A Good Lie

Title: A Good Lie pt 2

Author: Satisfied_Frog

Fandom: Yu Gi Oh

Rating: R (Strong hints of Sex, and Graphic Violence)

Pairing(s): OC/Jou, OC/Mokuba, Seto/Jou,

Disclaimer: Not mine in a sock, not mine on a rock. Not mine under seas, not mine under a breeze. Not mine now, not mine if I bow.

Summary: To lose someone is terrible. To lose them because of your carelessness is even worse.

Warning: Take a character or characters, stick them in a psychological breaking experience, play it through, and see where it goes. Not a Nice fic, though the person who does the breaking is not the dominant side of the pairing. There is no sex, but it's alluded to. There is violence alluded to and will be graphically described.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, a prince came across a sleeping beauty. The beauty had been cursed by an evil witch, to sleep forever The handsome prince kissed the sleeping beauty and awoke him. They lived happily ever after.

This isn't that story.

This story is about a sleeping beauty who never woke up. Who never got kissed.


In the city there was a tower. A high tower, built by Kaiba Corp a few years ago. It was a rather prestigous building, with high dues, and a strict application process. It was said the Devil himself couldn't get in - but then neither could God. For the most part the tenants were all businessmen or women. The fantastical location, awe inspiring veiws, strictly inforced privacy, and exclusive nature of the building made it one of Kaiba Corp's more profitable ventures. Everyone thought the Drae Tower had been built as a way to expand Kaiba Corp.

They were all wrong.

Seto Kaiba had built the Drae Tower in order to hide from the world a rather dark little secret. On the top floor of the Drae Tower, was a restricted apartment. Most people, even the manager of the tower, thought it was simply storage or excess space. Perhaps a testing facility given the power that went in there. Again - they were wrong.

Jou Wheeler lived in the top floor and no one has seen him since the towers had been built. Six years ago, there had been a serial murderer of Duel Monster players. The police has nicknamed him "Tarot' for the tarot cards he left at the bodies of his victims. Five and a half years ago he took what most thought to be his final victim; a young male, just begining to make his mark on the dueling world. The last known victim was intended to be buried alive. Jou Wheeler interrupted the killer, and traded himself for the intended victim. It was the older brother, frantic to repay his brother's rescuer, who saved him from being buried alive.

The police never found the killer. After an hour of being buried alive, Jou Wheeler had suffered massive trauma. Upon his release from an court enforced stay at a mental facility he vanished into thin air. A man hunt went underway to find him, funded by his close friends. No trace of him was ever found.

At about the same time, a reclusive game designer liscened an idea to Kaiba Corp. Quickly fleshed out, the online world of Atlantis became an over night sucess on release. No one ever saw the game designer or spoke to him. All contact went through Seto Kaiba or Mokuba Kaiba. In fact, most attributed the game's design and ideas to the Kaiba brothers.

They were all pretty much completely wrong.

The blond glared at his screen. For the past few hours he'd been working on trying to come up with a way of making Atlantis be less perfect. He didn't like how the Council seemed to be perfect, always knowing what to do and when. He wanted them to fall flat for once and suffer. The problem was in coming up with a realistic way to do it.

The television set murmered gently in the background. He rarely watched it anymore. Too depressing by half if you asked him. News stations seemed to be captializing on the dark side of humanity, stories of murder, theft, injustice. Still he needed the sound of people he'd found, but couldn't stand to be near people. The news was a middle ground he could handle. Of course, he grinned to himself, so was the brunette that had just entered the work room scowling.

"And I suppose you've been working this whole time and haven't eaten anything have you," snapped Seto. Seto Kaiba was one of two people who knew who R. D. really was - and where Jou Wheeler had gone to after he left protective custody. He'd protected Jou and eventually, become a partner to Jou after a rocky courtship. Jou knew in the back of his head, the counselors would be calling it dependecy at best, Stockholm Syndrom at worst. He didn't care. Seto made him feel safe, feel whole, feel loved. "Here - eat."

Seto also had turned out to be a great cook, which meant he also fed Jou - a win win situation since Jou could burn water at his best. "You came by early," Jou gulped down the warm noodles,"I didn't expect you to be by till evening. I don't have the outline for the next content patch fleshed out yet." He blinked at the sudden bright bite of spice. "New recipie? This is really good."

Seto rolled his eyes. "Of course it is. I made it." Seto gestured towards the living room, "Here, come sit down with me and we'll eat before I head back to the officer."

