Defector from Decadence (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had eventually opted to pull out his laptop and check if the building had an active wireless connection he could connect to (it didn't) when Yuugi and Atem walked in. He'd shot his head up as the door opened and had actually seemed moderately surprised to see the two of them. The smile on his face seemed more than a fair bit pained.

"...I don't think anything's going to really be okay for a long time," Atsuro said. He closed his laptop cover and set the laptop to the side before looking down at his lap. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before looking back up at Yuugi.

"I... can't really go back to the hotel anymore," Atsuro said. "I'd come here meaning to ask if I could stay here for a bit, but I guess with you three and Jounouchi and Anzu, it's a little crowded."

[mugenginga]

Yuugi's eyes widened at Atsuro's expression. Even before he began to speak. He took a few steps forward, and Atem stepped to the side and walked over to Honda. The former Pharaoh kept partial focus on the conversation going on between Yuugi and Atsuro. It wouldn't be obvious. He spoke to Honda in a quiet voice, letting the conversation between the other two drown him without them being right next to him.

"Honda-kun, what happened?" Atem asked.

"I told you. He seems to have something eating at him. It reminds me of when Jounouchi was concerned about Shizuka, to be honest. He came here asking for Yuugi, so I figured I should let him ask him."

"Atsuro..." Yuugi said. He hesitated as Atsuro closed his eyes and looked at his lap. He was almost crying. His eyes widened as Atsuro jumped to the conclusion that he couldn't stay here. He closed the distance so that he was standing right next to the couch and shook his head, "That's not true! If you need a place to stay, we can adjust! Atsuro-kun, what happened? Are K1-kun-tachi okay?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had looked down again by the time Yuugi started making his way over to him. He gave a pained chuckle, as if what Yuugi had just said was incomprehensible to him, and shook his head.

"They're as good as dead," Atsuro said. His voice was hoarse. "We found out about another demon like K1 the other day. Called himself Hitoshura. It turned out he worked for Lucifer, and he was trying to get K1 to man up... so he killed Kaido yesterday morning. And last night... Seth went out to look for the guy. He ended up killing Cain instead. You know what that did? It transferred Cain's curse to Seth, only Seth has it worse, because he can't ever die, and he's got the memories of all of his lives now, so that means he has to act so polite and reverent to Abel because it just isn't right for him to talk otherwise anymore.

"And Abel... well, he ended up finding Hitoshura. I don't think he even managed to beat him. But he got the message Hitoshura wanted him to get well enough, because he isn't even acting like K1 anymore. He's... cold. Even colder than he was when he first showed back up here." He wiped something away from his eyes before continuing. "And... he doesn't even look like K1 anymore. He's got markings covering his whole body, and his eyes are just stuck in those slits, and... he's got horns. Big ones, they've gotta be at least twenty centimeters long."

He continued to look away from Yuugi as he reached into his bag. What he pulled out would likely be very familiar to Yuugi. They were a pair of very unique headphones.

"He gave me these before I left," Atsuro said. And at that, he finally broke down into tears.

[mugenginga]

All three of the teenagers looked up at Atsuro's first words. Yuugi found himself grabbing the chair for support as Atsuro went on. Atem's expression became grave and he hung his head. Honda's eyes were wide as Atsuro went on. He didn't really know the full situation, but he could get the important parts. Yuugi managed to get himself onto the couch next to Atsuro. He was having trouble believing the words going into his ears. Kaido and Cain both dead, the latter by Seth's own hands? The air around him seemed surreal.

Atem didn't have quite the air of surreality about him. Some of it was hard to believe, but a lot of it? Abel was in a war, something Atem wasn't sure most of the group understood. If Atsuro had gotten an out somehow, it was good he had taken it. Then again, Abel had been a friend of Atsuro's. If Atsuro considered K1 and K2 to be dead, Atem wasn't going to question it. Nothing they could say would make things any better for the teenager. The fact that Abel and Seth were still walking around could only make it worse. Atem looked over at Honda, who seemed to be in an awkward confused sympathy.

"A lot has happened, Honda-kun," Atem said.

