Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Falling From Grace ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

YUGIOH

Falling From Grace

 

 

 

Chapter 11.

Tea went back to the room, deep in the lower basement where she met up with Marik and Odion. Odion seemed to look down at her in pity, but said nothing.

 

She tried her best to ignore Odion, saying to Marik, “Uh......you said I had to make sure that the coffee was taken care of.”

 

“That is correct, Tea”, Marik said, lighting some candles.

 

Tea nodded, “Yes, well.......I checked with the, uh.....person who cleans up the school, and he said it was dumped and thrown out. So.......I'd say it's pretty much safe.”

 

“The person who cleans up the school? That wouldn't happen to be the janitor, would it?”, Marik asked.

 

Tea looked away in shame. “Uh.....yeah.”

 

“So.....how is your friend Tristan taking to this feeling inside him?”, Marik asked.

 

Tea looked down. “He's not taking it well, at all. The old man thought he was some kind of nut, and.....Tristan took it pretty bad.”

 

“Yes.....the potion winds deeply around a person's heart strings. It can be quite painful when they are rejected, reacting quite harshly to the one-sided love”, Marik stated.

 

Tea glared at Marik, replying, “You never told me it could be so harsh to that person!”

 

“Don't pretend to be innocent about this, Tea. You are not as naive as you would like people to think. You were fully aware of it's effects. Afterall, what Tristan is going through is exactly what you wanted Kaiba to go through......was it not?”, Marik asked.

 

Tea muttered, “Well yeah, but.....Kaiba's Kaiba. He's different. It's not even effecting him the same way. I don't know how, but somehow he's resisting it. It's like he barely notices.”

 

“Don't be so sure......I'm quite positive it's effecting him much more strongly than you know. It's only a matter of time before he approaches Joey, as Tristan had with his new `love'. And once your friend rejects him......one way or another, I guarantee Seto Kaiba will be suffering the same”, Marik explained.

 

“........oh”, Tea muttered, not entirely convinced that Kaiba could feel much, after how she'd all ready seen him react.

 

Marik now turned to Tea, saying, “But let's get back to your friend, shall we? Obviously, he's suffering......suffering enough for you to come back here and consider what I said to you.”

 

“I'm not considering anything!”, Tea said. “I'm just......”

 

“Weighing your options....I understand. Afterall, murder is such a messy thing. And if you can get someone to do the job for you, it's the perfect way of keeping your hands clean. I should know, I used mind slaves during the time I wanted revenge against Yugi. I even used Odion, my most loyal servant and friend.....”

 

Tea whispered, “And you regretted every minute of it, didn't you?”

 

“Of course I did”, Marik said. He then smiled, saying, “I am not `telling' you to do anything, Tea. You are the one that came to me. What you want to do is your choice. Feel free to let your friend suffer. Eventually at the old man's age, he will die anyway within the next 20 years. Tristan will simply have to wait that long before finding a real true love of his life.”

 

“No, I can't do that! This potion will end up taking away one quarter of his life in total misery! At that age, he may not even find the woman he's meant to be with!”, Tea cried.

 

“Well, you can always kill the old man, yourself. I can provide the knife for you, so it'll be untraceable”, Marik stated.

 

Tea shook her head, saying, “I can't kill anyone.......I could never live with myself. I'd end up seeing his face every night. I'd rather die than do something like that.”

 

Marik stated, “Then that leaves you with the final option......”

 

“You mean the Shadow Pact you were talking about the other day”, Tea said.

 

Marik smiled, “I see you remember the term well. You must have been thinking very long and hard about this.”

 

Tea sighed, knowing he was right. “What is this Shadow Pact?”

 

“It's a bargain with one of the creatures that inhabit the Shadow Realm”, Marik muttered. “You use a ritual to call upon one of the living duel monsters. Whatever that monster is that appears, you make a pact with. You give the duel monster a mission, and upon it carrying it out successfully, you must do a task for it, as well....without question.”

 

“Can't you just order it to do this for you?”, Tea asked.

 

Marik chuckled at that. “You forget Tea, I no longer wield the power of the Millennium Rod. When I was in control of it, then yes.....I would have been able to do this for you. But without it, the monster is free to accept or refuse. It's your choice......what's it going to be? If you accept, I will begin the ceremony. But if you don't want to, you are free to go.”

 

Tea bit her lip, thinking, `What choice do I have? I have to help my friend. If I make this deal, no one will be the wiser, and Tristan will be free of this curse. But if I don't, then Tristan will suffer for who knows how long.....' “Okay, I'll do it. Afterall, how bad could this demand of me be?” Tea then thought a second, and said, “Wait a minute......they wouldn't make a meal out of me, would they?”

 

“No....normally their demands are not the death of a human”, Marik stated.

 

Tea asked, “Then could you tell me what they might involve?”

 

Marik smiled. “Tea......no. I am not a duel monster, nor ever made such a deal with one. I have no idea what they could want. Depending on the monster, it could be totally random. But I can't guarantee it will be harmless. You may not like what it requires from you. But once the pact is made, there is no way out of it......understand?”

 

Tea thought again, `For Tristan. I put him into this mess, I gotta get him out.' “I understand......let's just get this over with.”

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 

The limo pulled over, only after driving a few blocks......far enough away to be out of eye-shot from Yugi's place.

 

“Okay, spill it”, Mokuba demanded.

 

Kaiba stared out the window, saying nothing.

 

Mokuba whined, “Come on, Seto.....I covered for you and fully took the blame for coming over. But you're the one who made the suggestion for us to visit, as you put it.....for `my' sake. So? What's really going on?”

 

“I don't know what you're talking about”, Kaiba answered, glancing at his watch. He then looked over at Mokuba, asking, “You didn't enjoy yourself?”

 

“Well......yeah, I did”, Mokuba said.

 

Kaiba looked back out the window, saying, “Then I achieved what I came out to do. You're happy, I'm happy.” Kaiba then glanced at the time again as if waiting for something, and looked back out the window once more.

 

“Well then.....how come you didn't want to leave until Joey left?”, Mokuba asked.

 

Kaiba answered, “I wasn't sure how much fun you had with that Taylor person bawling like a girl. I wanted to make sure you enjoyed yourself. So, I simply stayed a while longer, until all the guests were ready to leave......it had nothing to do with the mutt.”

 

“.....so why were you staring at him all night?”, Mokuba asked. “And why do you keep looking at your watch?”

 

Kaiba looked over at Mokuba from his watch, after being caught doing so for the third time, now. He turned back to the window. “It's getting late, that's why......we should be getting home.”

 

At that, Kaiba hit the intercom button, saying, “Drive us home. Take us through North Vernin, on the way.”

 

“North Vernin? That's practically the slums......why do you want to go through there?”, Mokuba asked.

 

“Just checking something”, Kaiba stated.

 

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Narr: Where is Kaiba going? What is his plan? And what about Tea? Is she really going through with this? If so, which duel monster chooses to serve her, and why? You'll see next time, as Tea falls deeper and deeper into darkness.