Worst Fears, Best Pleasures (Rei no Kaado)

[mugenginga]

Seth was walking with his COMP open and his head down. He was fully dressed unlike he had been about an hour prior. This meant the dark grey cloak Cain had made for him was there, the bit of wind that made it into the alleys causing it to ripple. He seemed rather absorbed in the device, which most people would mistake as a game.

He didn't seem to be a complete idiot though. To his side, and with the stance and observation one might expect a body guard to have, there was a man walking. Short red-orange hair and harsh dark purple eyes. Most humans wouldn't be able to tell, but the man wasn't human. It wasn't an uncommon ability for demons to take human form, after all. Despite the more isolated locations Seth was travelling through to find Atsuro, he had still insisted the Decarabia do so.

He'd actually left shortly after he'd gotten the system set back up on the new COMP. This one was the most unique color he'd head yet. Crimson red. Blood red, really, but Seth was having a bad enough day without thinking about that. He was sore from earlier, too. He looked at the COMP again. Cain hadn't gotten the alleys mapped out fully yet, so it was as much guess work as anything else. Atsuro did seem to be close, though... he hoped the other teenager wouldn't think something had happened just because he'd needed to go for a walk and felt like hanging out with Atsuro.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro was actually on his way back to the hotel now. By the time he'd gotten done with Yuugi and Atem, a bit of traffic had gathered on the streets. He'd heard sirens earlier, but Atsuro wasn't actually all that concerned about it. They weren't uncommon to hear in any city, really, they just seemed to be slightly more common here.

However, the traffic on the sidewalks had been enough that it would have been more of a bother to take the long way back to to the hotel, so he was currently taking a shortcut through some of the back alleys. Atsuro nearly ran into Seth as he turned the corner. He stopped in time to avoid running into him.

"Seth? What are you doing out here?" Atsuro asked. Last he'd seen Seth, he'd been a bit of a mess. He looked toward the red haired man next to Seth. That was likely a demon... He shook his head and looked back toward Seth. He held out the bag.

"Here. These are for you. Abel wanted me to go out and buy them for you," Atsuro said with a smile. It didn't even occur to him that one of those cakes was actually for him and Kaido. He figured Abel would just want to spoil Cain and Seth more.

[mugenginga]

Seth had realized that the indicator on the COMP meant Atsuro had to be more than close. The lack of a map in this area meant there could be several more turns, but... Decarabia was suddenly shooting out his hand and Seth ran into it. This was about the time that Atsuro stopped. Seth looked up in surprise and relaxed quite a bit when he realized it was Atsuro. He closed the COMP and stuck it in his pocket as Atsuro asked his question.

As for Seth's condition, he seemed fair enough. He'd taken a bath and changed in the short time it had taken the program to set up. Decarabia nodded his head to Atsuro and lowered his arm. This allowed Atsuro to hold out the bag. Seth looked more like his dog had died as Atsuro held out the bag. Christmas, right. He'd managed to forget that. He lifted a harm hesitantly and opened it to look inside. His eyes closed and he shook his head.

"I didn't want to acknowledge today..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

And now Atsuro felt like a jerk. He lowered the bag back down next to him and looked away. Seth had made it all too clear earlier that the holiday was painful for him, but Abel had still told Atsuro to go out and get these, and so he did. He sighed and held them out again.

"Then pretend they're not christmas cakes! K1 wanted to do something nice for you for once, and this is all coming out of his pocket, anyways," Atsuro said. Which was true. The only reason Abel hadn't gone out and bought them was because of the encounter with Lucifer earlier.

[mugenginga]

Seth looked up as Atsuro forcefully spoke. There was no reason to make Atsuro pay for this. He nodded and took the bag, looking inside again. Wait, there were two? He thought to how Abel felt about the group and his face screwed up in confusion for a moment.

"Why are there two, though...? I don't... wait, are you sure one of these isn't yours? Abel doesn't really... I mean, him and Cain aren't on the best of terms..."

It was Christmas, and Seth hated this day. The fact that his mother always went to church on Christmas just made it a painful reminder of things. But none of his family (and that's what he considered all of them now) celebrated Christmas. This wasn't the same for them, and it was unfair to make them suffer for his actions. He forced a smile.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"Come on, you know K1 better than I do," Atsuro said with a bit of bitterness. "Cain's his family. Even with the two of them like this right now, he'd still go get Cain a cake too. He used to bake him one every Christmas, too."

