Spirits, Boats, and Crackers (Part 3)

By the boats that had led to Duelist Kingdom

///Mai: You shove me one more time you asshole, you'll pay!/// Mai tried to keep her eyes closed. That scene. It hadn't involved her but it was where she witnessed Jounouchi almost dying because of Marik. It's where she had to slap him to make him regain his senses. The whole atmosphere of it, seemed to tear down her defenses. Reminded her of Marik and everything he did. Jounouchi.

She heard the next person call out to her. Someone she didn't know well, but she would have. As time went by. Slowly. Jounouchi would have told her. She might have rebelled. Then, they would have gotten closer. That future was disappearing just like everything else. ///Mai: Shizuka.///

"If you kill me and Mai, there is not a place you can hide from my brother!" Shizuka tried to be strong. Unlike Mai, they didn't bother covering her mouth. Just left her, defenseless, next to the edge of the boat. That seemed so much worse. Her legs were shaking, but she was holding her upper body up. Trying to be strong. "Are you going to fight my brother?" No one still answered.

Mai watched Anzu being pulled forward as well. She didn't scream out in protest. Instead she seemed curious and out of whack. ///Mai: Yuugi may not be vindictive, but if you kill Anzu, I doubt he'd have a problem pulling the trigger./// Why were they all there? As Shizuka said something comforting about her brother and Mai stared at the water, Anzu finally spoke.

"This is curious, this water. Look how different it is, and look at this? I am on a boat. Such a huge boat." Anzu's words. She looked up into the sky. "It's a very different world, yet the sky is still so blue."

Wait. The spirit? Was that Anzu's spirit taking over? ///Mai: At least Anzu won't have to be there at the end./// Mai felt tears starting to escape. ///Mai: I was just starting, just glimpsing over that huge mountain. I thought I saw something at the end. Instead, it's just an impenetrable wall./// The feeling of the insects crawling against her skin, devouring her while she was trapped came back. The pain of the duel, feeling it and unable to stop. ///Mai: Jounouchi.///

Mai heard a language she didn't understand as everyone gathered behind them. This was it. ///Mai: I would have been terrible at mothering anyhow. I was terrible at everything but cards. I'm sorry, Mana. The little girl I never knew. We're going to go together, Mana. Out into the sea of blue.///

Shizuka had stopped shouting. She was coming to terms with it all too.

///Mai: Jounouchi, I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark. For not taking your hand all those times you were offering more./// His solid, beautiful eyes with that friendly yet brutal expression came into view. ///Mai: Jounouchi.///

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"There they are," Kaiba shouted to his men. "When I say fire, fire!" These men deserved no honorable death. They weren't duelists, they were assholes trying to prevent reincarnation so that no magic came back. They were dishonorable enough to just pluck up three women to drown them because of theories.

He had set off with Mokuba right after Jounouchi called. While Mokuba was coming to terms with what Kaiba had said, and still wasn't happy about him being gone for so long again, he was more than willing to get on a chopper to help. "Get on the other side, the-"

Then, Kaiba saw something. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon had actually come. It's massive, frightening head and body was somehow holding the women in place like priceless treasures between it's tail and in it's mouth. It had picked up Shizuka and Mai.

"Seto!" Mokuba cried out. "Where did Anzu go?"

He didn't know. He watched Honda's car come careening up way too fast. Jounouchi, Honda and Yuugi all rushed out of the vehicle toward the exploding boat.

"Fuck me for 30 days straight," Honda yelled, "Shizuka's in the teeth of the Blue-Eyes?!"

"Mai! Shizuka!" Jounouchi yelled to the sky.

Kaiba watched. As soon as the dragon landed, it opened its mouth close to the ground to let go of Shizuka and lowered it's tail, allowing Mai Kujaku to leave. Then it aimed straight for the boat as it charged it's attack. "This feels very familiar." Oh. If only he could get access to all his memories. Pick and choose, that's what his brain insisted on doing all the time.

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"Shizuka? She's still out cold." Honda checked her out.

"Shizuka. Mai." Jounouchi said wearily as he held Mai. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm okay, Jounouchi." Yet, her voice was thick. She was not as okay as that statement meant.

///Atem: Yuugi!/// Once again, Atem tried to contact him. Shizuka and Mai were safe now, but Anzu was nowhere to be seen. Atem watched as Kaiba's chopper landed and Seto Kaiba approached with Mokuba running after him. "Where is Anzu?"

