Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson November ❯ Noa's rebirth ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

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Noa Kaiba had always liked it when things were completed fast and efficiently, and his new body was not being made either fast or efficiently. He scowled out the computer screen, unable to look past the limited range of the screen.

It had been four days now since he had put forward his request, and Kaiba hadn't even bothered to inform him of his progress.

Noa sighed, crossing his arms. Perhaps he would check Kaiba's email as a way to waste time.

He accessed the computer easily by using a keypad, and then began to busily ransack the stored data, finding nothing interesting. He hovered the mouse over a file that seemed foreign to him, and then smirked gleefully at it, accessing its contents with a single click.

Porn.

To think, Seto Kaiba had … porn. And not even good porn, Noa thought, shaking his head.

Of course, he was just a pain in the ass iceman…

Noa chuckled, leafing through the file, pausing to find a few pictures of Joey grinning, most likely not having known about the camera in the first place. Mind you, it wasn't porn, but to Noa, it was a start.

He let out a pent in sigh and slid down the back of his chair, smiling dreamily to himself.

Now there was a sight worth seeing…

If only he'd had the chance to see Joey more up close and personally before, when they had first come to his digital world.

The world was going to the dogs…

He clicked lazily on another picture, and then realized that some of the images were of someone he knew…

Him.

He clicked on the image, enlarging it…

They were naked pictures… of when he was little…

His face scrunched up in horror.

This couldn't have been real… none of the images would have been possible, even with digital enhancement technology.

He side clicked on the image to see its properties and bit his lip so hard that it nearly started to bleed.

Gozaburo Kaiba…

It was a picture captured by Gozaburo Kaiba…

He clicked once more on the folder, revealing the creator to be …

Gozaburo Kaiba….

His father…

He grimaced, snarling to himself as he clicked on the images, going through the entire folder, anger welling up in his mind.

It was all porn.

Everything… except for a few pictures of Joey, Seto and himself….

How had Gozaburo gotten all the images? And more importantly, WHY! Why had he done it in the first place… it was sickening. Disgusting…

Noa closed the file and glared angrily at the screen, wanting to bash a hole through the middle.

How dare his father take degrading photos of him? How dare his father take those pictures… it was sickening… Sad and horrifying in its intensity…

Noa gnashed his teeth, furrowing his brow in concentration.

When had things gotten so strange? He had thought that things were bad, he had known that things were horribly bad, but he hadn't suspected anything as bad as it was now.

He felt a twinge in his virtual world and flinched, feeling the pull of power.

The computer screen in front of him flashed on, revealing the tired face of Seto Kaiba wrestling with a set of green hair.

" Dear Seto… if only you knew about this… alas." Noa smiled to himself, scanning a photo of Joey sitting in a tight fitting pair of blue jeans. It had most likely come from a school fieldtrip, something that had occurred in elementary school when Kaiba had been younger, because sitting beside the carefree teen was Seto Kaiba himself, smiling politely into the camera's lens.

" Noa… I know you're in there. I've finished the body, all we need is you." Kaiba growled, wiping sweat from his brow.

Noa smiled.

" Dear Seto, bring out your little friends and start up the process… I'm ready to get back into the real world."

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It had been gruelling; a painstaking process that had taken Yami Bakura nearly three hours, but soon the idea had been put into play.

He had at first suggested it to Kaiba, who had seemed intrigued with the notion, and then it had become reality when he had been in formed that the time had come.

He would be able to reach his goal… well, at least temporarily…

It would be embarrassing, surely for only Noa…

To wake up after years of being trapped in a virtual world and then end up in his first set of mortal clothes… a lacy dress bordered with so many frills it would be able to stand up for itself if it wanted to… positively horrific to wake up in.

A jest worthy of his excellent talents…

A smile touched his lips at the thought of mercilessly embarrassing another human being without having to worry about Bakura getting angry at him for his rudeness.

He felt the smooth fabric of the silk dress under his fingertips, smirking to himself at it. It was tiny, almost mannequin like in its length… he could just imagine seeing Bakura in a likewise outfit… decked out in holly and bows… ribbons of the purest satin.

Had he been a cultured man, perhaps he would have wanted a cocktail dress bordered with velvet, but he preferred the silk dress…

He peered out of the corner of his eye; catching Bakura's gaze and turned, smirking to his friend.

