Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ Revelations ( Chapter 13 )

Okay for all of you lost in the wilderness of plot twists, you can now take a brief sigh of relief. This story is plotted out for 20 chapters, so except for one more minor, almost insignificant little incident, all the plot twists are down and now it's up to the poor suffering characters to figure out what's going on and solve their problems. So take a deep breath and don't worry… after all the only thing left is so small, so tiny, it should only take up…five or six chapters….

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did I would have had Yami and Yugi loose that stupid uniform and what the heck was with that cape/school uniform mutation thingie that Yugi wore in Battle City? More leather, I say! How about a swirly cape for our lovely pharaoh, like the one he wore in Egypt! And how about a scene of Kaiba stepping out of a swimming pool?! Water polo. Yes, Kaiba takes up water polo! Okay, I'll be quiet now.

Emergence

Chapter 13: Revelations

~*~*~*

Kaiba and Jonouchi

~*~*~*

Kaiba stormed back into his office with a predatory glare and a snap of his trench coat, with a slighter blond teen tagging grimly at his heels. The weekend staff scurried out of his way, darting back into the maze of halls, cubicles and storerooms that offered at least the illusion of shelter from the threatening storm. Many just bolted from the building, suddenly remembering appointments, missed lunch breaks and desperately needed supplies that needed their personal attention to acquire. By the time Kaiba had reached his office, the halls were eerily deserted. The only sound to be heard was the soft sound of his secretary humming to herself.

"When I find that bastard that did this, I am going to make him beg to die." Kaiba snarled as he nearly obliterated the door as he slammed his way into his office.

Jonouchi eyed the bent hinges in passing. Nope, not me. I have no problems just killing the fucker. Fast, slow, doesn't matter to me. He messes with Kaiba. He's dead.

Kaiba threw himself down into his chair seething. "First I have to find Mr. Deadman." He tossed a small glittering coin onto his desk. "Then I'll make him pay. No one mind controls me."

"What's that?" Jonouchi walked over and reached his hand out to touch it.

"Don't."

Jo looked up, his hand pausing mid-motion. "What's up?" It didn't look very dangerous. it was just a coin, a bit old, tarnished, a little scuffed.

"Token." Kaiba glowered at it, "It's the focus for the spell. Mr. Deadman couldn't find me on his own, so he had someone plant a token on me." He nudged it with his finger as if it was a dead fish that had just landed on his desk. "Found it in my pocket."

"Are you sure?" Jonouchi stepped back, skirting around the desk till he stood next to his lover. "How did it get there?"

"I'm betting Duke." Kaiba leaned back into his leather chair, looking up at Jo. "I'm betting it was supposed to go into your pocket, then you would have dropped it in mine."

"I'm not following." Jo stepped back putting Kaiba between himself and the coin. "Why would I be handing you coins? Hell, I'd probably drop it in a game at the arcade and the spell would have possessed some middle age geezer tonight when they cleaned out the games."

"Not if they didn't give you a choice." Kaiba rocked back in his chair.

Jo put another couple steps between himself and the coin. "Ya mean, I was…" Jonouchi shook his head. "Nah-uh. No way. Been there, done that. I ain't no one's mind-slave. Not again."

Kaiba reached out and caught Jo's hand. "Don't worry. I won't…"

"Mr. Kaiba! Oh, thank goodness you're here!"

Jo sprang back startled as a rather indignant man rushed into the office, half expecting some evil, grinning loony to lunge for him. Instead, a rather soft looking, pathetic man came rushing into the office. His hair rumpled, his tie askew, with a desperate look in his eyes as he came to a stop in front of Kaiba's desk.

"That secretary of yours! She's… I was just talking to her and… Please, tell me I'm not fired! After all I've done! She took my computer!" The man's hands fluttered.

"Oh, forgot to tell you about that." Jo muttered as he stepped behind Kaiba.

"Tell me what?" Kaiba eyed the man as he whispered back.

"I sorta gave your secretary permission to fire your assistants." Jo refused to meet his eyes.

The man, heedless of the exchange was nearly hyperventilating as he spat out incoherent babble about secretaries, security guards, computer files and for some odd reason, a potted geranium. "Years of service and all I have to show for it is a wilted plant! She took my files. My backup files. All my work! I've been here since your father…"

Kaiba, still keeping an eye on the man, raised an eyebrow, whispering, "You told Jame to fire him?"

