Goodbye Domino City (Part 2)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)

The devastation was accumulating. The buildings were falling like cards, screams were all over the place, and bodies started to stack up. The injured that were pinned, and others that were dead.

"Get it off, get it off, get it off," a woman screamed with a dead man touching her, while her own wounds would be doing her in soon too.

Everyone was dying. Shizuka didn't scream or yell. She knew that something was going on, but she did as he said, ignoring all the sounds and just running.

"Easy, watch it!" Kaiba pulled her faster to the side as a semi came careening at them from the street they were crossing. "Don't think, run!" Their adrenaline kept pushing them. His goal was to get to Mokuba. Nothing else.

He jumped over a body, it was the easiest way through the crumbling. Shizuka had still been following his lead. Their bodies were running at full speed to escape the danger. It's like every residence felt it had to crumble beneath their feet like dominoes. ///Seto: Mokuba.///

The path ahead was already crumbled. There would be thousands trapped in the rubble.

"Kaiba!"

Kaiba looked back toward Shizuka, watching her sink in the sand. The rubble was turning itself into sand. Like quick sand, burying the body parts he could see. ///Seto: We'll drown in sand if we don't do something./// He looked around, further in the distance.

"Call it," Shizuka said. "It can see great distances. I can see what it sees."

"You know that you're going to see a world dying with death all around." He gave her a subtle warning, but he didn't stop the summoning. "I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" He called it. As it arrived, he watched her losing it slightly. Natural considering their environment, but she also knew there wasn't much time.

Shizuka pointed to the North. "That way!"

That wasn't the way Mokuba had been. "Mokuba's not that way."

She tried again. She shook her head, crying but trying not to be loud as she made the same pained direction of North.

"Return to Shizuka, Blue-Eyes White Dragon." He pulled her out of the sand that was starting to rise on them. All of the rubble being converted to sand.

He moved forward with her, running as much as he could, but the sand slowed each of them down. "We can do this!" Kaiba assured her. "Just keep it together, we aren't dying here. We're better than that." ///Seto: Mokuba's strong. He can survive this. I know he can. They had a bomb shelter at home, he'd move into there if he got out in time.///

He could hear the pains from Shizuka now, she would be able to see a short time after the summoning, and right now, the site's were terrible. They were crossing a man screaming who had a stop sign shoved in his- "Keep going. We'll survive."

"We'll. Survive." She tried to repeat after him, trying to instill some bravery in the face of what was happening.

"No, you just don't repeat it." He pulled her up more. "You believe it! We are not going to die. I won't let myself go. I choose when I visit the afterlife," he yelled, pulling her along more. They were in a natural trench area, and with the shifting rubble and sands, it was worse. "I choose, and it's not now!"

"We'll survive." She said it more strongly. "We'll survive, we'll survive, we'll survive!" Her fingernails were trying to dig into the sand and rubble. They were almost past the harder part. Almost to road that hadn't crumbled.

He pulled her up further once more. He was up, and she was almost up. When she came up, she reached for him. Natural reaction. His view though.

Most of the area was becoming a giant pit of quicksand. What should have been a fairly simple climb up a small hill made them feel like they were looking down from a mountain. They could see pockets of quick sands, with pockets of high areas, like they were now at. Even if Mokuba took precautions and went into the bunker? Everything was shifting sands now. It would shift down and he'd just be lost. Never to return. ///Seto: Little Brother. I don't know how, but you have to survive this.///

"Jounouchi." Her voice was as dry as the sand around them. "Big Brother."

Yuugi. Pharaoh. Everyone out there. Only those close to a decent spot would have . . .

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"Maiiiiiiiiiiii! Shizukaaaaa!"

Atem stood, looking down. Yuugi and Anzu did the same thing. They had been in an area of safety in the middle of their driving. They had no idea what was going on, but they started to hear screams. Jounouchi had driven them out toward the screams, and when he stopped.

It felt like he stopped at the edge of the world. Streets. Buildings. Everything. It was just . . . gone. There were people that were trying to get out, screaming for help, but they were so far down, and the sand seemed to hold onto them. To even try to go after them, would be suicide.

"Maiiiiii!" Jounouchi yelled out again. "They gotta be out there somewhere. Oh? Honda?!"