" I see you've found something you like better then robbery. Perhaps you might like to try it on." Bakura murmured softly, a smile playing coyly on his lips.

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes, pulling free from the brief contact with the dress.

" Really, it's not my style to want to dress in such finery… besides, I'd rather like to see your sweet little self in it instead… your little hands would do well to stay in some silk gloves…" he smirked when Bakura paled and then blushed simultaneously.

Pleased with the effect, he sauntered saucily over to where Bakura was sitting, squished in a soft recliner chair. He leaned closer to Bakura's face, falling to one, knee, resting his chin on his open hand; gazing deeply into Bakura's chocolate eyes.

Bakura blushed further, wrapping his arms around himself.

" Bakura… do you really think that I would wear something like that? I'm not that flamboyant." He drawled, reaching out with his free hand to take Bakura's chin gently in his palm, fingers stroking the soft smooth skin of the youth's cheek.

Bakura leaned forward, flipping the pirate eye patch up, revealing the swollen bloated red eye, a sore of pain and torment. A sad smile began to work its way across his lips the moment Yami Bakura flinched at the sight.

" You don't know anything that's best for me." Bakura drawled, staring at his Yami through both eyes for the first time since the fateful night that his transplant eye had revealed its true colours.

Yami Bakura smiled, leaning closer, so close in fact that his nose touched Bakura's. His eyes locked on Bakura's chocolate brown orbs, hand still touching Bakura's face. His face showed no sign of repulsion, his temperament revealed no tainting; the only things revealed through his eyes were kindled warmth, inescapable warmth.

He pressed his lips to Bakura's, tasting the sweetness of love and compassion; running his fingers thought Bakura's hair as gently as he could. He felt Bakura lean forward, felt Bakura's hand slip to his shoulder then drop carelessly to his lap, tracing its way on his thigh.

He kissed Bakura again, lifting himself upward, sliding one arm deep beneath the swell of Bakura's back, stroking his back as if touching petals on a rose.

A moan escaped Bakura's throat, and he had to gasp to keep hold, grasping the Bakura's waist as if it were a slender pole instead of fragile flesh.

They broke apart, Bakura's breath touching his cheeks.

Bakura moved closer, hugging him, face pressed against his neck.

Yami Bakura sighed, calmly stroking Bakura's back, breathing in deeply, smelling the soft lavender sent of Bakura.

" I know what I want for us… but I can't speak for you…" he murmured, squeezing Bakura.

Bakura nodded, holding on as if for dear life.

" Please… it… it just hurts a little… i… I don't hold it against you…" Bakura stuttered, tears welling up in both eyes. The pirate eye patch flipped down, masking the behemoth from daylight.

" Don't worry… I'd never hate you if you did."

Bakura pulled free, looking up with wonder at his Yami.

He smiled softly, leaning backward against the chair so Yami Bakura could climb up, spreading his legs as the Yami put his knee between them, leaning down to tenderly kiss the tip of his nose.

" Bakura…"

He purred, enthralled with the beauty of his lover, pressing himself forward, kissing his way down Bakura's neck with a stream of unstoppable passion overwhelming him.

" Ahem."

Yami Bakura hurriedly straightened up; blush creeping to his cheeks from his collar.

Joey raised an eyebrow, smiling to himself, arms crossed in a " disapproving" manner.

" You two think that's a good thing to do, with a young impressionable youth such as Mokuba wandering around, able to see everything you two plan to do in his living room?"

Bakura tried to burry himself further in his chair, embarrassed at having his escapade discovered by the blond.

" Joey-"

Joey chuckled lightly, smacking Yami Bakura in the shoulder lightly.

" Don't worry about it. My lips are sealed."

Yami Bakura frowned, a glare working its way through his hormonally charged face.

He clenched his fists, anger starting to flow rapidly with the blood in his body that was returning to its normal veins, he felt positively murderous.

" And why are you; you idiotic dog, standing here interrupting us?" he snapped, pulling away from Bakura as if to shield him from Joey's view.

Joey shrugged.

" Kaiba sent me to get you. He's finished Noa's body and they need your magic to check if everything's a--ok. But I suppose you don't really care if the millennium puzzle's waiting for you-"

He broke off when a gleeful look smashed the anger from Yami Bakura's face.

The Yami clapped his hands together, gloating.

" Why didn't you say so in the first place? This fixes all your misdeeds Wheeler."

