Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Falling From Grace ❯ Chapter 28 ( Chapter 28 )

YUGIOH

Falling From Grace

 

 

 

Chapter 28.

It was the next morning. Tristan met with Yugi at the game shop, like he normally did.....but Joey did not show.

 

"Did you find him?", Yugi asked Tristan, but he shook his head.

 

"Maybe we'll meet him at school", Trisan said.

 

Yugi nodded. "I hope so."

 

Once again, just the two of them walked by themselves. It was way too quiet for either of them, especially without Joey around. Both were worried over their friend and hoping that Joey would be there.

 

They finally made it to school, and was relieved to see sure enough.....Joey was there. For some reason he seemed very pre-occupied, looking around as if waiting to see someone. Whoever it was, it wasn't either of them. He looked right through them, still scanning for whoever he was searching for.

 

Both of them approached. Yugi was first to speak, saying, "Joey, there you are! We've been looking all over for you!"

 

"Hey, man......wussup?", Joey smiled, weakly.

 

Tristan smacked him, asking him, "Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick about you, you idiot!"

 

"Sorry, I was just......looking for someone", Joey said, looking guilty.

 

Yugi asked, "Looking for who?"

 

"Tea. She gotta come back to school sometime, right?", Joey asked.

 

Tristan looked at him, strangely. "Why would you be looking for her?"

 

At that moment, a familiar voice called, "Hey, guys!"

 

They all turned to see Tea, surpised to see her even there and trying to talk to them.

 

Tristan immediately stepped towards her, snapping, "Since when are you even talking to us again? I thought you were busy stalking Kaiba and threatening people's lives."

 

She dropped her head instantly, saying, "I know I did some terrible things. I woke up this morning wishing maybe it was all just a terrible nightmare. I couldn't believe everything that I did. Please....just let me try and explain!"

 

"Explain?? Like the fact that you killed someone, just to try and hurt Kaiba??", Tristan asked.

 

"You don't understand!", Tea cried. "I was only trying to fix the screwup I made. The potion couldn't be reversed....it was the only way! And besides, he was like......80 something!"

 

"So, that's an excuse to 'off' him??", Tristan asked.

 

Tea shook her head. "No. But, what else could I do? Would you rather have stayed that way and suffered??"

 

"If it meant keeping that guy from dying, and to stop you from doing all that other crazy shit you did......then, yeah!", Tristan said. "Why didn't you just come over and tell us what happened? We would have been pissed at you, but atleast you wouldn't have murdered someone, screwed 1/2 of Domino so you could hire them to have Joey killed, and ontop of it all......get an entire neighborhood blown-up! And what about Mokuba?? The kid probably has nightmares now from you threatening him!"

 

Tea felt bad for what she did to Mokuba. She definitely deserved the sore foot he caused from tromping on it. But more than anything, the part about screwing 1/2 of Domino probably hurt the most for Tea. She couldn't believe she basically sold her body to so many people in order to kill one of her own friends. She felt so used and empty inside, like a common whore. How could they not appreciate what she sacrificed for them? It's true, she may have tried to hurt Joey, but she originally did it all to save Tristan. Maybe this whole thing started as a cruel joke on Kaiba.....but he deserved it! Couldn't they see that? She'd have to try and make them understand that she was nothing more but a victim in all this.

 

"But, it wasn't my fault! Listen.....I was under the influence of this potion, at the time. It really messed me up. The stupid thing made me think I liked Kaiba, of all people! God, I can't even believe I did 1/2 that stuff!", Tea exclaimed.

 

By now, Yami was out and glaring daggers at her. "Yes....we remember your mention of this potion you drank. What you have done might have been under the influence of another monster.....but, the reason you got that way in the first place was by making a pact with the creature to have someone murdered. Is that supposed to be excusable??"

 

"Dammit, guys.....give her a break, all ready!", Joey suddenly snapped at them, causing them to turn in surprise. "Tea's suppose to be your friend.......did you guys forget that? Well, I'm on Tea's side, whether you want to be or not. So, if you got a problem with her, then you got a problem with me......you got that??"

 

After picking his jaw off the ground, Tristan grabbed Joey by the collar, snapping, "Are you mental, dude?? What the hell's wrong with you?? Tea tried to KILL you!! Why the hell are you defending her??"

