Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho ❯ Master of Blue Eyes White Dragons ( Chapter 9 )

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

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thank you for those who reviewed Chapter Eight and please review this one, too! Remember, actions speak louder than words I can't hear!

WARNINGS: Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho is rated PG13 for non-explicit sexual content and language. Plus some really dumb stuff.

"You slept well last night." Cassiel didn't respond, only folded his hands, stared at the food before him and waited for Aaron to continue. "Did your newfound serenity have anything to do with the lady dragon, by any chance? The one you spoke to for several hours yesterday?"
It was just the right spot. "You know perfectly well it did."
Aaron folded his arms and smiled at his victory. "Ah. I see. It got lonely, didn't it?"
"Shut up."
"If you broke me into a thousand pieces and threw those pieces to the wind, little brother, I would not shut up. If you locked me in a chamber with a rampant Tormentor, I would not shut up. If you took my soul and-"
"That's enough!"
Cassiel's reaction was indeed enough; Aaron was silent for a full minute. "Tell me again, why are we doing this?"
Cassiel didn't have an answer to that one.
"Really, why are we doing this? Why don't we just go, who cares about him?"

"He commanded the Tormentor to attack. And that was it."
"That must have been awful. But if he did such a thing to you… why didn't you leave?" He regretted the question the moment he asked it- he wasn't a person who had the right to ask.
Chihiro obviously knew this as well. She lifted an eyebrow. "I'll answer that after you answer me this. When he did that to you, defiled your card just to win, made sure no honest Master could ever command you- even worse than what Master did to Jewel… why didn't you leave?"

"Cassiel? I know you're in there. I didn't see you leave."
Cassiel opened his eyes. "I'm all right."
Aaron lifted an eyebrow, unknowingly echoing Chihiro. But Aaron was his brother; a whole different spectrum of emotion came to mind when Cassiel thought of Chihiro. "So why don't we, then?"
"Well… I thought you won't go because I won't go."
"You arrogant idiot, do you think the gods kneel at your command?" Aaron sighed. "But you're right about that. About my not going, I mean. If I go when you don't, it looks stupid, it feels stupid. You have more reason to go than I have got.
"But what about you? Why don't you go so I can follow? Do you still think you owe something to him?" Aaron shook his head. "Anything there was, you paid it back a long time ago. He's the one who owes you."
"What could I have done to pay him back for anything?"
"Well… it works like this." Aaron held up his hands, one finger poking upright on each one. "Say, unlikely as that may be, you owed him something." A second finger on his left hand went up. "So you owe him that one thing. Then he did That to you-" The left hand became a fist. "That canceled out and then some. Now do you understand?"
"Yes," said Cassiel. He noted that he couldn't remember a time after Before when he had spoken with Aaron this way, as in discussions on magical theories. "I understand that's the way it's supposed to work. But it doesn't cancel right."
"It cancels right. It just doesn't look like it cancels right because whatever he did to you it worked at least halfway. I know you know it cancels right. Don't you know?" A reluctant nod from Cassiel. "But you don't want it to cancel right, because he made you think you'll always owe him something. And what do you owe him?"
"… I don't know."
"And I don't think," said Aaron, "you ever knew. Because it never was, therefore you wouldn't know." He sighed again, smiled and leaned back, putting his hands behind his head, their demonstration complete. "I think they have a new word for what I just did. I'll have to figure out what it is later."

"Morning, Yugi!"
Yugi nodded in reply. "Good morning, Téa!" Ailill had been standing next to him- on catching sight of Téa he made a disgusted face and quickly retreated into the Game Shop.
Téa stared at the closed door and blushed. "So, who's your new friend?"
"Him? Oh, that's Ailill. He's staying at my house."
"What happened to his?"
"Um… it got infested by killer bees."
"Killer bees?"
"Yeah. Or ants. Or was it termites?" Yugi laughed nervously. "Or maybe it was gypsy moth caterpillars?"
"Yeah right. Next…" Téa laughed. "… next you'll be saying his house got infested by Parasite Paracides!"
Ailill swung open the door and poked out his head. "Actually," he yelled, "it was infested by Shining Friendships!" With that he continued his retreat.
Téa blinked and continued. "And I don't think I've ever seen him at school…"
"Actually," said Yugi, "he's homeschooled."
Téa's eyes became large and sparkly. "Well, if all homeschooled kids look like that… wait a minute! He looks just like-"
Yugi decided to take a gamble that she was referring to Celtic Guardian and not, say, Pegasus or the garbage man. "That's because he is."
"Really?" Yugi nodded. "Well, I guess I can tell you-" Téa leaned close. "-Shining Friendship is living in my house!"

