Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do Duel Monsters Dream of Cardboard Sheep? ❯ Escape to Reality ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic takes place immediately after Seto Kaiba duels Pegasus and gets his soul stuck in a card. If anyone wants, I can put up a key of which monster is under which name, but please don't ask until you read Chapter One. Ailill decided that his Master hated him the day they heard the screams.
They had all heard the scream. Screams were commonplace in this, the place where the screams suppressed in the mortal realm were given form. It had been unfamiliar to all of them, a long vibrating child's cry that made Ailill think of birds.
Birds- he wasn't quite sure how he knew of birds in this place. The only birds he knew of here were Niwatori, which he had only heard of from some of the more traveled among their little group, and perhaps the Harpies counted as birds in a way- then again if the Harpy sisters counted as birds so did Celestina. But he knew about them, and that was how he came to connect that cry with those birds he had never seen. But he was certain those cries did not contain words as did this voice, which, he was certain, was not one of them-
(oh no big brother i'm sorry why does this have to happen oh seto why does that jerk have to do this oh seto please HELP ME!!!!)
And then that cry was silenced as the unfortunate soul fell away to someplace beyond their prisons.
They had speculated about it for a while. Aoibheann and Michael, being Aoibheann and Michael, had cut it off just when it was getting interesting. Then again, perhaps it was not exactly them that had done it, annoying as Ailill thought they were. Perhaps it had been cut short because Master had begun a duel.

There were only routine if agonizing screams for a time after that. Once Ailill noted a shout of pleasure from Gabriel-
(Master is right! A magician never reveals his secrets!)
But shortly after this cry, ironically enough, the real screams began. One of the most pained, Ailill noted, was Michael's-
(OH NO IT WAS A TRAP THAT FOOL CLOWN WAS TOO WEAK I SHOULD HAVE SEEN OH MASTER I HAVE FAILED YOU THE VIRUS THE VIRUS-)
And Ailill almost thought he could hear (impossible in here he knew, but he could) the door to Michael's prison slamming after he tumbled inside. Any distorted pleasure he might have gained from this was quickly gone when he heard Gabriel's own cry-
(Oh no Master I'm sorry I failed Master please oh please WIN)
And then he heard Gabriel's kythe-
(I have failed Master. I have failed Master.)
Morgan was not included in this cluster that was in the mortal realm known as a deck, but she could reach out across the gap that separated decks, and Ailill always enjoyed feeling her kythe, being able to trust her with his own kythe. The Magician of Faith was well named indeed.
(No, Gabriel, you didn't fail him. You did the best you could ha' done, Gabriel. You obeyed him, and 'tisn't your fault it happened)
Ailill would have continued to listen; perhaps, he thought, if he could just listen to what she said to Gabriel he would feel somewhat redeemed for the fact that if there had ever been a duel he had won, he could not recall.
Then he was being summoned.
Ailill had become somewhat used to the sensation his mind experienced of being dragged from a prison into sudden blinding light. But he had never quite got used to the feeling of… well, feeling, of realizing that the blinding light was no longer just in his mind, identified as a blinding light from the rags of memory he treasured, but in the eyes granted him for as long as he managed to keep from being destroyed.
Just dueling was no guarantee of sight. Once a short while ago he had been called upon to duel, and it was night. He remembered the pain of standing there and a different dark wrapping around him, dragging him towards a monster waiting deeper in that dark, ready to send him back to the original dark. He had slashed at it- as if dark could be killed with a sword! - and struggled to keep from being pulled in deeper. He remembered the pain of the dungeon worm's teeth biting into his limbs; he remembered he thrashed about like that Wall Shadow had done under the power of the Kunai Whip Chain. But it hadn't been any use. None of his efforts ever were of any use.