"Forget Anzu, where is Pharaoh?" Seto accused him. "This is ridiculous, I can't believe he messed up."

"I did not mess up," Atem corrected him. "I am here."

"What's going on?" Jounouchi half shouted, but he was mostly busy comforting Mai.

"But if you are here?" Kaiba looked toward the unconscious Shizuka. "You weren't reincarnated as Yuugi's lonely one night result. In other words, no one should be able to use monsters."

Atem watched Jounouchi move over with Mai to Shizuka. ///Atem: Yuugi. Monsters are being used in the world again./// Nothing. "We still need to find Anzu."

"She was here." Mai was starting to come out of it more. "She was right next to me and Shizuka, but she acted different. I think her spirit took over."

Kaiba came over to Shizuka with Honda. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon came out of her."

"Who cares?" Honda warned him. "Keep away."

"Her spirit, did it seem to change?" Atem asked Mai again. Trying to find the answers. "Shizuka, did she seem different?"

"Everyone's different when faced with death like this," Mai said. "I thought she was rational."

"The Blue-Eyes grabbed Mai Kujaku along with Shizuka Kawai. It wouldn't have blown up the boat and left Anzu Mazaki behind." Seto Kaiba was reasoning it out too as he felt his brother come nearer to him. "I'm staying from now on. Don't worry, Little Brother." He felt Mokuba hug him. The growing teenager he had become still missed him.

"Jounouchi," Atem declared. "You should tell your sister. You don't want to find yourself holding regrets again."

"Yeah. I will." Jounouchi looked over Mai one more time, assuming she was safe. "Shizuka?" He took her hand in his. "Hey, I've got some news about me and Mai. We're having a little girl."

Shizuka beamed. "Jounouchi!" She reached out to hug him. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Her name's Mana," Mai said from a short distance. Jounouchi pulled her closer to Shizuka. "I dreamed of her name, and at the end of it all, I kept calling her it. It felt right." She looked at Jounouchi. "It's kind of pretty? Mana Kujaku."

"Mana is a pretty name," Shizuka answered. "Thank you for telling me."

"Anyhow, what are we going to do about Anzu?" Honda changed the subject. "Are we agreeing she didn't blow up and they took her?"

"The Blue-Eyes would not mess up," Seto Kaiba scolded him.

"Seto's right, she was probably taken, but why? Why did they want all of them in the first place?" Mokuba questioned. "And where did the dragon come from?"

Jounouchi's phone started to go off. He answered it. "Okay, is she okay? Gotcha, on the way." He hung up. "Bakura's got Anzu."

"Bakura?" No.

"Ryou Bakura, Atem. He just phoned to come pick her up."

"What's she doing with Bakura?" Honda asked. "She was here, and now she's with Bakura?" He looked toward Mai. "You said she was here."

"She was here, I saw her," Mai defended herself. "I know I saw her. Shizuka must have heard her. She wasn't bound or tied."

"Then how'd she go?" Honda kept going against Mai. "Bakura's home is far away."

"Hey, I just had a freaking dragon pick me up, drop me off like a nice valet, and decimate a boat!" Mai reminded him. "Anything's kind of possible right now in my mind."

Atem wasn't getting involved in the scuffle. Yuugi was not in charge but he knew Anzu meant the world to him. Scuffle siding was not what they needed to do. He took the passenger seat back into Honda's car.

It was tense in the air. Also, crowded. Honda's car had no more room. They had expected to get Anzu and Mai, not Shizuka as well. Atem waited while they sorted it out.

Kaiba contributed. "Shizuka Kawai, get on the chopper with Mokuba and I."

"Why?" Jounouchi and Honda said almost at the same time. Shizuka responded though by following Mokuba.

"I don't like that." Jounouchi looked at Honda. "Anymore than you."

"Fine, then I'll go," Mai volunteered.

"Don't like that either," Jounouchi said. "Baby Momma getting on a chopper with Kaiba and goons? Like it less."

"Guys, let's just get going then." Mai got in the back. "Pretty sure you're pissing off the Pharaoh by now." Jounouchi got next to her, leaving plenty of room for Anzu when they got her.

///Atem: Why is Bakura with Anzu? She was here according to Mai, and I don't doubt that./// He sat next to Honda as they drove out.