Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Time on a Chain ❯ Chapter 16

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Time 18

Willow watched as Seto fell apart. Slowly but surely he seemed to change before their eyes. Joey
and Mokuba spent more and more time together and she spent more time with Seto. Mokuba
admitted he didn't know what to do. Seto was changing from the boy they knew into someone
that they didn't like very much. He seemed to be schizophrenic or maybe manic.One minute he
would be kind and caring and the next he was angry and sarcastic.

He worked like a demon for hours, then he crashed, sleeping so heavily that he wouldn't wake
up. He ate little and drank way too much coffee. Willow stayed with him even when he did his
best to get rid of her. His uneven moods were nothing out of the ordinary to her, she was used to
clients who treated her badly and she wasn't about to let Seto Kaiba run her off.

"Look Mokuba, I don't know exactly what's wrong with Seto but I intend to find out. I've seen
guys act like that before but they were all druggies. And I don't think Seto uses drugs."

Joey rubbed the back of his neck, he intended to get to the bottom of this if it took him all year.
Seto had been good to him and he intended to pay him back by finding out what was wrong with
the youthful CEO.

"Joey? . . . Can he be addicted to pills?"

"Yeah. But I never saw him score. All the time we were on the streets he would have had to score
at least once."

Mokuba looked shame faced. He knew where Seto had gotten the pills and he was sure they were
the source of all the problems Seto was having now. He had been rationing himself while they
were on the streets so he wouldn't run out, but now he had an unlimited supply of pills. Heaven
only knew why he was using so heavily.

"Joey? Can you get addicted to prescription pills?"

"Oh yeah. Elvis Presley killed himself with prescription pills. Damn shame. It's illegal for a
doctor to prescribe some pills without extensive follow up but some don't do what they should so
. . . yeah . . . don't tell me Seto has prescriptions for . . . damn!"

Mokuba hung his head, near tears. Joey just wrapped his arms around him and held him close.

"Look, if Seto really is an addict it's not your fault, he's a big boy and he knows better or if he
don't he should. He's not stupid."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Willow wiggled her foot, it was still sore but it was healing fast now that she wasn't trying to
fight infection and heal too. The days that she'd spent lounging around had done her good in
more ways than one.

She wasn't so worn out mentally that she couldn't tell what was going on in her head. She'd been
on over drive for way too long. Her control had kept her hopping from one hard job to another
until she'd shut down. Now, even though she realized what she'd been doing, she wasn't sure
what to do about it but she was going to take advantage of this chance to get her head on straight.
If she could figure out what straight was.

She watched Seto and decided that maybe she could wait on figuring herself out, he needed help
way more than she did.

Willow walked into the kitchen area and just stood watching Joey cook. She sat on one of the bar
stools watching Joey make an omelet. He was chopping mushrooms with a chef's knife

"Ow! Damnit!"

Joey stuck his cut finger in his mouth, sucking off the blood.

"Wha's a madda"

Joey, finger still in his mouth, looked at Willow' puzzled face. So much fuss for so little a cut,
Willow shook her head.

Seto ambled in from the great room

"Hey! What did you do? Baka Inu! You've cut yourself. Let me put a bandage on that. I'd prefer
my food not spiced with your blood."

Joey was still mumbling, "Ow, ow, ow. Shit, damn, fuck it."


Willow watched as Seto cared for Joey's cut finger

"That can't hurt that badly"

Joey turned on Willow.

"Just because you're some kind of hot shot bodyguard don't tell me you don't feel."

"I don't feel, not like I should at any rate."

Willow looked at Joey bleakly

Joey just snorted picked up the knife and started chopping again. "You can't not feel. I mean how
can you not."
Joey suddenly ran down and looked at Willow, he had a bad feeling in his gut.

Willow wondered if she could feel anything at all. Without even thinking she picked up one of
the smaller knives and cut her arm. Not too deeply but enough to bleed and hurt. A soft hiss
escaped her lips

"Ssssaaahhh!"

"Hey! Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing?"

Seto grabbed Willows hand and twisted it backwards to make her drop the knife.

Joey snatched a towel from the counter and pressed it to her arm.

"Damnit don't tell me you're a cutter. Here, Seto put pressure on that. I'll get the first aid kit."