Dar had gone out early that morning and bought more fast food, Esper knew; the still-warm bags were on the counter when he woke up. Dar never claimed credit for it, but who else could have done such a thing? Who else would have?
His brothers had eagerly torn into the bags, being sure to save some for Esper himself. Esper considered insisting that they have it all themselves, but his stomach mutinied.
The mail had come, and with it an envelope containing a half-sheet of paper and some more money, in cash. Their father had been more or less on time this month. Esper counted the money and nodded. Precisely one hundred dollars. The all-time high was a hundred and fifty. The previous month, of course, he hadn't sent even one dollar.
The bathroom door opened and Dar stepped out, wearing the same jacket. He kept on walking right out the door, without bothering with a goodbye. Esper noted this (as long as there were no reports of bizarre murders, he had resolved to tolerate it) and then looked at the paper.

Hey, Zacky. Might be coming by for Christmas. Who knows, might even stay. Don't know if I'm quite ready yet.

It wasn't signed-they never were. But he knew. "Great, Dad," he muttered. "You're the one who smashes things and walks away and then comes back with a new thing more than a year later and think that's all that you need to do."

Haku sensed the difference the moment he entered the room.
He was seated at the table once again; Seto Kaiba seemed the same as he had always remembered, the Master he had obeyed without question. But he noticed the way he looked at him; it was the in same way he spoke to, say, Yugi Motou.
But then again, he had looked at him that way before, on the day of the Tormentor incident.
"We need to discuss something."
Ryuunosuke looked up from the plate (nearly untouched) and first at their Master, then at Haku, with wide anxious eyes. Haku had an urge to go over and tell him it would turn out fine just like always, but that would be a lie to tell him everything would be all right, and besides he just couldn't. He settled for a nod that could be interpreted in several ways, and Ryuunosuke smiled weakly in response before returning to the plate.
Seto Kaiba interpreted it quite a different way. "Come."

"Yo, Joey."
"Hey, Tristan."
They began walking toward their first-period class together. "So. How's Black doing?"
"Fine, I guess." Joey shrugged. "You'll have ta ask Yuge for details."
"So. Did ya do it yet?"
Joey blushed. "No!"
Tristan grinned. "Sorry, I thought with the PDA and all… Joey, lighten up, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Hey, if I were that way I'd probably think he was cute, too. Leave it to you to pick just the right card to kiss."
"Shut up, Tristan."
"You did kiss him! I saw you do it!"
"I said SHUT UP!"

Geoffrey Giltia took the phone and promptly nearly had his eardrums shattered by his cousin's shout. "GEOFFREY? ARE YOU THERE?"
"Oh, hello, Michael. And you don't need to shout so loud when you use it, you know."
"I apologize. Geoffrey… is it true you have been doing… that with Serpent Night Dragon?"
"… I'm going to kill Ken."
"You intend to do what?"
"First he copycats Dar wearing Helen's clothes- by accident, he claims- and now he says I-"
"You mean you didn't know he was saying that?"
"If you recall, he was whispering."
"Oh, yes, he was. I'm sorry I ever thought you would ever do that."
"Don't worry, Michael, I'm following your example. Saving up for the big day, you know."
"… I didn't mean that! What I meant was-"
"Oh, yes, that. I suppose now wouldn't be the best time to tell you…"
"Don't tell me you did do it with Serpent Night Dragon!"
"I did not have any erotic contact whatsoever with Serpent Night Dragon!" Geoffrey yelled, coloring. Then, holding one hand over the phone, "Shut it, Ken, or I swear I'll be sure to cast a spell on vinegar and baking soda when you're in the vicinity!" Back to the phone, "Sorry about that, Michael."
"What was it?"
"It involves Joey and Jade, for starters."
"… I believe I would rather not know."

Seto Kaiba chose the room containing Jane as the site for the discussion. While looking past mirror-image blue eyes at Jane's screen, Haku noted that a sound-recorder program had activated, but he managed to keep a poker face that would give his own Master a run for his money. "What is the topic of discussion, Master?"
"… are you happy here?"
Haku began to count things off on his human-form fingers. "The meals and rooms with which you provided us are excellent. The weather is fair. We have not been humiliated, physically harmed, or subjected to other detrimental influences. And you have not wished for Obelisk the Tormentor. Logically speaking, yes, I am happy."