 

"Oh, no......", Yami gasped, after watching Joey defending Tea, and Tea becoming suddenly pale due to a realization hitting her that she had forgotten all about. Yami turned to Tea, and said, "You gave him Marik's second potion, and he looked at you first.....didn't he?"

 

Tea looked down. "I......I was still under the affect of that weird potion I drank. I'm so sorry. There's.....nothing that can be done for him."

 

"You gave Joey a love potion??", Tristan asked.

 

Joey's eyes widened, realizing what they were saying. "Then, that water bottle was......"

 

The water bottle. Was that the same one that kid was trying to give him at Kaiba Land the other day? He probably should have remembered that....but it was too late, now.

 

And still when he looked at her, everything she did didn't change the way he felt for her. He was willing to forgive it all....just for her. But realization hit him just as hard that maybe what he was feeling wasn't even his own feelings. And Tea probably didn't even feel for him the same way. Like when she drugged Kaiba.....she did it as a cruel joke, even if she was possibly sorry now.

 

Tea nodded pitifully. "And he looked at me. I didn't mean it.....I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do for him."

 

Tristan glared at her hatefully, and snapped, "There's still 'something' you could do. You could always kill yourself."

 

Joey punched him hard in the shoulder. "What the fuck is wrong with you??"

 

"Hey, I was only using Tea's own suggestion. If we wanna help a friend, we should kill people......right?", he stated sarcastically, giving her a very cold glare.

 

She backed up a step in fear.

 

"What do you want here, Tea?", Yami asked.

 

"I guess I was hoping to somehow......make amends. But I really see no way how", she said sadly. Only Joey seemed to have sympathy for her. "But, wait!", Tea said. "Joey, you didn't break up with Kaiba yet, did you?"

 

"Uh......yeah, I did", Joey said. "You told me to."

 

"Tea told you to be like that to Kaiba???", Tristan snapped, giving Tea even more death-glares.

 

Tea quickly said, "Then I order you to undo it! I want you to go over to him, beg for forgiveness, and love him, instead!"

 

"But......I can't do that", Joey said.

 

"Why not?? You did what I said last time!", Tea exclaimed.

 

"But......I thought if I did that, you'd go out with me. Plus, you said it would be the only way for Kaiba to get it in his head. After all, if I'm with him, how can I go out with you? I wanna be with 'you', Tea. I......I love you", Joey said.

 

Tea dropped to her knees in tears. "I'm sorry......I'm so sorry." She hurt Joey, one of her own friends. This was never meant to happen. She never meant to make her friends miserable...she was trying to help them. And deep down, she was really beginning to feel she would never get her friends to like her again.....and that's what hurt the most.

 

The only one that would ever probably forgive her was undoubtedly Joey. And the only reason he would was because of a potion that made him love her. So now, he'd be suffering forever......because she didn't love him. Not in the least.

 

"You want to do something right for a change, Tea? Because of what you had Joey do, I'm sure Kaiba is in a lot of pain. I want you to go to him and explain what you have recently done. He deserves to know the truth, and know that it's nothing that he did wrong. You owe him that much", Yami said.

 

She still couldn't understand why anyone would be sticking up for Kaiba so much, being the jerk he normally was. He was nothing special, and did plently of nasty things in the past, himself. But she said none of those things on her mind. Instead, Tea looked down and nodded miserably.

 

"I'll do it", she said, hoping if she did, maybe they'd still forgive her in time.

 

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

 

Kaiba was in class, trying to forget about the world and the constant pain in his heart from Joey's harsh rejection. It was like someone ripped his heart out and threw it on the floor. Mokuba was the only thing left keeping him grounded. Those times he saw Tristan bawling constantly for days.......that's how he felt like on the inside. The difference was he would never outwardly show it. It simply wasn't the way he was.

 

Too distracted in his own mind, he didn't realize someone had even approached him, until there was a shadow looming over him. He looked up to see Tea. 'Oh, great. It looks like the stalker's been released.....', he thought.

 

Turning back to his laptop, he muttered, "I'm not interested. Now, go away."

 

"I......have a confession to make", Tea said, looking guilty as hell.