"Don't!" Yuugi tried to hold Jounouchi from going down. "It's death down there, Jounouchi! Maybe Kaiba's was okay too."

"Look at that shit out there!" Jounouchi struggled against him, but Atem pulled his weight to make him stop too.

"Mai had dreams of this, Jounouchi," Atem yelled, trying to make him come to his senses. "Chances are she did because she will be okay. That means everyone at Kaiba's should be okay. If you go down there, you won't be. We'll get to them."

"But Honda!"

Yuugi couldn't say anything for that one. No one could.

"Oh . . . I can't . . ." Anzu shook her head. "I can't, I just-!" She started to scream, having trouble coming to terms with what she saw too.

Yuugi seemed to be trying to look out in different directions. "This area's fine. Why is it fine and the rest sunk into sand? What is this, Atem? Who could do this? What monster could even . . ."

No one. "Only the gods themselves."

"I-Is it just Domino City?" Anzu was trying to keep it together, but she had already gone over on the other side of the car making ghastly sounds. No one could blame her. Their home. Their city. Atem was surprised Yuugi had kept it together.

There were several people they cared about out there, and there was a great chance they were trapped in the rubble and sands. The last of the shrieks started to die out.

"There's nothing the Dark Magician can do for this." Jounouchi held his head. "He said he can't help."

///Atem: No one had the power to help this. This makes no sense. If the gods wanted to end it all, why bring me back?///

"Move the other way." Jounouchi got back in the car. "There's gotta be something about this somewhere around here." They all got back in the car and started to drive toward the center area. The farther they went, the more beautiful it had been. Some people were reacting, while others hadn't left the area to see it. It was like nothing happened at all, like they just envisioned a terrible nightmare.

Right in the center of the area where large screens often ran, there was only a chair and a desk. Every screen.

They all stood there. Other people stood there. As more minutes passed, more people seemed to find their way to the center, congregating around, and asking if anyone knew anything.

"Will someone just say something already?" Jounouchi tried to keep his anger in check, but some still seeped out. There were more calls like him, and in another few minutes there were demands and shouts to know what was going on.

Finally, something appeared on the screens. Hanasake?

"Tomoyo Hanasake?" Yuugi couldn't believe it. "No. He wouldn't."

"Sorry, this is a very busy time for me right now," Hanasake said on the large screens. "However, I wouldn't let my area dwell in confusion forever. You can call me Hanasake." He held a gold scarab that was on a chain around his neck. "This is the reason this area still has power. It's responsible for your lives and your deaths. If we all get along peacefully, everything will be okay. First off, yes. This isn't a dream. Domino City no longer exists. I don't have a name for this area yet. As the new dynasty gets established, it will get a name."

"New dynasty?" Jounouchi asked, along with more people. Questions and shoutings were coming left and right. As sand erupted from the ground in front of them, people quieted down again.

"Hey! Be grateful mortals, 60% of Domino City is gone," he said on the screens. "Bless the fact you survived."

///Yuugi: Mortals. He said mortals. I knew it./// Yuugi took a deep breath.

///Atem: I know, Other Me./// That was not the sweet Tomoyo Hanasake they once knew. He had been possessed by something.

"Even though you will find your electronics still work, you also won't find help from other places." He shrugged. "The rest of the world is just like our area."

That statement made everyone go mad.

"I wish Satiah had come. I should have made her come." Anzu covered her face. "We should have picked up . . ."

"Mai dreamed of the future. Mai must be there. She was with Mokuba and Satiah." Yuugi reiterated what Atem had said. "At the very least, we know they are okay. Honda, he's always been able to take care of himself too. Keep the faith, Anzu."

A new picture showed up on the screens. A map of Domino City.

"This area." Hanasake's voice came over the map and he was using an arrow button to point out places. "This is the area you are in. You're lucky, I picked the same 20% area. That means you'll still have a nice place to visit to remind you of the old times, before you adapt to the new. Kaiba Corp as you can see still exists so people can play games in this tough time. Restaurants. Any general entertainment that was in this area, it will still run. Supplies will still come. For now." He gestured to another part. "This all divided up area in Domino City isn't run by me. Once the sands settle down again, you will be able to walk across all of the landscape. Now, I am sure you have more questions like housing, but I have to get going. The leader of us all beckons. I will be back later."

All the screens shut off. People were starting to try and head count, to see how many were there.