 |
 |
| back
| |
[ Beneigth the Roses ]
It was like any other cold, snowy, Thursday morning. It snowed the night before. It was cold in my room. The snow sheeted the house with it's spirkled whiteness. (A.N. That's not a word, I know.) Ice covered the sidewalk. "Good morning Domino City!" the man on the radio yelled, "Due to last night's snow storm the following schools are off. Astro Elementary," and it kept going. I got up out of bed and walked over to my closet on the other side of the room. I started getting out my school uniform. I just knew we would have school that day. It was a strong feeling. Actually it was common since, because it was the day before winter break. We couldn't have missed school for anything. "Casper High, Cersten Middle, Chraster Middle, Darnner High, Domino High," the radio noted. I stopped. Domino High.... off?! It wasn't possible, but he did say they were off. I threw my school uniform back into my closet and grabbed a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a sweat shirt. I changed my clothes and when downstairs. My brother hadn't even changed yet. My mom had left to go to work and my dad was sitting at him computer. I knew that all my friends would be coming over to play Dungeons and Dragons with Phil and me. They always did. I decided just to tell my dad that my friends were coming over. "Dad?" I asked. He looked at me with his, 'Leave me alone, I'm working,' look. It was a strange stare. "My friends are coming over.... maybe." He smiled. "To play with you and Phil? Yeah, I figured. I'll be in my office if you need me. I really don't want to be interupted," he noted. He worked for Seto Kaiba. He was working on some new vitual reality game. I was always the first one to test them, with Kaiba of course. I started liking Kaiba a little, as a friend. Yugi was happy for me, but Joey sure wasn't. Phil went upstairs to get changed and get the character sheets. I was really looking forward to helping Tristan get his shoe out of a treasure chest again. Something I did a lot because Yugi's character was to short, Joey's would be rolling on the floor laughing, Tea's would be just sitting around, Serenity's would be yelling at Joey's, Bakura's would be to short, and Duke's would be to busy trying to find a way out. Serenity's charcter was older than Joey's, by about five years. Joey got mad at me because we used my dice.
"Bakura threw a snowball at me," Joey noted, while whipping all the snow off his face and into the sink in the kitchen. "Sorry, but you were and the way, and I did say look out," Bakura noted. "Where's Tristan and Duke?" I asked. "Nobody knows," Yugi noted, "They're probably at home sleeping or something like that." I didn't think that Tristan and Duke would over sleep and all that, but whatever. We walked into the livingroom, where Phil had everything out. There was a bunch of dice and cups of hot chocolate on the table. We all sat down and started playing. Phil, of course, started with Tea. Phil had a crush on Tea ever since he met her. (A.N. He doesn't really. I'm just making things up.) He always did nice things for Tea. "Antinua, you have entered a small forest. There are birds singing and the sun is shining. It is a beautiful day. What do you do?" Phil asked. Yugi started to get mad about him starting with Tea. Yugi was catching on, or Yami told him. I told everything to Yami. We had some secrets we never told Yugi. It was strange. "Uhm... I keep walking," Tea noted. "Okay, so you start walking. Just up ahead, you see a small figure. What do you do?" Phil asked. "Uhm...." Tea thought. "I SAY ATTACK IT!!!" Joey interupted. Tea ignored Joey and continued thinking. "I'll walk up to it...." Tea noted. "You walk up to it and notice it's Beau," Phil noted. Bakura was pleased he got into play before Joey did. Normally, he went right after Joey, but he got in first. "You guys can talk now," Phil noted. "Hello Beau," Tea noted, pretending to be her character. (A.N. If you haven't played Dungeons and Dragons before, you make your own character, and when you talk to another person or other people, you talk as your character.) "Oh, hello Antinua," he replied. "It's such a beautiful day today, isn't it?" "I guess... I really don't pay attention to nature." "Well, I do, because I'm a Druid." "Yeah, I know." Phil interupted, "You hear a scream for help in the distance. What do you do?" Just then the phone rang. I got up and and picked up the phone. "Hello?" I asked. "L-Leighann? Leighann, it's Duke," he noted. He sounded a little nervous. "Are you okay Duke?" I asked. "No, listen, I'm at the police station," he noted. "Why?" I asked. "They..." he gulped, "They think that.... I murdered Tristan." "I-I didn't do anything.... I didn't..... I.... I wouldn't hurt Tristan.... not even for Serenity.... I wouldn't..... I really truely wouldn't," Duke noted. I could tell he was about to cry. "Duke, just relax okay? I believe you... I really do...." I replied. I was trying to make him feel better. "Yeah, you're not blamed for murder on one of you friends. I.... I didn't kill him Leighann, and