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Yami Bakura straightened up, having just made an adjustment to the flooring outside Kaiba's computer. A thin line of blood littered the carpeting, which was causing Kaiba to frown like an old man. Joey stood shoulder to shoulder beside Bakura, who was nervously trying not to pace his eyeballs out of his head. Mokuba was standing beside Joe; who was trying his best to keep Kaiba's grumpy old man face from changing his decision to let them do the entire procedure in his private rooms.

The blond smiled, flashing his pearly whites in a vain attempt to keep Kaiba's attention drawn on himself rather then on Yami Bakura, who had strode into the middle of the circle, the millennium puzzle held in one hand, the end pointing vainly to the lit computer screen where Noa's face was visible.

He appeared to be close to chewing the nails off his fingers from stress, and was eyeing Joey in an odd way, looking back and forth from Kaiba to the blond, as if calculating something.

The air whirled up, blackness drawing itself out of the circle, consuming Yami Bakura in a whirling ball of dark velvet, nearly blocking him from view. The Yami straightened his back, eyes closed, muttering in ancient Egyptian under his breath, taking special care to draw the energy away from the crowd of spectators.

All at once, the black energy lunged forward, smashing itself violently against an invisible barrier that seemed to surround the circle, keeping it from escaping.

Bakura jumped, grabbing a hold of Joey's arm, squeezing so tightly that he made the blond wince in pain. He bowed his head apologetically before turning back to fretfully watch Yami Bakura, who was gesturing angrily at the computer screen, as if having a conversation with something no one else could see. No words escaped his lips, and then the energy swelled up, surging forward to envelope the computer screen with the sound of nails on a chalk board, a wailing screeching sound that chilled them all to the bones. Kaiba shifted nervously in his place, watching his brother out of the corner of his eye, abandoning his normally angry exterior and replacing it with a worried snappish look.

The Noa bot stood beside the computer, far enough away from the screen so that Noa couldn't see that it was dressed in the black and white satin silk maid's outfit, with matching shoes and gloves adorning its limbs. In fact, Noa was lucky Kaiba hadn't been feeling even more willing to let Yami Bakura play with the outfit. He could have ended up in a body sporting a tiara, but there, Kaiba had drawn the line.

The black ball threw itself from the computer screen sailing like a ball of light, smashing with tremendous force into the metallic body, making it tremble as it stood, the green artificial hair flying up as the energy caught it was began to dance about the room, making Kaiba bring his hand up protectively to his face, squeezing his eyes shut as the wind hit him, a sulphurous gas of black that stung and burned every orifice.

Yami Bakura raised his hands in the air, one word tearing above the violent winds.

" Now!"

In a flash of black light, the computer screen flickered, Noa's face vanishing. The energy soaked itself into the form, melding it to human flesh, the pale glow of artificial skin mulching to a lightly tanned complexion, the hair turning a more startling green colour that flared up, the skimpy garments flying out in dancing waves of fabric, making the body appear to be trying to mock Marylin Monroe.

The coldness of the room faded into a dull numbness, and the air itself seemed to relax.

Bakura opened his mouth to speak, willing to wish his Yami praise when the body began to violently twitch, the limbs clenching and unclenching, the veins standing up against the skin like spider webs of pure red. The colour drained from the maniquine's face, the hair flew upward, standing on end as if having been zapped with a million volts of electricity; the body toppled forward, limbs falling limp and flexible. A twitch began to worm its way systematically through the body, making it convulse and writher like a sick snake; the back arched, as if in an orgasm of overwhelming emotion,, then relaxed, the blackness seeping out of the pale skin's pores like steam from a kettle. It smoked for a few moments, lying in a deathlike pose, Yami Bakura still standing calmly in the center of the ring, which burst into flames and vanished, leaving a hazy glow encircling him.

Joey was the first to react.

He moved forward, as if to touch the body when Yami Bakura grabbed his wrist, shaking his head, eyes still closed.

" no. don't touch it. You'll electrocute yourself… the circuitry hasn't fully melded into the flesh just yet. Wait."

Just as he spoke, the body began to writher, the empty eyes consorting with emotion, the face blurring as something burned its way down the nose. The smoke stopped, the body fell still, the black vanished completely.

In one strangled moment, the body rose from the ground, standing upright, its eyes focused on its hands, holding them up as if peering at something foreign. A smile perverted the face's innocence, and Noa flashed forward, seizing complete control of the body.

