"This is a strange place for a meeting." (From Daryl!)
Michonne couldn't really argue with that. She had gone out of her way to take Daryl somewhere excluded and quiet outside of Alexandria. Somewhere they wouldn't be overheard. Her expression was one of worry. Brows creased, lips drawn into a thin line. It would have been obvious to anyone that she was worried.
"I wanted to have a word with you privately...About Rick. I think he's been pushing himself too hard lately. Starting to crack. I wanted to know if you can see it too." She admitted, a hint of guilt settling in her chest for going behind his back like this. But she needed advice. To know she wasn't crazy for thinking that.
Kicking the door down was like getting smacked in the face. The heat of the blaze punched through the opening, already starting to prickle at Joey's exposed face and hands. It did nothing to stop him from charging in, straight for his best friend.
But his best friend hardly paid him any mind.
"Yugi, what are you doing?!" he hears Tristan cry.
"Yugi, we have to go!!" screams Téa.
"Yugi--"
"i can't leave!!" Yugi shouts. "i. i can't leave without the puzzle. get duke and bakura and ootogi-san out of here, i--"
The puzzle! In pieces! The other Yugi, their other friend. Without hesitating, Joey rushes over to try to rip out the steak that has the puzzle trapped in place by its chain. But even with Tristan's help, it just won't budge. Too hard to get a proper grip, and very quickly getting too hot to hold.
"Are you nuts, Yugi? The fire's spreading, we gotta go!!" Joey urges.
"i won't leave my other me behind!! if i leave the puzzle, i'll never see him again!! i made a promise, i have to see him!!" Yugi jerks his arm away as Tristan tries to tug him from his seat.
"please!!! please, all of you just. let me stay here and finish the puzzle!" Yugi begs, tears streaming down his face. "let me be with him, let me see him one last time..."
Last... He can't mean...?
Joey yanks his friend by the front of his shirt. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'ONE LAST TIME!?'" he demands, not knowing if his eyes are stinging from the heat, his sweat, or tears. "Yugi! Nothing'll come out of you dyin'!" Yugi won't meet his eyes. Not that he's looking away; he's too focused on the puzzle. The one that took him years to put together in the first place. "DON'T BE A MORON!"
But Yugi isn't listening to him. Or any of their other friends. He's too focused on trying to save the other him.
Joey would do anything to save his friends. Why should he take that chance away from Yugi?
Alright, everyone OUT!" he shouts, shooing the others toward the door. "It's too dangerous for you guys to stay here! And there ain't nothin' that'll make Yugi let go of that puzzle."
They're shocked. They hesitate. But they understand. He can see it in Tristan's eyes. That he's just as determined as Yugi.
"Take care of him, Joey," Tristan says, somber. "I want to see both of you come back alive!"
"We will." He's calm. Certain. "Don't worry!" He will do what he has to.
The fire is everywhere, now. It's hard to see that Yugi is even still in the room with him. The very air around them hurts, making just breathing painful. He could fail. They could die. Joey looks at the blurry outline of the person he cares about more than just about anyone in the world, bent over the table on his own rescue mission. And he waits. He'd walk to the edge of the world for him, but like hell he's letting him fall over it. Even if he has to knock him out and drag him away, he will not let Yugi die.
But... is he really willing to sacrifice another person to do it? While they don't know much about the other Yugi, he is his own person. Will he really have to leave him behind, risk losing or damaging the puzzle pieces? Would that kill him? Would he murder a man to save his best friend? Even if Yugi hated him for it? Joey wrestles with these thoughts as the fire blazes hotter still, and Yugi pieces the Millennium Puzzle together at a lightning speed.
Part of the ceiling crashes to the floor.
Time to go!
"Yugi!" Joey charges over, finding Yugi collapsed over the table, an iron grip on the puzzles chain. The puzzle, with the last piece in place. he really did it, didn't he? But there's no time to check, to make sure it's solid, the building is going to come down on top of them. Joey hefts Yugi up on his back, turns to run, and stumbles when Yugi's grip on the chain remains unbroken. "Yugi!? Let go of the puzzle!"
He turns, setting Yugi back down. He goes for his hand, trying to pry his fingers off of the chain. "Move your hand!!" It's burning him. "Let go of the puzzle!!" The air burns, the chain burns, the puzzle burns. Will his hands scar? "YOU'LL DIE IF YOU STAY HERE!!!" His fingers just won't move. Almost as if they can't.