Once again Atsuro found himself reminded of that fact. Seth knew Abel better than he did now, because until Abel got that limiter, he only showed his true self around Seth. Now that things were going to hell, he was showing it to the others more often, but Seth was the only one who saw K1 for a while there.

"A-Anyways, why did you come out here? Did something happen again?" Atsuro asked.

[mugenginga]

Seth said nothing as Atsuro spoke. That bitterness was back. In a way, this was ridiculous. They were squabbling over K1 like they were lovers or something. He lowered his arm with the cakes in it. He could ask Abel about it later. Atsuro mentioned that K1 had baked cakes for Cain. Wouldn't that have been before the truth about their past lives came out? He didn't look back up as Atsuro asked his question.

"Me and Cain have been fighting a lot lately, I just needed to get away from him," Seth looked up, "I don't think I could really kill him. He probably knows that, too..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"He shouldn't taunt you like that. He always taunted us before, but I think he's gotten worse since we came to the island," Atsuro said. At least Seth had finally taken the cakes, though he still seemed rather depressed. It sucked too, every time something happened that made it look like people were actually going to be happy around there, something happened that reminded everyone they were in the middle of a war.

He gave a shiver as a cold breeze blew through the alley. "Hey, let's get out of the cold. I think that one coffee shop's nearby here, we can go there," Atsuro said. After a moment, he decided to crack a small joke. "I don't think Abel will mind if I use his money to pay for something small like coffee. Besides, not like he'll ever have to know, eh?"

[mugenginga]

Seth shook his head as Atsuro mentioned Cain. No, Cain had every right to. He was the emotional weak link in the group. Atsuro didn't seem to notice, and Decarabia was merely observing the situation. He gave a small smile at Atsuro's comment that they get out of the cold. It became nervous when Atsuro suggested keeping something from Abel. He didn't think his twin would mind, but keeping secrets...

Decarabia held out a hand in front of Seth, using the other to block off Atsuro. The "man" narrowed his eyes and took a step forward, taking an offensive posture. Seth was pulling out his COMP and flipping it open with his free hand. If there was one thing he had learned in the past four months or so, it was to be on guard when the demons reacted. A familiar body stepped out from behind the dumpster at Decarabia's reaction. A familiar body, an unfamiliar expression and stance... although it was likely Atsuro wouldn't need the audience benefit...

"It amuses me the lack of attention people in this world pay to the news..." Dark Malik chuckled.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro was on guard as the demon held out its arms to stop both him and Seth from walking forward. Something was obviously up, and he was in the process of flipping his COMP open when a figure stepped out from behind the dumpster. Atsuro's eyes widened as he saw who it was. He didn't need the audience benefit; that expression, that way he was carrying himself.

"Oh shit," Atsuro whispered Without looking away from Dark Malik, he spoke to Seth. "Seth, we've got to get the hell out of here. Now."

It didn't make any sense. Malik's dark side wasn't supposed to even exist anymore. But that comment about the news and what Atsuro had been hearing about allowed Atsuro to put a few facts together, and now Atsuro was terrified out of his mind. There were going to die if they stayed here.

[mugenginga]

Seth didn't have the slightest clue what was going on. He did know that the tanned teenager had a glowing eye on his head. He wasn't stupid enough to miss that the eye was vaguely Egyptian, which didn't make it hard to make the leap as to how Atsuro knew the teenager. The rundown Atsuro had given of Yuugi's world crossed his memories and his eyes widened. Atsuro had said he had been destroyed, hadn't he!? Seth took a step backwards.

Dark Malik was smirking at the reactions. He knew everything his other self knew, and he remembered with perfect clarity when he'd met Atsuro before. The teenager had been very nervous then, and he was scared out of his mind now. Dark Malik looked at the red-haired man. He seemed less worried about the situation than the others. The Egyptian teenager took a few steps forward, his hand noticably in his pocket.

"Yes, please do run. It's no fun if you don't struggle..." he wasn't smirking. He had a wide grin. He made a point of pulling the deck of cards from his pocket. He gave them an amused look for a moment, "Say, Atsuro... I've discovered something amusing about these cards in this world..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro was already scared out of his mind. Dark Malik's comments didn't help. Especially since Dark Malik had figured out the cards could summon monsters in this world. He inputted a few button presses into his COMP, and a white lion-like dog appeared next to Atsuro.