He smiled, looking around the room, as if just seeing it for the first time in his life.

His gaze lingered on Joey, stationed beside Bakura, and then turned to glance coldly at Kaiba, who glared harshly back at him.

" Well, this is the real world at long last… how I have longed for this day to come…" he chuckled darkly, the voice rasping intensely as it began to warp into Noa's voice.

Kaiba smiled.

" And look what you've decided to wear to meet the guests… perhaps we should get a camera." He drawled, a sneer smudging his face.

Noa froze, a pink blush of embarrassment tinting his cheeks. He looked down, seeing what he was wearing in one horrified glance and then began to clench his fists murderously.

Again, Kaiba smiled.

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It was true to say that Joey had decided to follow his path set out in the world for him by his predecessor. He wouldn't have left it for a million dollars, heck; he wouldn't have left it for any amount of money in the world.

He had finally found a place where he could be loved, where he could feel safe from the constant threat of being beaten up by his father and from the constant nagging of his mother. He had a home now, a home he would fight for.

He was sitting quietly beside Kaiba, eyes half closed as he watched Yami Bakura gesturing wildly about something he'd learned. He guessed by the excessive flailing that it had something to do with the millennium items, but he wasn't quite sure. There was something strange about seeing the usually collected Yami flailing his arms around, gesturing madly to get something across that made you doubt what you were hearing.

Kaiba kept nodding along with every word spoken, probably the only other person in the room actually paying any attention to the Yami other then Bakura, who appeared to be trying to decipher the ramblings into something that made sense.

Noa was sitting silently beside Mokuba, eyes locked on Yami Bakura, eyes glinting vengefully. He'd only just been allowed to change his clothes into proper clothing (it had to have been at least a few hours since the transformation and transportation of his soul into the metallic body had taken place) and was clearly still fuming about the entire incident, though he appeared to have calmed down a tad after hearing that it had nothing to do with the situation at hand. Perhaps he had suspected that he would be trapped in the body for all eternity because of the shadow magic Yami Bakura had invoked, or perhaps it was because he still didn't trust Seto Kaiba. There wasn't really anything else to say about it, other then to say it was time to finally track down the first of Tristan's little flunkies'… time to end the entire bloodthirsty travel of the lost children…

Joey grimaced, watching Yami Bakura pointing at Kaiba, not hearing the words spoken aloud.

Finally, Yami Bakura seemed to calm down, shoulders slumping in defeat.

" alright… so that's the entire story? We know where they are because the millennium Puzzle showed them all to you in a vision?" Kaiba growled, stroking his chin in thought.

The Yami nodded, crossing his arms.

" it's a certainty. The Pharaoh obviously wants some revenge, an it isn't the tiny little childish revenge I half expected it to be. He wants blood spilt in his name… serious blood."

Joey snapped out of his trance-like state, blinking.

" We can't just kill them like that… this is the real world we're talking about. People will start looking for their bodies if they don't get captured soon…. Alive." He grumbled, banging his fist on his knee.

Kaiba nodded in agreement.

" Wheeler's right. We can't just kill them the way they killed everyone else. There are laws protecting them… and even with the best lawyers, there may be a loophole that lets them escape the entire episode."

Bakura nodded, frowning to himself.

" they might just be able to escape it through a plea of insanity. It's worked on criminal cases before…. They could just be sent to a psychiatric hospital for all we know. The Mens Rea might not have been present."

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow sceptically.

" And what exactly is this Mens Rea your speaking of? Is it a drug or something?"

Kaiba snorted in disbelief.

" It's a legal term, Latin for having the guilty mind. It's part of a two-part system of prosecution. You have to have the Mens Rea and the Actus Reus; that's the guilty act bit; to be properly charged. It means if you don't have the mind to have been able to plan the situation, you couldn't have done it on purpose… so it'd be something of brought down charges. They could be found guilty of absolutely nothing if they don't remember anything that occurred in that class room." He crossed his arms, leaning back against the couch.

Yami Bakura scowled bitterly.

" That's a load of crap."

Noa shook his head, a slight smile crossing his lips.

