just as innerved as him. There were only two of them here with the exception of Mahdi and some poor girl.
"Everything is happening just right," Mahdi mumbled as he began adding knots around his unconscious victim's ankles. He tied them tight, noticing that they were cutting into her skin but he didn't really care. "Everything is happening for a reason," he added offhandedly.
Two of Mahdi's bodyguards exchanged looks of confusion and anxiety, obviously not comfortable with this.
"But…she's just some girl," the first guard made another remark. He had a daughter at home of a similar age to her and he couldn't help but place his own child into this situation.
Mahdi taped Aki's mouth with an electrical tape and then stood up abruptly, turning to glare at the man with an angered expression on his face. "You wouldn't understand what it's like in my situation," he hissed, "Either I do this first or else they'd come after me if not today then tomorrow. Better be in the lead, don't you think?"
"That's not what I-" the man began but went mute when Mahdi's eyes narrowed.
"Morality comes into play now for the two of you?" Mahdi asked acidly and transferred his gaze to the second squirmy henchman, "It's fine to stand back and hear about what I've been doing as long as you're not face to face with it, right? But the second you can put a face to someone suddenly everything becomes an issue?"
The two Public Security officers were completely silent now but remained just as disturbed.
"Pitiful cowards," Mahdi spat and stepped away from his victim, throwing a batch of ropes to his useless helpers, "Here, now you have to dirty your hands. Finish tying her up." When the two henchmen hesitated, he shouted "Now!"
While the two men finished the work for him Mahdi directed his attention to a small cellphone in his hand. It had a blooming red rose as its screen background and it began softly vibrating with yet another phone call.
"Soon," Mahdi said absentmindedly to the 'Yusei' name appearing on the phone screen, "Soon."
Yusei slowed his D-Wheel down to a stop in front of the dark stadium and looked up at the colossal structure with serious contemplation. The headquarters of the "Free Duellists' Association" were the same as any other day: seemingly abandoned and oozing improvable suspicion. And today when he needed something more warranted than just simple suspicion, he did not sense anything significantly more dangerous.
It wasn't as if Yusei was clairvoyant in any way…but it was that he maintained that Signer bonds magnetized each and every single one of them and that they all could still sense one another without the explicit help of the Crimson Dragon. And he, especially, believed that his and Aki's bonds were somehow stronger than with other Signers…that the two of them shared a more special connection.
He parked the motorcycle by the entrance and determinedly knocked on the barricaded FDA doors. The procedure was to wait thirty or so seconds and then, once somebody appeared to say that this place was out of order, to say the password.
Yusei waited for over a minute and nothing happened. He knocked again, very impatiently now.
Again, nothing.
He tried pushing the door open but it wouldn't budge: it was like a brick wall. It's...closed? Yusei wondered with bewilderment, Isn't this place always supposed to be open?
Not wanting to waste any precious time, he returned to his D-Wheel and started the engine again. This time he slowly drove around the stadium in search of some obscure side entrance: Carly had found her way into this and so it was possible. At the same time, Yusei looked out for any additional suspicious clues such as any accidentally dropped items or…blood stains. Although desperate to find Aki he dreadfully hoped that he would not encounter any blood.
Yusei drove around the back, passing by the shady and junk-filled parking lot, when…all of a sudden he sensed something. He breaked sharply and looked out, still seeing nothing but debris and abandoned vehicle parts…but something was different and he couldn't quite explain it.
He dismounted his D-Wheel and slowly walked across the parking lot, thoughtfully scanning everything in the surroundings and, especially, on the ground. He didn't even raise his head when a distinguishable sound of a D-Wheel carried from the distance until Jack's Wheel of Fortune stopped next to him.
"Okay, what's going on?" Jack questioned, "Is this thing closed?" Apparently he had also just spent some time trying to get into FDA and failed.
"It seems so," Yusei answered distractedly.
"And the harbour was a waste of time as well," Jack added with a sigh, "Crow and I looked out for anything indicative of her being there. But nothing."
This wasn't what Yusei would have liked to hear but, as of a few minutes ago, it no longer surprised him. He didn't answer anything, resuming his inexplicable inspection.
Jack observed him with impatience. "Bruno, Carly and the brats found nothing either and Crow decided to drive around some more. I got here to help you with the FDA. But that place seems out of order for real now," he finished.
Yusei just nodded, lost in his own thought.
"Are we going to try breaking into it?" Jack asked, looking rather irritated now.
Yusei nodded automatically again.
"Okay, what the fuck are you doing?" Jack finally snapped.
"She was here," Yusei finally said.