they think I did," Duke noted. He was scared... terrified actually. He started crying. "Duke, please relax. I beleive you, and I'm sure everyone else would too," I noted. He said something that he never said before. "Leighann... I wish I could believe you, but I can't. Joey's going to kick my ass, I just know it. Joey doesn't like me. And.... and Serenity will kill me.... Serenity..... oh god....." "Duke, look, you can trust me okay? Now what happened?" "I don't know.... I was just walking to your house when I saw some blood, so I followed it and Tristan's body was lieing there. I don't know...... I just......" It was silent for a few secounds. I didn't know what to say. I was so shocked. I didn't know what to say or do. "C-can you come down here.... please.... I can't talk on the phone much longer." "Sure.... do you want all of us to come?" "Please.... and tell them so I don't have to. And don't bring your brother. I really don't to see him right now...." "Okay..... we'll be there in a few minutes..." then I hung up. Yami came out of the puzzle and had no idea what was going on. By the look on his face, I would say that Yugi had just woke him up from a really good dream. Probably about Tea or something like that. "We're going to add you now," Phil noted, "Come on." "No Phil.... we're going to have to cut the game short," I replied. They stared at me in disbeleif. "What? You'd never quit in the middle of a Dungeons and Dragons game.... is something wrong?" Joey asked. He was worried about me. "It's Duke....." I noted. "What about him?" Yugi asked. Yami looked down at the floor. He could read my mind. He knew. "And Tristan..." I noted. They nodded. Joey was really interested, and so was Serenity. "The police think that....." my eyes started watering, "they think that..... that..... that Duke murdered Tristan." They sat there in shock. They couldn't beleive it. "Why don't you guys go to the police station," Phil noted, "When dad gets out of his office and when mom gets home, I'll tell them you went to see Duke and didn't leave a number." I nodded. Everyone, other than Phil got their coats and shoes on. Even me. We ran outside in the snow. Serenity was crying by that time and Joey held Serenity in his arm. He tried to wipe the tears away, but they froze onto her face.... some of them did anyway. Nobody said anything most of the way there. We were about two blocks away when Bakura asked, "But why would they think Duke.... well you know...." "I don't know.... we can ask them when we get there," I replied. Yami could tell that I was mad at the police. He needed to talk to me. In private. //Leighann. We can't just bardge in and ask. We have to be invited in.// /We were invited in. By Duke. They'll let us in./ //If you say so.// "I just don't understand why Duke would call you? You only get one phone call," Tea noted. I didn't think about that. "I guess..... I guess there's more to Duke than meets the eye," I noted. I seemed to know what I was talking about. I did meet Duke first, out of all of them. But they did meet Duke before I did. We got to the police station in about five minutes. It wasn't to far away from my house. Actually, I was closer than any one of my other friend's houses. We walked inside and there was a police officer when we walked in. "Friends of Duke's?" He asked. We all nodded. Bakura didn't like being here, but he didn't really have a choice. "Alright. Come this way," and he started walking. We followed the police officer into a large hallway. The only sound was the squeak of our shoes from the snow and ice. The walls were all blue and while. The floor was tile. He opened the door to a small room. The room didn't have any windows. We followed him inside. It looked like another large hallway with many doors. I felt a chill go down my spine. I didn't really like being there. Not one bit. We stopped at a blue door. It was wooden, but it was locked. "He's in here. Ask him anything you want. He hasn't told us a thing. He just told us what we heard him say to you over the phone," he noted. He unlocked the door and opened it. We walked in and he shut the door behind us. The room was large, but it still had no windows. Duke was sitting at a small table with his head down. He was crying silently. I took of my coat and placed it in a chair and walked over to him. He didn't hear me come over. "Duke?" I asked silently. He shifted slightly, but didn't look up. "Duke...." I placed my hand on his shoulder.... I was amazed to feel him jump. He must not have heard me when I said his name. "Duke, it's me..." I noted. I walked to the other side of the table and sat down in a chair. "Duke come on.... talk to me...." "I didn't do anything," he noted, with his head still down. "They won't stop asking me questions... so I didn't answer them... they said I could be put on death row... for murder... but I didn't do anything... and they still insist that I killed Tristan." I put my hand on his. "But if you tell them what happened, then they might let you go... you never know Duke..." I replied. He looked up. His face was