Ailill stood there and had barely assessed the situation before he was called on to attack. He ran forward, noticing the many copies of Amaguri (once surprised newcomer to a nearby deck Black Jade had called Kuriboh, who as far as they knew had had no other name, a Sweet Chestnut and the name had stuck) floating about. Normally he would have been fearful confronted with one Blue Eyes White Dragon, let alone three polymerized ones, but black and rotting they suddenly didn't seem as much of a threat.
He slashed at the center head and it came away quite easily; he was sure it belonged to Haku. Ailill landed back among the multiple Amaguri. He could feel an angry kythe back from the dark. It was Haku, of course, and he wasn't happy-
(I'll get you you damned excuse for a warrior you just wait I'll come back and I'll get you)
Ailill blocked out the kythe- it was easy once you learned- and watched as, true to Haku's pledge, the severed head reappeared, now white with blue eyes once again. But- why was Master's opponent standing at a place where all Ailill could see behind him was sky the color of Aoibheann's skin?
Ailill knew exactly what to do. Chihiro and Sapphire had rotted down to strength quite below his own. All he had to do was slice Chihiro or Sapphire, it didn't matter which, and the battle would be won in one move.
Now if Master would just ignore the suicide threats of his opponent and GIVE THE COMMAND…
"Celtic Guardian, ATTACK!"
Ailill ran straight for the rotting wreck that once was the Ultimate Dragon. As he did he could hear Chihiro's resigned kythe. He liked Chihiro; she was the most like Jewel of the other three Blue Eyes. Unlike their two brothers, she was somewhat sane.
(Oh well, I suppose Master knew his gambit was risky…)
The memory of Jewel was only slightly faded, and Ailill took a grim enjoyment in imagining his killer falling to a deserved death. Yes, killer, for with no card to anchor him to the rest of the deck, where was Jewel to go? He did not even have his prison now, not even a place from where he could kythe. And it was all because of Master's opponent.
The opportunity was denied him, as it always was.
"No! Yugi, don't do this!"
Ailill could ignore that voice; it reminded him of Morgan, in a way, but Morgan wanted more than anything to duel. "If only I could duel," she would say. This, he knew, was Morgan's Master, though he couldn't help but think that Morgan deserved a Master better than this one who had never given Morgan an opportunity to duel as she so wanted, even though Morgan was supposedly her master's favorite.
Of course Morgan would hurt. Being the Magician of Faith did not make her immune to hurt; in fact, sensitive as she was, any pain from anyone on the field was felt by her. But perhaps, like Black Jade and Michael, she wouldn't care about the pain; perhaps she thought it a fair price for being able to duel like all the others, for having eyes.
More than once, after the pain had been particularly bad, Ailill had contemplated the benefits of switching places with her.
But this was not Morgan beseeching him to stop and let the vengeful Haku incinerate him. When that happened, he knew, the numbers would go down and then Master would have no numbers left. Master would lose and the killer of Jewel would not pay for his crime.
Morgan, too, had cared about Jewel. Morgan understood that one could not lose a duel as important as this once just because of such a blatant manipulation as Jewel's killer was doing right now. Morgan understood that Ailill wanted to win as much as she wanted to duel. Morgan understood all that.
An extremely irritated Ailill reflected as he neared his goal that perhaps Morgan should be the Master of her current Master. Morgan, after all, knew what had to be done.
"NO! STOP!"
And this time it was a voice he could not ignore, though he would have liked to do so.
He felt Chihiro reaching her mind out to his. Her kythe was full of disbelief, then a mix of disbelief and gratitude, and when he heard this-
(at least now Master will not die)
-Ailill wanted to scream what Michael called heresy so loud that they could hear it everywhere.
Instead he stood before the dragons, his sword dropped somewhere he didn't bother to look, eyes cast downward, trying to find great interest in his boots. He knew he didn't dare look up and see Haku's knowing smirk; he knew that Haku knew, and he was burning in humiliation even before Haku's attack struck him.
From the corner of his eye Ailill thought he could see the numbers going down, as he knew they would.