Jack got off his motorcycle and now stood next to the dark-haired Signer. He looked to the ground but saw only cracked asphalt and rusted junk everywhere. "This is just some garbage dump," he pointed out with scorn, "If Aki had gone anywhere it'd be inside the FDA. So are we getting in there or not?"
"No, Jack, I...don't think she ever went inside," Yusei answered, stopping as he reached the end of the parking lot, and turned around to face Jack.
Jack sighed and folded his arms, looking completely unconvinced and even subtly amused. "Is the Crimson Dragon telling you something it's not telling me?" he inquired.
"No, I can't explain it," Yusei frowned, resuming his walking and careful analysis of the ground. "I just know. She was here."
At that point Jack smirked. "Okay, whatever you say," he sneered.
Yusei thought of saying something like, "I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand, Jack," but ruled against it. After all, the blonde didn't exactly have good people skills or sensitivity to some issues even though he did become better with Carly. Additionally, relating anything back to Carly might have gotten him to understand better but Yusei simply decided not to bother this time.
And then, as if fate answered him, Yusei suddenly saw it. His next breath was a sharp intake and he gestured to the ground. "There," he said quietly.
Jack sighed and closured him, impatiently looking to where he was pointing. "What am I looking at?" he snapped again when he couldn't see anything.
"The tire marks…" Yusei responded and crouched, touching the faded imprint of rubber. He always put so much care and patience into each project he ever built and he unquestionably remembered every little part he'd assembled together.
And Yusei especially knew each bolt and nudge of every D-Wheel he ever constructed...and that included the D-Wheel he built for Aki, the tire marks of which he was now looking at.
"You may have gotten a wrong impression of me," Mahdi said as he attached electrodes to her temples.
Aki was glaring at him with loathing mixed with terror, unable to speak out or even move. When she came to five minutes ago she quickly discovered that she was bound to a chair with ropes, that her mouth was sealed, and that there were some strange wires leading away from her. The last thing she remembered was Mahdi telling her that she'd help him kill Yusei…and then terrible pain in her abdomen. He must have punched her and caused her to lose consciousness and then took her somewhere. A dull cramp reappeared in her stomach and she knew for certain that it's what must have happened.
"I'm not really a bad guy," Mahdi continued while looking at the computer screen next to her. "Well," he smiled, "Not as much as you probably think. Besides, not all of it is my fault – it was often out of my control."
Aki didn't know what was going on or why there were all these technological devices next to her. She didn't know why she was connected to them and couldn't see what he was looking at and didn't know why it was just her and Mahdi in some mysterious vast space. All she knew was her fury. She had never before felt such pure and unsaturated hate towards someone.
"This will be fair," he went on, indifferent to hearing her responses, "It will only be the three of us and, largely, between him and I. You'll be involved too but you'll be mostly a passive bystander. Mostly."
Unable to even begin processing what he was telling her, Aki looked around to see where she was. It seemed to be some type of warehouse and didn't resemble the FDA structure in the least. He must have taken her somewhere entirely else. She vaguely remembered him mentioning something about trying to keep his affairs out of FDA because it wasn't his to do as he wished. She was also able to notice an outline of her D-Wheel far away and close to the entrance to this place.
"I hope he decides to play it fair as well," Mahdi carried on, "Wouldn't surprise me if he tries to bring the rest of your groupies with him...all of you were always about teamwork. But not this time. It has to be just between him and I, this is not a team effort."
He's delusional…he will never get what he wants, Aki thought. It was always about all of them and would always be. She was certain that Yusei would never come out by himself...even if he was the leader it was always combined effort.
"But if he doesn't play by the rules...then I still have you," Mahdi suddenly looked at her and reached out to touch her cheek. Aki jerked her head backward so she wouldn't have to feel his touch but her binds barely allowed her any room to breathe not to mention room to move away from him. As he gently trailed his fingertips down to her jaw and then hovered them over her taped lips Aki shuddered in revulsion. "I'll use you as an incentive if he needs more persuasion. Let's hope he values you," Mahdi told her.
Aki's whimper was muffled by tape and tears suddenly clouded her vision. Yusei, please don't come for me, she began pleading in her mind, overtaken with fear for him, Don't worry about me, please! I'll be okay…I'll escape somehow… Just don't come here, don't do what he asks. I'm not worth the risk.
At that point Mahdi took another glance at the hidden computer screen and then let out a sigh, picking up a syringe. Aki stared at it in shock and desperately began tugging at her binds.
"It's time for you to go back to sleep," Mahdi said and roughly grabbed her arm to still it while pressing a needle into her skin and Aki screamed into the adhesive tape.
"It's okay," he soothed her, his voice an echo as the horrible darkness began drowning her, "You'll wake up just when the show starts. Sweet dreams."