" Actually, it's a fail safe for innocent people. It makes it impossible for someone to be charged if they weren't in the sanest of minds at the time of committing the offence… think of it like a get out of jail free card. They can still charge you with as many acts as they want, but unless they can prove both halves, the Mens Rea and the Actus Reus, they can't properly prove you ment to do anything. And there's also another factor… if they were helped or not. That means the offenders were helped to hide, we have accessories after the fact, and aiding and abetting known killers…. Which means even more people are involved in the crime itself. For example," Noa gestured at Yami Bakura with his index finger, " if Gozaburo Kaiba were to be alive and walking around again, he'd be an accessory to the murders and he might have been the one to convince the idiots to actually go through with the entire thing. That's abetting."

Joey looked to Yami Bakura, trying not to appear confused by the entire thing. True, he was familiar with everything they'd said aloud, but he couldn't see how anyone in a virtual world could be charged with anything at all.

Yami Bakura simply shrugged, unable to figure out the implications any more then Joey.

Bakura sighed.

" it means even if we catch them, the law might not lock them away forever. The most we could hope for would be a permanent trip to an insane asylum, which I might add might be a little worse then actually being in jail itself."

" then its up to us to fix the entire thing ourselves. If the people in this world refuse to kill them for their crimes, they we'll have to take the law into our hands." Yami Bakura growled, stalking over the couch, sitting beside Bakura.

Noa chuckled darkly.

" This also means we'll have to play by our own rules. No silly little pussy footing around the idea. It's kill or be killed now… you all have to be willing to soil your hands in order to end it."

" We?" Kaiba smiled calmly, glaring at Noa.

" You're part of the team now Noa, whether we like it or not. That means you're going to help us… whether you like it or not."

Noa rolled his eyes, lips curling in a sneer.

" You really think I don't' know that…. I personally want to be the one to pull the plug on Gozaburo… he's not as nice as you'd think."

Kaiba laughed, making Joey and Bakura jump. They eyed each other nervously; unsure of what was taking place.

Even Yami Bakura seemed a little confused. He looked from Noa to Kaiba, unsure of what to think. A cold chill seemed to drift through the room, making everyone shiver.

" I don't understand. I know Gozaburo's supposed to be cruel and horrible, but how can he be worse then that? I thought it was pretty much decided already that he couldn't get any worse." He growled, chocolate eyes glancing at Kaiba, who refused to make eye contact.

" He's worse, because he was a perverted freak…"

Everyone turned around to see Mokuba standing in the doorway, dressed in blue pyjamas, eyes empty and cold.

Kaiba rose from the couch, clenching and unclenching his fists, bangs blocking his eyes from sight.

" Mokuba… go to sleep." He murmured, moving forward to try to hurry his little brother from the room, as if to protect him from the words spoken aloud by any one in the room.

Mokuba shook his head lightly; pushing past Kaiba to throw himself into Joey's lap, sitting perched under Joey's chin. He shook his head at Kaiba once more, leaning backwards into his brother's boyfriend, half closing his eyes.

" No big brother. It's time I heard everything… I've already had to go through it all alone… I'd like to have a chance to discuss things out in the open for once… I'm sick and tired of burring it all away like its toxic waste." He stated briskly.

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow mechanically, searching for an answer in Kaiba's form, but found none. Kaiba simply stood frozen in his tracks, unmoved by his brother. He stalked to the door, as if to flee from the confrontation but stopped and turned to look back at Joey, who smiled reassuringly at him, coaxing him back into the room, thought only enough to have him standing with his back to the hall way in the door.

This seemed to puzzle the Yami even more; he frowned, turning to stare unabashedly at Noa, who seemed to melt under his stern glare, looking away.

Bakura cleared his throat, clasping his hands together suddenly.

" alright then… it's safe to say that no one liked this Gozaburo fellow… perhaps we should get back to the present matter…"

Yami Bakura shook his head, stalking forward to grab Noa by the collar, yanking him from the safety of the couch in one brutal yank, shocking everyone in the room.

He stared stiffly into Noa's eyes, not letting the teen look away, then dropped him to the couch with a growl, stalking across the room to physically drag Kaiba back into the room, positioning himself in the doorway so no one could leave.

" you'll tell everything about this Gozaburo guy this instant… I'm not as lenient as the Pharaoh, so you'd better tell me now or I'll beat it out of you later." He snarled, the intensity causing Kaiba to flinch despite his best efforts to remain cold and detached.

Joey stared curiously over the top of Mokuba's head, confused by the interation. He felt a protective urge overwhelm him, and hugged Mokuba for comfort, feeling the smaller boy snuggle against him.

