Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Battle City ❯ Testing the Truth ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Okay, so this chapter is a bit more emotional than the others. A lot is happening now on the blimp and things between Seto and Kari are being tested. However, it's only just beginning. I work all day tomorrow, so I won't be able to post any, but hopefully whenever I free time this week, I'll be able to write some more. Remember to critique! : )

Battle City

Kari was crying and she couldn't stop. It took a lot for her to behave this way but after that day's duel, she couldn't hold it back any longer. All the fear, the stress, the anger, the confusion –it was all too much to bear. She sat in the chair next to a hospital bed, hunched over the bed with her head in her arms as she sobbed.
"Oh Mai, why did it have to be you?" she cried, not hearing the door of the medical room open slowly.
"Kari?"
The blond sat up at the familiar voice and turned to look at Mokuba. He looked deeply concerned as he approached her. "Are you okay?" he asked warily.
Kari didn't like showing weakness, especially in front of a child that looked up to her, but she couldn't stop the sniffing and her heart tightening each time she thought of Mai. She had learned so much cruel stuff that day and Seto hadn't even seemed phased by it. How he could not realize, even after being transported to another realm, that there was something evil going on.
"No, Mokuba. I'm not," Kari admitted, looking down shamefully at Mai's unconscious, beautiful face. She looked peaceful, but Kari knew the truth. Her soul wasn't even in her body at that point. She was long gone and there was no telling if they could ever get it to return. Her one and only friend that had stuck by her, who understood everything she had gone through in her life, was now gone. Her boyfriend didn't understand where she was coming from and Yugi was off limits. She was definitely not okay.
But she couldn't rant to a little boy like Mokuba, no matter how wise he was compared to his years of age. His small hand touching her shoulder had her breaking all over again. He let her cry some before getting very worried. No one should ever have to cry so much.
"Should I get Seto?" he suggested. Kari was like a sister to him and he knew that she made Seto very happy. He hated seeing her this way, but there was nothing he could do to help her. Something had happened to her friend and she was obviously distraught over it.
"N-no," Kari protested with wide tearful eyes. "He's busy looking up god card information. Leave him be."
"But don't you think that he should be comforting you to make you feel better about your friend?" Mokuba asked with a tilt of his head, his eyes wondering from Mai back to Kari.
"It's all right, Mokuba. I promise. I just got to let it out and then I'll be okay," Kari said, trying to summon a smile to her face to reassure the boy. It didn't work but Mokuba respected it and nodded anyways.
"Can I get you anything?" he asked instead.
Kari couldn't help but smile for real this time, not as bright as usual, but it was still there. "No Mokuba. Thank you though. You're very sweet, just like your brother can be."
The light went on in Mokuba at the comparison to his brother and he couldn't stop himself from hugging Kari tight. "All right, well tell me if you need anything. I'll be helping Seto!" he called before running out the door happily. It took so little to make him happy, Kari thought with a small smile.
Her eyes once again fell onto Mai's lifeless body and she took a deep breath, trying to stop her broken sobs from erupting again. She needed to pull herself together. She wasn't helping Mai by sitting at her corpse, crying her eyes out. Mai would probably kick her for doing so anyways. She needed to figure out how to help, and the only way for her to do so, is to get in touch with the people who knew about this shadow realm.
Kari stood up with determination before leaving the room, pausing in the doorway to look back at Mai. "Don't worry Mai. I'll help save you."

A knock on Joey's door brought him out of his own depressing thoughts, but he stood up on numb legs to answer. The small blond in his doorway left him confused with wide brown eyes. "Kari?"
She looked like a mess, but she didn't look half as bad as she felt when she smiled. Even Joey felt the room brighten. "Hi Joey. I know we haven't talked much, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."
Joey stared at her for a moment, wondering if this was some kind of trick. He leaned forwards and poked her, making her widen her eyes and look at him like he'd gone crazy. "You're not pullin' my leg are ya? Cause I have had enough of those evil guys."