 

He shook his head. "I've all ready heard plenty. If there's more, I don't care. Need I remind you of the restraining order I had placed on you towards myself, my brother, and any property that I own?"

 

"You'll care about this.....Joey said those things to you, because of me", Tea said.

 

Kaiba glanced up at her. He said nothing, but he was now acknowledging her.....she atleast succeeded to get his attention. "Well, uh.....while I was affected by that potion I mentioned that duel monster gave to me, I gave Joey a l-love potion. That's why he doesn't feel that way towards you, anymore. He cares for me, now......there's no way to make it stop. I.....I'm so sorry. I wasn't myself when I gave that to him."

 

Kaiba looked at her blankly. She was expecting him to get mad, throw a tantrum, be like Tristan and tell her to kill herself......something. As for Kaiba, he was still trying to concept the entire thing. He still had a strong denial that such a drug could be out there to make a person love another. He still insisted that it wasn't a potion that made him feel that way towards Joey.......nothing controlled him. He felt that way towards Joey because it was natural.

 

And yet......there was a moment some time ago that he did remember questioning himself, wondering what was wrong with him. At that time, he wondered why he was behaving the way he was, feeling like it wasn't normal. So, then.....was it true? Did he really care for Joey only because of a stupid vial of liquid? Is that all love really was? If so, then the emotion was just as lame and useless as he originally believed, and it really did nothing but cause pain in the end.

 

'No.....I cannot be controlled. Not even fate could control me', he decided. "Can this potion be reversed?", he asked, thinking of a way to try and help Joey.

 

"No.....", she said miserably.

 

"But that doesn't make sense", Kaiba explained, logically. "If the potion makes you care for someone and thus another potion can't cancel or change that, then how can a potion make a person lose feelings that they already naturally had? How can that be cancelled out?"

 

"I......I don't know", Tea shrugged. "You'd have to ask Marik that. He's the one that made it."

 

Kaiba looked away, and began typing once again. "Hmph. Eitherway.....you're probably pretty pleased at yourself, right now. You finally got what you wanted from the very beginning.......a way to seek revenge against me."

 

From the comment, Tea lowered her head. "No......I never wanted this. I never wanted to hurt my friends, and make them all hate me. Maybe Ishizu's right......wishing something bad on someone can never do any good."

 

Tea then looked towards Kaiba, saying, "I'm surprised you didn't bring it up, yet.....you wouldn't be the first. You probably want me dead too, huh? Afterall, if I die.....Joey's cured, and you can be happy."

 

For some reason, that thought never even occured to him. Her comment caused Kaiba to remember what she said to him during the Duel with Yugi.....

 

Wouldn't you do the same for those you love? Kill in order to free them??

 

In the beginning, it was something he was infact afraid of ending up doing......how far he would go to keep what he wanted most? Joey was something he desired, and when he wanted something.....it wasn't uncommon for him to go to any measure to take claim of it. And Kaiba was no quitter, either.

 

But there was something about this strange emotion he had towards Joey, even if he had it for only a short time. It made him see and feel things he had never experienced before. He realized he didn't want to hurt Tea, even if it meant making himself suffer by not doing anything to her. And the reason was because hurting her could hurt Joey......and that now meant more than even his needs.

 

"You're wrong", he said. Then glaring coldly up at her, he replied, "You're the one who kills people, Gardner. And I'm not you....." Kaiba then stood, grabbed his laptop, and left the classroom.

 

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Narr: The final chapters are about to hit.....Chapters 29 and 30! Did I do it? Are you still anxiously awaiting the final chapters to see what happens, even though it's the end??

 

Next week: Kaiba and Joey finally decide to speak. Can they find a solution to their angst, or does this ending only spell disaster?? Find out in the final week!

 

I'd like to add that I'm also very happy that no one wanted to kill me (yet) for my sudden turn around in breaking Kaiba and Joey apart. I was sure I was going to have people swearing at me, after that move. So, thank you! You still all love me!! Of course, now we have to see what happens next week for the ending. It's amazing the amount of people trying to predict what's going to happen. Just keep in mind that the only people I give the 'guessing awards' to are those that guess right. ;)

 

Speaking of which, I can right now give Rubisora a thumbs up for predicting this chapter's, Tea 'feel sorry for me', act. Since Tea snapped out of it, sure enough she went crawling back to the group like the pitiful victim she pretends to be.