What was it that Kaiba refused to speak about? It couldn't have been much worse then anything that had happened so far in the sick drama they called life.

He wanted to frown, but found himself unable to, finding only an empty feeling welling in the pit of his stomach. He wanted so much to help his Koi, wanted to do anything in the world to make him happy, but somehow he couldn't do anything. He felt lost again, unable to deal with the stress, then snapped back to reality when Yami Bakura picked up a coaster from the coffee table, hurling it at Kaiba so hard that he had to duck to avoid the wicker ring.

" Kaiba, enough stalling. Tell me now… I won't ask you again… there are always other ways to get things out of stubborn people… I'm not against breaking fingers to get what I need…" Yami Bakura growled, the threat all too clear to everyone. Bakura looked down at his feet, ashamed by the Yami's behavior.

Kaiba fumed, staring blankly down at his feet as if trying to ignore the Yami, but failed miserably when Yami Bakura threw another coaster at him, a sutble hint.

Mokuba cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

" it's just that Gozaburo was a little … twisted… he used to make Seto do things to him-" he looked to his brother, unable to meet Kaiba's gaze; then continued, " it was little things… like sitting on his lap, or giving him kisses and things… sometimes it went as far as having to rub his feet and stuff… he liked to make Seto act like his toy."

Kaiba crossed his arms, turinging away, but not stopping his brother.

Yami Bakura nodded, most likely having already suspected something of that nature.

He drummed his fingers on his arm, eyes moving from Kaiba; who was sulking rather childishly; to Noa, who kept avoiding his gaze, then to Mokuba who met his gaze head on.

" I might have known… anyway, it didn't get any worse?" he asked.

Joey looked to Kaiba, wanting to take him in his arms, to squeeze all the embarrassment from his body, then frowned when Kaiba glowered at him.

" I'm not sure about anything else… just that little bit. I don't think Gozaburo ever did anything worse… at least I hope not." Mokuba finished, fidgeting nervously in Joey's grasp, chewing his lip.

Bakura's face seemed to have paled a little under the florecent lights; he seemed to pause, to consider the facts and then smiled tentatively at Noa, who scowled at him.

" look, we don't need pity. Go get your girl scout badges elsewhere." He grumbled, making Bakura flinch.

At that, Yami Bakura struck like a cobra, smacking Noa upside the head with astonishing speed. The noise of flesh meeting flesh in a slap echoed off the inside of Joey's skull as if it had just occurred to him, and he couldn't help but feel outraged by the Yami's indignation.

But a moment later, he realized why Yami Bakura had done what he had done.

It didn't matter what Noa thought Bakura ment by smiling at him, he needed to face reality, There would be no one to heal his wounds if he didn't at least try to let someone help him.

He suddenly felt ashamed by his outrage. He knew exactly what it felt like to be in the situation the entire Kaiba family was in. Even thought his father hadn't done anything that sick to him, the beatings alone had left him trying to run away from anyone who had dared to try to confront him with the truth. There was a fine line between running for fear and embarrassment, and Kaiba was on the side of embarrassment. Pride mattered little when it came to the truth. Pride favoured no one. They would all have to come to grips with it.

Noa pulled back, eyes wide with fright by the assault.

He cringed in his place, upset in both mind and soul.

Yami Bakura pulled back, grabbing Noa by the ear roughly.

" If you don't want help, you shouldn't have asked me to get you into a physical body you little runt. I could have left you to rot if I'd wanted to…" he growled.

Joey patted Mokuba's head lightly, letting the smaller boy move from his lap. Mokuba nodded to him, slipping around Yami Bakura to reach Kaiba, who hadn't moved an inch since Yami Bakura had begun his lecture. He grabbed his older brother's hand, tugging at his fingers, innocently looking up at Kaiba's eyes; pleading for his brother to forgive him. Kaiba sighed, squeezing Mokuba's hand. He looked up, locking eyes with Joey for the first time since the talk had begun and let out a sigh.

" Alright. We understand what you mean… let's just let this drop for now. We've got more important things at hand, for instance, Gozaburo and his flunkies are still out there in that virtual world trying to escape. We've got to figure out a way to delete that monstrosity of a world before they do something worse."

At that, everyone nodded in agreement.