"Good." Seto began to walk back and forth, maintaining eye contact. "The topic of discussion is the loyalty of the other monsters. Particularly that of Lord of Dragons and your sister."
"I apologize, Master, but with all due respect, if you wished to test their loyalty, then perhaps you should speak to them instead of myself?"
Seto stopped his pacing and instead began walking in Haku's direction, angry fire starting to catch in the debris of his mind. Haku did not start walking backward in response, simply stood his ground, and that somehow made Seto even angrier.
He continued to walk until they were face to face, until he was looking directly into blue eyes which mirrored his own in their darkest part. "Have they ever made negative remarks concerning myself? Have they ever questioned my authority? Have they ever done anything against me?"
"Master, correct me if I'm wrong," said Haku, acid dripping from every syllable, "but according to my knowledge, you were the one who made the decision to set us against you that time. You can hardly fault my older sister and Ryuunosuke for that incident."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Seto snarled. He knew he was losing his advantageous cool; that knowledge made him lose even more of it. "You don't know anything! You don't like what I do? Then tell me a better way!"
Silence. Haku looked away; the way he did it, it was not a coward's gesture. It was like the Judeo-Christian God passing judgment on a sinner and finding him unworthy of heaven. "Chihiro told me what that Pegasus freak disguised as a being worthy of being called Master said before he played the Jar on her. Surely you didn't believe him, Master."
But when will you learn that the same loyalty is not returned by the Blue Eyes?
"Now it seems I have reason to."
"Don't stand there," said Haku, "with Obelisk the Tormentor in your hand just waiting to be wished out, and accuse me of being disloyal. I promised my loyalty, not that I would bend over backwards and break myself in two just to satisfy a suspicious mind."
Seto looked down at his right hand, which had been fishing through his deck with him being only slightly aware of it. Indeed, he was holding Obelisk.
"So go on," said Haku, "be a Master and make the wish."

Malik Ishtar frowned as the elevator reached the twenty-first floor and the doors slid open.
He'd been meaning to go wipe any evidence of the Rare Hunters from Arkana's apartment for ever so long, but somehow he kept procrastinating. There was so much to do- Rare Hunters to be sent out (not all of them to Domino-he had interests elsewhere as well). Hospital bills to have payment arranged for from when he had lost his concentration and one of the Hunters he sent after Yugi Motou collapsed and hit his head (Malik had considered discarding that one, but he still had the God Card). Newly acquired cards to sort through and deck (he had tried having them do it themselves, but they sometimes-no, frequently- made mistakes, such as considering Change of Heart a common card). On top of that, the mundane affairs of electric bills and grocery shopping. After all, he couldn't possibly use the Millennium Rod on every person working in the electric company and still have some energy left over for the Hunters, now could he?
Well, he thought as he put his hand on the doorknob, better late than never.
He had never considered that the door would be locked. He let loose a string of curses (he was somewhat stunned by how many he knew- he even had stories to go with the more exotic ones), then remembered the spare key.
A good guardian always has a spare key.
He grinned and began to fish around in his pockets.

He knew it was called blood. Humans' first words tended to be things like "Mother" and "Father." His first word was blood.
He looked down and there was blood on human hands, on human clothes several sizes too large. He knew this was not his blood. It belonged to the body lying before him; blood still pooled around it.
He was on his knees, the hands on the hilt of a sword and just starting to tug it out from the sheath still attached to the body. Another sword lay nearby, stained with blood not yet dry, with gems of the same color glittering in the hilt. At last it slid out, and then he stood (the sword was the same length as more of his height than he thought should be accurate) and realized he had no idea what he had intended to do with it.
Movement teased in the corner of his eye. He whirled and saw what was quickly labeled in his mind as "child," ten or eleven. Red hair and green eyes.
"Welcome. You are," said the child, "one of us, one of the blood."
One of the blood?" The voice was higher than he thought it should be; it sounded much like that of the child.
"You are born from all the bits of goodness left in a human unworthy of living. I am pleased to meet you. I am certain my family, the DelaSangre family, will accept you." The child walked toward him. "My name is Job. And you are Dar."
"Dar?"
"You must have a name." Job looked at the sword. "It means 'pearl' in the same words my name came from. At least I think it does."
"Pearl?"
"Let's get these things back home and I'll explain. And I think there's a few pearls in the treasure room. Do you want to see them?"