Yusei sat with his elbows propped on his knees and with his hands holding his head and barely heard his friends' voices around him. He ignored any suggestions for food or coffee, unable to even think about anything as insignificant as that.
"I checked two malls and the quarantined Duel Academy just in case," Bruno reported.
"We checked out some malls too," Rua added, "But everything's closed at this hour...and there didn't seem to be any traces of Aki-neechan."
"I drove through a couple of parks and nothing," Crow said gravely.
She wouldn't be in any of those places, Yusei was thinking, She was outside the FDA and now there is no longer any trace of her. She was taken away. He kept his eyes closed as he concentrated on the analysis in his mind. He had to come up with his own answer, to try to figure everything out, and only then ask for others' support and filter out the most probable possibility. And if he couldn't come up with anything then he would perform the borderline infinite trial-and-error search: of driving everywhere and checking everywhere in search for her, like a man possessed.
"It'll be okay, Yusei," Ruka said gently, hesitantly touching his shoulder, "I'm sure Aki-san is just out for a walk or something."
"Yeah," Crow unsuccessfully tried to sound as cheerful as the young Signer, "And now that we've got Mikage and Ushio paged about the case as well, we'll find her in no time."
So who could have taken her? Mahdi? Yusei continued thinking, completely unaware of everyone, He's the only one who seems to be consistently connected to everything: to murders, to Set, and the FDA spawned out of the duel prohibitions. But why? I'm supposed to duel him later on today…so why would he need to take Aki?
"I still say we try getting into FDA. There, once we find Mahdi, I'll beat him up until he tells us something. He probably weighs the thirty pounds you do so he stands no chance against Jack Atlas," Jack told him.
"But you guys saw Aki-san's D-Wheel tracks, right?" Ruka inquired, "Then she's with her D-Wheel and so maybe she just drove away somewhere."
"Yeah," Carly joined in to Ruka's hopeful suggestion, "Maybe that's what happened. Maybe she just wanted to get out or..."
"What if she just left. Got away," Jack disrupted, "Did you do something to piss her off?"
"...Yeah, was everything alright between...uh...you two?" Crow added timidly.
With those two questions suddenly harshly echoing in his mind, Yusei was torn away from his own thoughts and finally looked up at the small huddled group around him.
"Everything was perfect," he answered coldly. He couldn't blame his friends from exploring all the possibilities but this theory made his blood boil. Even though he had considered it as well – that he had done something and pushed Aki away to the point where she had to leave somewhere abruptly – there was nothing in her behaviour from yesterday that indicated any of that. They were happy and everything he had with Aki up until now had been genuine and free of tension. For him they were…irrevocably in love.
With that comment Yusei also signified the closing of consolations and discussions with him. He needed some solitude. And it wasn't until an hour later – when everybody (excluding Jack and Crow) involuntarily slipped into exhausted slumber – that somebody tried speaking with him again.
"Come outside with me," Jack said. It was not a question.
Yusei figured what this was about and simply followed him.
Jack lead him just outside of Poppo Time and out of the eavesdropping range for the rest of their friends. Once there, Jack lit up a cigarette and took a long drag. "Okay, so what are your theories?" he then asked him calmly.
Yusei was looking at his best friend and archrival with a blank expression on his face. He was masochistically expecting another type of Jack's therapeutic remedies – those involving the blonde Signer's fists – and this was an unexpected turn of events.
"I have only one," Yusei answered while making another countless phone call to Aki. As of two hours ago the calls inexplicably started coming through but she wouldn't pick up and he kept getting her voicemail. He didn't know if this was better or worse: the fact that her phone wasn't dead after all or the fact that she wasn't answering for some reason.
Nerve wrecking seconds passed as Yusei waited for her to answer and his heart sank into oblivion when he, once again, reached her voicemail. "She…had willingly gone away somewhere but something went wrong and she has been taken away," he finished, temporarily putting away his phone.
"Plausible enough," Jack let the smoke pass through his nostrils, "What are you going to do?"
Yusei found himself grateful for sudden simplicity and detachment in Jack's voice. Because he had to suppress his own horrible and suffocating turmoil – more devastating than any of his friends could ever imagine – others' stress only served to innerve him even more. Right now, Jack – and possibly Bruno – appeared to be the only one who could help him come up with a plausible and objective decision.
"Question Mahdi. He's the one that's connected to everything," Yusei said.
"What I've been saying," Jack sighed, "Motive?"
"Revenge," Yusei suggested, "He might have had it in for her since she prevented his duel and saved Crow. He may have decided to act on it spontaneously, before our duel today."