Kari gaped at his accusation before actually busting into laughter. "Me? An evil guy? Puh-lease," she said with a smile, which tilted her eyes a bit. It felt good to laugh again after so much crying. "So can I come in?"
Joey blushed. "You can't be too careful nowadays, ya know," he explained as he moved out of the way to let her in. As she walked past him, Joey eyed her with interest and he closed the door. "Not to sound like I don't wantcha here, but aren't you better friends Yug?"
Kari sat down at the table in front of his bed and looked up at him. "Yugi? Oh, um, we are having some differences at the moment…" she lied, well not really. They actually were, but it wasn't the way she had made it sound.
Joey grew suspicious but didn't question her on it as he too sat down across from her. Kari was well aware that Seto could see her in there with him at any given moment, but she wasn't worried. After everything that was going on, an angry boyfriend seemed painless.
"Okay, whatcha want to ask me?" Joey asked, his hands fidgeting together on the table. Kari watched his fingers thoughtfully for a moment before clearing her throat.
"Well, I need you to tell me everything you know about the shadow realm."
Joey looked as if he was about to fall out of his seat at the mention of that. Especially after what they all had gone through that day and then there was the fact that they had lost Mai…He felt tears prick at his eyes with the reminder, but he held them back. He didn't need to cry in front of Kari. But as he looked back at her, he realized she had been staring observantly at him and he blushed, pressing his palms into his eyes to hold his emotions back.
"It's okay Joey, I lost her too," Kari said softly, before reaching out and touching his arm.
Joey tensed under her touch, but he refused to remove his hands. He. Would. Not. Cry. Not in front of a girl!
"Look, if it's too painful to talk about it. I understand. I'm having a hard time dealing with it myself. But I need to know everything I can about it so I can help get her back."
Joey gritted his teeth before slowly removing his hands, his eyes red from pressing on them so tightly and he wiped at his eyes shamefully before leaning back in his chair. "I dunno really. I've only witnessed it a few times before. It's like this place, where evil souls go when they are banished there. If you are challenged to a duel while you are in this realm, then whoever loses is kept in the realm forever….that's…what happened to Mai," his voice cracked and he refused to look at Kari who was sat motionless in her chair as she listened.
"Wait, are you saying we can't get her back then? That her soul is lost forever?" Kari asked, fear high in her voice at the prospect. No, it couldn't be true. She couldn't be lost so quickly.
"I honestly don't know, Kari," Joey admitted, sounding so painful it hurt Kari's heart all over again. Realization hit her hard.
"Joey…was there something…between the two of you?" she asked meekly, not wanting to step on any cracks that could potentially hurt Joey worse.
Joey snapped his head up at the question, ready to deny any feelings he had for the unconscious woman in the medical room. "She—"his shoulders slumped when he realized that Kari wouldn't say anything. She was too good of a person. And she had been very good friends with Mai during their time together. "No, there wasn't. But the feelings I have for her…I just wish she could have returned them. I thought maybe she did at one point, but I screwed it up and now…she's gone."
Kari stood and embraced Joey, which he tensed at before relaxing. Kari was a very sweet person, he thought as he wrapped his arms around her small body for the hug before she pulled away. "Don't worry Joey, I'm going to help you get her back."
Kari began walking towards his door, leaving Joey standing there baffled. "What's going on between you and Yugi?" he asked, curiosity definitely killing the cat with that one.
Kari blushed unwillingly and turned back around to catch the suspicious eyes of Joey Wheeler. "Nothing. Not even friends, anymore. It's complicated," she relented with a sigh. She ran her hand through her tangled hair, wishing she could say more.
"Ya know you can tell me. Me and Yug have been friends for years. Anyone who is friends with him, is friends with me," Joey said, his mouth turning upwards on one side. Kari bit her lip to hold back the grateful grin threatening to take place on her lips, but to no avail.
"Thank you Joey," she said with a beaming grin, hope finally breaking through. Perhaps with friends on her side, Mai could be saved and that evil bastard Marik could be destroyed once and for all.

"Where have you been?"