And did anyone take any notice of me during all this? Did any of those dragons care about the rightful occupant of this body? No!
Shut up, Dar thought as he walked over to a boat to inquire about rides. Just shut up.

Aaron spun around the moment the door unlocked, grabbing his staff and holding it at the ready.

Malik blinked; that was his only action for several seconds. His voice appeared to have turned traitor and fled.
If he wasn't mistaken there was someone who definitely wasn't Arkana pointing a staff that looked remarkably like that of a Dark Magician right at him. This person, in fact, reminded Malik of Arkana's Dark Magician. The same wild silver hair, the same blue eyes, and the same skin of around the same shade as his and his sister's, the shade everywhere in Egypt but near nowhere here.
The difference was, in the hologram Arkana's Dark Magician had always been smirking. If this expression counted as smiling the world might as well be a cube and a Magician of Faith have the strength of a God Card.
Not to mention that to the best of Malik's knowledge, no Dark Magician had ever appeared wearing a red sweatshirt and khaki drawstring-ankled pants.
Someone screamed from the bedroom. It was a familiar scream.
Malik found where his voice hid and forced it back in its proper place. "Who are you?"
The staff was now pointing at him even more directly. "My name is Aaron. I think a better question would be who are you?"
A desperate voice from the bedroom rose above the extended scream (Doesn't he have to breathe? Malik thought); this one was completely unfamiliar. "Master, please, stop it…"
Aaron whirled, letting out several strings of curses which left Malik once again reduced to blinking, and ran for the bedroom. "You stop whatever you're doing to Cassiel this time or else I'll-"
Malik blinked again, then began to follow.

"Hello, you are speaking to Kaiba Corporation Artificial Intelligence Module Alpha-Jane-0001. Do you have an appointment?"
Dar shook his head, thinking of the people he had left unconscious on the boat when they had gotten too insistent that he come with them, to their so-called Master Merrick. Then he realized what he was speaking to. "No. I would like to speak to the Battle City Tournament Commissioner, please."
"… I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba is currently unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?"
"…Actually, could I get an appointment?"
"I suppose. Please state your name."
"Dar DelaSangre."
"Please state the purpose of your visit."
"I want to see if someone could get re-qualified for Battle City."
"I'm sorry, we don't issue locator cards."
"No, I mean his opponent cheated, and I would like to get him back in the tournament if it's at all possible. You see, in all fairness he should still be in there. The tournament, I mean."
"Ah, I see. Could you please state the name of the duelist whom you represent?"
"Rex Raptor."
"All right then. What time would be convenient for you?"
"Just about any time, I guess…"

"Cassiel, you shouldn't do that. You gave me a scare."
"And you're actually admitting to it?"
"The way you talked I thought he was-"
"He wasn't! He wasn't starting to do That, either! Now, are you happy?"
Right then they became aware of Malik's presence and both turned to face him.
By Ra, he was getting sick of blinking. "How is it that you both- I mean-"
"We're brothers," said Aaron. "If we didn't have a resemblance the integrity of our parents would be called into question. Now answer me!"
"Um…" He ran through his mind for an appropriate pseudonym and grabbed the first one he came across, the one he usually used to sign things when he didn't make one of the Hunters do it. "Terrence Merrick."
"No, it's not."
Aaron turned to stare at his companion, who continued, voice shaking. "Actually, I think your given name is Malik and you lead the Rare Hunters. Correct?"
Malik grabbed his Rod and tried to convince himself to use it. After all, his cover was truly blown beyond repair. But somehow he felt the Rod wouldn't be much help at all against these two.
"Cassiel," said Aaron, "how could you know that?"
"Don't you remember?" Cassiel's eyes seemed to go away. "When Master wanted to demonstrate. I saw him watching. You saw him, too, remember?"
Malik put together this information and then shoved it into a corner of his mind when he saw the obvious conclusion. There was no way Arkana's Dark Magicians were really standing in front of him, not a hologram, not a semitransparent construct by the Millennium Ring. There was just no way.
Just no way…
He had acquired a cell phone in order to contact those he didn't feel like using the Rod on just yet, and before he had gone on his little mission he had grabbed it. Now it began to ring. Malik fumbled with the buttons until he located the proper one and pressed it, then lifting it to his ear as he had seen others do. "What?"
"I apologize, sir."
"First tell me what you're apologizing for, you idiot!"
"The crew of Lady of Fate was attacked at the Domino City harbor."
Lady of Fate- named in a moment of caprice, a semi-homage to his sister (though she hadn't much appreciated it). Indeed, it was one of the only properties not operated by Rod-controlled Hunters. "And you interrupted me to bring me this trivial piece of information?"
"Sir, the perpetrator demonstrated unusual abilities."
"Such as?"
"Sir, the entire crew was rendered unconscious. Several of them were actually knocked off the boat into the water, and witnesses report the perpetrator made no physical contact with them."
"Now that's more like it. Has there been any clue as to how the perpetrator got onto the boat?"
"… Evidence points to the theory that the crew allowed the perpetrator on at the Lantern City harbor, possibly in exchange for a cash payment."
Malik would have to seriously reevaluate his "employees" after he was done with his task at hand. "And did these witnesses report how he incapacitated them? Give me the details."
Details were given. Malik groaned, first putting a hand over the phone so as not to betray any sign of weakness to the person on the other end.
Apparently there was a way.

