The Light Within the Dark (Invite Only!)

[mugenginga]

(PM me or ask in the CBox if you wanna be invited. The only other person NEEDED is Firebreath Fishslap.)

Atem hadn't been paying attention where he'd been wandering. Neither had Yuugi, really. The two minds in one body had both been either too depressive or two concerned about bothering their other selves to do much. But Atem was getting tired of walking. This had to be talked out. He saw a bench near by and sat on it. He tried to fold his hands, and hissed as he jerked back his right one. That's right, it was still burnt. He could use it, but it hurt. The preceding events had burnt the palm of his hand. It would take some time to heal. He shook his head and looked at his feet, letting the hurt hand rest to the side. To most, he would be appearing to space off.

To those with significant magical, spiritual, and or psychic sense, it was evident there were two consciousness' there. A gentler one was centered in the puzzle around Atem's neck. Those with great senses could almost make out a gentler looking boy sitting next to the dominant personality, reminiscent of a ghost right down to the flickering semi-transparency. The conversation between the two was purely telepathic.

"The other me... is there any way I can make you feel better?" the gentle soul spoke.

"I don't know. I feel like there is something we can do about this. Not about Akira," the mind of the solid personality said, But about that key... I have this hunch."

The "ghost" nodded, "You want to check on that doll, don't you? I figured that out when you wandered here. There's no guarantee its still here, but if it isn't..."

"Exactly. Its entirely possible that key reacted to the doll. We need to make sure that isn't an option to explain what happened."

"I'm glad you're feeling better, the other me." The first grin Yuugi had born in hours spread across his face, "Shall we go?"

The outside world saw the teenager crack a small smile, "Of course. Partner." he stood up and began making his way towards a wooded area of the park, weaving his way through the bits of floating space.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

The wooden doll, Eriol, had woken up a while ago, but hadn't moved from a sitting position up against a tree in a while.
He certainly wasn't dead, just depressed in a way.

He'd lost the key.
Those humans had taken it from him, and now he lost the gift the Creator had given him. He'd failed the Creator. The Creator now had even more reason to hate him.
The doll had never really understood why the Creator had stopped loving him. Was it because he was an absolete model? Was that the reason?

"Kerro, what did I do wrong?" Eriol asked, pulling the dead doll closer to him. Then, he remembered.
"Oh, that's right. I killed you, didn't I?" He stared into the lifeless grey eyes of the broken doll, and then at the silver key he carried. "Then I suppose you won't mind if I borrow this from you, right?" There was a moment of silence, and then Eriol violently pulled the key out of the hand of Kerro, ripping the hand out as well, which still gripped onto the key tightly. "Thank you, brother."

[mugenginga]

Atem looked around. The park was a bit disorientating, what with the shifting landmarks caused by the dimensional rips floating here and there. It was Yuugi who saw the trees. He pointed them out to his other self and a mental "thank you" was sent to the gentler mind as the Pharoah made his way to the area.

He paused. Eriol had taken the key from the other doll's body and was still at the moment. It wasn't that which concerned Atem. It was that the dolls had been repositioned. He narrowed his eyes. His dominant hand still hurt, but he had control over it now. But as he reached for the deck pouch he felt his partner's hand block his own.

"I don't think going in there ready for a fight is a good idea, the other me."

Atem frowned. It had been such a long time since he'd played the diplomat. One of his priests, who he was convinced was the past life of the man best described as his rival in his world, had been the one who took care of the more diplomatic situations. But he couldn't tell Yuugi no. His partner had a good mind for these kinds of things. As Atem took another step forward, the dominant mind shifted.

Yuugi carefully walked towards the two dolls. He cleared his throat as he approached. If the doll from before was, well... "alive", it would be best to approach the situation as a non-combatant. He made sure both his hands were visible. He had heard it was a way to show no weapons were being carried.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

The doll's head jerked up when he spotted Yuugi walking on into the clearing. At first, he'd thought the boy to be the Creator, but after getting a better look at him, he turned out to not be. Just that boy from before with the playing cards.
The boy was holding his hands up, so he didn't want to fight. This didn't stop Eriol from taking the silver key, and firing a bolt of ice at Yuugi, which hit a tree to the back and left of the boy. A warning shot.