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Everyone stood crowded around the main computer in Kaiba's room, nervously edging their way along the desk to find a suitable spot to see the main event, the inevitable destruction of Noa's virtual home. It was hard to tell if Noa had any hard feelings about his sanctuary being destroyed, for the teen was simply staring blankly at the back of Kaiba's head, trying to ignore everyone else in the room who was watching him as keenly as they were watching the computer screen.

Kaiba himself was rather lethargic about the operation, lazily clicking on the necessary icons as if it didn't matter at all to him the outcome, looking more concerned about the fact that everyone in the entire room seemed to have decided to hover like flies around him, not giving him a moments peace.

Joey had his hands on Mokuba's shoulders, peeking at the computer screen over the smaller boy's head while Bakura had decided to attach himself to Joey's free arm on one side and to Yami Bakura's arm from the other; the Yami himself was begrudgingly trying not to pace around the room, not liking the fact that they were all standing together in a circle, his suspicions getting the better of him.

The moment Kaiba highlighted the virtual world's icon, a strange heat began to flood its way out of the computer monitor, whizzing upward at a speed so fast that for a moment, no one quite knew what had just happened. A moment later, looking to Kaiba for an answer, seeing that his bangs were standing up as if he had just been walking along the carpet in socks and had shocked himself, everyone was confronted with their worst fears.

" I can't delete it." Kaiba growled, trying to flatten down his unsightly bangs with a look of annoyance in his eyes.

Yami Bakura snorted indignantly, eyes narrowing. He shook his head, looking ready to laugh and smirk at the same time while Bakura seemed to have taken the exact opposite approach.

Bakura's eyes widened in horror and he clung to Joey's arm so hard that he blond winced.

" But that means-"

The computer screen flared up, static pelting the screen with a haze of white snow; a dull buzz hummed above the sounds of emptiness, and then began to fade in and out.

" It means that you can't get in and we can't get out until the spell has been completed you foolish human mortals…" a voice hissed across the static.

Joey jumped, pulling Mokuba away from the computer in a vain attempt to keep the boy from harms way.

But it was too late.

In a hazy rush of violet and black, hands snaked their way out of the computer, brushing past Kaiba, who jerked back away from them as if having just touched hot metal.

The hands twirled their way around the room, heat radiating from their fingertips. They grabbed Mokuba, yanking him through the air in a movement almost impossible to see, and then vanished into the computer, only the crackling voice remaining.

" And if you think that you can get around the spell… well, lets just say we've taken the liberty to keep a hostage to make sure you fools can't bring yourselves to off our world… let this be a lesson to you fools… never stand together… and expect something… good…. To happen." The words hissed up, vanishing with the static, which reverted to a view of the struggling image of Mokuba imprisoned in the arms of Yami Merick; veins pulsating from the Yami's forehead like sickening rivers of putrescence.

He smirked at Kaiba, sticking out his tongue.

Kaiba snapped, lunging forward to grab for his little brother, head smacking aimlessly into the computer screen, making it teeter and wobble in its place.

A scream escaped Kaiba's lips, a desperate sound of total hatred and horror blended perfectly into an inescapable noise that shook the very foundation of Joey's soul.

Yami Bakura reached forward past Kaiba, shoving the C.E.O out of the way; hands passing through the plasma screen, grabbing at Yami Merick, but it was too late…

The image vanished, and then flashed on once more in a taunting blaze of anguish.

A dull ache willed its way down their hearts, knowing that they had just lost one battle that might have ment life or death to human kind.

Joey grabbed Kaiba, wrapping his arms around his arms around his lover, holding him close to his heart as Kaiba broke down, sobbing escaping his lips, tears drenching their way down his face in a river.

Bakura's shoulder slumped, knowing that things had just become much worse then even they had suspected. He sensed it thought his mind link with his Yami; felt the anger and bitterness that was so strong it almost overwhelmed him.

He held onto his Yami's arm, wanting to beg him to think otherwise, knowing that it was a impossible thought.

In one movement, Yami Bakura seized a glass paperweight from the corner of Kaiba's desk, hurling it across the room it exploded into a shower of crystal clear powder when it came in contact with the wall. He clenched his teeth, left eyes twitching in anger, twitching sadistically for its own purposes.

He let out a furious breath, nostrils flaring.

" this means war."

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Sorry for taking so long to write this chapter, I had too many tests and things to finish for school, so I decided to put it off for a while. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to everyone who took the time to read this story. It will continue soon. T.B.C.