Reprise

Chapter 5: Rescue





Once Joey had walked past the gates to the house, he looked back to see what it looked from the outside. It was big, more of a mansion than a house, at least three stories tall, but looked just as abandoned as the buildings next to it, especially with the boarded up windows. He guessed it made sense to blend in with the surroundings, rather than having a visit from the Shadow-kin during the night. Across the street from the mansion was a park, there were trees, benches and even a duck pond, though it held no ducks and the trees bore no leaves or fruit. Cars were parked in driveways, or just abandoned on the street - from the looks of them, they were expensive, further compounding Joey's belief that once upon a time this was a nice place to live.



The air was fresh, and just a little cold, making Joey cross his arms to keep his fingers warm. Seto, who was taking the lead seemed unhampered by the chill in the air, though Yugi was keeping his hands in his pockets. Yugi had his sword strapped to his back, the handle just within reach should he wish to draw it, though Seto kept his strange looking gun in his hands at all times, his deck of cards were in a pouch attached to his belt. Seto’s gun also seemed to have one of the red crystals welded onto the barrel of the firearm.



“Hey, guys,” Said Joey, jogging slightly to bridge the distance between the three of them. “What exactly are those red things? Are they gems, or crystals, or what?” The question had been nagging Joey since he first saw them in Yugi’s atelier. Seto looked back and nodded at Yugi, who took it to mean that he should explain it to the new guy.



“Well,” began, Yugi, “The process is rather intricate and I don’t want to linger on the “how’s” too much, the “why’s” are far more important. These are Summoning Crystals, with some help from modern science, we use them as weapons to fight off the Shadow-kin. You see, while we can damage the Shadow-kin with traditional weapons, we can never kill them completely. They are able to heal from any mortal wound, given time. However, the Summoning Crystals inflict wounds that they cannot recover from, and also give us extra fire power in the form of these.”



Yugi reached into his pocket, producing a deck of cards, they looked identical to the ones he saw both Mako and Seto carrying. Yugi picked up the top card and passed it to Joey.



“Magical Hats?” Asked Joey, the cards face had a green background with a picture of four tophats on it. Yugi grinned and placed the card back in his deck, returning them to his pocket.



“It’s the kind of thing you just have to see to believe, I guess.” He turned back and ran a little to catch up with Seto, Joey followed, not fully understanding what he had just heard.



*****





After wandering for at least an hour, Joey had not heard a single sound other than the footsteps of his two partners. Sometimes the wind would blow through an empty alleyway causing Seto to stop and look around before continuing on. The cityscape only got more and more haunting the further into the center they traveled, there were large cracks in the roads, the cars had their windows smashed in and the tall buildings toward over them, looking more like abandoned prisons than homes and businesses now.



And just when Joey had become accustomed to the silence, he heard a sound in the distance.



“What was that?” Said Yugi, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword but not drawing it. Seto held his hand up for silence, and closed his eyes. Joey’s heart pounded and his eyes frantically darted around, looking for signs on movement.



“Oh…it’s them.” Said Seto, who sighed and lowered his gun back to his side. Yugi let go of the hilt of his blade and kicked a nearby stone, it bounced for a while before falling into one of the cracks on the road.



“Them, who?” Asked Joey, edging up close to Seto, though not too close so it would be noticeable that he was frightened.



“The Order…,” said Seto in an unemotional tone, “A bunch of religious nut-jobs who pray on peoples fears and get them to join their cult. They must be having a sermon today, they do that sometimes - it’s how they find their fresh meat. You best stay far away from them, you hear?” Seto flicked his blue eyes in Joey’s direction, Joey nodded in reply.



“Seto, maybe we should have a look, he might be there.” Said Yugi, his voice trembled a little as he spoke, his eyes were firmly fixed on the ground in front of him.



“No, Yugi. We don’t have time, and besides, he picked his path. We told him to come back if it ever got too much for him, and he didn’t, so please, let’s forget about it.” replied Seto, who took out the piece of paper in his pocket and read the co-ordinates again.



Joey figured it best not to pursue the matter any further, as an uncomfortable silence had fallen upon the trio. This continued for another couple of miles before Seto suddenly came to a halt and looked around. He thought for a while before pointing at a tall building that sat on the corner of a junction. It was made of red bricks and had flowerbeds outside the windows, though no flowers bloomed in them.



“She should be in there, I’ll take the lead, Yugi look after Joey.” Seto exchanged a look with Yugi, who nodded and patted Joey on the shoulder. Joey felt silly having a kid who didn’t look any older than fourteen as his guardian, though instinct dictated that Yugi was capable of far more than his appearance let on.



Once they got to the blue wooden doors, Seto looked back at them, nodded once and opened the door. As soon as the door swung open Seto aimed his gun with both hands, preparing to fire if necessary. Joey Could see the gun in greater detail now. It was similar to a shotgun, though much shorter in the barrel and completely white. It also had a more “modern” feel to it, like something out of science fiction, the trigger was light blue.