"Aw, you just wanna make out."

Seto stopped in the doorway and looked back. Jou felt the breath catch in his throat. A rare, sunny day lit Seto up from behind. Times like these he couldn't figure out why Seto wanted him. Here was someone who was brilliant, a true genius, but also breath taking in every way. Blue eyes that warmed when looking at a loved one, thick brown hair, a body to die for...Jou knew what he looked like. Pale, blond and thin. Badly scarred hands from beating against solid wood for an hour. He hadn't combed his hair in days - and usually had bags under his eyes. Nothinng like Seto, who always looked as if he stepped off of a GQ cover every day. And sometimes when rolling out of bed.

"Maybe. Or maybe I have more of those noodles and I'm offering a trade."

Jou grinned. "I could go for that." They ended up curled on the decadent couch. It was ugly as sin - a green color with red crosses all over it. Mokuba had laughed himself sick when Jou found it on eBay and bought it. Seto had wanted to burn it. Ugly it may be, but eventually even Seto admitted it was one of the more comfortable peices of furniture he'd ever sat in. Jou and Seto had spent hours on that couch much as they were currently; curled next to each other sharing a bowl of warm noodles. Both were content in their life. All was well.

On the other side of the room the television blurbed a warning. Curious, Seto dialed the volume up. There hadn't been an earthquake, so why was the city alarm going off?

The new broadcaster for channel 9 news looked forward into the camera. "Just in - Police have discovered the body of a young male, dumped in the city graveyard. This the third such body found in the past week. No word yet on cause of death or identity, but a source close to the investigation believes this crime to be perfect copy of a murder spree five years ago."

A picture of a deck of tarot cards flashed on to the screen.

"According to the same source, police are finding a Tower painted on to the bodies of the victims. Police are urging everyone to act cautiously and to be safe. If you have any information, please contact the department promptly."

The screen panned back to the studio where the anchor leaned forward in his chair, "Fascinating Trudy. If it's a Tarot Killer copy cat, I wonder what his last victim would say to that or if he's involved some how."

Seto felt the blood drain from his face. Next to him Jou made a noise he'd only heard once in his life - when he'd dragged him from the open coffin next to the grave intended to be his and bolted. "Jou, Jou?" The blond was rocking back and forth in a cornor, white with fear, far whiter then anyone should be. His wide eyes weren't seeing anything as he rocked back and forth. His hands were digging into the carpet, scratching at it. Seto approached Jou slowly, trying not to panic him. Everytime he thought he could get close enough to him, Jou scrambled backwards. After what seemed like an eternity, Seto finally managed to gently get his arms around Jou. Just enough to keep him from hurting himself any further. He settled down for a long wait.

It was evening by the time Jou came back to himself. The sun had just set, leaving the sky a multi-colored painting, framed by the city's lights. He wasn't where he'd last recalled in the living room before the world went a roaring dark. He was cradled in Seto's arms, as Seto slowly rocked back and forth on the couch, deep voice murmuring softly. Jou shivered and tried to bury his head into Seto's head in an attempt to keep the memories from overwhelming him, as he gasped for air.

"Jou. I know you're awake," Seto rumbled. "I need you to look at me."

Oh gods, he couldn't be back, could he, Jou thought hysterically. Seto had sworn to him that he'd keep him safe and what if it was him again?

"Easy there. Easy. Don't start hyperventilating," Jou heard soothe murmmers from a distance. It broke the fragile barrier Jou had to speaking in an instant.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry, please, I don't want to go through that again, don't make me go through that again, please." Jou babbled, holding on to Seto, in the terror.

"I'm not going anywhere. Jou. Chien*. I'm not leaving you. Not now, not later", Seto quietly spoke into Jou's hair. "You're mine and I'm not leaving you alone."

The pair sat in the darkened apartment, Jou calmly held in Seto's arms, as the sky darkened and true evening fell at last. Both of them were comforted by the other's presence in the silent dark. Not a word was said, until almost three hours later, when a phone rang in the direction of Seto's discarded black trench coat, shattering the peaceful silence like a falling iron.

"I need to answer this."

"Yeah."

"It might be important."

"Yeah. It might be Mokuba."

"It might be the American company."

Jou craned his head back, to look Seto straight in the eye. "The American company's calling at three in the morning? Gimme a break Seto, I may be blond but I'm not dumb."

Seto didn't quite blush, but his stillness gave him away. "You're right. It's probably Mokuba, wondering where I am."

