Reprise

Chapter 6: La Vie En Rose





Once Joey got outside, he couldn’t stop running even though he was safe in the light. He wanted to get as far away from that basement as possible, Seto and Yugi seemed to have the same idea, but as they were turning a corner, Yugi collapsed to his knees and started breathing heavily.



“Can’t…keep…running.” He said between deep intakes of air. Seto had stopped running as well and went back to Yugi and started rubbing his back while he tried to recover. Joey jogged up to them and sat down on the sidewalk, his head resting in his hands.



“Are you okay, Yugi?” Asked Joey, Yugi just nodded in reply, he looked like he was going to fall asleep at any moment, though he was clearly fighting it.



“He’s just exhausted, the Summoning Crystals are powered by our own energies, it leaves you a bit drained after using them.” Said Seto, who was wrapping his arm around Yugi’s waist while pulling the smaller boys arm around his neck, supporting him as he tried to get him to stand up. “Joey, if you could support the other side, please. We have to leave now if we are going to make it back home before the sun sets. “



Joey obliged and supported the smaller boy from the other side, together they carried him as they walked through the abandoned city. As the sun lowered closer to the horizon, the sky’s usual deep red started to lighten, making the city seem like it was bathed in a pink glow.



“That was scary,” Said Joey, his heart still pounding from the experience. “What happened with Yugi’s sword, it just started glowing all of a sudden, it was so bright.” Seto took a card that was still being held tightly in Yugi’s hand and passed it to Joey, the face was charred black in places, leaving it almost unrecognizable.



“That used to be Swords of Revealing Light.” Explained Seto, shifting his weight so he could support Yugi more comfortably, “The Summoning Crystals let us tap into the dormant powers that each card possess, letting us harness their energy for a one time use. After the cards energy is drained, it is useless. You can throw that one away.” Yugi made a whimpering noise and closed his eyes, he had passed out. They kept on walking.



“This is all so…unreal.” Said Joey, “Where did these cards come from?” Joey had so many questions, he wondered if he was annoying Seto, though he didn’t show it if he was.



“They used to be playing cards, for a game. It was very popular, but the origin of them came from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Their effects in real life are more practical than their effects in the game, I suppose they had to change them a little, in terms of making them into a card game.” Said Seto, his eyes locked on the path in front of him, occasionally looking at the position of the sun.



They walked in silence the rest of the way while Joey pondered Seto’s words. If this were true, he would need to ask Yugi when he wakes up to make him his own Crystal Weapon and cards, the thought of entering another Shadow-kin infested area armed with just a torch made his skin crawl.





*****



Once the reached the large wooden doors of the mansion, Joey rested his head against the surface, breathing heavily. No matter how small someone may be, once they become unconscious they may as well be made out of lead. Seto rapped on the door repeatedly.



“No secret knock?” Asked Joey, it had always seemed like a good idea when he saw it in spy movies.



“What’s the point? The Shadow-kin retain their memories.” As Seto replied, they heard a familiar dreamy voice coming from beyond the door.



“We aren’t here right now, can I take a message?” Asked Ryou. Seto sighed deeply, Joey wondered if this was Ryou’s idea of a joke. Seto licked his lips and thought for a while.



“Ryou, Yugi is here with us, and he brought you back a new book. He said you would like -” Seto was cut off when the door creaked upon and Ryou’s mess of white hair poked out of the mansion, looking around suspiciously.



“You lied.” Said Ryou, matter-of-factly, Seto grunted and pushed the door open further, picking up Yugi’s body and carrying him through the doors leading to the dining hall. Ryou stared at Joey for a while, making him feel a tad uncomfortable. When his stares seemed like they weren’t going to end any time soon, Joey decided it would be best to try and find the girls.



Walking into the kitchen he found Ishizu stirring a large pot on the stove, his stomach lurched, as if trying to reach for the soup of its own accord. Anzu was directly opposite her, slicing carrots on a chopping board.



“Oh!” Jumped Ishizu, “You are back! How did it go, did you rescue the girl?” She stopped stirring the pot and Anzu looked up from her carrots, glancing over Joey’s shoulder, as if looking for something. Joey could guess what she was hoping for.



“No…she was a Shadow-kin.” Said Joey, Ishizu gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “She wasn’t alone either, the basement was full of them! I thought we were goners but Yugi did something funny with his sword and bought us enough time to escape.”



“Is everyone okay?” Asked Anzu, sitting the knife she was holding down.



“Yeah, everyone’s fine. Yugi was pretty tired after doing that card trick, and I think Seto has taken him down into the medical room to rest. I’m sorry, Anzu, we didn’t see Mako.” Joey felt pretty bad, breaking the news to her. Her shoulders slumped slightly and gave a defeated smile.



“It’s okay, I’m sure he will be back soon.” She said, her tone betrayed her words. “Thanks for letting me know though, you’re a gem.” She gave a more sincere smile and went back to her chopping. Joey felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back. Seto was standing behind him, he looked exhausted.