red. "If it's okay, can I tell you all first?" he asked. I nodded. Everyone, except Tea, grabbed a seat and sat down. Tea went behind Duke and started massaging his back. (A.N. My spelling sux, okay?) "Okay..." Duke noted, "I was my way to your house Leighann. I took a short cut there down town to get there, since it takes a while to get there the way you go Yugi. I was about to turn the corner to go on to your street when something caught my eye. I walked over to it.... and there was a trail of blood running into an old warehouse down the street. I walked into the warehouse and there was blood all over the floor and the walls. "I started to get nervous. I went to turn around, but something told me to keep going, so I did. I walked up to a door and opened it. There was Tristan's body laying on the ground. I ran over to see if he was still alive. He wasn't breathing and there was a pool of blood right beside him. On the ground, beside him was a blood red rose. I picked up the rose, then the police showed up and brought me here. By the looks of it, there was no one else there." There was silence while everyone thought about it. "Where's the rose now?" I asked. I wanted to know. I shouldn't have asked though. "They took it and they went to go see if there was any other finger prints on it," he noted. //Who ever did this must have known Duke was going to be there.// /Or, Duke was in the wrong place, at the wrong time./ Just then the door opened and to officers walked inside. "Leighann, we need you to see something." "Leighann, that rose that Duke was talking about..." one of the men noted, "Only has Duke's finger prints on it. And Tristan's as well. Tristan might have been holding it and dropped it, then Duke picked it up, but we highly dought it. Duke still is going to be tried next week, and if he is found guilty, he will be on death row. If you can prove him innocent in the courtroom, then he will be innocent and free to go." I blinked. "So... if we prove Duke's innocent and show it to the judge, then he may let him go?" I asked. The other man nodded. "Can we see Tristan's body? Or do we have to wait?" The men looked at each other. "Well, we wanted you to SEE Tristan's body anyway. Just don't touch," the secound man noted. They started walking and I followed. We walked back into the first hallway and turned back into the main lobby. We walked to another hallway across the main lobby. The walls were all white and it wasn't so silent. There was voices that filled the hall, the sound of keyboards clicking away. The sound of feet hitting the ground filled the rooms. We reached the end of the hallway and there was a white door. The labeling on the door said: Obtopsy Room They opened the door and walked inside. One of the men handed me a lab coat and noted, "Put this on." I took it and put it on over my clothes. They let me into the lab. There was no carpet. The floor was made of tile, just like the hallway. There was a lady standing in the room. Tristan's body was laying on the table in the center of the room. The two police men left. "Leighann is it?" she asked, not looking up from Tristan's body. "Yeah," I replied. "I'm Maria Morgan," she noted. She looked at me. "N-nice to meet you," I noted. "Come here, I need to show you something," she noted. I walked over next to her. She pointed at Tristan's right arm. "There are two holes in his right arm, like the same to marks that are on your right arm." I pulled up the sleeve and there was two small scars in my right arm. I thought it was just a birth mark. "What? How did you know that?" I asked. "Those two marks are from the same person that kill Tristan. Do you remember Duke anytime in your past when you got that scar?" "I don't even remember getting the scar. I just thought it was a birth mark. My parents told me I got it when I was two. Duke is about six days younger than me, so he would have been one or two, depending on the date. I'll ask my parents. They'll know," I replied. "Alright... if you say so," she noted, "but be careful, whomever killed Tristan, if not Duke, will probably come after you." I nodded, and walked out of the room, and took off the coat. I was surprised that my parents didn't tell me about that. I walked back into the room Duke and the others were in. Duke was crying again, with his head down. Serenity had stopped crying and was now trying to calm Duke down. //What was that about?// /Long story. Tell you later./ //Okay.// Joey looked at me. He looked upset. Someone must have came in and said something to them. "What did I miss?" I asked. Everyone was quiet. "Someone came in and said Duke was going to be on death row if he was guilty," Joey noted. I blinked. //You already knew that.