"Is there anything I can do...?"

Atem shook his head, "He has to mourn... I'll explain later."

Yuugi looked back up towards Atsuro as he lifted the headphones out of his bag. The short teenager's eyes widened. Atsuro spoke, and then collapsed into tears. Yuugi reached forward and put his hand on Atsuro's shoulder, trying to give a strong grip to show his support. Yuugi hated acknowledging this, but it was possible all this had been inevitable. He looked towads Atem, who walked from Honda until he was standing behind the black haired teenager.

"Partner's right, Atsuro. We'll figure something out. You're welcome to stay here as long as it takes."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

It took a while for Atsuro to compose himself enough to talk. For most of the day, he'd been in a haze, like he didn't even understand what had happened. At the moment he'd taken the headphones out of his bag, everything had just hit him all at once. He'd intended on leaving with some shred of dignity, but here he was, crying his eyes out as he sat on Yuugi's couch, practically begging him to be able to stay there.

"Th-thank you..." Atsuro hiccupped. If anything, he was grateful for one thing. He'd actually had someone he could go to in this world. He didn't know what he would have done if he had decided to give Yuugi the cold shoulder like K1 had and then left the Court like he had. That was the only upside to this situation.

He couldn't ever go back to Abel. He didn't want to work with Abel anymore, and so long as Abel couldn't acknowledge the fact he was still K1, Atsuro didn't think he'd ever feel comfortable there again... besides, he didn't want to be involved in this war. He'd only gotten in it for K1's sake in the first place.

[mugenginga]

That while was spent in silence. Yuugi kept his position. Even if Atsuro had literally collasped in tears, he would have stayed there. Atem had his hands on the back of the couch and was in thought. If they were going to move someone into the apartment, having just one person take the bed like they had been doing wasn't going to work. And the only two of their group that would deal with that were him and Yuugi. He'd have to bring it up later.

"You don't have to thank us, Atsuro-kun..." Yuugi said, "None of us really have a home in this world, letting you stay is the only decent thing to do."

Atem straightened up, "It's only fair we're honest. We're having our own issues at the moment. I've recently been approached by the avatars of Ra and Obelisk, the latter of which seems to be hanging around the apartments as a sort of unwanted bodyguard. You're probably aware of the Items we left with Abel. It was our only option, Ra informed me that if they were kept together, Zorc could return."

Yuugi wanted to object to the information overload. He wanted to, but he couldn't. Atem was right, they needed to tell Atsuro about the current situation. He did, however, give a look to Atem to tell him that was all that needed to be said at the moment.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had looked up as Atem spoke up. He honestly didn't mind if Atem and Yuugi were having issues. They were likely nothing compared to some of the issues he'd dealt with while in the Court. However, he looked up as Atem mentioned Zorc and the reason for leaving the items with Abel.

"...Damn," Atsuro said. It wasn't so much out of annoyance or anger as it was astonishment. That would definitely explain why they let Abel have two of the Items, despite the dangers of it. "...Is there any way I can help with that, or are we just going to have to leave the Items with Abel forever?"

Honestly, Atsuro had no idea how he'd be able to help. He was a powerless human who didn't even have a COMP to defend himself with. What good was he?

[mugenginga]

"If we could get that Kaiba bastard to take them, it wouldn't be a problem," Honda said. Kaiba was really getting on his nerves. Far more than usual. It was one thing to be an asshole, but to be so naive as to want that... thing to come back?

Atem looked at Honda as he spoke. That was, of course, the simplest solution. If Kaiba could take charge of the Eye and Rod, they'd be seperate. The ideal situation would be for the Items to be spread as thin as possible, actually. Kaiba with the Eye, Malik with the Rod, Bakura with control enough of Anpu to handle the Ring, and the rest staying with them. The Key and Scale had accepted Anzu and Jounouchi respectively, but they weren't in a condition to move out just yet. Atem shook his head towards Atsuro at that thought.