"Sounds possible," Jack agreed, "But what if you're wrong?"
Yusei looked out to the multitude of colours playing upon the horizon with the first strokes of sunrise. "Then I will look for her until I find her. I will check every house, every street…I will turn this city inside out until I will find her."
"Good luck," Jack said.
"I will find her," Yusei repeated firmly and checked his watch. It was almost seven in the morning. By his estimation Aki had now been missing for about three hours. They had recuperated enough so it was time to go back to FDA and get answers, regardless if the place was dead barricaded or not. And Yusei wasn't going to leave until he would get something.
At that minute – and with good timing – Crow's D-Wheel drove up to them and the third member of Team Satisfaction turned off the engine.
"Anything?" Jack asked him nonchalantly.
Crow shook his head, saying nothing. His mouth was set in a straight line and the dark shield of his helmet concealed his eyes. But even so Yusei could tell that Crow was unmistakably upset and agitated. The ginger-haired Signer couldn't remain in one place and kept driving around.
"I'm asking only for the two of you to come with me," Yusei requested. He didn't want to drag the others into this – even if the matter did concern them – because this wasn't something that required their skills: him, Jack and Crow weren't going for a friendly chat or to play by the rules. "We'll get into FDA one way or another," he concluded.
Jack nodded and fervently sucked on the cigarette, trying to finish it as quick as possible.
Crow dismounted his D-Wheel and looked at his friends for the first time. Dismay was clearly reflected in his grey eyes. "Could you give me ten minutes?" Crow asked quietly.
Yusei nodded his agreement and Crow disappeared into the house. As Yusei watched his friend depart he felt something strange and inexplicable.
"He's taking this badly," Jack pointed out.
Yusei didn't know what to answer to that, deciding not to think too much into this. It wasn't what was important right now even if it was obvious that everybody was deathly worried…and some more than others. He didn't notice Jack studying him with a contemplative expression until he heard Jack's aggravated sigh.
"Listen," Jack dropped the cigarette bud to the ground, putting it out with his foot, "I didn't want to tell you this but-"
Yusei's phone started ringing.
Jack went mute while Yusei forgot everything and directed his anxious gaze to the flashed screen just to see...Aki's name as the caller.
Yusei's heart sank deep and then spiked up to near light speed. He instantly picked up. "Aki!" he called out. She was alright…she was alright…she called him.
"No, but guess who!" a chilling male bass answered on the other end.
Yusei's eyes widened and he felt a nauseating wave of panic. "Mah…di?" he managed in shock.
Jack, who seemed cool and collected all this time, stood upright and had an alarmed expression plastered on his face.
"Who else?" Mahdi laughed, "Now, I'm calling you to-"
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? Where have you taken her?" Yusei shouted, completely losing it, "I swear, if you did anything to-"
"Whoa, calm down," Mahdi interrupted him, "I didn't do anything to her...well, yet. If you'd like to prevent that then I suggest you and I meet up."
"Your business is with me, Mahdi, so let her go!" Yusei shouted.
"You come to see me and then I'll let her go. How is that?" Mahdi said, "You and I will have an interesting discussion…and then, depending on what you decide, you'll get your girlfriend back. Sounds good?"
Yusei didn't care how suspicious that sounded. He didn't care that it was a trap: a possible psychopath was holding Aki hostage and he would do anything to get her back. "Fine," he decided.
"Come alone, Fudo Yusei," Mahdi demanded, his voice suddenly devoid of any amusement.
Yusei directed a quick look at Jack who was watching him intently.
"Come alone or else I'll slit her throat," Mahdi said.
Yusei felt a jolt of unspeakable fear. "I will do…as you ask," he managed.
"Great," Mahdi instantly sounded elated on the other line, "Then go to Shinjuku East Boulevard located on the Satellite Island. I'll be waiting at the old warehouse – it's the only one there and you can't miss it."
Yusei involuntarily thought back to the duel he had in order to find out the FDA whereabouts. He had fought it through Shinjuku East boulevard, the abandoned Satellite district…the ruins. And now he was going back there.
"Do you know where I'm talking about?" Mahdi pressed.
"Yes," Yusei said.
"Then be here in thirty minutes. Don't keep me waiting," Mahdi said, "And remember: come alone."
"Yes," Yusei felt a suffocating hollow feeling inside of him and slowly said, "Mahdi? I promise you that if you do anything as to touch a single hair on her head...then I will kill you."
Silence ensued on the other end before Mahdi hung up.
Yusei let his hand drop to his side and directed his gaze to the ground.
"So Mahdi has her?" Jack guessed.
Yusei nodded silently, his eyes darkened.