"Seth, get out of here! He's going to torture us to death if we don't run for it!" Atsuro yelled. That explained all of them. If Dark Malik had been on a rampage for the past few days, then no wonder so many people had been killed. They needed to get out of here and tell Atem what had happened.

[mugenginga]

Seth had already taken several steps back. Decarabia was holding his position. Atsuro wasn't moving, why wasn't Atsuro moving!? Dark Malik gave a dark chuckle and widened his grin as Atsuro summoned something. He doubted it was related to the Ka spoken of in hieroglyphics, but it was still amusing. He laughed, going straight past chuckling without losing any of the inherent creepiness, and a light shot up from the deck.

A Ka known as Iron Demon Viser Death appeared next to Dark Malik, and the teenager pointed at Cerberus. The Ka turned towards it, but made no action. The red electricity over the Ka danced around, and it honestly looked like you'd get a hell of a zap if you touched it. Dark Malik took another step forward, and the Ka floated beside him. He glanced at Decarabia and all but cackled.

"There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there? Should we find out what that is...?"

Meanwhile, Seth had been about to grab Atsuro's wrist and pull him away. However, Atsuro told him what Dark Malik would do and he froze up. His eyes were oddly present for a second, losing their usual distance. Torture to death. Torture to death. Seth almost lost his footing, barely managing to stumble back. Dark Malik looked away from Decarabia for a moment and threw his head back and laughed.

The distance was too close for comfort. As soon as Dark Malik had laughed, Decarabia had sprung into action. He launched forward and the human form was lost. Dark Malik had time to drop the laugh like a brick and smirk as his Ka flew in front of him and caught the star shaped demon mid flight. The thing bent and slammed the two yellow prongs onto the Decarabia and a red electric shock fired through the thing. The demon remained conscious, but barely... and the fire it had exploded into hadn't seemed to do a thing one to the Ka.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro realized something was wrong as he looked back at Seth, and his eyes actually looked in focus for a moment. He'd never seen Seth with that look before. He'd seen something close to it, but even then it hadn't been that terrified. He thought back to what he'd just said and his eyes widened as he realized.

"Seth, snap out of it!" Atsuro yelled. Now he was moving toward Seth. It was an inhuman screech from behind him that made him turn back toward Dark Malik. He didn't recognize that monster. But Decarabia didn't look in good shape from it...

"Cerberus, stop him!" The demon snarled and rushed at the Ka, intending to at the very least hold Viser Death off so the Prince and his Master could get away.

[mugenginga]

Seth shook his head as Atsuro yelled at him. Snap out of it, right. There was a fear of torture, but if they got away now they could avoid that. He apologized under his breath to Decarabia and turned and ran, assuming Atsuro was right behind him. Dark Malik was cackling again as the two other teenagers booked it. Cerberus managed to bit onto the side of the Ka, but the teeth did absolutely no damage.

The Prince was a bit ahead of Atsuro, with the other teen having not gone until it was clear Seth did. So it was Seth that was hit with the energy that shot up from a spot of the ground as soon as he stepped on it. There was a definite force to it, and Atsuro wouldn't be able to get past until it faded. After the maybe two seconds it took for the flash to fade, Atsuro wold be greeted by a very surprised Seth... and a conflict in his knowledge of the anime.

What looked like a giant spiked wheel was hovering above the ground. Strips of metal spiked on the outside held Seth's hands above his head, and his feet at a slight angle due to the slope of the device. Around his waist was another spiked "shackle", and a giant skeleton like thing was at the back of it. Before there was a chance of any of them to give a proper reaction, it spun up and raked the teeth of the skull over Seth. He let out a shout of surprised pain that lasted until the wheel returned him to his original position. He was breathing heavy and there were several gashes on his body from the teeth... they didn't seem deep but they were numerous and looked painful.

Dark Malik was walking forward by this point, his laugh dropped for a cruel smirk. A single vein was prominent on his face and he looked downright psychotic. With another jolt of electricity, Decarabia vanished into darkness, returning to the demon realm. Viser Des continued to give no reaction to the bite of Cerberus, and the jolt had effected the demon a bit. Its resistance prevented much in the way of damage. If it attempted to attack Malik, a light would flash from his deck and a muscular red hand with metal claws would grab the demon by the leg and drag it into the ground and back into the demon realm. Either way, Malik turned the corner and chuckled at Atsuro.

"You have a chance to flee, Atsuro. Don't get caught up in useless sentimentalities."