// /Yeah, of course I did./ "Well I'm going to prove you innocent Duke," I noted. Everyone looked at me in shock. I always thought about things twice. "How?" Duke asked. "Easy... I already have one clue. The person who did kill Tristan, tried to kill me when I was two, so it couldn't have been you..." I noted. "How do you know that?" Joey asked. Just then my cell phone rang. I took it out of my pocket. "Hello?" I asked. "Hello little Leighann," the person on the other line noted. "Don't say a thing. Let me tell you something. You'll never be able to prove Duke's innocence. The only person who knows who killed Tristan is Tristan. The only way you'll be able to prove his innocence is to find me or find Tristan. But you can't do either in one week, so don't even try." Then he hung up. The slow chill crawled down my spine. //You know Leighann, you should really tell the others about that. They really need to know.// /No Yami. I have a feeling that they shouldn't know. A really strong feeling./ //You're just nervous Leighann. You need to relax. But if you don't want to, that's fine, but I can't keep that a secret forever.// /Fine, tell Yugi later. No one else. Tell him not to tell anyone. I don't want the others to know./ //Fine.// "You okay Leighann?" Joey asked. The others stared at me. "I'm fine," I lied. They couldn't see through my bluff. "If you say so," Joey noted, then turned back to Duke, who was trying to wipe all the tears off his face. Serenity rubbed her hand up and down Duke's arm. Then a police officer walked in. It was a girl with long, wavy brown hair and crystal blue eyes. I knew Tristan would have fallen in love with her because she looked like Serenity. "I'm sorry, but you'll all have to leave," she noted, "Duke, you need to come with me." I looked at Duke, who seemed pretty upset that we had to leave. "Sorry Duke," Joey noted. Duke nodded. Everyone got up and started leaving. Serenity and I stayed in the room for a minute. Serenity looked at me and noted, "Please don't tell Joey," then kissed Duke on the lips. I was shocked, but I never intended on telling Joey. Then I heard Serenity wisper, "That was for good luck Dukie," then she left the room and I grabbed my coat and followed. We left through the main lobby. "I can't beleive they would accuse Duke just because he was there when they found him," Joey noted. Serenity looked at him. "What are we going to do now?" Yugi asked. "Why don't we go back to Leighann's. If that's okay with you," Tea noted. I nodded silently. Yami went back into the puzzle due to the coldness. //I still think you should tell the others.// /Not now Yami./ //But...// /I SAID NOT NOW!!!!/ Yami didn't bother me for a while after that. "What was that phone call about?" Bakura asked. "It was nothing. Just my brother playing jokes on me," I lied again. I never lied that much to my friends before. (A.N. Actually, I've never lied to my friends before. Alison and Hannah, I'm sorry for playing that joke on you though.... It's really funny now though.) We got to my house and opened the door. We all walked inside and took our shoes and coats off. Phil wasn't in the living room like I thought he was going to be. We walked upstairs, and then something caught my eye. It was white. At first I thought it was snow, but then I noticed that it was too thin. I walked over to it and picked it up. It was a white rose peddel. 'Didn't Duke say something about a rose?' I thought. *flashback* "On the ground, beside him was a blood red rose. I picked up the rose, then the police showed up and brought me here. By the looks of it, there was no one else there." "Where's the rose now?" "They took it and they went to go see if there was any other finger prints on it." "Leighann, that rose that Duke was talking about... Only has Duke's finger prints on it. And Tristan's as well. Tristan might have been holding it and dropped it, then Duke picked it up, but we highly dought it." "Those two marks are from the same person that kill Tristan. Do you remember Duke anytime in your past when you got that scar?" "Don't say a thing. Let me tell you something. You'll never be able to prove Duke's innocence. The only person who knows who killed Tristan is Tristan. The only way you'll be able to prove his innocence is to find me or find Tristan. But you can't do either in one week, so don't even try." *flashback ends* I shook my head and looked down at the ground and saw a small trail of white peddals. I followed them. They led to a small closet all the way down the hall. I silently opened the door and looked inside. At first I didn't see anything, then I heard the sound of breathing. All of a sudden, out of the darkness of the closet, a woman's arms came out. I screamed and ran back to the others. The woman followed me. I hid behind Joey and looked at the lady. She had long nails, gray eyes, black hair, and pale skin. With the snap of her fingers, she was gone. "Wh-who was that?" Yugi asked. "I don't know. Whomever it was is defenatly after me.... or one of us..." I noted. Serenity started bawling. "She might have been the one that murdered Tristan," Bakura noted. "My question is why didn't Phil hear her come in?" I asked. Joey hugged Serenity tightly. "Or us?" Yugi asked. Yami hadn't come out of the puzzle yet. I knew he was mad at me. He had a lot of my secrets and I knew if I didn't apoligize, he'd tell them all to Yugi. /Yami, I'm sorry./ No one answered. /Yami?