Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Judgement ❯ Serpent Strike ( Chapter 5 )

Judgement

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, otherwise . . . you get the picture

Summary: Seto, Ryou and Ryuuji are TC's Elite and their job is to exterminate all Otherworldly beings from the real world. But real judgement is yet to come, what with the Chimera Brigade on the loose . . .

Warnings: Semi-Alternate Universe, OOC (on some parts, not all), yaoi/shounen-ai (I still can't tell the difference, gomen), angst, murder, rape, little fluffs now and then, depression, suicide and . . . I think that covers it for the moment. If you don't like, DON'T READ! Sheesh, don't come complaining to ME if you get scared easily or can't take this kind of stuff. I did my job and warned you about it.

Author's Notes: so, after the review thing, I have not many bones left to pick with you people. Um, lessee . . . oh yeah. There's nothing I can think of right now. It's mostly just the reviews.

ENJOY!

--------

Chapter Five: Serpent Strike

--------

None of them went to school the next day. Ryuuji was bedridden, still recovering - rather, suffering - from the emotional trauma Satoshi had put him through. Ryou was in no better condition. His room was closest to Ryuuji's and the pain emanating from the game creator was so strong, it left him weak.

Seto also suffered. Being psychic, he could easily pick up the others' thoughts and nightmares. Frequently at night, he was bombarded with images from Ryuuji's nightmares and fears, forcing him awake and unable to get back to sleep. Ryou would sense both his and Ryuuji's emotions and move between the two rooms, comforting and attempting to soothe.

"It's that dream again, Ryou," he whispered hoarsely on one such occasion.

"Wakatta." Ryou sat on the edge of his bed. "We need to do something about Ryuuji and fast. He's affecting all of us. You, most of all."

"Mokuba wa?"

"Asleep," the albino replied, resting a pale hand on his arm. "If you want me to rouse him to

keep you company, I will do so."

"Iie, let him sleep." Seto sat up against the headboard. "He shouldn't know about these things. I've tried to keep him from it so that he will be safe, but he's bound to know one of these days. I just don't know how to tell him."

Ryou's hand went down to take Seto's in a warm, reassuring grip. This was one of the ways he could actually send the calming side of his empathic powers into another person. Seto was obviously distressed. As he sent the energy, Seto's breathing and heartbeat evened out.

"Arigatou."

"Dooitashimashite." Ryou's brow furrowed and his grip on Seto's hand tightened painfully.

"Nani? Daijoubu ka, Ryou?"

"It's Ryuuji again," Ryou replied. "I've got to go check on him."

--------

Ryuuji's Rooms - Kaiba Mansion

--------

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Ryuuji screamed, bolting upright in bed, pouring cold sweat. His pupils had contracted, making them more like a feline spotting something frightening. He brought a hand up and held his forehead with it, panting. It was that dream again, the one where Satoshi threatened to pull him into the density of what normal people called `hell'.

"Ryuuji! Daijoubu ka?"

He barely registered Ryou's anxious voice before two gentle arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him close, a soothing aura closing over him. He rested his head against Ryou's chest, closing his eyes. The albino continued to hold him as a mother would her child, comforting him wordlessly.

"Ryou . . . don't let them get me," he whimpered.

"No one is going to get you."

"I saw . . . he was there . . . Satoshi-kun . . ."

Ryou fought the fear he was feeling, suppressing it so that he couldn't be too affected by it. It was no good if they both were cowering in fear. No, in this case he had to be the strong one so that Ryuuji could rely on him. In their first few days here, he himself had highly depended on Seto and Ryuuji to save him.

It was his turn to do the same for them. If it meant he had sleepless nights and overworked days, then so be it. Right now, only Ryuuji and Seto mattered.

"Sh, he's not here anymore. You're safe."

A few minutes later, Ryuuji had drifted off into an uneasy sleep, curled up against Ryou's chest. Only after he had tucked the covers under the game creator's chin did Ryou allow himself to start crying. He went back into his own rooms and cried himself to sleep, burrowing deep into his pillows and sheets.

--------

Seto's Dream

--------

Mokuba stood on a cliff overlooking a huge expanse of ocean. The boy was smiling at him, telling him to come closer and yet never doing so himself. Seto walked closer, trying to tell his little brother that it was dangerous to stand so close to the edge of a cliff.

"Come on, niisama," Mokuba said eagerly, waving. "Come on!"