Almost as if the puzzle is holding on, too.
"Yugi...!" Joey yanks at the chain, yanks at the table. He doesn't know if it's bolted to the floor, or if it's just too heavy. Nothing gives. "What do I do...!?"
He could break Yugi's hand.
Smash his fingers loose. Abandon their other friend. Yugi would never forgive him, but at least he'd be alive to hate him. Two out of three surviving would be better than none, right?
"Joey."
He's not sure he actually heard that, the roar of the fire is so loud. Yugi still isn't moving. But he felt that voice. "Yugi!?"
That's right. They're both his friends, and they're both counting on him. And he is not going to let them down!
Joey looks again at the table, seeing the weird game board. With snake heads, and that hand! That outstretched hand, the fingers on it would fit right in the ring on top of the metal steak. "That's it!" He can't pull the steak out, he can't even touch it anymore, but he can use this. He jams one of the fingers into the metal ring, leaving the game board on its side; a perfect makeshift lever. There's so little time left, but he knows. "We are NOT! Gonna! DIE!!" He swings a leg up and stomps down with all his might, ripping the steak out of the wood and launching it across the room. It disappears into the flames.
He doesn't throw Yugi over his back this time. He picks him up gently, holding him close to his chest. If something falls on them, it's going to hit him first. Joey shifts so that the puzzle is carefully tucked between the two of them, so that even if Yugi's grip slackens, it won't fall as he runs.
"...Sorry." He doesn't know if the Yugi in the puzzle can hear him. But he already feels guilty. He was so strongly considering leaving him to die... But Yugi, his best friend Yugi, he wasn't. Yugi would throw himself into danger for a friend, no matter the cost. Even when it got him beat up. Even when he suffered. Even if it killed him.
"...Sorry to both of ya."
He's not sure how long he ran, but eventually they made it. Out into the night, past the burning doors, the rushing firefighters. Into the crowd of onlookers. Straight to his friends.
"JOEY!"
"Is Yugi...!?"
"Don't worry, he's fine. Told ya, didn't I?" Joey's clothes are smoldering. Hes skin stings, even in the cool air. "Look." Look how brave his friend is. "He finished the puzzle while the building was burnin' down around him..." He made sure his friend wouldn't be left to die. "He held onto it the whole time. He wouldn't let go of the chains..."
Oh... he’s so tiny. Solomon was happy to know he didn’t accidentally step on Red Velvet- and thankful his staff was a bit more mindful of his surroundings than he was.
Kneeling down, Pure Vanilla balanced on his toes, resting his staff beside him to free his hands. One finger wiggled out at the cookie counterpart of the Red Velvet he knew.
“Is this how small we were? Hello, hello. You are remarkably! small.”
Jack had been making his way to figure out where his ‘Apartment’ would be when a girl caught his eye. She seemed familiar.. Ah, no that was incorrect to put it. It wasn’t that he knew her personally but had a familiar presence to her. It was like that of Lottie and the other Baskervilles. However, he’d never seen this one. Perhaps she was from his world as well..
The bargain then became, if she was then how much did she know. He was still uncertain of everything with in this ‘Experiment’. He was staring for too long, and he quickly looked away. Curiosity ebbed at him but he knew if she knew he was at fault for the tragedy.. He doesn’t even know what happened after the tragedy. He never saw her at the manor, so maybe she’s never seen him? This was all definite assumptions though; he’s not even sure she’s actually affiliated with the Baskervilles.
He gave in to curiosity, a fake smile playing at his features as he approached her. His trained mask. “Excuse me, have we met before?” He asked innocently.
it was that time again. animals would hurry and hide when dawn approached them and out came the creatures of the night but tonight there was a special kind of creature out for any human flesh bad out in the open. she could sense the presence of the being, circling around her victim in soft whispers
California hadn’t meant to snap at the other mercenary. She was just... tired. Her last mission had been exhausting, hadn’t paid out as much as she’d hoped and she was struggling to find any new jobs. On top of that, she had nowhere to stay right now. So she was a bit on edge.
“I’m sorry.” She apologised, the tiredness evident in her voice. “I’m not having a good time of it lately...”
“I want to die. That is my one and only wish. But it’s a wish that’s proven difficult to obtain. I want to die, and yet I’m forced to keep living.” -Soulborne-misfits (Hello!)
“It’s the curse that keeps you going, the curse takes your life and your death from you. However, there is still hope for your wish to come true one day.