/ No one replied. He might have been ignoring me. Then started getting a headache. He rubbed his head a little. We walked into my room, which was rather big. I sat down on the bed and looked at the ceiling. Everyone else walked in. Tea sat on my bed, Bakura sat at my desk, Yugi sat on my desk, Serenity sat on the bed next to Tea and Joey leaned against the wall next to my bedroom door. "Yugi, I'm trying to apoligize to Yami for yelling at him and he's not listening to me," I noted. Yugi looked at me, then started mindtalking with Yami. "He says that he doesn't want your apoligy yet," Yugi replied. I got mad at Yami for that. I was trying to apologize and he wasn't listening to me. I was about to say something else when my cell phone rang. I took it out of my pocket and looked at the name. It said KC. "Hello?" I answered. "Leighann, it's Kaiba, listen, I need you to come down here for a minute," he noted. There was a small muffled sound in the backround. "Is everything okay?" I asked. "Everything's fine, I just need you to test something out," he noted. The muffled sound got louder. It sounded like a person. "Who's that in the backround?" I asked. "It's that puppy dog Wheeler," he noted. "What?" I asked. "Hang on," he noted. I sat there for a minute. "Can you just get down here?" Kaiba asked. "Why? What do you need me to test out?" I asked. Then I heard someone in the backround yell," LEIGHANN HANG UP!!! THAT'S NOT REALLY SETO!!!!" It was Mokuba. "KEEP QUIET YOU BRAT!!!" a man yelled. I sat up and stared at the floor. I was listening to everything. "Who are you?" I asked. The man on the phone chuckled. "So Mokuba helped you out? So what... you'll never get here in time. By the time you get here, the only thing will be the sweet smell of roses," and the man hung up. "Guys, let's go," I noted. They stared at me. "Why? We just got here," Joey replied. "Kaiba's in trouble," I remarked. Joey started to get mad. "I don't care... if he died, I wouldn't care," he noted. "If you say so, but I owe him. Big time," I replied. They blankly stared me. "You.... owe him?" Serenity asked. "Yeah... I'll tell you," I replied. "About two months ago," I noted, "About a two days before I met Duke, I was taking a walk through town, you know, because we had just moved in. Well a bunch of thugs found me and they tried to attack me. I managed to get one of them away from me, but they trapped me in a corner." *flashback* "Heh, you have nowhere to run girly," one of the thugs noted, while pulling out a knife. I was to scared to scream. I didn't know what to do. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" someone yelled. Behind them was a tall man with brown hair and hard blue eyes. He seemed mad. Behind him was a small boy with long black hair and gittery brown eyes. "And you're going to make us?" a different thug asked him. The first thug put the knife up to my throut. "A step and she dies Mr. Kaiba. I suggest you not try anything," the first thug noted. He smirked. Then pulled a duel monster card out of his pocket and threw it at the thug's hand, making the knife fall out of his hand. I kicked the man in the stumach and he fell to the ground in pain. "Get out of here," he noted. As I ran by him, I noted, "I owe you Kaiba. I'll pay you back someday." *flashback ends* "Wow, I can't believe Kaiba would actually save someone other than Mokuba," Joey noted. Serenity stared at Joey for a minute, then back at me. "I told Kaiba I'd pay him back and that's what I'm going to do," I noted, then I ran out of my room with everyone following. We got our shoes and coats on, then started running to Kaiba Corperation. "Do you think they'll be okay?" Yugi asked. "I hope so. I want to save a man that's alive you know," I noted. Joey tried not to laugh. I heard a chuckle, but I ignored it. We got to Kaiba Corperation and there was a window open on the top floor. We ran inside and got into the elevator. I pressed the button for the top floor. It took about ten secounds to get up to the floor. There was a door open at the end of the hall. I ran in a gasped. Kaiba was being held my his throut outside the window. The person holding him turned his head a looked at me. He had blood red eyes and white hair. In his other hand he wasn't holding Kaiba by was a white rose. "You take another step and I'll drop him," he noted. Kaiba was struggling to breathe. 'What do I do?' I thought. /Let me help./ //I thought you were mad at me.// /I am, I just don't want to see Kaiba get killed./ //Oh, go ahead.// Yami came out of the puzzle and tried to posses the man. (A.N. I still can't spell.) The man began to laugh. "You can't posses me Yami," he noted. Kaiba stopped struggling, but he was still alive. I desprately tackled the man and he fell out of the window, letting go of Kaiba. I grabbed Kaiba's wrist and watched the man fall down and disappear to the ground. Kaiba coughed gasped for air, then coughed twice. I pulled him back into the room. Mokuba ran into the room, while I pulled Kaiba back into the room, with Bakura's help. "Seto!" Mokuba yelled, then jumped into Kaiba's arms and began to cry.