Ailill had grown used to the sensation of being yanked roughly back to his prison, of the pain slowly going away. This time, though, the pain did not go completely away. There was still psychic pain; the pain of knowing he had been this close to actually winning this time, but it had been taken away by none other than his own Master. Of course Morgan's Master had helped, but she didn't really count; he didn't have to listen to her. It was his own Master that Ailill had to obey.
If he had real eyes he would have shed enough tears to drown himself. As it was Ailill withdrew all but one kything line. He said nothing on this line, instead listened to Amaguri tell everyone how they had been this close to winning, but for Master's sudden ideals which, though they no doubt served him well in other aspects of Master's life, were unsuitable for dueling.
Morgan was the first to kythe to him. Gabriel followed soon after, and Ailill was grateful.
(Ailill, please, 'tisn't your fault the duel was lost. 'Tisn't your fault)
(Yes, Ailill, it was none of it your fault. You did not fail Master, Ailill. You obeyed)
(Gabriel's right, Ailill. You obeyed Master like you ought to have done. 'Tisn't your fault)
(That's the problem. If it's not my fault, if I obeyed, then who am I to blame?)
Silence along the kything lines. Morgan and Gabriel knew perfectly well who Ailill was to blame.

There were screams afterward, but they were the same old routine ones for a while. Morgan's Master dueled the Master of the Harpies and won without even touching Morgan's card. The only screams slightly unusual were those of Sapphire and Chihiro. Sapphire was surprisingly glad to be sent to the graveyard-
(yes yes yes yes yes Chihiro do it NOW I hate this body and I hate that Pegasus with that stupid eye of his get me out of here GET ME OUT OF HERE Chihiro can't you blast me any faster)
Chihiro's came only a short while later. It was not a cry of dying, but it hurt.
(I hate you Pegasus oh how I hate you you and all those cards you make for YOURSELF and of course you make them better than even Exodia don't you, you think you can do anything even take Master's little brother, you think you can use that damn Piper I hate you I hate you I hate you)
The screams had become so regular that after the one of Michael's "fool clown" faded away, nobody expected another one so soon.
But there was one more.
(Mokuba I failed I failed Mokuba I'm sorry please don't hate me I lost I lost damn that Pegasus who thinks he can do anything oh Mokuba I lost)
Ailill thought it was the same variety of the one they had heard earlier that day, the one who had cried out to someone called Seto. All of a sudden he realized he had heard that voice under different circumstances. He had heard it only a short while ago, and all of a sudden he was angry.
(serves you right, you killed Jewel)
He had no way of knowing whether this Seto person (if, Ailill thought, he could even be termed a person) had heard his angry kythe, but he felt slightly better. Just slightly.
It wasn't until the soul had fallen out of sight that he realized there were gaps.

It wasn't that hard to find the specific location of the gaps. Ailill simply concentrated, willing a kything line out into the mortal realm through the hologram generators to find the place Seto's soul had occupied. It was moving away quickly; for a moment he thought he could hear Master's voice as his kything line passed through a certain location in the gap.
And he was certain there was another one, perhaps two.
He threw out another kything line to Gabriel, who easily caught it.
(Gabriel do you feel the gaps look I'll show you) And he did.
(I see. I believe… the souls were taken away. The ones we heard this morning…)
(I think these gaps were where they used to be. Gabriel, could you slide someone into those gaps?)
(I suppose I could. Ailill, why are you showing me this?)
(Because I need to go there)
Ailill hadn't expected Gabriel to understand. Gabriel did not understand. Once they had been four, Ailill, Gabriel, Morgan, and Jewel. Ailill was the acknowledged troublemaker; Gabriel had always been the most passive. He never longed to fight like Morgan and Jewel; then again he was Master's favorite and unlike Morgan's Master, theirs played his favorites often. He never found any fault with anything Master did.
He was almost as bad as Aoibheann and Michael, except for the fact that he was Ailill's friend.
(Ailill, it is not safe there)
(This isn't safe either. Look, Gabriel, if something happens to your card- like what happened to Jewel's- what'll you do then?)
His mention of Jewel had evidently hit its target. He continued-
(And if that happens we'll be just like Jewel, we'll be in defense mode with no traps, can't do anything about what they do to us)
(Master will take care of us)
(He will take care of us like the Master before took care of Jewel)
(Ailill, don't say such things!)
That was from Gabriel and Aoibheann both. He went to his main point.
(Besides, he hates me)
Stunned silence. Just as Aoibheann was about to fill the kything line with words of reproach, he went on.
(Think of it, Gabriel. Have you ever remembered a time when I won a duel?)
Then Morgan joined in-
(None of it be your fault, Ailill, 'tisn't your Master's either, that your numbers are lower'n so many other's)
(That's not it. Like Amaguri said, we were going to win. I was right about to win, and he stopped me. He doesn't want me to win. He hates me and he only cares because the numbers go down)
(Ailill, how dare you denounce Master!)
(Shut up, Michael. Ailill's right. Just shut up)
Ailill smiled along the kything line- (Gabriel, please, just put me into one of those. He doesn't need me anyway)
(He could need you)
The argument was growing weaker.
(Ailill, he does need you. We're to serve Master and…)
(Gabriel, do you remember our first seeing duel?)
Pause. Then-
(Yes. Yes, I remember. The Faceless Mage. I'll send myself to the graveyard forever if I have to fight that Faceless Mage again)
Ailill shared his sentiments. He still remembered the sheer agony of being torn apart by his own friend's Dark Magic Attack.
(Please, Gabriel, just help me)
(I shall do more than that. I will come with you)
Ailill was about to protest when-
(I must go, since I am the spellcaster)
Aoibheann was indignant. (But Gabriel, how could you! Master needs you most of all!)
(I need to go too if this spell is to work)
(But…) She obviously had no argument left.
(Aoibheann, Master could use you too. He just needs the Sword and Shield and you could fight Black Jade)
(I could not. His numbers are larger than mine)
(But it would be close, Aoibheann. I need to go)
Morgan kythed again- (What am I to do?)
(I will return for you, Morgan, if we determine it is safe. There are only a few gaps)
(All right)
She obviously did not sound convinced. Ailill had to add something-
(And when we get there, Morgan, I'll get your Master to play you if that's what you want)
(That would be wonderful, Ailill)

The spell took a long time to develop, and Ailill loved every moment of being infused into the gap, every moment of feeling more and more real. Which was part of the reason it was such a surprise when he opened dark blue eyes. He pulled some dark unkempt hair before those eyes, took note of the orange and white striped sleeve and frowned.
Apparently, Gabriel had been too accurate in targeting the soulless gaps. He was currently in the body of a child, who was currently chained to the wall.