Stepping into the hallway quietly, they all looked around for signs of life. In the middle of the hallway was an ascending spiral staircase, at the end was a door that looked like it would lead to the basement. Seto leaned over the stairs' banister and looked up.



“Hello?” Seto’s voice echoed up the spiral staircase. A few seconds with no reply went by, before a girls panicked voice called back to them from the door at the end of the hall.



“Hello!? Are you here because of my message? Are you here to help me?” Said the girl, she sounded frightened.



Seto looked back at them wordlessly before walking towards the door. He rested his ear against the wooden frame and spoke through the cracks.



“Can you hear me? We are here to help, what is your name?”



“Oh thank, God!” cried the girl, she seemed to be talking through sobs, “I thought I was going to die down here. My names Rebecca. Please, I’m trapped, my legs are caught under a beam of wood, I can’t get up!”



“She sounds like she’s in a lot of pain, Seto. We should get down their and help her.” Said Joey. Yugi nodded though he didn’t say anything, Seto made no reaction at all except twisting the door handle. A cold draft came up from the basement and blew Seto’s hair a little.



“Please, come quickly. They might come back for me!” Rebecca’s voice carried through the complete darkness of the basement. Joey had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to see his own hand in front of his face if he were to go down there.



“I don’t like the look of this,” said Seto ominously, “Joey, switch on the torch that Yugi gave you and stand between us, try and aim it over my shoulder and light my way, please.” Joey fumbled for the torch and shakily brought it out of his back pocket and switched it on, standing behind Seto and aiming it over his shoulder.



Cobwebs littered the walls leading down to the basement, and the wooden staircase was missing a few steps, if you were to try and go down blind you would more than likely break your ankle.



“Please, hurry, the sun will be gone soon and they’ll come back for me!” cried Rebecca, Joey could hear the sound of rubble clattering to the ground below, this structure was not sound.



“We’re coming Rebecca, please, keep talking, we will find you by the sound of your voice.” Said Yugi, who placed a hand on Joey’s side, partly to keep his own balance and also to guide Joey gently down the staircase. As Rebecca talked about where she grew up, where she worked and what her hobbies were, Seto kept his gun as ready as ever as they neared the bottom. Joey could now make out where the stairs ended and the floor began, though the small spotlight the torch gave showed no indication of the place Rebecca was supposed to be trapped.



All was silent except for the sound of their breath, Seto was gripping his gun tighter as he stepped down onto the concrete floor of the basement, Yugi’s hand remained in place, until suddenly it tensed tightly at Joey’s side. At first Joey was unsure why, but then he realised that Rebecca had stopped talking and that an eerie stillness was in the air.



“Get back!” Cried Seto, but as the words came out a mass of flailing limbs had tackled Seto, making him fall backwards, also trapping Joey underneath his own weight, the impact of the fall made Joey drop his torch, which rolled away illuminating as it went numerous figures in the room that recoiled at the light. Seto struggled with the girl on top of him as Joey tried to wriggle his way free from under him.



Joey whimpered as he heard the footsteps of the others that were hiding in the basement coming closer, and when he got his leg free, he kicked as hard as he could above the place he knew Seto’s body to be. His foot must have made impact as he heard the girl who claimed to be called Rebecca crying out in pain and falling backwards.



“Run, now, go!!” cried Seto and he struggled to get back on his feet while various clutching hands tried to pull him under, Joey refused to abandon him and reached for Seto’s hand and held it tightly as the Shadow-kin tried to pull him away, and just when it looked like they would break Joey’s grip, he heard Yugi’s voice.



“Swords of Revealing Light!” Cried Yugi, and as he spoke those words, a red flash illuminated the room for a second, before it was replaced with a brilliant whiteness that radiated from the blade of his sword. The light found it’s way into every knook and cranny of the room, and the Shadow-kin recoiled in agony as the light bathed their skin.



Seto immediately ceased the moment Yugi had bought them and snatched up his gun quickly and ran back up the wooden staircase, still clutching Joey’s hand. Once they neared the top where Yugi was standing with his luminous sword, they ducked under his arm and bolted through the door. Yugi when he was sure the two were safe turned and ran towards the door himself as fast as he could, as his weapons light was quickly evaporating.



The Shadow-kin took this final chance to give chase, with an almost inhuman speed they reached for Yugi’s clothes. As soon Yugi had made it past the frame, Seto slammed the door closed.



"Quick! Get into the sun!" He yelled.



A/N: Ooooo, action sequence. This is my first action sequence and I would love to hear feedback on it. Do you feel you knew what was going on during it? Did I build up an atmosphere, was their suspense? And as always, thank you for the AMAZING feedback you have been giving. I’m truly flattered, and as always, I’ll write this for you guys as long as you want it, my gift to you.



Also, I think this chapter proves Seto is more than just a pretty face and a dab hand in the kitchen, eh? ;D