"No. The person who killed Tristan had a red rose. That man was holding a white rose. I think it was a trap or something. Like the trail of white rose peddals in my hallway," I noted. Then turned around to look at Joey. Joey, Tea, Serenity and Bakura was standing there, but Yugi wasn't there and the Millenium puzzle was laying on the ground. /Yami, where's Yugi?/ //I don't know, he just vanished.// "Guys, Yugi's gone!" I yelled. Joey picked up the puzzle and there was a note and a red rose underneath. Tea picked up the note and read it to herself. "What does it say?" Serenity asked. "Dear Friends of Yugi," Tea started, "We have Yugi. If you wish to see him again, meet us at the abandon warehouse on sixty third street at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon for the duel." We stood there in shock. "Duel? What duel?" Joey asked. "P.S. Joey and Leighann, bring you decks," Tea noted. "Oh, so it's a double team?" Joey asked. "I guess so," I noted. I was madder than I had ever
been in my life. "We need to call Gramps," Joey noted. Gramps was Yugi's grandpa, and he had no idea that any of this had happened. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and called the game shop. The phone rang once.... twice..... three times.... four times.... then the answering mashine came up. "Yugi... but... oh.... you have reached the Turtle Game Shop..... we aren't avalible because we're not at the thing..... but Yugi.... I'm right here..... wait..... what.... no it's just.... ACK!!! I DON'T GET THIS PEICE OF SH*beep*" I started to giggle a little. "Hey gramps, it's Leighann. Listen, Yugi was...." then I heard a small chuckle on the other line. "Hello Miss Morlan," the person noted. It sounded like a girl this time. "Wh-what?" I asked. The person chuckled again. "You don't know? I knew you'd call. I came back, to finish what I started. If you remember when you were little. And don't even think about asking your parents, because they don't know," the person noted. "Of course they would..." I noted. But the person interuped me, "They wouldn't know. Nobody would. Only Tristan," they noted. "T-Tristan?" I asked. "Only Tristan," they noted. A car drove by and stopped by us. "Get in," the person noted. You and all your friends. "What are you talking about?" I asked. A man got out of the car. "Get in the car," the person on the phone noted, "or else." The man pulled out a gun, grabbed Bakura, and pointed it at his head. "All of you get in," the man noted. Bakura closed his eyes shut. "NOW!!!" "Get in and the man will explain everything to you," she noted and she hung up. I placed the phone into my pocket. Joey, Tea and Serenity didn't know what to do. "GET IN NOW!!! OR I'LL BLOW HIS HEAD OFF!!!" he yelled. Bakura whimpered. Serenity grabbed Joey's arm. I nodded. "We have no choice. Come on," I noted. I walked up to the car and opened the door. There was a man pointing a gun straight at my face. "You fell for it Miss Morlan," he noted. Now none of you will be able to help Duke in time. Just then my cell phone rang. "Answer it." I took it out of my pocket. "H-hello?" I answered. "Leighann, the trial has been movied to tomorrow at six o'clock. We have to do it as soon as posible. I'm sorry." Then he hung up. I put it back in my pocket. "Who was it?" the man asked. "It was the police. They said they were moving Duke's trial to tomorrow," I noted. Serenity began to scream. I didn't notice that three more men had showed up and grabbed Tea, Joey and Serenity. Joey squirmed to get out. A woman got out of the front seat of the car. He had long, bernett hair and hazel eyes. She looked at the men holding the others and noted, "Bind them, now." They started binding them together. "As for you Miss Morlan. I have a surprise for you," she noted. She walked to the trunk of the car and opened it. "Come look at this," she noted. I walked over to the trunk and looked in. There was a small bag in the trunk, that was moving. She untied the bag and Yugi's head popped out. He was covered in blood, and gagged. The moving must have been him breathing. "YUGI!" I yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" "The same thing I did to Tristan. Duke just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," she noted. //Yugi....// /Yami, do something for me./ //What?// /Posses Joey./ //He's a little tied up at the moment.// /Oh yeah./ //I'll think of something.// /Okay./ "Okay Miss Morlan, I'll make you a deal. If you give me your living soul, I'll let all your friends go and they can prove Duke's innocence," she noted. //LEIGHANN DON'T! IT'LL MAKE HER STRONGER!!! YOU CAN'T!!!// /Stronger?/ //She lives off of souls. Every soul she takes she traps in a rose.... wait.... TRISTAN!!! HE DIDN'T DIE!!! HIS SOUL MUST HAVE GOTTEN TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE ROSES!!!!