“I’m going to go take a bath, Ishizu will you look after Yugi for me?” He said, yawning slightly.



“Of course, though don’t think you are going to bed without eating something first. Joey, could you stir the soup please? There ain’t nothing to it really.” Said Ishizu, dusting off her hands on the front of her shirt. Joey took over stirring duty while Seto went upstairs and Ishizu went into the basement to look after Yugi.



****



Everyone crowded around the dinner table as Joey ladled soup into everyone’s bowls. Anzu was breaking up bread and putting it on the saucers next to the bowls. At that moment, Joey could think of nothing else but the food in front of him, he was starved. Looking back on his day, he wondered how his brain hadn’t had a meltdown by now.



“Joey,” said Seto who was at the head of the table, dunking a piece of bread into the soup. “You should take a bath after dinner tonight, I have one in the bathroom next to my bedroom you can use. Though you won’t be able to use a lot of hot water.”



“Thanks, Seto. I appreciate it.” Joey smiled appreciatively and went back to his soup. Anzu was teasing Ryou by blowing the pages of his book while he tried to read and eat his soup, making the white-haired teen give her a glare so fierce, Joey wondered if it was safe to be in the same room. Anzu, however, just laughed and ruffled his hair. Ishizu ate mostly in silence, her mind seemed to be somewhere else.



“I’m going to take Yugi’s soup down to him and help him eat. Joey, you should take Seto’s offer for a bath while you can, the water won’t be warm for long. I’m sure Seto will let you borrow some clothes again.” With that she stood up and picked up a tray with soup on it and descended the staircase.



When Joey finished his soup, he stood up and asked Seto for directions to the bathroom.



“I’ll take you there, gimmie a sec.” Said Seto as he raised the bowl of soup to his lips and drank the remaining liquid at the bottom. He then stood up and indicated that Joey should follow him. As they climbed the stairs to the second floor, Joey asked a question that he had been meaning to ask since he first woke up.



“Seto, you were there soon after I first woke up, weren’t you?” Asked Joey, when Seto nodded in the affirmative Joey continued, “ What did you say to Ishizu when you took her out of the room? When she came back she was very upset, in fact, she still looks upset.” Joey hoped he wasn’t asking inappropriate questions.



“Ah, that. Well, since we know for sure now you aren’t a Shadow-kin, I guess I can tell you. Ishizu has a brother named Marik, the day we found you we were investigating suspicious activity at Rarrogehna Site. It was just Mako, Marik and myself that went along.” Seto stopped ascending the staircase and leaned against the banister. “Lots of things happened that I still haven’t fully made sense of yet, the entire place was aflame. Somehow though, we had gotten surrounded by the Shadow-kin. We heard someone scream from the opposite direction and we ran towards the sound, it came from a storage room. Mako and I made it into the storage room on time, but Marik was caught by the Shadow-kin. We found you laying on the floor, unconscious.”



Joey didn’t know what to say, it was clear from Seto’s expression that he felt very guilty about what happened that night. “Thanks,” Said Joey, “I mean, thanks for saving me. You could have just left me there, I could have been Shadow-kin for all you knew, but you still brought me back. I’m sure Mako will find Marik, don’t blame yourself.” Joey placed a hand on Seto’s shoulder, Seto closed his eyes and sighed.



“I hope so.” Seto patted Joey’s hand for a second, before continuing up the staircase. The hallway floors were decorated with a rich, red carpet. The doors were painted white and each had a little lamp hanging just outside. It reminded Joey of a hotel room, though not any particular one he could recall, in his current state.



Seto led him to one of the doors and opened it, inside was a four-poster bed and a sofa. There was a startling lack of any decorations, and the wallpaper seemed to be peeling off the walls. There were piles of books taking up a large space on the floor. It didn’t look like much, but at least it was clean.



“The bathroom is just through that door, I’ll leave some fresh clothes just outside the door.” Seto stretched as he spoke. “I’ll be going to bed now. Yugi will be sleeping in the medical room tonight, so you should sleep on the sofa here. I swear it’s more comfortable than it looks.” Joey nodded and smiled, the sofa actually looked more comfortable than that old mattress.



When Joey came out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed after a long soak that loosened his muscles and made him more drowsy, he spotted the clothes Seto had left for him beside the door. He sat the pair of black jeans to the side, and changed into the boxer briefs and T-shirt. Walking over to the sofa he noticed Seto had laid out a blanket and pillow for him. Glancing over at the bed he smiled as he noticed Seto snoring softly, hugging a pillow at his side.

A/N: I feel I should dedicate this chapter to Girlo, not only for giving my consistent reviews of each chapter, but also because I accidentally deleted the latest one. I got a notification saying I needed to correct my disclaimer, when I went back to delete the warning, I accidentally removed Girlo’s comment. I apologize whole-heartedly