Kari ignored the annoyance of her boyfriend's voice and headed straight for the bathroom that connected to their bedroom. The sensual moment they had had the day before was long gone out of her mind and it left her feeling very empty on the Seto side of her world, for the first time ever.
Heavy footsteps coming her way told her Seto was following her and she tried not to let it irritate her. She turned the sink on and began wetting her face, wanting to get all remnants of her crying to disappear before he entered. When she rose from wetting her face, she reached for the towel and dried her face, before realizing that Seto had handed the towel to her. She caught his narrowed, suspicious cobalt blue eyes, before tearing her gaze away to brush her hair.
"Mokuba said that you were in the medical room with Mai. When I went to look for you, you weren't there. So I got worried," Seto explained as if she had asked him a question or something or other.
Kari stared at her reflection as she worked the knots out of her hair without saying a word. A few silent minutes passed as she brushed her hair and Seto stared at her, leaning up against the doorway of the bathroom. She knew she was going to be interrogated and she wished he would just come out and say it.
"So you're friends with Wheeler too?" he finally asked, disdain heavy in his voice.
"Yes," Kari said flatly, which took him off guard. Seto had never heard his lovely melodic voice of a girlfriend sound so plain. Something was wrong.
Seto narrowed his eyes and stopped her from brushing her hair by grabbing her wrist and turning her around to look up at him. She did so, but there was no sparkle that he yearned to see every time he thought of her. It had been that sparkle that had made him fall in love with her in the first place.
"What did he do to you?" he demanded and Kari stared back at him, finally showing an emotion even just through her eyes: anger.
"He didn't do anything to me, Seto," she snapped, making Seto step backwards with his eyes widened. She'd never sounded so angry with him before. "If you had been paying any attention today, besides the attention you give those stupid god cards that you don't even have yet, you'd realize that I lost my best friend today."
Seto was silent after that, staring at her with realization. Of course. Mai Valentine had been her companion through this tournament, bonding over the fact that they were the only girls to get into the finals. And she had been the only friend Seto was okay with Kari having….because she was a female.
During that duel, he hadn't been focusing on anything except the god card that Marik Ishtar held in his deck. How he summoned it, what were the incantations, and if it were possible for someone other than Marik to say such words. Of course, after vigorous research, he was able to find out that it was indeed possible. He had wanted to Kari first, but she had been nowhere to be found. Yes, he had known about Mai being hospitalized…but the way Kari spoke about her, it sounded as if Mai was dead or something. His doctors had pronounced her still alive. Had something changed while he was in his lab?
"She's…alive right?" he asked, looking within her eyes for the truth. Had he been so blind to overlook something like that because of the god cards?
Kari pushed him away distastefully, and turned her back on him, her arms coming up to fold across her chest. "Yes, she is still alive…for now. But the matter of her waking up is another thing completely."
Seto frowned with confusion. "What are you talking about Kari?"
Kari took a deep breath to calm herself, knowing she was losing her temper and knowing that she shouldn't. But her emotions were jumbled today. "From what I understand it," she began in a softer tone. "She is in a sort of coma state. Her soul is…well, it's no longer within her body."
Kari felt Seto's burning gaze on her back and she looked down at the tile of the floor with feign interest. "That's what I was talking with Joey about. I wanted to understand a bit more about what had happened to her during her duel. You and I both know that a regular duel, simulation or not, doesn't render someone in a coma."
Seto was silent for quite some time and Kari finally turned to see his reaction. Seto's face was expressionless and she wished she could tell what he was thinking. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his middle to press her ear against his chest. He tensed under her touch and that made her look up at him with worry.
He was looking straight ahead.
"Seto?"
"I need to go to my lab," he suddenly said before untangling himself from her and leaving the room abruptly.
Kari frowned with confusion before hearing their bedroom door slam. Only then did she react. If that was how he was going to act then fine! She'd go to someone who understood and who wanted to help! Kari groaned and changed her clothes, wearing a pair of jean shorts and a red tank top, before leaving the room herself with purpose out of spite.