"Seemed like a good idea." Jo watched the man wipe nonexistent sweat off his brow with a neatly folded pocket handkerchief.

Kaiba straightened looking at the man. "Mikoki, you're dismissal stands."

"What! You're letting a secretary…!"

Kaiba's voice dripped menace. Jo squirmed just hearing it as he stood behind the brunette. He could imagine what it must be like on the other side of the desk as Mikoki turned pale and stumbled back. "Get out. I have more important things to handle than a idiot. Take your plant and if you're not out of this building in five minutes you'll be lucky to get a job cleaning floors at Hash Heaven."

Mikoki made a sound like a strangled chicken, blinked a couple of times, then fled.

Kaiba settled back in his chair, with a small icy grin. "One problem down, one deadman to go."

~*~*~*

Yugi and Yuai

~*~*~*

Yuai watched as Yugi raced wildly through the aisles of the convention looking for his friend Yami, with a small pack of confused security personnel in tow. So far he had checked every booth, accosted three convention attendees that had the bad taste to dress like him, and had now started looking under tables. The only improvement was that Yuai now could recognize Yugi's friend, if she ever saw him. He looked just like Yugi, except invisible and he apparently lived in the puzzle thing that Yugi wore on his neck.

She had made the mistake of asking if Yami was just taking a nap someplace in the puzzle, trying to bypass the whole problem of trying to find an invisible Yugi look-alike that lived in a puzzle, but that had only led to a fifteen minute episode of Yugi standing in the middle of the convention in a catatonic trance. When he finally woke up he tearfully threw himself at her, wailing that his Yami had left him, which then involved another fifteen minutes of trying to soothe Yugi, while assuring him that Yami had probably just stepped out for a few minutes, and would probably be right back.

The only good thing to come of all this is that during her search for the missing Yami, she had collected the cards that Kaiba had asked for. She had also come to the conclusion that men were odd, but she still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

She walked up another aisle, looking dutifully around, even poking under a table that had a large cloth covering, shrugging apologetically to the owner, "My friend is a…missing and we're looking for him.

The owner, a rather large, heavy woman with a solid column of flesh going straight from her chin right down to her chest, growled at her and shooed her away. "I've got better things to do than deal with you brats. Either buy something of get lost."

Yuai backed away and not seeing any Exodia cards on the chinless woman's table, got lost. She ambled farther up the aisle, skirting around a group of kids that had flapping trench coats, that she supposed was supposed to make them like her boss and a girl dressed in a rather gaudy red velvet smoking jacket, a white wig and a eye patch. As Yuai scampered over to check behind a display of life size cardboard cutouts of Yugi, Jonouchi and for some odd reason, a fat kid with glasses, she wondered who the girl was pretending to be.. I wish Yugi was feeling okay, he'd know. I hope the glomping fiend who rattled Yugi's brain burns in hell.

"Yuai!" Yugi skidded around the corner into her aisle, nearly decking the girl in the smoking jacket. "That guy over there," he pointed to a rather frayed looking hippie dude dressed in a rainbow tie-dyed tee shirt, "said that he'd give us a ride back home."

"Really!" There is a god and he is kind. Thank you, thank you, thank you. She smiled happily. "That's a great idea Yugi."

"Yeah! I heard him talking to his friends that he was going to leave in a couple minutes." He turned and waved at the dude. "Yami is probably home. If he got lost, he'd just go home. He probably is waiting there for me now."

"That's right, maybe the whole convention thing just got on his nerves and he caught a ride." Yuai scampered happily after Yugi as he walked back to the hippie dude.

"He's leaving right now." Yugi reached back and tugged her along, hurrying her up.

"Uh, okay." Yuai grinned as they came up to the guy. Screw the luggage. Get Yugi home. Maybe, Kaiba can send the driver for the luggage later.

The guy smiled as they stopped. He was tall and thin with long blond hair and a rather poor attempt at a goatee. The sweet, musky scent of patchouli hung around him like his own personal cloud. "Hey, nice to meet and greet. I'm Peter, but you can call me Poncho."