Jack growled and cracked his knuckles. "That son of a bitch! Let's go now and beat the hell out of him! I'll turn him into pulp!"
Yusei said nothing.
"He'll regret ever messing with one of us," Jack continued foaming at the mouth, "You take on one of us and you take on us all!" Then he drew in a deep breath and at the top of his lungs began calling, "Cr-"
At that point Yusei reached up and simply clapped his hand over the former King's mouth to mute him.
The outrage was evident in Jack's furious eyes just as much as surprise.
"No," Yusei said quietly, "I have to do this alone."
Jack smacked his hand away. "What the fuck are you saying?"
"I'm doing this alone," Yusei repeated, "And you need to keep this just between you and I until this is finished. You got this, Jack?"
Jack glared at him with disbelief, probably thinking he went insane. "I'm getting Crow and others," King Atlas decided and turned to walk into Poppo Time when Yusei grabbed the collar of his shirt and violently shoved him against the wall.
"I said I have to do this alone, Jack!" Yusei growled and Jack now stared back with shock, obviously taken aback by such uncharacteristic display of anger and impulse.
Yusei realized that he was losing it and instantly released his friend, stepping back. "He said he'll kill her if I don't come by myself," he explained quietly, avoiding Jack's eyes.
Jack's face was now an unreadable mask.
"As long as he has her my hands are tied," Yusei went on.
Jack continued listening to him in silence.
"All of us had a battle with Dark Signers," Yusei said, "But each one of us had to face our own demons. Some things are meant to be accomplished by ourselves."
Jack still wasn't saying anything.
"You understand...don't you, Jack?" Yusei questioned, urging for a reply, and faced him now, "After what happened with Carly and you."
"I understand," Jack finally said, "But I'll give you one hour and not more than that. After that we'll come to you."
Yusei stared. "Jack..." he started.
"If you can't get Aki back within that time frame then you'll need us," Jack determined, "I'm giving you more than enough time to do what you need, Yusei. I don't care what you say, we won't abandon you. So where is he holding her?"
"Shinjuku East. Warehouse," Yusei answered.
"That god-forsaken region?" Jack mumbled, "Either way, I'll tell others about everything but you're still going to have your alone time. So you either come back here with Aki within an hour or we come after you. You got that?"
At that point Yusei nodded, feeling grateful. Jack's plan still sounded trustful and reasonable and he wasn't going to argue further and waste any time. So he turned to leave when Jack's hand on his shoulder suddenly stopped him.
"Wait," Jack ravaged through his duel deck and held out a card for him, "If you're going to end up duelling him then take this."
For a second Yusei thought it was Jack's loyal Red Demon's Dragon but then he realized that it was some unknown Trap card.
"What is this?" Yusei asked, looking up into Jack's purple eyes.
"It's a Trap card," Jack answered, "Take it."
"That I can see," Yusei said, "I've never seen you use it before, Jack." He didn't understand the meaning of this.
"Because it's new. I picked it out yesterday," Jack explained shortly while still relentlessly holding the card for him.
Yusei raised his eyebrows. The Trap card Jack was trying to give him was optimistically called the Card of Last Will. When one's monster is destroyed or loses Attack points, this Trap allowed drawing of five extra cards. This seemed tailored for the Sky Dragon of Osiris.
Jack noticed his scrutiny and sighed with defeat. "Crow suggested a plan to me," he finally revealed something tangible, "That him and I challenge Mahdi instead of you."
"Why?" Yusei questioned with astonishment.
"Never mind that now," Jack avoided it, "The point is, we've been preparing new cards he wouldn't be able to predict since he seems to know something about all of us. And if you're planning to use Osiris then take this."
Yusei looked back down to the card and finally took it from the blonde's hands. "Both of you are idiots," he said, simply no longer having any more time to keep questioning this. He figured he'd get some answers when he returned. With Aki.
Jack rolled his eyes but, despite his annoyance, said, "I want this card back when it's over."
Yusei would have found this situation really funny if the current circumstances weren't so grave. "Don't worry, Jack," he finally said, "I'm not going to run off somewhere with it…"
Jack grimaced at the obvious stab. "You have to come back so you can give it back to me. No excuses, Yusei," he still insisted.
At that point it suddenly dawned on Yusei that it was Jack's own way of telling him that he worries. That he wants to see him return alive and well. "I'll give it back, Jack," he promised.
Jack nodded contentedly. "Then I'll see you in one hour either way," he finished and turned to leave, "And Yusei? Kick his ass. Show him not to mess with any of us."
Yusei attempted at a small smile before the former King of Games departed. And, with that, Yusei hurried to the garage where he got his D-Wheel and manually wheeled it out, not starting the engine until he was some distance from home. Then he drove off into the early morning city.