"It's only temporary until we get things under better control. The Key seems to have accepted Anzu as worthy, and the Scale attached itself to Jounouchi-kun," Atem said. He frowned, "Even that's only temporary, though. Ra told me the Items would outlive my lifespan. Something more permanent is needed, but Ra seems loathe to help me until I admit a position within his pantheon."

"If we could convince Kaiba-kun to take even one of them, wouldn't it help?" Yuugi asked. He looked at Atsuro, "What we probably need is a way to destroy them."

".....a different way," Atem said, looking bitter, "That was the entire original purpose behind regaining my memories. My name was the final key to the door that sealed Zorc. Ra isn't forthcoming with the specifics, but it seems by going onto the afterlife I could have kept the door sealed from the other side. I'm not saying I regret my decision so much as I wish I'd been able to make a more informed choice."

Which left something up in the air. Atem had just implied he hadn't known the details of the way the Games of Darkness were supposed to be sealed. While it was true he'd never given any indication in at least one of the "canons" Atsuro knew, it raised some interesting questions no one in the group had seemed to voice yet. Just what had Atem done and how had he intended things to play out?

[Firebreath Fishslap]

It was clear to Atsuro the solution to this wasn't going to be simple. The Items couldn't be easily destroyed, and the only choice they could think of to seal them involved Atem dying. And from the sound of things, Atem hadn't known making that decision would keep the Items from being sealed away. Just how much had he known about before coming here?

"I think I could start looking into how to destroy them," Atsuro said. "I've worked with demonic objects before, so I might be able to find something out, even without my COMP to help me find info."

Something hit him at that moment and he looked toward Yuugi. "Hey, you've got a COMP with the demon summoning program on it, right? Can I see it for a moment?"

[mugenginga]

"Do you really think you could do that?" Yuugi asked. He'd hesitated a bit when Atsuro mentioned he'd worked with demonic objects. It was only for a moment, because he realized getting involved in something was quite possibly what he needed. He blinked when Atsuro asked about the COMP, "I've still got it, but all the folders that had those programs are empty."

Yuugi reached into his pocket. The angle looked a fair bit awkward because he was sitting down, but after a moment he pulled out a metallic yellow COMP. He held it out to Atsuro. Atem seemed to be in thought. He spoke up again as Yuugi held the COMP towards Atsuro.

"It's possible our best bet would be to find the specifics of creation. I don't even know what happened to that spellbook after Akhenaden used it to create the Items. For its power, I doubt it could have been destroyed," Atem looked rather annoyed. He shook his head, "It would still be in our home dimension, in any case."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"That's fine, I figured that would be the case anyways," Atsuro said as he took the COMP from Yuugi. He placed K1's headphones to the side so he could pick his laptop back up and place it on his lap. He pulled a USB cable out of his bag and hooked both the COMP and the laptop to the cord, linking them together. The laptop came out of hibernation as Atsuro pulled it open.

"Yeah, likely, unless whatever pulled the Items here pulled it here too," Atsuro said in response to Atem. There was a window pulled up on his screen that was nothing but long strings of coding, and Atsuro was typing rather frantically on his keyboard.

"I'm hacking into the COMP to re-enable the demon summoning program and its related functions," Atsuro explained. "Y'see, the homebrewed COMPs Naoya-san made all connect to one server, Babel. When K1 became King, he took control of Babel and basically became the administrator for that system. He disallowed permission to access the server to all but a select few COMPs to end the Lockdown. As a precaution, Naoya taught everyone how to upload the program on their own COMPs. With all of the COMPs we'd been going through lately, we couldn't wait for K1 to give us permission to access Babel and the functions related to it."

He held up a finger. "So instead we were provided with a protocol that would bypass the normal blocks and allow our COMPs to access the summoning server. Now, this protocol should still be active, so long as Abel hasn't gone in and changed things.... ha, got it!"

The COMP gave off a beeping noise and several of the empty folders blipped out of existence, replaced by what the folders had initially been.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi, Atem, and Honda all looked very lost as Atsuro rambled on. Yuugi was trying the hardest to keep attention, but it reminded him quite a bit of how Rebecca sometimes talked. It had to do with computers and something related to Abel he couldn't remember ever being told about. As for what a demon had to do with computers and such, no one there had any idea. Yuugi nodded at a few points to make it clear he was listening, but he wasn't really understanding any of it.