"What did you do with my key?" Eriol asked.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi jerked to the side at the ice, he hadn't expected an immediate attack. To Eriol, something would be wrong with this picture. This boy held himself all wrong for the one he had fought before. His eyes were softer, his pose less confident, and there was a general lack of battle ability about him. Yuugi drew in a breath, realizing that the doll hadn't been trying to hit him. Atem narrowed his eyes. He was nervous, but he let his partner keep control of the situation.

But now the doll wanted an explanation about the key. Yuugi thought for a moment and showed his right palm. The burn was minor, but quite visible, "It..." emotional pain flicked across his eyes, "It's near the hospital. It caused a fire..."

Far less confident than the previous encounter. It didn't seem to be from fear, per se... but he definently seemed to be a different person.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"'It caused a fire?'" Eriol repeated, and slowly stood up from where he'd been sitting, never lowering the key he'd borrowed from Kerro. "How? The Bronze Key can't use fire. Only the Gold Key can do that. Or did you steal from the Gold Keykeeper too!?"

He didn't feel as threatened by Yuugi's cowardice. At least, that was how it looked to the doll. But if that doll wanted the Silver Key as well, then he wasn't going to hand it over. The Creator would never look at him again if he lost all of the keys.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi averted his gaze. This hurt, emotionally. He felt his other self put his hand on his shoulder and drew in a breath, "I don't know about the keys, but the.. bronze key, you said? It sparked and caught a building on fire... then the fire caused the.. the gas tank to explode..."

I didn't know I was going to have to explain this... it got a kid killed...

"I'm sorry we took the key before. We were just... well, we thought you might chase after us. It was a misunderstanding."

It was truthful. As Yuugi saw it now, the doll didn't seem to want to blindly attack them. It had felt threatened before. It had thought they were after the other doll. He wondered if they were friends or something, or had been at one point.

Atem was doing his best to keep quiet. He didn't want his partner to get hurt from saying the wrong thing. But somehow he knew if he tried to handle the situation, it would de-escalate.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol realized what had happened. "You damaged the key... That's why it went off." He shoved his own key into the ground. "They're fragile... and you stupid humans broke it. They've got powerful magical components in them. I probably could have fixed it too, if you had brought it to me."

He looked at Yuugi, and gave him an accusing stare. "So where's my key now?"

[mugenginga]

"I don't think we should trust him, partner." Atem said.

"We can't just attack him. We're on thin ice and a wrong move won't end well..." Yuugi thought to his other self.

Of course, all Eriol would see was a brief hesitation on Yuugi's part. Although if he could sense magic he might feel a faint flicker from the Millenium Puzzle.

"We didn't mean to, so my apologies. But I can take you to it... Ah, my name is Mutou Yuugi," He gave a small bow in introduction.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol gave a hmph, and was about to reply when his voice box started malfunctioning again, and he started giving off static instead of speaking. When it finally stopped being all static-y, he was speaking normally, as if nothing had even happened.

"Brrrrrzzzzzzzttttt--ead the way, then. And don't try to pull any funny business, human," Eriol said, and picked up Kerro's limp body.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi paused. There were several questions he wanted to ask, but he chose to take his own advice about thin ice. He nodded and turned. Even if he didn't appear to be watching his back, Atem was. The dominant mind found himself wishing Kaiba were there. He was good with electronics, which is what the doll appeared to be.

Yuugi made his way for the edge of the park, self-assured that Atem would warn him if the doll tried anything. The few times he looked behind him were to make sure the doll hadn't collapsed. Those electrical surges were concerning.

(OOC: Give me the go ahead and I'll move us back to the hospital. Unless you wanna move the thread for us.)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

((go right ahead.))

As they walked, Eriol was mumbling things to the dead doll he was carrying. He was very clearly insane. He kept looking back at Yuugi, and at something most people couldn't see behind him. The sterner looking boy who was wearing his jacket like a cape. The person he'd most definitely fought before.

The doll wasn't saying anything, but he was now staring directly at the apparition as he walked.