Willow felt funny. She'd never had anyone fuss over her so much. First her foot now this.

She brushed Seto's hand away, pulling the towel away, she inspected the cut. It was about three
inches long, but barely deep enough to bleed.

"I wondered if it would hurt. The last few times I got wounded, it didn't hurt. The only reason I
knew I was wounded I saw blood."

Willow looked at the cut, slightly dazed

Joey slammed the first aid kit on the counter.

"Stupid! How could getting cut not hurt? You stuff your feelings down inside too much. It makes
you numb. Believe me I know. You can't keep doing that. You'll turn into. . . ."

Joey shut up suddenly.

"I'll turn into a stone cold killer? Is that what you were going to say?"

Willow looked at Joey {Too late my boy, too late by far. I wish it wasn't so.}

Seto grabbed Willows arm.

"Quit splattering blood around. Hold still and let me fix this."

Willows pulled her arm from his hands.

"It not a big deal. I'll fix it myself."

Willow opened the bottle of alcohol and, over the protests of both Joey and Seto, dumped half of
it over her arm.

"Aaahh! Burns! I guess I feel after all. Son of a Bitch! How can I get cut three times as bad and
not feel it at all?"

Willow reached out for a bandage.

"Give me that, you fool! I have had it with this Super Girl act, take help when it's offered. It
doesn't mean you're weak. Just human."

Seto grabbed her hand in his and clamped down on it. Taking a tube of antiseptic cream, he
squeezed some onto a square of gauze. Putting it on the cut he realized that he needed at least
three hands as Willow was attempting half heartedly to reclaim her hand.

Joey picked up a roll of bandage and started to wrap it around Willow's arm

"Relax. We're not gonna mug ya ‘er nothin'. What the hell were you thinkin', Stupid. Hold
still!"

Joey gave her an irritated glare. {Wow! He's almost as good as I am}

"I just . . . well . . . I've been cut worse and didn't even feel it. I've been feeling less and less all
the time. I really didn't think I could feel at all. At least my body can still feel pain."

Willow flexed her hand, testing the bandage's effect on her mobility.

Willow looked at Joey then Seto, they looked back like they expected her to attack them or
something

"I'm sorry about that. It was foolish. I am what I am. What training made me." She could feel
their brains working. "I'm going to train. Don't worry, I'll take it easy on my foot. Don't want to
undo the healing."

Willow got out before she could see dawning realization freeze their faces into disgust or
something worse

"Well . . . that was a rush! What the hell was she talking about. She got cut worse and didn't feel
it? Is that why she let her foot go?"

Joey had started cleaning up the blood on the counter. There was actually quite a lot of it.

Seto watched his efficient motions and wondered how he had gotten so good in a kitchen. He
didn't seem the type.

"There are several reasons she might not feel it. Extreme cold for one, a heavy adrenalin rush,
drugs, exhaustion or a combination of any of those factors, also training. There are technics
which can be used to cut off sensation and feeling. If she has been trained extensively, she may
not even realize she's doing it. It's quite possible she could get really hurt and not notice.

"There are documented incidences of people doing extraordinary things on the battle field or in
accidents only to die of unnoticed wounds themselves."

Joey sighed.

"What kind of life has she led Seto-kun. I think we're all fucked up, not just you and me"

Seto jerked upright, giving Joey a haughty look.

I"m not fucked up, as you inelegantly put it"

Joey reached out and tried to take Seto's hand, Seto pulled away, then froze

"Yeah, you're not, then why are Mo' and Willow the only ones who can touch ya? Huh? Think
about it!"

Seto stalked away in a temper, Joey just shook his head and went up to the studio that Roland
had set up for him.

The third floor of the apartment had been turned into a gym/dojo and a studio.

The fire men had saved all his works in progress and he was trying to finish the requirements for
his art class but it was hard. He didn't have any inspiration and he was just floundering around,
trying to finish up works he'd already started.

He was worried about Seto and Willow, they both were in trouble and he didn't know how to
help them, the more he thought about it, the more he worried, the more he worried, the less work
he got done. He wasn't going to get his class work done in time to get out of taking a class.