He made it to the Shinjuku East boulevard with ten minutes to spare. As Mahdi had indicated, the ruined warehouse was darkening on the horizon and was impossible to miss.
He parked his D-Wheel on the street across from the warehouse and attached a duel disk to his arm just in case when, all of a sudden, the mark of the Crimson Dragon once again lit up on his forearm. This time, however, it was not burning or calling him to Aki. It was just there, almost as if a warning that what was about to happen wasn't going to be simple. That this was going to be a serious battle.
Yusei finally and cautiously made his way into the wrecked Satellite building. Everybody generally avoided this place since the Zero Reverse – mostly because the roof perpetually looked like it would fall in and there was a rumour circulating between kids that this place was haunted.
Inside, it was revealed that the facility was single-level and occupied a significantly large floor space encompassing at least six thousand square feet. The colossal area was completely devoid of any such warehouse-typical items as cranes or forklifts or goods' stacked pallets. The broken roof was actually held up from the inside by metallic support pillars which successfully prevented it from collapsing. The lights were hanging from the supported pillars and harshly illuminated only a small space right the middle of the warehouse. And the small lighted space revealed various advanced computer equipment next to a metallic office chair.
And in that chair sat Aki, her delicate frame slouched and tied up from head to toe.
"Aki!" Yusei cried out and began running towards her. He was seconds from reaching her when a tall white-haired man came out from behind all the technology and now blocked her from his view.
"You're early but that's okay!" Mahdi greeted him enthusiastically.
Ordinarily Yusei would have continued running and punched Mahdi out like there was no tomorrow but Mahdi produced a large knife from his pocket, stopping him dead in his tracks.
Yusei took steps back, gritting his teeth, while Mahdi chuckled. "So, you're alone just as I asked – good job. But about that…" he pointed to Yusei's glowing Signer mark, "I hope you're not doing something stupid like notifying your friends where you are."
"Let her go!" Yusei shouted, clenching his fists, barely hearing anything Mahdi was saying to him. What had he done to her? She was unconscious and, it seemed to him, nearly lifeless. Did he lie and actually hurt her in any way?
Mahdi now moved to stand right by Aki and lovingly admired the knife close to her neck. "I know what it can do," he reminded quietly about the birthmark.
"It's not," Yusei replied, regaining some composure with Mahdi's risky proximity with Aki, "It's glowing with the anticipation of evil."
"How romantic," Mahdi chuckled.
Yusei noticed that Aki seemed to be connected to all that technology through the electrodes stuck to her temples and felt abruptly frightened for her. He had no idea what this was about and one of the monitors by her head revealed a spinning double helix similar to a DNA strand; and another, to his temporary relief, was a heart monitor which revealed a steady beat.
"What have you done to her?" Yusei managed through his clenched teeth.
"Oh," Mahdi seemed surprised by that question, "Nothing, actually. She's just sleeping. I gave her a dose but she'll be up soon, don't worry." He pointed to the heart monitor as if to indicate that he wasn't lying, "I just wanted to talk to you first before letting her join."
"Then talk," Yusei demanded.
Mahdi was now staring at him with a rather strange expression. He seemed almost…dreamy. "Oh wow…" he spoke up, "Now that I finally know who you are and now that I'm really paying attention to you…it's so obvious! I…I have finally found you."
"What are you talking about?" Yusei growled.
"You, you," Mahdi said, "I knew they'd send somebody after me but I could never have imagined that it'd be you! You're going to have to forgive my ignorance…I have no idea how I could have missed you up until now."
Yusei didn't understand anything Mahdi was saying and he wasn't sure if he actually cared. The only thing he cared about was Aki and rescuing her.
Mahdi cocked his head to the side. "I'm going to tell you everything," he continued softly, "You seem confused. Maybe you haven't realized everything yet...but not to worry, I will help you."
"So tell me everything," Yusei tried directing the conversation to something tangible, "You said you'd talk to me and that you'd let Aki go after. So get to it."
"No, no, no," Mahdi sighed, still holding his knife in a close proximity to Aki, "I said that we'll chat and that depending on your decision I'd let her go."
"Then what do you need me to decide on?" Yusei asked, losing his patience.
"On a duel," Mahdi answered and touched the duel disk attached to his own arm for emphasis, "I just…really want to duel you, Fudo Yusei. That is all."
Yusei knew that it couldn't be that simple. It was obvious that Mahdi was hiding a trick up his sleeve. He was supposed to have a duel with Mahdi today anyway so something must have happened if he had decided to kidnap Aki as a means of coercing him into duelling. He worriedly transferred his gaze to Aki's pale and unconscious form, knowing that he'd do anything to save her. "Just a duel…?" he asked.
