Reprise

Chapter 2: Red Sky in Mourning







In the morning, Joey, as he had now become known, felt much more refreshed. He felt he could finally stand up on his own two legs again -a bath wouldn’t go amiss either. He looked around for some clothes, as he felt a bit uncomfortable leaving the room in just the pair of blue jeans Ishizu had left on him, especially as he still wasn’t sure where he was, or what was waiting for him beyond the door he had spent the last two days behind.



After his search yielded no significant results, he figured he would have no other option that to go out there as he was. He turned the knob on the door gently, trying to make as little noise as possible, as to not attract attention to himself. He only wanted to survey his surroundings. Beyond the door was a corridor, made out of the same grey concrete as the room he was just in, with no windows, or any natural light source. He started to wonder if it was even morning at all.



Picking a direction he continued along the corridor, coming across an identical wooden door as the one he had just opened. He figured he better keep track of what route he was taking, as this place seemed easy to get lost in. Beyond the door lay a corridor much the same, but with an ascending concrete staircase at the end of it.



“I must be underground…” muttered Joey under his breath, it was logical to assume from the lack of windows or natural light of any kind.



Stepping towards the staircase he started to hear the distant chatter of voices from the top, most spoke in hushed tones, making it almost impossible to here what was being said. At the top Joey was surprised to see a large group of teenagers sitting around a breakfast table, when what he was really expecting was some kind of military meeting. In comparison, the scene before him couldn’t look more welcoming and pleasant.



“Oh!” Squeaked a voice from the table, “look!”



Everyone at the table looked in his direction, all of them seemed to be analyzing him with as much scrutiny as Ishizu was the day before and only tore their eyes away when a familiar voice cried,



“Joey! What are you doing out of bed?“ Ishizu was standing in the doorway from what he assumed was the kitchen, she was holding a loaf of bread in her hands.



“I’m sorry, I was just curious, I wanted to know where I was, this is all very surreal by the way.” He ran a hand through his blond hair, trying to ease as much tension from the situation as possible. Being shirtless wasn’t helping anything.



A man with blue hair chuckled from the breakfast table. The younger one with unusual hair, who first noticed him enter also seemed to be biting his lip to keep from laughing.



“Of course, I apologize Joey. Please, come sit and eat some breakfast - I’m afraid we don’t have much.” Ishizu walked over to the wooden table and started breaking up the bread onto everyone’s plate. He noticed that others got bigger portions that others.



Joey took a seat on the bench next to the small boy with the strange hair, it had shades of red, gold and black running through it, making it difficult to figure out what part, if any, was natural. It also looked like it hadn’t been cut in a while and hung loosely around his shoulders.



“Hi, my names Yugi.” He smiled and held out his hand, Joey took it and shook. Smiling in reply. “You must be pretty confused, huh? Ishizu told us you lost your memory. Is it true they found you- hey, ouch!”



The table moved slightly as Yugi cried out in pain, it seemed that he had been kicked under the table by the brown haired girl sitting across from him.



“I apologize on behalf of Yugi, he doesn’t know how to shut up sometimes. My name is Anzu, pleased to meet you” She bowed her head.



“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I wish I could give you more details, but I’m afraid you probably know more about my situation than I do at the moment. My head still feels foggy.” Joey picked at his bread while looking downward, still feeling insecure about being shirtless.



“Oh, goody” Exclaimed Yugi, as the man in black from yesterday came out of the kitchen. Today however, he seemed to be wearing more casual clothes, and Joey also noted that his gun had been replaced with a frying pan full of eggs, which the man proceeded to share among the group.



“Thanks, Seto! You’re a doll.” Said Anzu, dipping a piece of her bread in the yoke.



“I aim to please, Anzu.” Seto smiled and cocked his head at Joey. “Have we introduced a new rule where we are allowed to eat half naked now?”



“I’m sorry Seto, the clothes he was wearing when you and Mako brought him back from Rarrogehna Site were dirty and I had to wash them. They should be dry by now, I’ll give them back to him after breakfast.”



Joey felt even more embarrassed about being the only person their not fully dressed, but a quick glace around the table made him realize that it was all just a playful joke.



“I know he looks scary, but he isn’t that bad really. We have a lot to thank him for.” Explained the boy at the far end of the table, who had remained oddly silent. His skin was so pale, Joey wondered if he was sickly but by whiteness of his hair he figured it more probable he was albino.

Yugi, Anzu, Ishizu and the blue haired man all nodded in unison at the pale boys statement. Once breakfast was over the pale boy cleared away the dishes with Yugi, and Ishizu led him into another room beyond the dining hall. Joey noticed that this building looked like it had once been owned by a very rich person, but that most of the valuables were gone, leaving the large rooms practically empty. It was almost haunting.



Ishizu explained that she was going to fetch his clothes for him, while she did that, Joey walked up to the first window he had seen since he came here. However, it had bars on the inside, and the outside was all boarded up, which served to only pique his curiosity even more.





“Okay, change into these, leave the pair of jeans I let you borrow by the door, I’ll wash them later.” She pushed the bundle of clothes into his arms and left in what seemed to be a hurry. As he changed into his clothes he studied them closely. Trying to find clues in them that might trigger his memory. However he had no luck their either, his plain blue T-shirt had no identifiable hint of his identity, not even a brand name. His jeans were a darker shade of blue, but still held no brand name. Not that he would remember a brand anyway.



The door Ishizu left through opened again and the blue haired man walked through, with an obviously upset Anzu behind her. He figured this was not the moment to be hanging around and decided to duck into a nearby hallway and try and blend in.



“Mako, please. Please don’t go out there. Not after what happened with Marik. If the same thing happened to you…I…I don’t think I could go on any longer.” Tea covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hide the fact her lip was trembling.



The blue haired man closed his eyes and pulled her close to his chest, “Anzu…I have to. If not to protect you, then to protect all of us. I have to go back to Rarrogehna, Marik might still be alive. Someone needs to rescue him.”



“Please come back…” Anzu whispered, though it echoed in the empty room.



“I will. I promise.” Said Mako as he walked towards a broom closet and pulled out a strange looking mechanical spear and what seemed to be a deck of cards. “I love you, Anzu.” He said as he opened the large double doors in the front of the room.



Outside, to Joeys horror, was a sky tainted a bloody red. Streets were barren and cars left to rot. There was hardly a single leaf on any trees he could see. It was a wasteland. Once Mako stepped out, he never looked back. Anzu closed the doors.



A/N: As I said, if one person wants me to continue this, I will. It makes it worth it, no matter what. This chapter starts introducing a couple of themes, and points that I will be coming back to in a later chapter to explore more thoroughly and will end up being a large focus of the main plot. Thank you for leaving a comment, and I hope I receive more in the future! Also, thanks for noticing any spelling errors, I suck at proof reading my own stuff.