// /Does every soul rose make her stronger or something?/ //Then what about the two holes in his arm?// /I don't know.../ //What ever it was, it happened to me too.// "Do you agree?" she asked. I looked back at the others for a minute. Joey had been thrown to the ground, Serenity was crying, Tea was trying to get away, and Bakura was to scared to move. //Don't! Everyone else would say the same thing!// "Well... will you give me your soul?" she asked. "LEIGHANN! DON'T DO IT!" Joey yelled. I stared at him for a minute. "Don't. I'd rather die then have you take your soul out!" "You'll regret those words Wheeler. Gag him," she noted. They put a hankercheif around his mouth and tied it in the back of his head. "Now Leighann, make your choice. Your soul, or there lives." I looked at Joey, then back at the woman and noted, "If I were stupid enough to actually think you would let my friends go when you took my soul, then I would, but I'm not that stupid." Then I kicked her in the stumach. She fell to the ground, but before she could say anything, I pulled out a knife and cut Joey free. He took the gag off and starting fighting with the men. The lady charged at me, but I tackled her and pinned her to the ground. "Look lady, I don't know what you want, but you're not going to live long enough to see tomorrow," I noted. "Go ahead and kill me if you want, but you'll never see Tristan alive again," she noted. I thought for a minute. "If the rose holding Tristan's soul dies, then his soul dies." "What?!" I yelled. "Yes, now get off of me," she replied, then struggled to get out of my grip. "Tell me how to free Tristan's soul," I remarked. Holding her harder to the ground. "If I do, I'll kill your little friend," she noted. Aiming her eyes at Bakura. He was still in that man's grip and still had that gun pointed to his head. "Bakura..." I whispered. Then she threw me off and I toppled off, landing on my back and she pinned me down. "What now?" she asked. I struggled to get out of
her grip. Then she pulled a blood red rose out. "This is
for your own good Miss Morlan," and stuck it into my hand. //LEIGHANN!!! ARE YOU THERE?!// /YAMI!!! WHAT THE he**?!/ //YOU'VE BEEN OUT FOR HOURS AND THAT GIRL KIDNAPPED THE OTHERS!!! YOU'VE GOT TO GET UP!!! FOR THEIR SAKE!!!!// /How?/ //Good question.....// /DAMMIT YAMI!!!/ //ALRIGHT!!! I'LL TRY AND USE THE MILLENIUM PUZZLE!!!// I felt light on my feet all of a sudden. I floated into the air and closed my eyes. I opened my eyes and blinked. The sun was blinding my eyes. /YAMI!!!/ //Leighann..... LEIGHANN!!!!// /What time is it?/ //I don't know.// /HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW?!/ //Don't yell at me Leighann! I CAN'T READ YUGI'S WATCH!!!// /Oh.... sorry./ //Try and get up.// I tried to get up, but something was holding me down. I looked up and my wrists were tied to a pole. /DAMMIT!!!!/ //What?// /I'm tied to a pole or something!!!/ //Great. Tristan's dead, Joey's about to be killed....// /WHAT?!/ //Oopsie....// /DAMMIT YAMI!!!!/ //LEIGHANN! GET OUT OF THOSE ROPES!!! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN SAVE US!!!!// I yanked on the ropes, then tried to open my mouth, but there was a gag over it. I looked by my right hand and there was a knife. A really sharp knife. I grabbed it and started cutting the ropes. I got the ropes off, sat up and took the gag off. I was sitting in what looked like a backyard. I sat up and stretched for a minute. /I'm out!/ //GOOD!!! NOW WHERE ARE YOU?!// I looked around. Kaiba Corperation was right down the street. /Well, Kaiba Corperation's right down the street./ //Are you at an old warehouse?// Then I heard a scream of pain. "Joey!" I yelled, then ran inside. //Be careful Leighann.// /Careful is my middle name Yami./ I walked down the hall very quietly then saw an open doorway. I walked next to it and peeked inside. The same lady that tackled me was torturing Joey! She had a whip in her hand. "P-please...... st-stop......." he stammered. "Stop?" she asked, then slammed the whip down on Joey's back, ripping a hole into Joey's shirt. Blood starting coming out of him back. "YOU WITCH!!!" Tea yelled. She was tied up on the other side of the room, completly unharmed. The lady turned and glared at Tea. "You're next," she noted, then turned back to Joey and slammed the whip onto Joey's back again. He yelped in pain. "You're like a whining little puppy dog," she noted, "Yelps everytime it gets hurt. Shame Leighann's not here to see this." Then she started to laugh. I ran in and tackled her. "To bad you underestemated me moron," I replied. "LEIGHANN!" Yugi yelled. He was tied up oppisite of Tea. Bakura was beside him. "Like it's going to do you any good," she noted, "Tristan's gone." I looked over and saw a knife. I took it off the ground and put it to her throut. "Atleast you can go to he**," I noted. She flipped me off and I hit the wall. She charged at me, then stopped right infront of me. I looked up and saw that I had put the knife in her stumach. She pulled the knife out, coughed up blood, then fell to the ground dead. //LEIGHANN! YOU DID IT!!!