"Yes, just a duel," Mahdi smiled at him, "And during a duel I'll tell you some interesting things…and isn't that why you wanted to duel me to begin with? To find out some answers?"
Yusei nodded rigidly. It was true even though it was no longer of first priority to him.
"Well, then not only will I tell you everything I know but you'll also get your girlfriend back. Just a simple duel where the winning conditions won't matter," Mahdi continued smiling enigmatically at him, "Should you win or lose...it won't matter because either way I'll let her go. I just want...no, need to duel you."
This was such absurd nonsense. "What are you trying to pull, Mahdi?" Yusei growled, "You and I were to duel today. Why are you using her to do what was going to happen anyway?"
Mahdi's smile grew wider and he appeared on the border of lunacy. "Because, as of a few hours ago, everything has changed."
Yusei looked at Aki's unconscious form again. Everything…changed? he thought, Aki, what happened with you? What happened here?
"What is your answer?" Mahdi prompted him.
Yusei frowned, returning his gaze to his enemy. "I don't believe anything you say. I know you won't let us walk out of here after the duel."
Mahdi sighed. "I was hoping you'd do the right thing by yourself...but alas, you need some additional persuasion." He swiftly moved the knife to Aki's throat and Yusei flinched, screaming "STOP!"
"What is that? Is that agreement?" Mahdi asked naively while holding the blade a millimetre away from her skin.
Yusei would never do anything to risk Aki's life like that again. "Yes, I...I'll duel you," he said, defeated, and activated his duel disk.
"You've chosen correctly," Mahdi nodded and peeled the bandage off his palm, revealing a fresh cut. Then he knelt and roughly pressed his hand to the ground.
With that action, the ground began to quake and inexplicable gushes of wind enclosed them within a hissing funnel. Yusei held his balance against the shaking ground, a task which was effortless for Mahdi who had already re-bandaged his hand. Glowing blood red seal formed around them, colossal in size and stretching nearly for the whole warehouse area. Lastly, the seal lines formed mysterious Egyptian symbols before the earthquake finally seized.
The three of them were now encased in the Sutekh Sacrificō seal which would not release them until one of them lost. And, as Yusei knew, the loss of these duels ended with death.
At the same time Yusei suddenly realized that – for the entire duration of the seal formation – Mahdi was watching him very carefully and almost with anticipation.
"So...what do you think?" Mahdi asked him with an excited grin, "Do you like it?"
What is he asking me? Yusei thought. Instead, he made an invisible smile. "And you said that the winning conditions won't matter for this duel," he remarked and inconspicuously checked his watch: he had forty minutes left.
Mahdi raised his eyebrows. "Yes, I did and I did not lie: there are no death conditions in this duel. This is only a formality and I made it so," he answered and drew cards into his hand.
"Formality?" Yusei repeated, drawing his own five cards. This didn't make any sense.
"I have no desire to kill you, Fudo Yusei," Mahdi said while watching him very intensely.
Yusei found himself taken aback both by that blunt statement and its delivery. Especially since he, himself, held that he wouldn't hesitate to kill Mahdi if he had truly hurt Aki. This was the only occasion where he would deviate from his usual principles without question. "Then what it is you want with me, Mahdi?" Yusei finally asked, "And why did you drag Aki into this?"
"I think I'll take the first turn," Mahdi avoided the question and drew a card.
[Mahdi]
[Beginning of Turn One: 0 Monsters; 0 Cards on Field; 6 Cards in hand; LP4000]
"Lovely," Mahdi nodded approvingly at his hand before returning his gaze to the Signer. "As I've already told you…I only wish to talk to you."
"Then talk," Yusei demanded coldly, unable to take any more of this nonsense. This guy sounded almost…obsessed with him.
"I am," Mahdi said, raising his eyebrows, and gestured to the ground, "I asked you what you think about this. If you like it."
"What?" Yusei asked.
"I made this for you," Mahdi said, continuing gesturing to the ground, "The Sutekh Sacrificō seal. This. I created it for you...so I could find you. Can't you see? Can you not read the hieroglyphs? Can't you read what they say?"
Yusei felt a chill down his spine and had to swallow in a throat suddenly dry. It…couldn't be. It was too simple. "What…do you mean?" Yusei asked quietly. He didn't know if Mahdi was really able to create something as horrible as this Sutekh Sacrificō mechanism…and if it then meant that Mahdi was Set, their terrible enemy all along…or if he was simply a psychopathic lunatic. Either way it suddenly clicked in his head and he felt alarmed.