The same moment the bell rang Mokuba pressed keys on his mini-computer to establish a link with Jane. A two-dimensional rendering of a girl around Seto's age, wearing a sailor uniform and a wide grin, appeared on the downsized screen. The graphic appeared to speak; as it did a perfectly right-angled box materialized over the girl's head (No sound- the teachers wouldn't stand for that. And Seto abhorred little cartoon speech balloons) and text appeared in the box. "Hello, Mokuba. Someone's been asking after you."
Mokuba's school portable didn't have all the capabilities of Jane's full technological array in the Kaiba mansion. He had to press keys to reply, instead of just opening his mouth. "Please display," he typed.
"An three-thirty appointment has been arranged for you with a Mr. Dar DelaSangre. He claims a wrongful disqualification from Battle City on behalf of Rex Raptor and wishes to discuss it with the Tournament Commissioner. Also, and you have one message (A) from Chihiro Snow and one message (B) from Ryuunosuke. Would you like to view them?"
"Please display A."
More text appeared.

Mokuba, Jane told me about your appointment. There's something you should know about Dar DelaSangre. He isn't human exactly. He's actually Rex Raptor's Serpent Night Dragon, and I'm sure you know what's on Serpent Night Dragon's card. If you make him angry, there's no telling what he could do. I doubt Master would be too pleased if his younger brother was harmed, so I'm giving you prior warning.

Mokuba blinked. Serpent Night Dragon's real too? This just gets weirder and weirder… oh well. Cross that bridge when you come to it.
I wonder what Lord of Dragons has got to say?
"Please display B," he typed.

After the incident, Ryuunosuke had waited just beside the door until he was certain as he could ever be that Master and Haku wouldn't be reentering for a while, and then he had run in to discover Jane had made an audio recording of the entire event.
Headphones were provided, and he made use of a set while reviewing the incident, just to make sure no stray sound would filter into the hall and call attention to himself. Then, with some help from Jane, he managed to send a message to Master's younger brother, containing the sound file.
Ryuunosuke wasn't quite sure how Mokuba Kaiba would react to it, but it just wasn't right that it should be a secret how Master spoke to people when Mokuba wasn't there to hear. Jane agreed.
Then, after Jane prompted him a few times, he returned to his other file and continued typing.

Then there's Haku. He's Chihiro's twin brother. Chihiro's older than him, and usually he agrees, but sometimes when he gets angry or annoyed or something he doesn't call her onee-san, he calls her imouto-san. She doesn't like that.
He's very… I don't know, devoted? After our Master tried out his new system (the one in between the arena and the Battle City disks), around the same time Sapphire started to change how he talked to Alexander Sang, Haku was trying to imitate Master. And that meant talking to Black Jade like he was even lower than me. Like he'd just stumbled into where we were while being an idiot and was never meant to duel at all. And Haku wasn't that way before.
You could tell he didn't really mean it as much as Master did but he was trying and he was changing bit by bit so he started to mean it. I guess in a way maybe I should thank Pegasus for interrupting it, otherwise… who knows how much he might have ended up meaning it.
Pegasus. In that duel Sapphire was summoned, but not by our Master. Chihiro ended up in a Jar. Haku was never summoned in that duel- before his card was drawn the Crush virus got loose and of course his numbers were above fifteen hundred. Damn that Pegasus, saying Saggi was the only one Master could play. My numbers are below fifteen hundred, too! But he didn't care about that. Because if Master had summoned me then Chihiro wouldn't have been stuck in the Jar anymore. It would have spoiled his fun.
No, actually, I won't thank him.