"Crap! I can't work. I'm going down and confront Seto. I just hope Willow don't take my head
off before I can finish talking."

Joey stalked into Seto's office with Mokuba right behind him. He was going to have it out with
Seto, find out what was going on and fix it, somehow.

He walked into the office just in time to see Seto reach into the right-hand drawer of his desk.
Joey made it across the room in time to catch Seto's wrist just as he started to put the Blue and
White capsule in his mouth

"What the hell? Why are you . . . ?"

Joey spluttered rather incoherently, he knew pills, his time on the streets had taught him more
than survival skills. He was also familiar with street drugs of all kinds.

"That's a Finn. What are you doing with that? Where'd you get it?"

"It's prescription. I've been taking them for years. They just help me stay awake so I can work."

Seto looked at Joey's face and felt a cold chill. He respected Joey's street smarts and Joey looked
like he wanted to punch something or someone.

"Seto, what else are you takin'? Damnit!"

Joey dumped the contents of the drawer onto the desk, knocking things off onto the floor he
picked out all the pill bottles

"Shit . . . nothing . . . Seto-no-baka! You're really killing yourself by inches. If you have high
blood pressure, this stuff is just like a gun to your head. Plus taking a pain killer and all this other
shit. Uppers, downers, and something so you don't feel the pain. And I thought I was messed up.
How did you keep up with a habit on the streets and me not catch on? "

"Wheeler, I told you they are all prescription. I've been taking them for years. I had plenty in the
SUV glove box and Mokuba had some in his backpack. I just rationed myself . . . My doctor
wouldn't . . . son-of-a-bitch Gozabouro you fucker."

Seto stared at the bottles in horror and disgust.

"He did it again. Even after he's dead, he's screwing up my life."

Seto threw a bottle at the wall, scattering pills over the floor.

"Damn him!"

Joey sighed.

"We got ta get ya off this shit."

"How bad is it?"

"Psychologists call it the Elvis Presley Syndrom. He died of prescription pills. So it's bad. I bet
half your health problems come from a combination of over work and these damn pills. How
much do ya take?"

Seto thought for a while, stirring the pills scattered across his desk with one long elegant index
finger

"I take the pain pills for migraine headaches, usually only one or two a month. I didn't need any
on the streets. The fins as you call them . . . well, two or three most days. When I pull an all
nighter, six or more. I've done a few two or three day ‘long hauls' and lost count. I only take the
Ambion when I really start bouncing off the walls. That doesn't happen often but I don't sleep
much and I wake up groggy when I take them. I'm afraid that I won't hear Mokuba if he calls me.
They really knock me out."

Joey sighed with relief. If Seto had been taking this stuff as long as he claimed and was only
taking two or three a day, he wasn't badly addicted and that explained his moodiness. His body
wanted more and he wouldn't give it

"No wonder you're such a shit. This crap makes you paranoid, short tempered and generally
fucked up, it's as bad as coke in it's own way."

Joey picked up the phone.

"I'm calling a clinic I know of. It's charity but I can get you in . . . "

"NO! Absolutely not . . . no one can know about this! No one. If it gets out, especially after
everything that has already gone on, I could lose custody of Mokuba and you. I won't take that
chance. Not with either of you."

Seto was getting louder with every sentence.

Willow drifted in the office door. Looking at Seto and Joey she knew it was something bad.

"What is it?"

Her soft voice froze both teens in a tableau of misery.

"Seto's a junkie . . . pill freak . . . whatever. His daddy . . . "

"Shut up, Wheeler She . . . "

Seto hung his head, it was too late and he knew it

"Wheeler I'm gonna . . . Aww shit. What am I going to do?"

Seto gave up. He didn't know how to handle this. Who could he trust? Joey sure, Willow of
course, but if the media got hold of this he'd be ruined. Not that he cared much about what
people thought of him, but a reputation as an addict could seriously compromise his hold on
Kaiba Corp. And endanger his guardianship of both Mokuba and Joey. Neither consequence was
good.

He didn't care much about Kaiba Corp. He'd made sure his personal fortune was untouchable,
but to lose Mokuba or Joey? That he couldn't stand.

"No one outside of this room must ever know!"

Willow's soft voice cut the panic in his heart like her Taiche cut flesh.