// /I did.... didn't I?/ I untied the others, then we checked to see if Joey was okay. "You aren't hurt to bad, are you?" I asked. He sat up. "It doesn't look like it. Thanks," he noted. I nodded. Then I looked at Yugi. "What time is it?" I asked. Yugi looked at his watch. "Seven thirty, and you got knocked out yesterday," he noted. "WHAT?! DUKE'S TRIAL IS RIGHT NOW!!! IT STARTED AN HOUR AND A HALF AGO!!!!" I yelled. We all stood up and ran out. We ran to the police station and got inside. The guard was surpized to see us. "Can I help you?" he asked. "Where's the court house?" I asked, trying to catch my breathe. "About two blocks away. If you run it might take you two minutes to get there," he noted. We ran out and ran toward the court house. We got there one minute later and ran through the doors. The guards instantly knew who we were and let us in. We ran inside and to the courtroom. Inside I heard a voice say, "We find the defendent, Duke Devlin..." but before he could say, I ran in. "STOP!" I yelled. Everyone stared at me, even Duke. Tristan's parents were glaring at me. I knew I was in trouble, because my parents were sitting in the room too. I wasn't exactly wearing formal clothes. "DUKE'S INNOCENT AND I CAN PROVE IT!!!" The judge looked at me. "I'll give you one minute," he noted. Then someone behind me replied, "One secound will do."
I turned around and gasped. "TRISTAN!!!" She screamed. The courtroom grew quiet. Tristan's parents were in shock. "B-but how?" the judge asked. I turned and looked at him. I held up the rose. "This is no ordanary rose. This rose has the power to send a person's soul to a seperate universe and kill there existing body. If I hadn't have figured that out, Tristan WHOULD be dead. The two marks in his left arm, like in mine, are marks that the person who did it left on her victom," I noted. "Then who was it?" he asked. "Maria Morgan... I remembered her eyes.... You can find her body laying in an old warehouse down the street from Kaiba Corperation," I noted. "Maria Morgan?" the judge asked. "She worked in the obtopsy room at the police station," I replied. The judge looked at the chief, but he shook his head. "There is not obtopsy room at the police station," he remarked. "What?" I asked. "That person must have been somebody in a costume," he noted. Maria walked into the courtroom with the same knife I stabbed into her and put it up to Bakura's throut. "BAKURA!" I yelled. Maria smirked. "Who are you?" I asked. "That name, Maria, is my real first name, but my real last name is Mulligan. Maria Mulligan," she replied. "Y-you're want for countless murders," Yugi noted. She nodded. Bakura began to get nervous. ///Leighann, help./// /I'll try something Bakura./ I looked at the rose in my hand and smirked. "I just thought of something. That room, that this dumb rose trapped me in, was like a luxury room. So it must be your soul room!" I put the peddals in my hand and gave them a hard squeeze. Then there was a blinding light around Maria. "YOU BRAT!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!!" she yelled. Then she vanished into thin air. Bakura was now happy for his life. The jury looked at each other and nodded. "Leighann, we need to continue the court, sorry. The jury was going to deside if he was guilty or innocent," the judge noted. The man that was talking when I first came in stood up. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn't tell why. "The jury finds the defendant...." I began to pray silently. "Innocent and free to go." **My house, the next day.** I woke up at about eight o'clock in the afternoon. I got dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt. I walked downstairs where my dad was working on the virtual reality game for Kaiba, Phil was getting ready for everyone to come over for Dungeons and Dragons, but my mom was at work. Hours passed, then there was knocking at the door. I answered the door and Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, Duke, Serenity and Bakura were standing there. Bakura's face was covered with snow. Joey had got him back for two days ago. Big time it looked like. They took off their shoes and coats and joined we joined my brother in the living room. "Alright, Antinua, you have now entered a small dungeon. What do you do?" [ the end...]
|
Banner Created by
Rina |