Atem and Yuugi looked at each other as soon as Atsuro exclaimed he had it. Yuugi looked back just in time to see the folders being replaced. He held out his hand and took the COMP back, looking at the screen and pressing the buttons to highlight the various options. He looked up Atsuro.

"I appreciate the help, but are you sure this is okay...?"

Yuugi didn't want to go into detail. He hadn't wanted to ask at all, given the reason Atsuro was over here. But if he and K1 had gotten into a fight, if Atsuro was actually right about not being able to go back, it seemed dangerous to do what he was doing. The COMP functions hadn't restored when K1 had come back to the Island, and from what he had been able to follow of Atsuro's explanation, Abel didn't want people accessing the "Babel" thing without his permission.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro was closing his laptop as Yuugi spoke up. He still had a bitter smile on his face.

"Probably not. But the COMP has more info about demons than probably even those avatars, and the Millennium Items are demonic artifacts. It'll be a huge help," Atsuro explained. "Besides, I doubt Abel will go after you for this kind of thing. He liked you two, while he's got more than ample reason to kill me."

What would probably be most shocking to the other three would be just how matter of factly Atsuro had said that, and it hadn't bothered him. It was a statement of fact, and it wasn't like he hadn't been under threat of dying for things like these before. Abel before all this happened had been prone to mood swings, after all. Hell, it was entirely likely Abel would decide he did hold the fact that he'd deserted against him and just come and kill him for that fact alone. He was going after Nyarlathotep because he'd deserted, after all.

[mugenginga]

It was the matter of fact statement that prevented an immediate response from Yuugi. Atem looked serious at the way it was said. With that much conviction and what little he'd seen of Atsuro, it wasn't impossible he was right. Honda still didn't have much of an idea what was going on, so he became a bit much in the way of focused on looking out the window. It was clear he was still listening in. He was going to need an explanation later about all of this. Jounouchi seemed the best person to ask about it. The silence was heavy.

"You're incorrect, Atsuro."

Yuugi looked up towards Atem. The former Pharaoh's expression was still grave. He walked over to the front of the couch and sat on the coffee table. It allowed him to look straight at Atsuro, although the height difference almost counted as comical. Yuugi was looking at him with worry. Atem shook his head and spoke again.

"Even if what you say is true, Abel was only fond of Partner. I never made my dislike of his decision a secret, and unlike me or Partner, you were a childhood friend of his. No matter who he has ample reason to kill, however, I won't let it happen," Atem took in a deep breath as he crossed his arms, "Atsuro, you've claimed you know me and my friends because of a television show, correct? Then you at least know of the fact that I lost several friends and allies at Zorc's hands. Mahad, Shada, Karim, Isis, Shimon, even Akhenaden for all his trangressions. If it comes to Abel coming for your life, we'll fight him. In that same vein, I won't tolerate you throwing away your life just to fulfil your own worries."

Atem gave an understanding and somewhat bitter smile, "It took me longer than it should have to realize it for myself. Jounouchi-kun gives rather interesting pep talks."

(OOC: He just listed off all his priests except for Set, who survived. Mana wasn't a priest nor did she die, so she also wasn't mentioned)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro only stared at Atem as he spoke, seeming almost surprised at what he was saying. What reason did Atem have to protect him? Why would Atem even stop him from throwing away his life? Atsuro was pretty well aware how stupid those questions were. Of course Atem would try to save him if Abel came after him. It didn't change that protecting him was just a bad idea all around.

"...He'll kill you if you do that," Atsuro said solemnly. "Abel's strong. Too strong. I don't think I could take it if any more of my friends die because of demons."

Yuugi and Atem at the very least would more than know who he was talking about with that. It wasn't like he hadn't talked about that kind of thing before. Hell, he still blamed himself for that. For all of that. From Keisuke to K1 to Kaido to Cain to Seth, it was all his fault in some way or another.