"I can take care of this. I still have contacts."

"Yeah. right! Work a miracle just like that."

Joey snorted.

"I know what it takes to kick a habit. I don't use any drugs because, unlike some people, I'm
smart enough to learn from other people's mistakes. But I've helped friends kick it."

Willow shook her head.

"No miracles, just a way to hide this. You know I'm good at going underground. I know . . . "

Seto shook his head stubbornly.

"NO! You're right. No one outside this room can know. We have to get Mokuba out of here."

Mokuba, who'd been standing just inside the door, bulled up big time.

"Oh no you don't. I've been telling you for years that those pills couldn't be good for you. Now I
get my own back. You're not getting rid of me. I'm staying and helping you. You're my big
brother and it's time for some payback. You're always taking care of me. That's how you got in
this mess in the first place."

Seto looked at Mokuba and decided that it was time for him to rely on his little brother more.
Mokuba wasn't so little anymore.

"Ok Joey what do we do first?"

"The first thing we do is flush these pills. Willow search the whole place. You're covert opps.
You should be able to toss the apartment and find every last pill. I don't want anything but
aspirin and such left when you're through. Mo' you get on the net and see what you can find out.
I know what to do but I don't want Seto kicking cold turkey without knowing more about this
than I do. I've never done this without a doctor right there."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mokuba got on the internet and researched, finding out what to do. The most important thing was
to keep Seto from hurting himself. The drug that was going to cause the most trouble was the
upper he had been taking. When he started coming off it. There was no telling what he would do.

Most people just fall asleep and sleep for days, getting up to gorge on anything they can find and
falling back to sleep again. But some people had convulsions, shakes, sweating and all sorts of
other symptoms, depending on what else they had been taking.

"Seto, quit that. You'll make yourself sick."

Willow watched as Seto raided the fridge for the third time in as many hours. He was eating
everything he could get his hands on and she was just waiting for him to get sick.

Seto suddenly turned an amazing shade of green, headed for the bathroom and fell to his knees.
She held his head as he spasimed and heaved. When he was done, she got a wash cloth and
wiped his face and hands.

She spent sometime bathing his hands in cool water. It seemed to help him, he wasn't shaking so
hard, in fact he was getting sleepy again.

"Joey, do you think it's going to be this easy?"

"Yeah, maybe. He wasn't really addicted. He's got a will of iron and a head like a rock. He kept
his dosage really small, especially for as long as he's been taking it. I'm just afraid that he'll
always have cravings and he might not be able to resist them."

"Seto Kaiba not being able to resist something when he's made up his mind. Bite your tongue."

Joey grinned at Willow, put that way, he knew that once they got Seto off, they were safe. He just
hoped nothing else happened.

Willow went to watch Seto sleep. He looked so tired sprawled across the bed still wearing sweaty
jeans and a saggy t shirt. She decided to get him out of his clothes and into at least boxer shorts,
he couldn't be comfortable.

Willow eyed Seto's back in fury. She knew who had made those marks and she wished he was
still alive so she could kill him again slowly. She got him into clean boxers.

For the next few days Seto slept, woke, gorged, threw up and started again. He also had chills,
fever, crying jags and fits of intense agitation. In other words he was alternately depressed as hell
then climbing the walls.

He fought with Joey and Mokuba, screaming and cursing, then apologizing. He slammed doors
and broke things. Willow took all this in stride. Her foot was almost healed so she made herself
responsible for keeping Seto from hurting himself or anyone else. Every time he tried to fight her
he found himself flat on his back in bed, strapped down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Willow woke up because Seto was stirring again. She hoped this time was the last, he would
wake, seem normal for a few minutes then it would start all over again. But it had been several
days and the drug had to be out of his system soon.

"Huh? Uuummm. Oh, man! My head."

Seto looked, around trying to remember what was happening to him. He tried to put his hand to
his head and realized he was restrained.

"Damnit!"

Willow sat up from where she'd been sleeping on a pallet on the floor. She took Seto's hand in
hers and reached out to touch his cheek.

"How do you feel? You know what's going on? Seto?"

Seto flinched slightly, her hand was cold as ice. He realized that she'd been sleeping on the floor
and sighed.