"It's dangerous, Mokuba, get back here!"

"I'll be fine, niisama! There's something you have to see!"

He made it to where Mokuba was standing. The black haired boy pointed down over the edge, bouncing up and down in excitement. Seto looked over the edge at what Mokuba was pointing at. It was a small stretch of beach, seemingly untouched and unused, but very beautiful.

"Kirei ne, niisama?"

"Un, kirei . . ."

He blinked. There was a figure walking down that stretch of white sand, dressed in a long, flowing robe. As he looked closer, another figure appeared next to the first, wearing an ensemble only a street kid would don. The white figure had a very pale purple mass of hair tumbling down past his shoulders and seemed to have wings sprouting from his back. The second one had shoulder-length, black hair and peculiar markings around his eyes.

"Ne, niisama, what are you looking at?"

"Don't you see them, Mokuba?" he asked, looking at his little brother.

"See what?" Mokuba asked, confused.

"The two people . . ." Seto pointed down onto the beach. "The ones there."

"Iie, you must be seeing things, niisama."

Suddenly, Mokuba faded. Seto cried out in alarm as the solidness of the cliff dissolved from underneath his feet, sending him falling down.

Then, time was suspended.

He lay in midair, panting, surrounded by darkness. Laughter from two different voices filled the air, one alto and rich, the other one smooth and light. They enveloped him in a sense of warmth and security, something he had only felt around Mokuba. He was dragged unceremoniously upright.

"Seto . . ."

Screams and cries of agony replaced the laughter. The darkness erupted into hot flames, scorching his skin and sending beads of sweat coursing down the side of his face. Three structures stood before him, amidst the flames, towering over everything in his sight. Upon closer inspection, they were crosses.

He sucked in a sharp breath.

On the first hung the pale boy he had seen earlier, hands and feet nailed to the cross, as if he were Jesus Christ at the crucifixion. Blood ran down from the nails, staining his white robes. The boy's face was deathly pale and his lips were open in a silent scream. Brown eyes were wide and yet lifeless, staring.

"Ryou!" he looked to the other two crosses. "Ryuuji! MOKUBA!"

They were also nailed to the crosses by their hands and feet. Both were conscious and yet not so, like Ryou. Blood coursed down their arms and stained their clothing, dripping silently onto the wooden cross and getting consumed by flame. He ran towards them, fearing for their lives.

"Ryou! Ryuuji! Mokuba!"

"They are sacrifices," a female voice said monotonously.

"Sacrifices?" he looked around for the source of the voice, but found none.

"Yes, sacrifices. They have been crucified because of your sins. Your debt has been annulled upon the three of them - the three people dearest to you. However, their deaths are not enough."

"Seto . . ."

Ryou's raspy voice, hoarse from endless screaming, whispered his name over the crackle of the flames. He raised his battered head to look the CEO straight in the eyes, the brown orbs lighting up in recognition. They spilled forth tears mingled in blood and sweat, his dry, cracked lips twitching upwards.

"Ryou . . . daijoubu ka?"

"E-ee," Ryou replied. "D-Daijoubu."

It was as if the cross had lowered to allow him to exchange words with Ryou. Either way, he was just a little taller than Ryou and the white haired boy could look up at him comfortably.

"What happened?"

". . . they tried to get Mokuba," Ryou told him. "Ryuuji and I . . . we stopped them . . . but they got us too . . . it burns . . . it hurts, Seto . . ."

Seto raised a hand to touch Ryou's face, but the boy threw back his head and gave a deafening shriek before the dream shattered into oblivion.

--------

Mokuba's Rooms - Kaiba Mansion

--------

A small, tanned hand (A/N: gasp! It rhymes . . . sorta) brushed a few of Mokuba's black bangs out of his closed eyes. The boy instinctively leaned into the touch, murmuring something incoherently as he shifted in his sleep. The owner of the hand smiled.

He was an innocent that was for certain. Given a choice, she would never want to hurt him, but seeing as he was the younger brother to one of her mortal enemies, she had been presented with none. It was kill or be killed.

"Niisama . . ." Mokuba murmured.

"You won't be seeing your niisama for a long time, Mokuba," Ishizu told him sadly. "I have my own otouto and niisan to look after, so I can't let you live."

From underneath her veil, a thick coil slithered down, hissing and spitting. It was one of her many pets, a snake with very potent poison. It put the victim into a deep sleep for a week before they faded entirely out of existence. There was no cure in the human world. She herself had once fallen victim to its bite and that was how she came to be who she was now. A demon of the darkness.