Yugi bounced in place grinning wildly, "We're ready to go."

Yuai nodded, "Hi Poncho. Thanks for the ride."

"Not a prob. gotta get back and water my…uh…plants." Poncho rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and turned away. "Let's, ya know, blow outa here."

Yugi skipped at his side, watching him like he was the messiah, who had come to personally lead his lost sheep back to the fold. Yuai swung her bag of purchases around her wrist, feeling the weight of a long weekend dealing with a brain scrambled Yugi melt off, leaving behind the scent of patchouli.

~*~*~*

Yami and Mahado

~*~*~*

Mahado set a mug of tea down in front of Yami, "I've been trying to catch up with you."

"You knew I was here?" Yami sipped his tea, feeling warmth seep back into his frozen body.

His friend nodded as he set another mug of tea down across the table and sat down. "The shadows have been restless. When I came to look to see what was causing it, I found your trail."

Yami sighed, taking another sip and relaxing back into his chair, pulling the soft blanket closer to him with one hand. The chill that numbed his body and mind didn't seem to want to let go, despite the warm fire in the hearth, the steaming herbal tea and the thick fleecy cover Mahado had wrapped him in.

The cottage that Mahado had carried him to was set against the side of a mountain. He wasn't entirely sure, but the mountain looked different from the ones he'd been on that morning. For one thing it was now spring here and there were no trees, just soft green grass and clumps of heather. The air, instead of being crisp was soft, with the delicate scent of recently fallen rain.

The cottage itself was actually set into the hillside, half made of turf, with rocky walls, large multi-paned windows, and warm polished timber floors with a small hearth tucked into one wall. Shelves lined the walls, cluttered with odds and ends: polished stones, jars of dried herbs, odd bits of jewelry, something that looked like a very large snake's head, bits of machinery, and an assortment of knick-knacks that he honestly couldn't identify. They were sitting in a couple of thickly padded armchairs in front of the fire, with a small wood table between them. A pallet was tucked against the wall by the chimney and a small door leading to another room was on the opposite side.

"Somehow, Mahado, I never saw you as the British Isle type." Yami took another sip, motioning around the room with his cup.

Mahado laughed, leaning back into his chair and stretching his feet out against the hearth step, "Somehow, my pharaoh, I never pictured you as the modern, Japanese city type."

A small smile worked it's way to Yami's lips. "I've missed you, my friend."

"I'm never far." The taller man set his cup on the table. "Every time you play that Duel Monster game, I'm there, looking through my double's eyes. Making sure you are doing well." He frowned, shaking his head. "That's how I knew you were here."

"What do you mean?" Yami shivered and sipped more tea as Mahado stood up and got a small tin box down from a shelf. "I haven't been playing Duel Monsters."

"No, but Yugi has." Mahado opened the box and placed it on the table as he sat back down. Small cookies, that looked suspiciously like baklava were nestled inside the box, wrapped in waxy paper. "You need to go back, and quickly."

"Why?" Yami took a cookie and nibbled on it, enjoying the sweet honey taste and the tang of walnuts.

"Your hikari is going insane." Mahado picked his cup back up and took a sip. "You are going insane. If you don't return to each other soon, there won't be anything of either of you worth returning to."

~*~*~*

Okay, it's a short chapter. I'll get right on the next one to make it up to you. Happily my life is settling down a bit, so I'll have more time to write.

Review Please!

Sakiyama: I hope this chapter started clearing up some of the confusion. And, You're welcome!

Yami no Jean: If you notice, the time line is starting to be very short, only about five hours have passed since Yugi and Yuai reached the convention. I had to give Mahado enough time to carry Yami someplace nice, also the other yamis will be in the next chapter. I had to give them time to do their bit, too. Poor Marik's not only been trying to research something in a library, but had to go visit the hospital and deal with Jo.

Velvetina: I'm glad you like Jame, more of her next time as she launches her campaign to reorganize Kaiba's executive staff. She really is fun to write, I have to watch my self when writing her, or she'll take up all the story space.

DemonandGoddess: Yep, that's me ruining your mind. You'll just have to wait till Kaiba and Jo track our mystery guest down. Kaiba's got some ideas, but the question is, will he have time to use them.