"You're cold. Why are you sleeping on the floor? Why aren't I in my bed? As to how I feel. I feel
like I've been run over by a very long train, rolled up and left in a desert to dry. "

Willow nuzzled her cheek into Seto's palm, like she'd been doing for days. Seto caressed her
unconsciously .

"In other words you feel like shit. You sure you're not going to go off on us again?"

"No, I'm not sure. How long have I been out of it?"

"Few days. I kinda lost track. We're all tired and you're really strong when you get fighting. No
technique but it's like trying to hold an octopus."

Willow clambered onto the bed, sitting across Seto's thighs. She'd gotten into that habit to keep
Seto from kicking someone.

Seto's eyes widened, he'd managed to land a good kick right in her face and she had the bruises
to prove it.

"Did I do that? How could. . . ."

Willow just shrugged and called Joey and Mokuba by shouting rather than going for them

"Hey Seto. How's it goin' bud. Feel more like a human? I won't ask if you feel like your old self.
I think that's the guy we're tryin' t' get rid of."

Joey strolled in smiling at Seto. He also sported several bruises, he wasn't wearing a shirt and his
dripping hair left little doubt what he'd been doing.

Seto didn't realize how they looked until Joey's smirk brought it home. Willow sitting on him
while he was strapped to the cot made a picture in his mind's eye that made him blush and buck
under her.

"Easy there Seto I'll help her get these straps off you."

"Maybe you shouldn't let me up yet. What if . . . "

But Willow was already working on the strap on his right wrist while Joey got his feet free. Seto
sat up, he didn't bother rubbing his wrists. The padded cuffs hadn't hurt him any.

Seto looked at Joey more closely, some of the bruises were obviously made by a fist, others were
oddly shaped and he couldn't figure out what had made them until he turned to the door to catch
Mokuba in a playful headlock. There were three bruises on his back which were obviously made
by a foot. He'd been kicked with enough force to leave black bruises.

"Did I do that? You look like a punching bag. You shouldn't have let me. You should have . . . "

Mokuba jumped him. Scrambling out of Joey's grasp he climbed into his arms and held on tight.

"Damnit Big Brother, you're really awake. Stop fussing and let us enjoy it. Tell Joey you're sorry
and Willow too, then drop it. It's nothing more that you would do for us. "

Seto pushed Mokuba away and examined him carefully. At fifteen he was still smaller than
average but he was wiry and a lot stronger than he looked. He didn't seem to be bruised but Seto
started to strip off his shirt to make sure.

"Hey what the hell are you doin'? Get offa me. Willow!"

Willow dragged Mokuba out of Seto's grip and nearly tossed him into Joey's arms. She grabbed
Seto and held on while Joey set Mokuba on his feet then he headed into what looked like another
bout of withdrawal symptoms.

"No, I'm ok. I'm ok. I just . . . I didn't hit Mokuba. Please tell me I didn't."

Seto started shaking, if he'd hurt Mokuba, after all he'd done to make sure no one ever did, it
would be too much.

"No! Hey! Big Brother, you never hit me. I swear! I . . ."

Mokuba just stripped off his shirt and turned around so Seto could see him.

"See? I'm not bruised, but if you think I'm taking off any more clothes, you're a freak "

Seto smiled at Mokuba.

"I'll take your word for it. . . . look. I'm really sorry about fighting you and all. But I'm really
hungry, so could we leave more apologies for later and get me something to eat now.

Joey nodded at Seto, he'd known Seto would still be hungry when he woke for real. He'd been
eating everything in sight but he hadn't kept most of it down. Gorging with such a shrunken
stomach only made him sick. He needed to eat small, more frequent meals until his system
recovered more.

"Sure, we're all hungry. Willow especially I expect. She drew morning watch today so we could
get cleaned up a little."

Seto noticed that Mokuba's hair was dripping too. He eyed Joey for a second then decided to
table his suspicions for now, he didn't have the strength to worry about more than himself for a
while.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yes! New chapter. Finally. Ranma has been taking up most of my time. But again I assure you I
will finish this. I hate unfinished fiction with a passion. If you aren't going to finish it, in my
opinion, you should take it down. (End of rant)