 

Finally, I apologize for my slight tardiness to update this week. You can simply blame that on the over abundance of holidays that keep taking my kids off of school. When they're home, it's impossible to edit my chapters. To this day, I'm still trying to figure out how these kids ever get an education! I mean, they get so much time off, they never get a chance to learn anything!

 

Markyc58: I know.....I'm sorry. I guess I'm just mean that way. I didn't want this story to have a predictable or boring ending, so I decided to throw in some unexpected twists. But, atleast next week you'll finally know what happens, right? Besides......disliking Tea in this story is a good thing! ;)

 

Rubisora: That's true. Marik can't exactly state killing Tea is an option, if he doesn't know who Joey looked at....meaning there's no sense in saying so. But since he mentioned killing one of Yami's friends, that pretty much gives Yami the picture of his options, either way. And yeah.....that probably puts Kaiba into workaholic mood, now. That and 'avoid the world' again. And it looks like your prediction is true on Tea begging for forgiveness, in her own ditzy clueless way. So, tell me....is the potion thing your prediction on next chapter? If so and you're right, then I'll make sure to list you as such. ;)

Speaking of Ebay.....do you believe a while back they were selling Kaiba's white trenchcoat on it? I kid you not.....it was decent, too. Looked like real cotton, not that fake costume crap you normally see. Since it was part of Kaiba's design, I was just so tempted to buy it.....but I didn't. Since I live in the middle of no where's land, I knew there was never a time I would ever wear it, and I felt that would be a shame. So, I let it go to some other Kaiba fan out there that might actually make it to the anime cons (besides, I'm a woman....and people expect to see a 'male' Seto Kaiba, heh). But still.....Kaiba's trench coat (drool....). ;p

 

Lady Psychic: Looks like you among many are routing/predicting Tea's death. Didn't happen yet this chapter. And after this chapter, looks like Kaiba might not be the one to take her down, either. But you still have the other option of her maybe/possibly dying for the ending. We'll just have to see if that happens in the end. Of course, there's still that other option that I'll just let all the character's suffer! Hahahaha....ahem. Naw, I'd never do that (evil grin). >:)

 

Fireie Gurl: Yeah, there's a lot of people routing for Tea's death, right now. And you got only one more week to find out! ;)

 

Growing Pain: Thanks, glad you liked the chapter.

 

Ninjitsu/Dimples 91: You didn't actually take that 'Kaiba played Joey' thing seriously, did you? Kaiba was obviously saying that just to save face, after being so harshly dumped and right in front of all of Joey's friends, too. I mean, what else could he do? He certainly wasn't going to run away crying (yeah, right). For Kaiba, he would probably see that as his only option to come out of this with atleast some of his pride and dignity still intact. To go chasing after Joey, only to have Joey dump him in the end doesn't really put a very good mark on his reputation, after all (poor Kaiba). As for Joey......well, he 'is' kinda stupid (or atleast how the show normally portrays him). And I have warned that I tend to play his character as such. So, there he is, doing something dumb again, and is now paying for it. As mentioned in this chapter, he finally figured out what happened and that he indeed did something really dumb. But that still doesn't seem to help his case in the least, unfortunately. Glad you liked the chapters, and yes.....Tea does remember everything, and she's pretty messed-up. Of course, I'm still playing Tea in the way I see her. As mentioned in the beginning, I've always seen Tea as fake. Even her pitiful cries to her friends.....I feel she's only sorry cuz of what 'she' had lost from this, not because she feels regret over what she did wrong.

 

Danita: Yeah, that's what I was trying to show in the duel. I'm glad it came out sounding right. And I'm really glad to hear you liked the angst part. This is the part I've been the most worried about, when I came to it. I remember when I was working on my Yugioh Vampire story, I had atleast one person threatening to bash me for the angst parts.....so it left me a tad worried about how my readers would react in this story. I actually expected worst, since this was also a romance fic. Fortunately, you guys are so great you didn't react badly at all, which was a pleasant surprise (smile). That's true.....then again, Joey is a natural goody-goody, too. We'll just have to see what happens in the final chapter. Either way, I guarantee (atleast I hope) all mysteries will be solved, and any loose plot strings left will finally be tied up.