"Then answer already unless you don't want him to know you're here," Jou snapped, his mood swinging from cuddling to lashing out in the space of a few seconds. "Mokuba needs you more then some emotional cripple!"

"Jou", Seto began, feeling torn between comforting Jou, the man he was in love with, and Mokuba, his beloved baby brother. Both men meant the world to him and Seto just wanted to protect them – even if meant wrapping them both up in bubble wrap and hiding them away in a remote fortress. He tightened his arms as he felt the blond man begin to try to get up. Somehow, he knew if he let Jou `escape' this time, he'd be lost to him forever.

"Uh, Seto," was the questioning quaver from the bundle of blond in his arms.

"I'm not letting you go puppy. So you can just forget it, you mean too much to me," he muttered.

"Er, it's not your cell – it's mine."

Seto looked over, and sure enough, Jou's ancient cell phone, was not only ringing, but also vibrating, a combination he never had on his phone.

"Puppy, who's calling you at three in the morning," he asked beginning to feel like a tinge of dread. What if someone had found Jou after all these years?

"Actually, Seto, it's who's texting me at 3am that I'd like to know,"Jou said staring at his old cell with something like fascinated fatalism.

"Maybe I should", Seto began as he released Jou and waited for the shorter blond to get up.

"And maybe I think you should come with me and go to bed", Jou countered, eyes dark. "Whoever it is can wait until tomorrow."

"But I thought", Seto started.

Jou turned to the the startled CEO. "What? That the media found me? Hah. Fat lot of good it'd do them. I'm too mental to let anyone else up here into my home but you. They'd never get a word out of me."

"You're not mental," Seto denied, arms automatically coming around to support Jou. "You just have some very understandable phobias about people."

"Nope. I'm mental about you", Jou said mouth right above Seto's mouth. "And I might just show it if you want."

Seto needed no more encouragement then that.

The night was almost gone – day was struggling to break over the city skyline, like some new born prehistoric creature fighting to break free of the shell of night. On the top floor of the K9 building a light remained on the upper most suite, a beckon signaling a sleepless night.

Jou had left Seto sleeping in his bed, curled up around one of Jou's many over sized pillows. He had paused, watching as Seto murmured his name before curling around the pillow, nose buried in it, as if to catch the smell of Jou. He'd shaken his head at thought of how many people would never believe him if he said how cute the CEO was when sleeping.

Armed with his mug of Organic Chai, a tea he'd discovered over the internet, Jou set to work on his latest project. He thought he finally had a way to humanize the Council of Atlantis, yet still preserve the essential storyline. He grinned to himself, the terror of the afternoon finally leaving his mind. Work would clear his head, let him focus, and ground himself in the hear and now and not the then and there. Seto was right. The chances of it being his tormentor from the past was almost impossible.

Ding! "You have a New Email!"

Jou paused, glancing over at the screen in question, mug raised halfway to his mouth, and eye brow raised even higher on his forehead. Sure enough, the farthest screen had his email dragon doing flips to signify the new email. Who the bloody hell would be emailing him now? Curiosity may have killed the cat, Jou thought, but he was no cat. And what the hey – satisfaction brought him back, so what's to risk?
He clicked on the flipping dragon.

To my beloved golden Adonis:

I am so sad to hear you escaped your coffin – I meant to spare you
the pain of life, silly one! They say death by suffocation can be a
lovely thing, that as you die, your memories pass before your eye.
Now that I think of it your life has not been very nice – naughty
little one – if you had been nicer, then I would have allowed you to
die in a much kinder fashion. What do you think of my silver blades
sliding through your pale skin as I lick your crimson life from your
skin? I like the thought. It keeps my passions for you alive.
I wear your hair, braided into a suitable watchband, beloved – but
alas! It is wearing thin. I am very disappointed in you. But I
believe I shall allow you to make it up to me, my golden Adonis. We
will play a game, you and I, with the prize being…oh, now that will be
telling now wouldn't? Oh, don't look at me with those eyes. Fine. I
shall tell you, but only on the condition that you wear my golden tiger
eye cufflinks when we meet again – to match those eyes.
One prize, silly golden one, is that evil CEO's little brother.
He's matured well. With all that long, black hair? You were wise to stop
me back then.

Signed
Tarot

There was a screaming in his ears and Jou found his vision narrowing as he began to hyperventilate. He's alive. He knows where he lived. He knew. He knew!

Oh god.

He has Mokuba.