Mahdi's smile grew wider while still somehow retaining that creepy gentle quality to it. Instead of answering, he placed a Monster card on his duel disk. "I'll start with basics," he said, "I play Bowganian in Defence mode."
A Level 3 monster appeared – its appearance that of a mechanical eyeball – and its attack points were at 1300 and its defence points at 1000.
Something was wrong. Something was dangerous. And Yusei could not shake the terrible instinctual feeling in his gut. "Mahdi, just who are you?" he explicitly demanded.
"And then I'll place two face down cards on the field," Mahdi continued, as if deaf to the questions addressed to him, and two hidden cards appeared. He then looked to at Yusei, his expression unwavering, and asked, "Do you want me to be done, Fudo Yusei?"
"What?" Yusei asked. Why does he always put such emphasis on my name? he wondered involuntarily.
"Do you want me do finish my turn now?" Mahdi asked him, "Because I can."
Yusei didn't know any point to his question rather than to test him or to intimidate him. "I'm not afraid of you," he answered.
"Have you ever heard about a famous Milgram experiment?" Mahdi changed topics suddenly.
"No," Yusei said, going along with the constantly skipping responses.
"In 1960s a psychologist named Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment where he had participants electroshock other participants based on their wrong answers," Mahdi said, "For each wrong answer the shock charge would increase until it would reach the lethal amount."
"Why are you telling me this?" Yusei asked, feeling dread slowly spreading through every fibre of his being. His gut feeling amplified.
"To be fair, the original experiment simply measured the willingness of people to obey commands and none of those electroshocks were real," Mahdi went on, "But that's not why I'm interested in this experiment. I like it as an example of negative reinforcement, you see."
"You enjoy inflicting pain to those who disobey you," Yusei summarized.
Mahdi seemed happy. "Tell me the truth...Fudo Yusei. You claim not to be afraid of me. But...are you afraid for her?" he gestured to Aki.
Yusei flinched. He was but he refused to be intimidated. He insisted, "Finish your turn."
Another slow smile appeared on Mahdi's face. "As you wish then..." he said and revealed a green Magic card from his hand, "Because you asked I will play my Magic card, Meteor of Destruction."
Yusei gritted his teeth, knowing the effect of this card. It allowed to inflict 1000 points of direct damage but only if one's opponent's Life Points are not 3000 or less. Unfortunately, Yusei wasn't in the safety zone and he didn't have anything to deflect this damage since he hasn't been able to have a turn yet.
"I told you about the original Milgram experiment because I've decided to conduct one of my own," Mahdi suddenly notified him while still holding the card in his hand and not playing it yet, "But this one will be as real as it gets."
"What?" Yusei frowned.
"I'm not a psychic duellist," Mahdi said, "But your whore is. And I have found a way to tap into her energy."
"What are you saying?" Yusei asked, feeling loathing pumping acid in his veins. How dare he…
"See this?" Mahdi turned his duel disk to its side, showing a strange blue button, "This is a receptor. You see those wires attached to her head? This sends information to her and, with it, electric shock. The shock will cause her to materialize every single one of my attacks whether she likes it or not. And, with each attack I make, the electric charge will increase."
Yusei suddenly felt cold terror. He had never before felt so frightened. "AKI!" he cried out, attempting to make a run for her when Mahdi simply moved closer to her and once again had a knife to her throat.
"You really want to try this?" Mahdi challenged.
Yusei froze.
"Good," Mahdi approved and finally activated the powerful Magic card, "Now eat one thousand points of direct damage."
Aki's unconscious body convulsed with an electric charge while a Solid Vision meteor appeared from above and began plunging towards Yusei.
"Aki!" Yusei screamed out for her while Mahdi went on, "I think you know who I am now…don't you? A god has descended...and it is I."
Yusei could do nothing, being completely paralyzed with helpless horror for Aki, while a materialized fireball mercilessly smashed into him.
"Welcome to the world of pain, Yusei," Mahdi said with an enigmatic smile, "I hope you enjoy your stay. I end my turn."
So I don't know how it is in Japan but in Canada it is illegal to use the phone while driving…so I don't know if Yusei should have been doing all those calls while driving. I just couldn't stop thinking about it as I was writing that part.
And then I remembered that this anime is about card games on motorcycles. Yeah, I think it's fine for him to do whatever he wants.
So yeah…I think it's pretty clear who Set has been all along. Not much of a twist there.
Also, it will get more sadistic in the next chapter…but lots of mysteries will be answered!
So I hope you'll keep reading this story and that you don't really hate the sudden change of "mood".
Stay tuned for the continuation of Yusei vs. Mahdi!