She knocked on the door hard, not realizing how much power she had behind it until Yugi opened the door with wide, stunned eyes. "Kari! What's wrong?"
Kari didn't say anything as she pushed his way into Yugi's room before she suddenly began ranting as she paced without really seeing anything. "He's a stupid jerk who only thinks of those stupid cards and locks himself up in his lab. I hate those cards, they are stupid and I wish they were never created. And he can't see what is clearly in front of him and it's breaking my heart—"
Yugi half listened to what she was saying, slowly closing the door while never taking his eyes off her. She was obviously upset and it was overwhelming to say the least. He had never seen Kari like this before. Something must have happened to really set her off, let alone have her standing in his bedroom again after they had broken their friendship up before it had even started.
Yugi took a deep breath and approached her pacing form, before catching her by the wrist to stop her. Kari's voice trailed off and she looked at Yugi as if seeing him for the first time. He blinked and she looked down shamefully.
"Are you all right, Kari?" he asked her, concern laced within his voice.
Kari ran a hand through her hair, making it messed up again. "Seto has crossed the line, Yugi. He won't see that something is going on! He won't stop obsessing over those stupid god cards and I can't get him to listen to a word that I say. I don't understand him. And now that Mai—"her voice broke and she swallowed down her tears, while Yugi watched her through furrowed eyebrows. "He had no compassion Yugi. He didn't even care that I was upset."
Yugi was taken aback by this statement. From before he found out about Kari's relationship with the CEO, he had always seen Seto as an emotionless man who was too wrapped up into his business to care for anyone but himself. The only exception was Mokuba, but even that went so far. But after finding out that someone as heartless as Seto seemed to be had been swept by sweet Kari, then he was beginning to wonder if he had been wrong.
"I'm sure that wasn't the case, Kari…he was probably just busy, or something," Yugi said, feeling wrong by making excuses for Seto, but wishing he could get Kari to smile again. He couldn't get the look of pure horror on her face when Mai had been taken by Marik during the duel.
"No Yugi, you didn't see him. I hugged him, and he stiffened up like he didn't want me around. And then he left for his lab….he—I—"words escaped her and Kari threw herself at Yugi. His eyes shot wide and a bright blush peached his cheeks. She buried her face into his neck, her arms wrapping around his middle to keep herself close as she lost control over her emotions for the second time that day. It was now night and she was still crying. What a loser, she thought bitterly.
After realizing she was sobbing on him, and that she wasn't letting go any time soon, Yugi hesitantly wrapped his arms around her slim body to hold her. She needed this comfort. If anyone was going to give her this, he was happy it was him. At first the embrace had been awkward, but soon Yugi felt himself pet her hair and stroke her back. After a few minutes of this, Kari's sobs subdued and she pulled away with a red face. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying so hard and it made her look wild, the blue irises standing out brightly from the red of her whites. Yugi swallowed back the emotion he felt for her and lifted her chin with a finger, so she looked up at him.
"He's probably just stressed Kari, like we all are. Things in his tournament are not happening like had originally been planning. You must be patient with him. For now, you just need friends," he explained softly, his lips curving upwards to try to reassure her.
Kari stared back at him for a minute, her lips parting slightly as she breathed rapidly from her crying. Suddenly she leaned forwards and Yugi felt his breath leave him completely, but instead of kissing him like he had originally foreseen a split second before, she leaned her forehead against his shoulder and took a deep breath.
"You're right Yugi. I know you told me not to be friends with you, but I don't have anyone else on the blimp anymore. With Mai gone, Seto in his lab, and Mokuba too young to understand, I needed you."
Yugi visibly blushed and he felt her shudder against him, making him look down at her curiously. She was hurting, and he knew how she felt. He remembered how his friends had been mind-slaved, his granpa had been taken from him, and all that he rendered safe was now dangerous.
All thoughts of keeping his distance was becoming a distant memory. She needed someone, and she needed him.
Sorry Yami, but I can't deny her.
And the Pharaoh watched through narrowed eyes as Yugi wrapped his arms back around Kari to comfort her. Nothing good would come of this. He knew it.

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