"One bite, watashi no hebi," she murmured. "One bite and end it all."

". . . niisama's always there for me . . ."

Ishizu clenched her fists and turned away, willing the serpent to bite. It did so, relishing the feel of its fangs sinking into the soft flesh, clamping its strong jaws on the arm. She remembered how she had been bitten.

It had been her choice then, to die in her brothers' places. But she also had the power of control over dark animals, which saved her from eternal death. Instead, she now lived a life of darkness with her pets, an immortal one. Her brothers, Malik and Marik, lived in the same way, alongside her.

"That's enough. Let's go."

The snake slithered back up her arm and under her veil. Standing, Ishizu gave Mokuba one last look. He frowned and shifted into a comfortable position, before going still. She sighed. It was all over. A passing cloud shrouded the moon and she disappeared.

--------

Ryou's Rooms - Kaiba Mansion

--------

Ryou's eyes shot open and he stumbled almost blindly out of bed, throwing aside the covers. This was the third time he had done so tonight, but it wasn't Ryuuji he was getting up for.

Seto was in pain; he was frightened and disturbed. The albino could only wonder what had happened while he had fallen asleep. Perhaps the CEO had had a nightmare of some sort, but he had taken care of that matter before, so it was highly unlikely that the same dream had come again.

"Seto?" he called out into the hallway. "Seto?"

"I'm here," the other's voice said. "I-In Mokuba's room."

"Seto . . .?"

He opened the door to Mokuba's rooms quietly, unsure of what he was going to find there. Seto had Mokuba sitting up, the boy still seemingly asleep, and was shaking him. Ryou ran over quickly.

"What are you doing, Seto? You'll hurt Mokuba!"

"He should be awake by now," Seto replied distractedly. "Always, when I do this, he's always awake to tell me off. There's something wrong with him!"

And now Ryou saw it. Mokuba's head was lolling from side to side, as if he were unconscious instead of sleeping. He was also deathly pale and, as Ryou placed a hand on his forehead, clammy and cold. It was as if he had been drugged, or was sick or -

"Poisoned."

Seto looked up at him in shock, fear seeping through their bond. Mokuba was poisoned? The albino placed a calming hand on Seto's shoulder, before lifting up Mokuba's arm and pulling back the sleeves of his pajamas. There were two deep punctures in the flesh just below the elbow, not bleeding, but very dark.

Ignoring Seto's half-hearted protests, Ryou applied pressure onto the sides of the puncture wounds. Blood, the colour of ebony, bled forth sluggishly. Ryou's mouth was set in a grim line and he gripped Seto's shoulder tighter.

"He was poisoned," he said softly.

"I should have known," Seto murmured. "He - I knew something bad was going to happen. It was in my dream."

"Dream?"

"Ee, dream." Seto spun around and grabbed both his hands. "Let me see."

Ryou watched silently as Seto studied his hands, turning them over and running fingers over the back and the palms. Finally, the CEO pulled back and sighed with relief.

"Nani?"

*I had a dream. You, Mokuba and Ryuuji were nailed to crosses*

Nani?!

*I was afraid it had come true. Where's Ryuuji?*

In his rooms, sleeping.

*Good*

Seto went back to holding Mokuba, trying to decide what to do. Well, first of all, he had to deduce exactly what kind of poison Mokuba had been injected with. Then he had to find the cure. After Mokuba recovered, he would hunt down whoever had the nerve to poison his little brother and tear them into pieces. No one, no one hurt Mokuba and got away with it.

"I'll get my revenge," he vowed. "I'm going to save Mokuba and avenge this attack on him."

"Don't do anything stupid, Seto," Ryou warned.

"I'm not," he replied, turning to the window. The moonlight caught in his brown bangs. "There's no room for stupidity here."

Ryou certainly hoped so.

--------

End Chapter Five

--------

Author's Notes:

Wow, this chapter was my shortest so far! I hope you guys don't mind that, or the fact that Mokuba's been poisoned and has only a week to live.

Replies to reviewers:

Ril: you've read every chapter (and reviewed) so far. Thanks! I'm really glad you like this fic

Picaro: no making fun of Ryou now! He is very dangerous, actually. Glad you like and keep working on your own fics! They're very good!

Maruken: yes, Charmed is actually quite a good show!